In this post, he was praised for enabling tenant farmers to own their property, and for extending university education for Catholics, but was criticised for failing to take action against the rebels before the Easter Rising, leading to his subsequent resignation.

[8] After unsuccessfully contesting parliamentary seats in Liverpool, Walton in 1885 and Widnes in 1886, Birrell was elected to parliament for West Fife at a by-election in 1889, as a Liberal.

In 1903 he edited Eight Years of Tory Government, a "handbook for the use of Liberals", which attacked the incumbent Conservative administration's record on issues such as housing and worker's compensation.

[10] In December 1905 Birrell was included in the cabinet of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman as President of the Board of Education,[5][11] and that month he was sworn of the Privy Council.

While serving in government, Birrell supported a number of progressive measures and proposals such as expanded housing provisions, land reform,[17] and substantial increases in education spending at both primary and secondary level.

[19] C. P. Scott wrote in his diary that Birrell feared he might require an operation to remove his kneecap and joked that, if he did, he would remain "a weak-kneed politician" to the end of his life.

Other ministers present included Lloyd George, John Simon, Francis Dyke Acland and Thomas McKinnon Wood.

[21] Birrell's first Under-Secretary and head of Irish Civil Service at Dublin Castle administration was Sir Antony MacDonnell, who had worked successfully with a previous Chief Secretary, George Wyndham, on the Land Purchase (Ireland) Act 1903.

MacDonnell's proposals for what was called "devolution" – the transfer of local powers to Ireland under a central authority – adopted by the Irish Reform Association's - had encountered strong opposition from Unionists, leading eventually to Wyndham's resignation.

[23] Another affair, in which Birrell was not directly involved but for which he had to take part of the blame, was the theft of the Irish Crown Jewels from Dublin Castle (where the Chief Secretary had his offices) in July 1907.

[28] In fact, by that stage Lloyd George had effectively replaced Birrell as the Liberal government's negotiator in the Home Rule discussions.

[31] In the latter part of 1915, Birrell was one of those Liberal ministers (others being Reginald McKenna (Chancellor of the Exchequer), Walter Runciman (President of the Board of Trade) and Sir Edward Grey (Foreign Secretary)) who were unhappy at the realignment of Britain's war effort towards conscription, total war and a massive commitment of troops to the Western Front, as advocated by the CIGS Archibald Murray.

However, none of these joined Sir John Simon (Home Secretary) in resigning in protest at the conscription of bachelors, due to be enacted in January 1916.

However, Birrell wrote to the Prime Minister (29 December) criticizing Murray and arguing that he and Runciman agreed that finance and strategic policy were more important than conscription.

Birrell had spent Easter in London, where Nathan had telegraphed him with news of the capture and scuttling of the arms ship the Aud and the arrest of Sir Roger Casement.

He had just sent approval for the arrest of the movement's leaders on Easter Monday morning when he was told by Viscount French, Commander-in-Chief of the British Home Forces, that the Rising had begun.

[35] He maintained contact with Nathan by telegraph and answered questions in Parliament on Tuesday and Wednesday, then travelled by destroyer to Dublin, arriving in the early hours of Thursday morning.

While some, such as Laurence Ginnell celebrated his departure, both John Redmond and Sir Edward Carson praised the work Birrell completed during his time as chief secretary.

The quality of his public work deteriorated and as one historian has noted the severe personal strain must have been a contributory factor in "...the uncharacteristic combination of excessive zeal and indecision which marked [Birrell's] response to the Dublin industrial agitation of 1913".

In 1929, he accepted an honorary doctorate from the National University of Ireland, but storms in the Irish Sea prevented him from making the crossing and he had to receive his degree in absentia.