The divide between Liberal and Conservative political parties in Britain has significantly dictated the debate over Irish Home Rule. The Liberal Party supported the establishment of Irish Home Rule, while the Conservative Party fought to maintain the union of Great Britain and Ireland. The Liberals, especially under the leadership of Gladstone, strove to meet the needs of their Irish voters by providing them with long-sought autonomy. Instead, the Conservative Party worked to maintain the union, passing legislation that proved beneficial to the quality of Irish life. However, although party lines were generally drawn in this way, the fragmentations within the parties also served to further complicate the debate over Irish Home Rule. Aside from the main Liberal and Conservative parties, Unionists, particularly the later Ulster Unionists, influenced the Irish Home Rule debate by advocating firmly against Irish Home Rule in every way possible. The Unionist Party was therefore made up of imperialist conservatives and liberals opposed to Irish Home Rule. Furthermore, party politics itself was influenced by a number of factors. Personal relationships established within and between parties often led politicians to formulate policies in favor of friends and in opposition to rivals. The individual dogma of leading political figures also influenced how each party formulated its policy on the issue of Irish Home Rule. liberal lines for the first and conservative lines for the second. The most notable English liberal supporter of Irish Home Rule was the politician William Gladstone. In total Gladstone was... at the heart of the paper... the unionist cause and in doing so gained the support of those who had left the Liberal Party because of its support for self-government. Conservatives and other non-Conservative Unionists believed that granting Ireland home rule would weaken British imperialist policies and lead to political decline. The two sides were hit. Individual principles within both parties also further influenced the nature of the debate. As an imperialist, Disraeli had every interest in providing a pro-imperialist public image for his party. Gladstone, considered an anti-imperialist, was less interested in keeping Ireland so tightly controlled. The hostility between the two men also contributed to their opposing policies. The personal relationships cultivated between Gladstone and Irish politicians further served to distance the Conservatives from any policies that might implement self-government.