Robert Peel
1834–35 and 1841–46
Robert Peel is one of the few politicians – the others being Joseph Chamberlain and Winston Churchill – who played a major role in shaping not one but two of our modern political parties. Between 1828 and 1830, Peel served as home secretary under the Tory prime minister, the Duke of Wellington, during which time he established the London Metropolitan Police force, whose officers are still commonly known as Bobbies in his honour.
It was Peel who, shortly after his appointment as prime minister in 1834, first used the term “Conservative” to define his party’s political ideology, characterising political “conservatism” as an ideological commitment to reforming, when necessary, to preserve the established order.
Peel’s first ministry lasted less than a year, but he returned to the premiership in 1841. It was during this second administration that Peel took the momentous decision to put country before party and repeal the Corn Laws. The Corn Laws were tariffs on imported grain, put in place to safeguard the domestic market. As such, they were strongly supported by the landed aristocrats who made up a large and powerful faction within the Conservative party. Peel and his party had campaigned on a commitment to maintain the Corn Laws in 1841, in the face of mounting pressure from industrial interests in the Midlands and the North West.
Yet, as time wore on, Peel became convinced that the Corn Laws were hurting British consumers, a conviction that reached a critical point in 1845 when the Irish potato blight caused a famine in that country and an immediate need for cheap imported grain. It was this conviction that drove his repeal of the laws in 1846, even though he knew that to do so would mean splitting the party to which he had devoted his political life.
The bill cost him the premiership, and ultimately resulted in him being forced from the Conservative party. Although Peel never identified as a liberal, the modern Liberal party was forged in the decades that followed by a coalition of “Peelite” ex-Conservatives, Whigs, Radicals and supporters of Irish Home Rule.
In repealing the Corn Laws, Peel had not only shown rare moral courage – he’d also transformed Britain’s political landscape.