...what would be most extraordinary is this, that anybody who considered the state of the Liberal party then and now should expect me voluntarily to … - Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery

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...what would be most extraordinary is this, that anybody who considered the state of the Liberal party then and now should expect me voluntarily to return to the Liberal party. (Laughter.) I left the Liberal party because I found it impossible to lead it, in the main owing to the divisions to which I referred in my letter. (Hear, hear.) The Liberal party in that respect is no better now, but rather worse; and it would indeed be an extraordinary evolution of mind if, after having left the Liberal party on that ground, I were to announce my intention of voluntarily returning to it in its present condition. No, gentlemen, so far as I am concerned, I must repeat what I have said on that subject in all my speeches, that for the present, at any rate, I must proceed alone. I must plough my furrow alone.