[i]Significantly, the merger between the Conservatives and the Liberal Unionists was described as a 'sound investment' promoted by 'a body of keen businessman,' and when, in 1911, Arthur Steel-Maitland - a protège of Joseph Chamberlain - was appointed first  party chairman, Walter Long  protested to Balfour that, "It will, of course, be said that you are handing the party over to Birmingham."[/i]

The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy - David Cannadine