dewar had opened the new premises of the south morningside liberal club on 10 june and had taken the opportunity to make a short address. he appears to have accused wauchope of being a tory, presumably a reference to the fact that the unionist mantle had passed from the liberal unionists to the conservatives in edinburgh south, perhaps judging that this would drive some former liberal unionist voters back to the liberal fold, perhaps also appealing for working-class votes in recalling wauchope’s stance in 1892 when he refused to support the eight hours bill proposing the restriction of the working day for miners. wauchope spoke on the same day, in the evening, at the edinburgh literary institute. he responded by saying there was no disgrace in being a tory. on social issues, he added that much had been done for the working man by the tories and if returned as mp he would work as hard for the working man as anyone calling himself a liberal. dewar renewed this attack on the state of the unionist coalition later in the campaign, again alluding publicly to wauchope’s devout toryism, and arguing that liberal unionism was now dead in the constituency. nonetheless, wauchope did receive a letter of recommendation from joseph chamberlain, the leading liberal unionist and at that time colonial secretary urging all liberal unionists in the constituency to vote for him.