“AN ICEBERG WITH A SLIGHT THAW”
The divisive life of Robert Peel
Sir Robert Peel’s family made a fortune from calico cloth printing in Lancashire, though Peel (1788–1850) never worked for the EQORCP[ 2TQ VU QH C [GCT GPCDNGF his father – also Sir Robert – to buy a
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Aged 21, Peel became MP for Cashel, an Irish rotten borough. He was regarded as brilliant, but cold and arrogant: “an iceberg with a slight thaw”. By 24, he was chief secretary for Ireland, recognised as a rising Tory star. In 1822 he became home secretary, reforming the criminal justice system and introducing a professional police service in London – the Peelers, or Bobbies.
Traditionalists grew suspicious when Peel changed his mind on Catholic emancipation, which he had previously opposed, in 1829 and remembered it 16 years later when he changed his mind on the Corn Laws.
Peel was prime minister twice: in 1834–35 and 1841–46. He helped to reshape the Conservative party, issuing the
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His second administration reintroduced income tax and moved towards free trade, TGOQXKPI VCTKʘU QP OCP[ KORQTVGF IQQFU
In 1845, the Irish famine gave him the excuse to tackle the Corn Laws, earning the undying hatred of protectionist Tory landowners and splitting the party.
Peel died in 1850 after being thrown from his horse and crushed when the animal trampled on him on Constitution Hill near Buckingham Palace.