A supporter of Lord Beaconsfield, the British Empire, Church of England and state, he was against extending education, but favoured bible teachings in schools.

At the time Beaconsfield died on 19 April 1881, he was making a record of his days in the Commons: "I rose somewhere about 8.30 and as a new member was duly called".

With North Wiltshire abolished, Long won his Devizes seat with a reduced majority of 95 votes at the November 1885 general election.

Ritchie was to deal with the towns in Local Government Act 1888, but was ill for the period, and Long had "a sound grasp its details and essentials.

He reiterated the claim that Ulster Unionists would never accept the bill but Liberals argued that the Conservatives would raise bread prices, and lower wages if returned, "the labourers are ignorant lot and swallowed it whole", he decried.

He did not wish to sever legislative ties of Union with Ireland; but only to offer "an extension of the privileges of local government to the Irish people".

After the Conservative defeat in 1892, Ritchie's retirement made Long the chief opposition spokesman on local government, and when the Tories returned to power in 1895, he entered the cabinet as President of the Board of Agriculture.

The creation of the Board of Agriculture had brought a boost to Long's career in 1889 but opposition rose up strongly, when the Dog Muzzlers act, prompted the Laymen's League in Liverpool to contest the Church Discipline bill.

The bourgeois Navy League in Liverpool could not wait to get rid of him but his powerful friends, like the "somnolent" Duke of Devonshire gave large donations to the Anti-Socialist Union – and this would be disastrous to the Union, for it would immediately alienate every snob and mediocrity ..." Yet Long was thick-skinned and seemed impervious to the insults, for he remained remarkably successful at the polls.

Never an insider, Long worked closely with constituents on local issues showing "sensitivity to the wider needs of society".

[13] He was frequently plagued by ill-health: neuralgia, arthritis, susceptible to colds and flu; a waspish character, he was not charismatic, nor was he analytic or probing, like his mentor Arthur Balfour.

Long really wanted to remain at Local Government, but when George Wyndham resigned as Chief Secretary for Ireland, Balfour was faced with a crisis.

Long was reluctant to accept the offer, being frustrated and angered by Lord Dunraven's proposals and MacDonnell's initiatives, which he regarded as anti-Unionist.

Long's motto of "patience and firmness" was designed to placate Irish Unionists at public meetings, speeches and tours of Ireland, made to reassure local community officials.

The dispute with Lords Dudley and Dunraven dragged on into August 1905, with their attitude of intransigence towards Long's attempts at Unionist reform and demanding obedience to the law.

During the last quarter of 1905, Long advised the postponement of dissolution, as it would hit Unionists hard in "the Country" and would hand numerous electorates to radicals.

Long continued to distrust 'Birmingham & Co' as he called Chamberlain's struggle for a policy of tariff recognition, which was already driving the party away from the Free Trade north.

At this stage the Irish Unionist Party's leadership was still in the hands of his friend Edward Saunderson, who was far from energetic, unhelpfully described as "devoid of business capacity".

In October 1906, Saunderson died, and Long was chosen as the new Chairman of Irish Unionist Alliance (IUA) – aimed at closer co-operation between northern and southern parties.

[23] Although Long never openly supported the most militant Unionists, who were prepared to fight the Southern nationalists (and perhaps the British Army) to prevent home rule for Ireland, contemporary accounts indicate that he probably had prior knowledge of the Larne gunrunning.

Long feared 'the degradation' to the party that a divisive contest might split the protectionist majority of the Unionist coalition, so both candidates agreed to withdraw in favour of Bonar Law, the tertium quid, and a relatively unknown figure, on 12 November.

[28] The unification of the Liberal Unionist and Conservative parties at the Carlton Club in 1912, was for Long acknowledgement of the end of its domination by the country interest.

He was actively involved in undermining attempts by David Lloyd George to negotiate a deal between Irish Nationalists and Unionists in July 1916[32] over introducing the suspended Home Rule Act 1914, publicly clashing with his arch-rival Sir Edward Carson.

He was accused of plotting to bring down Carson by jeopardising an agreement with the nationalist leader John Redmond, that any partition would only be temporary.

"[35] Long and the Unionists wanted General Maxwell to have authority over the police, but Asquith finally gave the Chief Secretaryship to a civilian, Henry Duke.

[36] With the fall of Asquith and the accession of the Lloyd George government in December 1916, Long had established himself as the cabinet's foremost authority on Irish policy.

Chief Secretary Duke would have preferred to be Inspector-General; but Lloyd George, a natural home ruler, did not seem too happy with Long's brand of federated Unionism.

Two allies of the Prime Minister, namely Carson and Lord Edward Cecil, supplied the most intransigent opposition to a united Ireland.

[38][39] The crisis gave rise to the German Plot, and Long's pressure to act on intelligence against Sinn Féiners caused him to issue a large number of arrest warrants.

Sir Austen Chamberlain finally succeeded him in the former office after a ten-year wait But Long too, getting tired and old, was 'kicked upstairs' with a peerage.