Editing C. P. Scott (section)

===Parliamentary career===
[[File:C.P._Scott.jpg|thumb|right|C. P. Scott c. 1895]] 
[[File:CPScott portrait.jpg|thumb|right|Bust of Scott in the offices of ''The Guardian'', London]]
In 1886, Scott fought his first general election as a Liberal candidate, an unsuccessful attempt in the [[Manchester North East (UK Parliament constituency)|Manchester North East]] constituency; he stood again for the same seat in 1891 and 1892.<ref>{{cite web|last=Moore|first=James|title=Manchester Liberalism and the Unionist Secession 1886–95|url=http://www.mcrh.mmu.ac.uk/pubs/pdf/mrhr_15_moore.pdf|publisher=Manchester Centre for Regional History|access-date=13 November 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718072237/http://www.mcrh.mmu.ac.uk/pubs/pdf/mrhr_15_moore.pdf|archive-date=18 July 2011}}</ref> He was elected at the [[1895 United Kingdom general election|1895 election]] as MP for [[Leigh (UK Parliament constituency)|Leigh]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Authors, Novelists, Writers & Poets|url=http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/celebs/authors2.html|publisher=Writers and novelists of Greater Manchester|access-date=13 November 2010|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101211043406/http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/celebs/authors2.html|archive-date=11 December 2010}}</ref> and thereafter spent long periods away in London during the parliamentary session. His combined position as a Liberal [[backbencher]], the editor of an important Liberal newspaper, and the president of the Manchester Liberal Federation made him an influential figure in Liberal circles, albeit in the middle of a long period of opposition.<ref>{{cite web|last=Jones|first=Brendan|title=Manchester liberalism and the 1918 general election|url=http://www.mcrh.mmu.ac.uk/pubs/pdf/mrhr_13_jones.pdf|access-date=13 November 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718072324/http://www.mcrh.mmu.ac.uk/pubs/pdf/mrhr_13_jones.pdf|archive-date=18 July 2011}}</ref> He was re-elected at the [[1900 United Kingdom general election|1900 election]] despite the unpopular stand against the [[Second Boer War|Boer War]] that the ''Guardian'' had taken,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hampton|first=Mark|title=The press, patriotism, and public discussion: CP Scott, The Manchester Guardian and the Boer War, 1899–1902|journal=The Historical Journal|year=2001|volume=44|issue=1|pages=177–197|jstor=3133666|doi=10.1017/s0018246x01001479|s2cid=159550361}}</ref> but retired from Parliament at the time of the Liberal [[landslide victory]] in [[1906 United Kingdom general election|1906]], when he was occupied with the difficult process of becoming owner of the newspaper he edited.