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30/Spring 2001 Peelites Tony Little examines the part played by the renegade Conservatives – the Peelites – in the creation of the Liberal Party. ‘‘HisHis FriendsFriends SatSat onon thethe BenchesBenches Opposite’Opposite’ In the Journal’s special issue on defectors (Journal of Although Lord Palmerston had been a part of the Liberal Democrat History , winter –), one Aberdeen coalition, his semi-detached position and group significant to the development of the modern pugnacious character made him the inevitable war Liberal Party was omitted – the Peelites. Here, by leader and he was the prime beneficiary of the pe- way of a review of Professor Angus Hawkins’ book, tering out of the war shortly after he had acceded to Parliament, Party and the Art of Politics in Britain, – the premiership. However, Palmerston had only (Macmillan, ), I aim to show the part played been able to form his government by treading on by these renegade Conservatives in the creation of the toes of oversensitive Peelites such as Gladstone, the modern Liberal Party. and without resolving a long-running quarrel with The formation of the Liberal Party is often dated Lord John Russell. to the meeting in Willis’s Rooms on June . It is at this point that Hawkins takes up the story. This meeting brought together Whigs, Liberals, The problem he poses is that, while, in Kitson’s Radicals and Peelites to defeat Lord Derby. It ush- words, it is not ‘very easy to say what specific opin- ered in a Liberal government under Lord ions were uniquely organised in the middle of the Palmerston which served until Palmerston’s death in century by the Conservative Party’, the forces that and paved the way for Gladstone’s great re- came together to oppose Derby suffered from a su- forming government of –. In retrospect the perfluity of leadership. For an idea of the complexity outcome was obvious but Professor Hawkins’ book of the position it is important to recognise that there shows just how difficult the obvious was to achieve. were four former or current prime ministers still in In , the first modern Conservative govern- active politics in , and among those of the next ment, under Sir Robert Peel, split asunder over agri- generation fighting for position were two who be- cultural protection. Peel and the bulk of the ministe- came the greatest Victorian premiers, Disraeli and rial talent of the party reformed the Corn Laws but Gladstone. Of these six significant politicians, only were then forced to resign. Peel and his associates kept one, Lord John Russell, was clearly identified with a a minority Whig government in power but Peel’s single party – the Whigs – and he was often thought death in a horse-riding accident did not lead to a rec- to be more of a Radical. Palmerston had been a onciliation between his followers, the Peelites, and the member of Lord Liverpool’s Tory government and bulk of the Tory party. Following the general election had switched sides at the end of the s. Derby, of , Lord Derby headed a short-lived minority now leader of the Conservatives, had started life as a To ry administration until driven from office by the Whig. Disraeli had originally thought of himself as a onslaught on Disraeli’s budget led by Gladstone. The radical and was still treated with suspicion, and as too Queen had tried the Whigs, she had tried the Tories – clever by half, by the more Tory members of the what was left? Lord Aberdeen, leader of the Peelites, Conservative Party. Aberdeen and Gladstone had put together a coalition with the Whigs. In essence, broken with the Conservatives over the Corn Laws this combination prefigured , but could not and, while Gladstone was still searching for a way withstand the strains of the Crimean War with back, Aberdeen was probably more associated with an administrative system which had not been mod- Lord John than with the more conservative ernised since Waterloo. Palmerston. In December , Russell had forced Journal of Liberal Democrat History 30 Spring 2001 15 are considered as to how they fur- to support a government – a back- thered the ambitions of the rivals handed compliment to their ministerial rather than for their intrinsic interest. talents. The Peelites had charged a high Consequently a degree of knowledge tariff in terms of ministerial posts for is required and the frame of reference coalition in – posts that could is not much wider than the Palace of only be awarded at the expense of loyal Westminster, the clubs of St James and Whig supporters. Who would pay in the various great houses. Within this any future ministry? focus, this is a detailed work with wonderfully well-chosen quotations ‘We have slung the stone to substantiate its case. Palmerston’s strategy after was which brought him to keep foreign affairs to the forefront down’ as a means of doing nothing about elec- Palmerston’s bluff worked for two years, toral reform. This may have reflected a and ironically it was the foreign issue of deep-felt belief – Palmerston always British arrogance in China which Palmerston was Russell's foreign secretary until sacked in 1851. Shortly afterwards acted to defer reform when in power – brought him down, as the Radicals and Palmerston was instrumental in bringing but it also had distinct political advan- Peelites united with the Conservatives down Lord John's government – his Tit for tages. Foreign policy was his strength, to teach him a lesson. Ostensibly, the Tat. The Punch caption read: 'I'm very sorry, not Lord John’s, and it brought him at ensuing general election was a tri- Palmerston, that you can't agree with your least tacit support from the Tories, his umph for Palmerston – popular back- fellow servants, but as I don't feel inclined to part with John – you must go of course.' friends on the benches opposite. Re- ing for his John Bull style of politics. form, always associated with Lord John, The leading Radicals such as Bright divided his own supporters – as Lord and Cobden were defeated, the Peelites Palmerston from the Foreign Office and, John and Gladstone were to prove after suffered and the Conservatives made in the following February, Palmerston’s Palmerston’s death. only four gains. In reality the new Lib- ‘Tit for Tat’ had brought down Russell’s Lord John Russell had the harder eral members were more in favour of government. Aberdeen and Palmerston task. He had lost support from his own reform and other domestic activity had opposed each other’s foreign poli- party in his premiership (–) and than the old House had been. But again cies from onwards. needed an issue on which to rebuild it. foreign affairs betrayed Palmerston. He offered the best link to the Radicals Then as now, Britain was a haven but each step towards them further al- for political asylum seekers, some of ‘The House of Commons ienated the type of Whig most likely to whom plotted assassination against the 2 is as unstable as water’ support Palmerston. Although ‘Johnnie’ French government. Palmerston, Although the term ‘Liberal’ was being knew that reform would buy him weakened by the Indian Mutiny and more widely applied to those opposed Radical support he also knew its cost. misled by half-hearted Conservative to the Conservatives, this grouping The Peelites, who as much as anyone support, gave way to French demands covered not just Whigs and a distinct held the balance of power, were them- for legislative action, only to be met group of Radicals, who tended to be selves divided. Some were willing to with defeat for his kow-towing to Na- as suspicious of the Whigs as they were join Lord John; others, including poleon III. Some eighty-nine of his of the Tories, but also the Irish brigade. Gladstone, were unwilling to relinquish nominal supporters, led by Lord John Nominally Whigs or Liberals, the Irish their Conservative roots but were even and Radicals such as Milner Gibson brigade had their own distinctive more unwilling to make themselves and Roebuck, joined the majority agenda relating to Irish land problems subservient to Disraeli, not only the To- against the government. Palmerston and the religious disadvantages of ry’s leading spokesman in the Com- resigned but was in no position to call Catholics. The remaining Peelites were mons but Peel’s sarcastic tormentor in a fresh election only months after his little admired by any of the other . The Peelites, and Gladstone espe- last ‘victory’. As John Bright observed, groups: ‘they are a sect – entre nous, cially, had an antipathy to ‘Pam’ that de- ‘Palmerston has been our greatest en- Prigs. There is a snobbism that runs rived from the old rivalry between emy and we have slung the stone from their deceased head all down Palmerston and Aberdeen but was in- which has brought him down’. thro’ his tail’. tensified by Pam’s acceptance of Once more the Queen faced a di- The cessation of international hos- Roebuck’s inquiry into the conduct of lemma. Palmerston would not advise tilities in the Crimea in brought the Crimean War, with its implied criti- Victoria but his explanation of the state about a return to normal political war- cism of the Peelite War Office minister of the parties – ‘Derby at the head of [a] fare in Britain. Hawkins’ book is a the Duke of Newcastle. The Peelites large party in both Houses’, ‘Russell work of haut politque focusing on the were disliked for their unwillingness to with scarcely any’ – was both accurate strategies of the various contestants for fit the mould of two-party politics and and self-serving.
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