William Ewart Gladstone
Failure

Historian Sneh Mahajan has concluded, "Gladstone's second ministry remained barren of any achievement in the domestic sphere". His downfall came in Africa, where he delayed the mission to rescue General Gordon 's force which had been under siege in Khartoum for 10 months. It arrived in January 1885 two days after a massacre killed approximately 7,000 British and Egyptian soldiers and 4,000 civilians. The disaster proved a major blow to Gladstone's popularity. Queen Victoria sent him a telegram of rebuke which found its way into the press. Critics said Gladstone had neglected military affairs and had not acted promptly enough to save the besieged Gordon. Critics inverted his acronym, "G.O.M." (for "Grand Old Man"), to "M.O.G." (for "Murderer of Gordon"). He resigned as prime minister in June 1885 and declined Queen Victoria's offer of an earldom.
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