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United Kingdom general election, 1818

United Kingdom general election, 1818
United Kingdom
← 1812 4 August 1818 1820 →
← MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1812

All 658 seats to the House of Commons
330 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
  Earl jenkinson.jpg Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey by Sir Thomas Lawrence copy.jpg
Leader Earl of Liverpool Earl Grey
Party Tory Whig
Leader since 8 June 1812
Leader's seat Earl of Liverpool Earl Grey
Seats won 280 175
Popular vote - -
Percentage - -

Prime Minister before election

Earl of Liverpool
Tory

Subsequent Prime Minister

Earl of Liverpool
Tory


Earl of Liverpool
Tory

Earl of Liverpool
Tory

The 1818 general election of the United Kingdom saw the Whigs gain a few seats, but the Tories under the Earl of Liverpool retained a majority of around 90 seats. The Whigs were divided over their response to growing social unrest and the introduction of the Corn Laws.

The result of the election was known on 4 August 1818.

The fifth United Kingdom Parliament was dissolved on 10 June 1818. The new Parliament was summoned to meet on 4 August 1818, for a maximum seven-year term from that date. The maximum term could be and normally was curtailed, by the monarch dissolving the Parliament, before its term expired. The sixth Parliament lasted only about a year and a half, as King George III's death on 29 January 1820 triggered a dissolution of Parliament.

The Tory leader was the Earl of Liverpool, who had been Prime Minister since his predecessor's assassination in 1812. The Tory Leader of the House of Commons was Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh.

The Whig Party had long suffered from weak leadership, particularly in the House of Commons.

At the time of the general election, the Earl Grey was the leading figure amongst the Whig peers. The last Whig Prime Minister, the Lord Grenville, had retired from active politics in 1817. It was likely that Earl Grey would have been invited to form a government, had the Whigs come to power, although in this era the monarch rather than the governing party decided which individual would be Prime Minister.


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