whip, which he explained, his friends in the Liberal Party had been sending him by courtesy but which he had never considered binding. He strongly criticised as "humbug" the 1922 budget which reduced income tax without any corresponding reduction in government spending. At the 1922 general election Hopkinson therefore found himself opposed by an official Liberal Party candidate who had been Lord Mayor of Manchester in 1921–22. However, his local connections and good works saw Hopkinson re-elected with 58% of the vote. At the 1923 election, Hopkinson's outspoken support for free trade helped him fight off a renewed attempt by the Liberal Party to regain the seat, although his majority was reduced to only 375 votes. The local Conservative Party supported him at these elections, and despite his support for free trade he backed the Baldwin government in the motion of no confidence in January 1924. Hopkinson grew personally very friendly with Baldwin. At the Westminster Abbey by-election in March 1924, Hopkinson signed the nomination papers for Winston Churchill who had fallen out with the Liberal Party and was standing as an Independent Constitutionalist. Although Churchill failed on this occasion, it was only by 43 votes. At the 1924 general election, Hopkinson had opposition from both the Labour Party and the Liberals; he was re-elected more comfortably with Labour outpolling the Liberal candidate by more than two to one. Baldwin In March 1926 Hopkinson had the pleasure of formally introducing his father Alfred to the House of Commons, after he won a by-election in the Combined English Universities. His father was, unlike him, elected as a Conservative, although Hopkinson was a generally reliable vote for the Conservatives in this period. After the general strike he was critical of the actions of the trade unions. However, he opposed the Baldwin government's Trades Disputes Bill which restricted union powers, on the grounds that it would hinder those trade unionists committed to reform from changing their unions, and also hinder employers who were committed to improving the liberty of their employees. By the late 1920s, Hopkinson was expressing the hope that Stanley Baldwin would be elected as a free trader in order to save the country from David Lloyd George who had left the country open to socialism "and its twin brother, protection". He was again supported by the Conservatives in the 1929 general election, but in one of the shock results of