United Kingdom general election, 1852
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5
0.8%| 1841 election • MPs |
| 1847 election • MPs |
| 1852 election • MPs |
| 1857 election • MPs |
| 1859 election • MPs |
The July 1852 United Kingdom general election was a watershed in the formation of the modern political parties of Britain. Following 1852, the Tory/Conservative party became, more completely, the party of the rural aristocracy, while the Whig/Liberal party became the party of the rising urban bourgeoisie in Britain. The results of the election were extremely close in terms of both the popular vote and the numbers of seats won by the two main parties. As in the previous election of 1847, Lord John Russell's Whigs won the popular vote, but the Conservative party won a very slight majority of the seats. However, a split between Protectionist Tories, led by the Earl of Derby and the Peelites made the formation of a majority government very difficult. Lord Derby's minority Protectionist government ruled from 23 February 1852 until 17 December 1852. Derby appointed Benjamin Disraeli as Chancellor of the Exchequer in this minority government. However, in December 1852, Derby's minority government collapsed because of issues arising out of the budget introduced by Disraeli. A Peelite-Whig coalition government was then formed under Lord Aberdeen, one of the leading Peelites. Although the immediate issue involved in this vote of "no confidence" which caused the downfall of the Derby minority government was the budget, the real underlying issue was repeal of the Corn Laws which parliament had passed in June 1846.
A group within the Tory/Conservative Party called the "Peelites" voted with the Whigs to achieve the repeal of the Corn Laws. The Peelites were so named because they were followers of Robert Peel. In June 1846, when Robert Peel was the Prime Minister of a Tory government, he led a group of Tory/Conservatives to vote with the minority Whigs against a majority of his own party.
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