Assess the reasons why the Peelites gravitated towards the Whigs in the period 1846-1859

The Peelites gravitated towards the Whigs during the years 1846-1859, a period in British politics
dominated by characters, for several reasons. Although the political calculations made by the
Peelites, the Aberdeen coalition in 1852 and the Peelites broad agreement with the Whigs on their
policies, I believe that on balance it was the undesirability of the Conservative party that had the
most influence on the gravitation of the Peelites away from the Conservatives, to the Whig party.

Although not the key reason for the gravitation of the Peelites to the Whigs, the political calculations
made by the leading Peelites still played a significant role. In 1846, the majority of the so-called
‘talent’ in the Conservative Party, the Peelites, defected to the Whigs in protest at the party’s refusal
to commit to their free trade policies. This meant that the Conservatives were left with no clear
leader, making them even less of an electoral threat to the Whigs and the Liberals, but more
importantly, gave numbers and talent to the Whigs as the Peelites gravitated towards them.
Although the Peelites were now a smaller group (less than 100) amongst the larger Liberal and Whig
parties, they formed coalitions with the Whigs, helping the Peelites to retain power and influence in
the cabinet and government. Another reason for the Peelites wanting to form coalitions with the
Whigs is because by doing so they were able to keep the now Protectionist Conservatives out of
power. This succeeded as the Conservatives only managed to hold power for less than two years
combined from 1846-1859, and both governments formed by the Conservatives were weak
minorities. Finally, the popularity of Palmerston played a significant role in the gravitation to the
Whig party by the Peelites, as the Peelites calculated that Palmerston’s popularity guaranteed
parliamentary majorities. The culture of populism at the time allowed Palmerston to have a central
position in the governing of Parliament, as his policies, especially on the Crimean war, appealed to all
ends of the political spectrum, therefore, making it almost a no-brainer for the Peelites to gravitate
towards him and the Whigs.

Another significant reason for the Whig-Peelite coalition is the Aberdeen coalition of 1852. During
this coalition, some significant liberal reforms were able to be passed, notably the Canadian Clergy
Reserves Act, which gave land to Nonconformist and Catholic ministers. The fact that this act was
able to be passed showed that the Peelites and the Whigs were able to cooperate and work together
successfully to pass liberal reforms. The Aberdeen Coalition also demonstrated the respect the
Whigs had for the Peelites, as Peelites were able to hold important positions in the cabinet, such as
Aberdeen as Prime Minister and Gladstone as chancellor of the exchequer, amongst 6 others. This
was significant as it allowed for the Liberal coalition of 1859, in which the Peelites trusted that they
would retain some power and influence in government whilst also keeping the Conservatives out of
power. The Aberdeen coalition also allowed both parties to learn from their mistakes in this
coalition. The key mistake they learned from is that if they split, the Conservatives would quickly
attempt to form a minority government, which happened in both 1852 and 1858. The Aberdeen
coalition can also be deemed a success due to the economic reforms that took place. Gladstone’s
1853 budget was one of the biggest successes of the coalition, as he managed to remove tariffs and
reorganise the structure of the tax policy to allow for more fairness across all the social and
economic classes. Although the Aberdeen coalition can be seen as one of the factors for the
gravitation of the Peelites towards the Whigs, there are some limitations to the extent of its success.
There was clear tension between parties, especially between Palmerston and Aberdeen as well as
the nature of the breakdown of the coalition, which caused a split due to division about foreign
policy and the Crimean war. Therefore, the Aberdeen coalition can be seen as a significant factor,
but not the most important factor.

More significant than the Aberdeen coalition, however, is the general agreement on key policies
between the Whigs and the Peelites, especially free trade. Free trade was one of the key issues in
politics at the time with Gladstone being one of the key advocates, and as chancellor of the
exchequer held the power to implement free trade policies. The two parties also had agreements
over the repeal of the corn laws as it was the Whigs that supported Peel in 1846. Unlike the
Protectionist Conservatives, the Peelites and the Whigs believed that free trade was quintessential
to boosting economic growth. They also believed that free trade would lower the prices of basic
goods such as food, which would increase equality across the socio-economic classes. The Peelites
wanted more extreme religious reforms than the Whigs however as the Whigs had supported the
Ecclesiastical bill, which aimed to prevent the Catholic church from ‘holding the same titles’ as the
Anglican church; a direct attempt to oppress Catholics and adopt a populist anti-Catholic policy.
Finally, the Peelites agreed with the Whigs over their foreign policies, notably Gladstone and the
‘Italian question’ as well as Palmerston’s populist liberal foreign policies. The Whigs also agreed with
the Peelites on some less notable administrative reforms. This broad agreement between the Whigs
and the Peelites on important topics would be the most influential reason for the gravitation of the
Peelites towards the Whigs if it was not for some disagreements such as Palmerston’s numerous
rows with Gladstone, showing the cooperation between the two parties was not as natural and
secure as it might seem.

Finally, the most significant reason for the gravitation towards the Whigs by the Peelites was the
undesirability of the return to the Conservative party. The nature of the split of the party from the
repeal of corn laws made it very unlikely that the Peelites would want to return to the now
Protectionist Conservatives after how hostile they were towards the Peelites, especially the barrage
of personal insults from Conservative MPs. As a result of these hostile debates, a deep feeling of
hatred for Disraeli grew amongst the Peelites, and whilst he held a significant position of power in
the Conservative party, a reunion seemed impossible. Peel himself remained a powerful obstacle to
reunion until after his death in 1850 as some Peelites felt deep personal as well as political loyalty to
Peel and felt that a reunion with the Conservatives would go against that. Even though the Peelites
were once part of the Conservative party, they shared completely different views as the Peelites
were committed to their progressive agenda whilst the Conservatives continued to be completely
opposed to reform. This was contrasting to the Whig party as the Peelites shared many liberal ideas
with the Whigs and therefore only made sense that the Peelites gravitated towards them. This
complete opposition to reform was proven by Disraeli in 1852 as his budget demonstrated that he
had no interest in reform and maintained his protectionist attitudes. Throughout the 1850s the
Conservatives refused to agree on policies such as free trade, religious reforms and political reforms
in parliament, whilst some Conservatives MPs privately agreed to free trade policies especially. This
demonstrated that the Conservative attitude would not change rendering the reunion of the Peelites
and the Conservatives almost hopeless. Despite this, there were a small number of Peelites who
gradually defected back to the Conservatives, most notably after the Conservatives slight change in
the policy of the reinstatement of the corn laws, which may have proved that a reunion would have
been possible if the two parties were able to find some middle ground and compromise.

In conclusion, I believe that the most significant reason for the gravitation of the Peelites towards
the Whigs was due to the undesirability for the Peelites return to the Conservatives, but the
Aberdeen coalition, political calculations made by the Peelites and their general agreement with the
Whigs also played a significant role.