Elected to parliament, Arch was the first agricultural labourer to enter the House of Commons. In 1893, Arch was appointed as a member of the Royal Commission on the Aged Poor. He died in 1919, aged 92.

When the National Agricultural Labourers Union was founded in 1872, Arch was elected its first president. In the 1880s, Arch turned his attention to campaigning for widening the franchise to include agricultural workers in the 1884 Parliamentary Reform Act.

He resigned his seat in 1906 in the wake of the Liberal landslide election and moved to Florence, where he died in 1912. History will remember him for his 'gross indecency' amendment to the 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act, which criminalised generations of gay men until 1967.

In parliament, he acted the part of a political gadfly, not always acting in the best interests of the Liberal Party. His attacks on the establishment attracted the ire of Queen Victoria and it has been suggested that the Queen vetoed his appointment to the cabinet in 1892.

He used his wealth to found a weekly journal Truth in 1877 which he used to campaign for his personal crusades. He also founded the Queen's Theatre in Long Acre and formed a company of players which included Henry Irving and Ellen Terry.

He played a key part in the formation of the National Government , returning to his old post of Home Secretary. Following his defeat in the 1935 election, Samuel went to the House of Lords, serving as Liberal Leader in the Lords from 1944-55. He died in February 1963.

From 1920 - 25 Samuel served as High Commissioner for Palestine and then chaired a Royal Commission on the coal industry. In 1929 Samuel returned to the House of Commons as MP for Darwen.

Samuel was rapidly promoted, entering Asquith's Cabinet in 1909 as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, serving later as Postmaster General and Home Secretary. Samuel lost his seat in 1918.

The Liberal Party is becoming increasingly focused on the constitutional question of the peers versus the people.

However, it decides a few days later not to present the alternative Budget, should the original one be rejected, as this would concede the right to decide on government finances to the House of Lords.

Campbell Bannerman's Government clarified the situation with the Qualification of Women Act of 1907, which entitled women to stand for election to all councils and to become Mayors.

there remained uncertainty as to the position regarding the principal local authorities. This resulted in several court cases and failed attempts by women to stand for the London County Council.