[1] The constituency returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

They had then selected 35 year old George Lane-Fox, an Eton and Oxford educated barrister and a member of the West Riding County Council[4] to be their candidate.

[9] The Free Trade Union, founded in 1903 to safeguard the free import of food and raw materials and oppose the policy of protection as a barrier to good relations within the British Empire[10] had acquired a reputation for intelligent and effective electioneering on behalf of Liberal candidates and had moved some key organisers into the Barkston Ash constituency to offer support to Andrews[9] and to campaign and produce literature and posters for him.

There was a distinct strain of English patriotism in the Yorkshire character and the area had provided strong support over the fighting of the Boer War.

The only area left to exploit was the introduction of Chinese labour into South Africa gold mining operations[15] and the allegation that so-called coolies were being forced to work under conditions no better than those of slaves.

"[17] It was another indication of how the electorate across the country, even in such a traditional Tory constituency, had grown tired of the Conservative government which had been in office for ten years.

It was this swing of the pendulum, rather than the specific policy issues or personalities of the candidates, which was responsible for the Liberal victory[19] – although the question of tariff reform was clearly an influential element in the result and the campaigning efforts of the Free Trade Union played their part in stimulating the electorate and getting them to the polls in greater numbers than their opponents.