| Election Name: | 1886 United Kingdom general election |
| Country: | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1885 United Kingdom general election |
| Previous Year: | 1885 |
| Previous Mps: | List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1885 |
| Next Election: | 1892 United Kingdom general election |
| Next Year: | 1892 |
| Seats For Election: | All 670 seats in the House of Commons |
| Majority Seats: | 336 |
| Elected Mps: | List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1886 |
| Leader1: | Marquess of Salisbury |
| Leader Since1: | April 1881 |
| Party1: | Conservative and Liberal Unionist |
| Leaders Seat1: | House of Lords |
| Last Election1: | 247 seats, 43.4% |
| Seats1: | 393 |
| Seat Change1: | 146 |
| Popular Vote1: | 1,417,627 |
| Percentage1: | 51.4% |
| Swing1: | 8.7% |
| Leader2: | William Ewart Gladstone |
| Leader Since2: | April 1880 |
| Party2: | Liberal Party (UK) |
| Leaders Seat2: | Midlothian |
| Last Election2: | 319 seats, 47.4% |
| Seats2: | 192 |
| Seat Change2: | 127 |
| Popular Vote2: | 1,244,683 |
| Percentage2: | 45.1% |
| Swing2: | 2.2% |
| Leader3: | Charles Stewart Parnell |
| Leader Since3: | 17 October 1882 |
| Party3: | Irish Parliamentary Party |
| Leaders Seat3: | Cork City |
| Last Election3: | 86 seats, 6.9% |
| Seats3: | 85 |
| Seat Change3: | 1 |
| Popular Vote3: | 94,050 |
| Percentage3: | 3.4% |
| Swing3: | 3.5% |
| Prime Minister | |
| Posttitle: | Prime Minister after election |
| Before Election: | William Ewart Gladstone |
| Before Party: | Liberal Party (UK) |
| After Election: | Marquess of Salisbury |
| After Party: | Conservative Party (UK) |
| Map Size: | 380px |
| Turnout: | 74.2% |
| Map2 Image: | File:1886 UK GE Composition diagram.svg |
| Map2 Caption: | Diagram displaying the composition of the House of Commons following the general election |
The 1886 United Kingdom general election took place from 1 to 27 July 1886, following the defeat of the Government of Ireland Bill 1886. It resulted in a major reversal of the results of the 1885 election as the Conservatives, led by Lord Salisbury, were joined in an electoral pact with the breakaway Unionist wing of the Liberals led by Lord Hartington (later the Duke of Devonshire) and Joseph Chamberlain. The new Liberal Unionist party elected 77 members and gave the Conservatives their parliamentary majority, but did not join them in a formal coalition.
William Ewart Gladstone's Liberals, who supported the Irish Home Rule movement, and their sometimes allies the Irish Parliamentary Party, led by Charles Stewart Parnell, were placed a distant second. The split in the Liberal Party ended the period of Liberal dominance. They had held power for 18 of the 27 years since 1859 and won five of the six elections held during that time, but would only be in power for three of the next nineteen years. The political realignment resulting from the Liberal Unionist split also meant that between this election and the end of World War II, only one election (in 1906) would result in a party other than the Conservatives forming a majority government (though the Liberals, and later the Labour Party, would form minority governments with support from smaller parties). This was also the first election since the 1841 election that the Conservatives won a plurality or majority of the popular vote. They would ultimately win at least a plurality of the popular vote in every general election until 1945, again with the exception of the 1906 election.
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