breadth 2

• the Tamworth manifesto was in 1934. it was the first-ever manifesto. peel wrote in because he was heading a minority party and wanted to have a majority, he also wanted the party to be united because they had been divided over Ireland reforms in 1830s. This is Peel wanting to go back to the liberal Toryism of the 1820s, not the hard stance they had had from 1828-1832. the voters liked the manifesto. In 1935 they won the elction, increasing seats to 279. But in 1846 the party split over the corn laws.
• Whilst Britain was experiencing extreme social and economic

  transformation in 1780, political reform was missing from society, with

  the monarch maintaining the top position in this system. William Pitt’s

  1773 government was even made up of 9 Lords.
• in 1780 the monarch could appoint and dismiss Prime Ministers, they could also insist on having a say in the appointment of other ministers. George III frequently did this.
• 1780: Both the government and Parliament were dominated by the landowning classes
• 1780: The Lords had hereditary peerage, the power was maintained in the aristocratic classes with people inheriting peerages simply on the basis of being born into a family
• 1780: Many MPs in the House of Commons were related to Peers in the House of Lords, the aristocracy dominated society
• 1780: British society was a very deferential society, whereby there was often

  lots of respect for the local leader, with them being voted for because

  they had always done so. They were deemed the ‘responsible’ citizens

  who owned property and had worked their way up to being there and

  were a ‘natural aristocracy’ as Edmund Burke often said. They led the

  opposition to the Great Reform Act in 1832
• 1780: There were however signs of monarchical decline early on however, with 130 royal sinecures being abolished in 1782 by William Pitt, a leader known to flirt with the possibility of reform.
• The position of the monarchy too was undoubtedly changed by the

  1832. The monarch had been pressurised into agreeing to appoint more

  Whig peers, which they had never been forced to before. Secondly,

  monarchs had a harder time appointing and dismissing ministers. This

  became clear in 1834/5 when the King dismissed the Whig government

  and invited Peel to form a government, but then, after an early election,

  could not form a majority and so the Whigs were invited to form a

  government.
• 1832: The number of parliamentary seats controlled by members of the House of Lords was reduced as there was a significant reduction in pocket boroughs, the Lords had also been forced to back down over the passing of the act, showing that a Commons majority could force a monarch to persuade the Lords to accept a bill, this reduced Lords

  influence, but increased Commons influence.
• 1832: There is however a view that the Lords actually got more powerful after the 1832 Reform Act, for example, most cabinet ministers and all prime ministers for the next 30 years (except Robert Peel) were all aristocrats. The Lords also, by 1867, still controlled 60 House of Commons seats and 70% of MPs were related to Lords.
• 1832: The House of Lords had asserted itself as a revising chamber and thus, as it still had primary legislative power, could ‘revise’ and reject bills, like they did with the Paper Duties Bill in 1860, as well as in 1866 when Home Rule was proposed in Ireland. Many aristocrats had property in Ireland, and didn’t want to have their power reduced.
• 1867: As the Second Reform Act doubled the electorate to 2,000,000, this meant that, especially given the 1858 abolition of property qualifications, that more working class people could become MPs, and didn’t have

  loyalties to the aristocratic classes, and thus could vote them out,

  particularly as those entering the ‘pale of the constitution’ were the

  ‘skilled working class’.
• 1867: When estate duties were introduced in 1894, it reduced the

  disposable income of Lords, and thus the aristocracy, this meant that

  they’d have less money for the little bribery they were still able to

  get away with. Furthermore, throughout the entirety of the 1800s, the

  power of the aristocracy was being reduced anyway. This is because

  factory prices were rising faster than land, and so this paved the way for the rise in the middle class, which also wanted political power, thus there was a contest for power amongst the aristocracy and the middle

  classes.
• By 1884, most Conservative MPs came from the middle

  classes. There were however still only 2 working class MPs.
• During William Gladstone’s 3 terms as Prime Minister, it is known that

  he and Queen Victoria had a bitter relationship, thus reducing her power for a while.
• The Third Reform Act in 1884 reinforced what its predecessor had

  started, it reduced the aristocracy’s power simply because more people

  had the right to vote. This meant that there were more viable opposition

  candidates to the aristocracy, and more people to vote them out too.

  This notion was further entrenched by the 1872 Secret Ballot Act and

  1883 Corrupt and Illegal Practices Act, which reduced the amount of

  corruption that could take place, further reducing the influence of the

  aristocracy.
• 1867: When the redistribution act in 1885 soon followed, it

  reduced the number of urban seats that gave the aristocracy the

  influence they wanted. There was still however the notion that voting

  was not a right, but instead had to be earned
• Lords lost what little power they still had - Early 20th Century
• Parliament Act was passed - 1911
• Events leading to the Parliament Act 1. People's Budget failed to pass the House of Lords 350 to 75 2. 2 general elections held
• the King threatened to create Liberal Peers If the Parliament Act wasn't passed
• Parliament Act


  • Showed a reduction in the power of the monarch
  • Peers didn't have the power to block and silence legislation they once did, as it carried a much larger mandate from the electorate
• Parliament Act11

  Lords could only block legislation for two years, and could not block money bills
• the 1911 parliamentary reform was the biggest blow that the Lords would see in from 1780-1928
• Factors reducing aristocratic influence


  1. Land belonging to aristocracy broken up by 1928

  2. Labour's growth providing direct socialist attack on aristocracy

  3. Larger electorate shifting power to parties and their efforts to canvass people, adhere to their views and campaign for their vote

  4. Women getting the right to vote and fewer people using plural voting allowing more people to oust aristocracy

  5. Rise of Labour party

  6. Direct taxation rising from 9% to 30% between 1914 and 1928, reducing wealth of landowners and forcing them to sell land
• However, there are some credible notions to the idea that power wasn’t limited as much. Even under the first Labour administration, there were 7 peers in government, and until 1911, they could still block legislation.

  Additionally, as some (wealthier) women now had the vote, and women were more likely to be conservative, as well as wealthy people being more likely to vote Conservative, this increased aristocratic power as they possessed a larger amount of support from the electorate (until 1928, when everyone over 21 was given the vote).
• The Tory Party was extremely similar to the Liberal Party in 1780,

  though the tory party as a party were much more likely to defend

  traditional institutions such as the power of the monarch and the Church of England. They were also more resistant to change than the Liberals. The Tory party was however split in 1829 over the issue of catholic emancipation.
• In 1834 however, the now Conservative Party introduced a manifesto,

  the first ever, the Tamworth Manifesto. This resulted in Peel winning the

  1841 election, but in 1846, the party split again, this time over the

  repeal of the Corn Laws. The Party then attempted to rebrand again,

  with Disraeli convinced he would win the 1868 election, but he lost.

  Thus, in 1870, the Conservative Central Office formation led to an

  election victory for the Conservatives in 1874, this included Benjamin

  Disraeli’s 1872 ‘Crystal Palace Speech’.
• In 1883, the Primrose League was established. It was a Conservative

  women’s club which was aimed for women to encourage their husbands to enter politics, it was only abolished in 2004! This was a good period for the party, Salisbury led the Conservative Party to 3 election defeats, which was after a period of losses under Disraeli. Though, in 1906, the party was absolutely obliterated after divisions over tariffs and the party had their longest ever period in opposition.
• The Whigs spent the best part of 50 years in opposition to the Tories


  1780s-1830
• for 50 years the Liberals tended to agree with the Tories
• Liberals


  • Slightly more sceptical of monarchy power and traditional institutions
  • More open to reform
• Faction called 'Friends of the People'


  • Around from 1792 to 1794
  • Wanted to expand the franchise and carry out political reform
• The faction made Earl Grey's Whigs rather reformist in the 1820s. This is why they won the 1830 election.
• After the 1832 Reform Act


  1. liberals introduced legislation to please the new electorate

  2. Such as limiting working time for children
• • When the vote for the repeal of the Corn Laws came around, the Conservative Party was extremely split, with Whigs fully supportive of the repeal. Then, when the Conservative Party split after the vote, Peel’s loyal ‘Peelites’ followed him in leaving the Conservative Party. Eventually, the Peelites merged with the Whigs and some radical politicians to form an anti-Conservative alliance. This is seen as the key moment in the foundation of the Liberal Party. 
• By the 1870s, many former Whigs had become increasingly uneasy

  with Gladstone’s more radical agenda. The Liberal Party broke up in

  1866 over the issue of home rule, which resulted in an election loss for

  the party.
• Come tariff reform however from 1903, Liberals were seen as united,

  free-trade champions and they used this well in the 1906 election

  campaign, and they were rewarded with a very large majority. In power however, lots of their legislation was blocked by Conservative Lords, most notably the 1909 People’s Budget. Though, the passing of the 1911 Parliament Act with the help of the monarch meant that the Lords could not block home rule.
• New Liberalism was a new set of ideas bought up by David Lloyd

  George. Previous laissez-faire economics was challenged by the Boer

  War and up to 30% of people in London and York were living in poverty

  (though, this number is lower than in 2019). Cautious of the Labour

  Party, the Liberals launched an extensive reform programme.