Peelite

Peelites
Leader	Robert Peel Lord Aberdeen
Founder	Robert Peel
Founded	1846(1846)
Dissolved	1859(1859)
Split from	Conservative Party
Merged into	Liberal Party
Ideology	Free trade Liberal conservatism
Political position	Centretocentre-right
Colours	BlueGreen
Politics of the United Kingdom Political parties Elections

ThePeeliteswere a breakawaypolitical factionof the BritishConservative Partyfrom 1846 to 1859. Initially led byRobert Peel,the formerPrime Ministerand Conservative Party leader in 1846, the Peelites supportedfree tradewhilst the bulk of the Conservative Party remainedprotectionist.The Peelites later merged with theWhigsandRadicalsto form theLiberal Partyin 1859.

Overview

The Peelites were characterised by commitment tofree tradeand a managerial, almost technocratic, approach to government. Though they sought to maintain the principles of the Conservative Party, Peelites disagreed with the major wing of that party (the landed interest) on issues of trade, in particular the issue of whether agricultural prices should be artificially kept high by tariffs. The Peelites were often called the Liberal Conservatives in contrast to Protectionist Conservatives led byBenjamin DisraeliandEdward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby.

Facing aserious famine in Irelandin 1845, the Peelites sought to lowerfood pricesby repealing theCorn Laws.Peel was able to carry the repeal vote in theHouse of Commons,but only at the price of splitting the Conservative Party, a split which led to the fall of Peel's government in June 1846 and its replacement by a Whig government led byJohn Russell, 1st Earl Russell.

The leading members of the Peelite faction that developed after the 1846 split of the Conservative Party were the following:

• 
  Sir Robert Peel
• 
  Sir James Graham
• 
  The Earl of Aberdeen
• 
  William Gladstone
• 
  Sidney Herbert
• 
  Edward Cardwell
• 
  Lord Lincoln
  (later Duke of Newcastle)
• 
  Sir John Young

The Peelites numbered about a third of the old Conservative party in theHouse of Commonsfollowing the1847 general election.Their main political positions at that time were closer to the Protectionist Conservatives than to the Whigs and Radicals in parliament, except on the issue of free trade. The split had been so bitter on a personal level, with attacks on Peel by Protectionist Conservatives such asLord George BentinckandBenjamin Disraeli,that the Conservative Party was unable to reconcile the Peelites even after the Conservatives officially abandonedprotectionin 1852. The Peelites also had their own newspaperThe Morning Chronicleto highlight their political position.

After Peel's death in 1850, the Peelite faction was led by Sir James Graham and Lord Aberdeen. In the1852 general election,the number of Peelite MPs was estimated at 40. In that same year,George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeenwas invited byQueen Victoriato form a coalition government with the Whigs and the Radicals. This government fell in 1855 as a result of the unpopularity of its hesitant attitude during theCrimean War.

After the fall of the Aberdeen government, the Peelite faction took most of the blame for their management of the war in the Crimea. The group further lost cohesion with some members includingWilliam Ewart Gladstone,Sir James GrahamandSidney Herbertaccepting cabinet posts in the new government led byViscount Palmerstononly to resign a few weeks later when the government agreed to hold a commission on the conduct of the recent war. Others stayed, includingGeorge Campbell, 8th Duke of ArgyllandStratford Canning, 1st Viscount Stratford de Redcliffeafter which the Peelites with now no agreed overall leader appeared to be a band ofindependentsrather than a putative political party. In the1857 general election,their numbers in the House of Commons further decreased to around 26, or maybe less than 20 as identifying who was and who was not a Peelite became increasingly difficult.

The Peelites finally disappeared as a distinctive political entity after the1859 general election.On 6 June 1859 a meeting was held at the Willis's Rooms, St James Street with most of the remaining Peelites agreed to combine with the Whigs, the Radicals and theIndependent Irish PartyMembers of the United Kingdom Parliamentto bring down the Conservative government ofEdward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derbyin a vote of no confidence. The vote was won by the opposition by 323 votes to 310 on 10 June.

The subsequent creation of Palmerston's ministry out of this combination was the birth of the British Liberal Party. Several leading Peelites (including Gladstone, Herbert, Cardwell, and Newcastle, but notably not Graham, who was one of the driving forces behind the coalition) accepted cabinet posts in this ministry, though some Peelites became independents or returned to the Conservatives.

See also

• Contributions to liberal theory
• Liberal democracy
• Liberalism
• Conservatism
• Conservatism in the United Kingdom
• Liberalism in the United Kingdom
• List of liberal parties
• Thatcherism
• Canningites,an earlier eponymous dissident group of centrist Tories in support of free trade

References

• Jones, Wilbur Devereux; and Arvel B. Erickson (1972).The Peelites 1846-1857.Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University.