modernising the party

• The Tamworth Manifesto 1834:

  • letter sent to Peel's constituents in Tamworth outlining his programme for the future
  • Tamworth Manifesto accepted the changes to the political system decided in the 1832 Great Reform Act
• Manifesto


  List of promises or aims
• New organised strategies:

  • set up the Carlton Club to centrally co-ordinate campaigns and local Conservative Associations --> the driving force was
  • used a whip system to coordinate voting MPs on key issues even in opposition

  Why was this necessary:

  = conservatives needed to appeal to a larger electorate after 1832

  = change their image and appear more open to reform if they were to get elected
• Peel as Prime Minister 1834, 1841 - 1846

  • 1834 -> Peel was asked to step is an PM when the Whigs split over the issue of reducing the Protestant Church in Ireland, but his government was short lived
  • whigs began to struggle again in 1939 -> But queen victoria stopped Peel becoming PM
  • became PM in 1841 as the conservatives won a decisive election and he was PM for 5 years
• Peel and the Ladies of the Bed Chamber:

  • Peel's first ministry ended in 1835 as the Whigs and the Irish MPs combined against him
  • in 1839 -> Melbourne revised over his lack of party support for a bill to take over the Running of Jamaica
  • Queen Victoria refused to let Peel become PM due her ladies favouring Whigs
  • the ladies were the Queens confidants and influenced her
• The election of 1841:

  • Whig chancellor proposed to reduce the duties on imported corn and sugar
  • led to a defeat in the Commons and led to Melbournes resignation
  • remarkable victory for the Conservatives
  • it had became a national party
  • prepared to accept change
  • time of political agitation
• The Tamworth Manifesto: part 1

  • the target audience of this letter was men + landowners in Tamworth -> targeting the Middle Class
  • it's used to persuade people of his beliefs
  • "My duty as Minister of the Crown"
  • He used flattery to persuade the middle class -> "great and intelliegent class of society"
  • when becoming pm, he does have some personal concern -> "involve matters of personal concern"
  • he tries to justify old beliefs about the Reform Bill of 1832 -> "labouring under a sort of moral disqualification"
• The Tamworth Manifesto: part 2

  • "that I will not accept power on the condition of declaring myself an apostate (renounces beliefs) from the principles on which I have heretofore acted"
  • "defender of abuses" -> he never defended those that needed reform as he did reform the criminal law and penal code
  • He wouldn't leave his opinions behind, as he still only believed certain things needed reformed --> "denial of the charge"
  • wouldn't undo the Reform Act - "respect of the Reform Bill itself"
  • wanted slow change -> conserve traditional values = "careful review of institutions"
• The Tamworth Manifesto: part 3

  • corporation -> local council
  • peel would allow for reform of local councils if there was a report > "i cannot be expected to give, on the part of the Government, any other pledge that they will bestow on the suggestion"
  • Peel believed that should dissenters should have some more freedoms such as paying church taxes, but shouldn't be allowed to go to university
  • the civil list for major royals continued with pensions revisited
  • "retrospective inquiry into pensions granted by the crown"
  • "ecclesiastical purposes" -> relating to the Christian Change -> strengthen
• The Tamworth Manifesto: part 4

  • originally the Tories had been for the wealthy aristocracy
  • but the manifesto was created to appeal to the new industrial middle class
  • the manifesto focused on the reform act 1832, interests of the middle class and free trade
  • "impartial consideration of what is due to all interests"
• Carlton Club:

  • Conservative Party before the days of Conservative Central Office. Today the club continues to uphold these values in its day to day activities.
• "Never had the leader of a party a more complete ascendancy over that party than has this Tory Coryphaus, over the Conservatives in the House of Commons"


  James Grant ( a journalist) observed in 1836
• The Charles Street Gang, had been set up in 1831 (independent of Peel), to co-ordinate electoral arrangements.
• Bonham's committee found seats for candidates, candidates for constituencies controlled an electoral fund, and proffered advise and encouragement. The party fielded 390 candidates in 1835, and more than 450 in 1837.