The Conservatives were crushed in the 1905 election, but Arthur Balfour, their leader, still had a card to play. He could rely on the House of Lords to defeat any bill that he found completely unacceptable regardless of the state of public opinion.
In the end, the strategy didn’t work, because the Liberals turned aristocratic obstruction into a constitutional issue and ultimately emasculated the House of Lords. Substitute McConnell and the filibuster for the House of Lords and you have a lesson for the Republicans in the Senate.