Because Chamberlain and many other liberals disagreed with the Liberal Party about Ireland , Chamberlain made a new party , the Liberal Unionists . The Liberal Unionists shared power with the Conservatives against the Liberal party from 1886 , but Chamberlain was not in the government . With Gladstone returned to power and unwilling to see Chamberlain back with the Liberal Party , and the Liberal Unionists reduced to 47 seats nationwide , a better relationship with the Conservatives was increasingly necessary .