Liberal candidates and had moved some key organisers into the Barkston Ash constituency to offer support to Andrews and to campaign and produce literature and posters for him. The Liberals played the Free Trade card for all it was worth. Agricultural labour There was a strong mining community in the south of the constituency which traditionally supported the Liberals and a substantial suburban house-holder vote spreading out from Leeds, which together with the farmers and landowners could usually be relied upon to vote Conservative. This meant the agricultural labourers held the key to the result. Both candidates courted the votes of the rural worker, Andrews emphasising the value of Free Trade in keeping food prices cheap whereas Lane-Fox appealed to the traditional conservatism of rural people. Religion Both candidates also, despite denials were keen to attract votes from the sizeable Roman Catholic minority in the area. The Liberals denounced the Education Act 1902 and hoped for Catholic voters to be sympathetic to Irish Home Rule in support of their co-religionists in Ireland although as the campaign wore on they became vulnerable to attack on the administration of the Education Act by the Liberal controlled West Riding County Council. The Tories looked to the well-established local Catholic community to remain true to their family traditions and support the Conservative establishment. Foreign affairs Government policy abroad gave the Liberals little to campaign on. 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 and the allegation that so-called coolies were being forced to work under conditions no better than those of slaves. Result The result of the by-election was announced the following day in front of the Selby Museum. The Liberals gained Barkston Ash from the Conservatives by a majority of 228 votes. Irish Nationalist MP T. P. O'Connor called the election "a victory for Ireland" because "of the firmness with which (voters) refused to Abandon Ireland" and "have buried the infamous attempt to weaken Ireland by a Redistribution Bill." 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