1834 - 1835

Robert Peel (1784-1850), the son of a Pittite MP, entered the House of Commons in 1809: his administrative ability and political talents were soon recognised, and by 1812 he was chief Secretary for Ireland in the Tory government of Lord Liverpool. As home Secretary in the 1820s he introduced a metropolitan police force and reformed the criminal law. Peel resigned in 1827 when Canning became prime minister, firmly opposed to Canning's cherished project of catholic emancipation; but he was restored as home Secretary and became Leader of the House of Commons in the government led by the Duke of Wellington. His recognition of the need for Catholic emancipation, against his personal convictions, split the Tory party, and contributed to their defeat at the polls in 1830. In opposition he struggled against the Parliamentary Reform Bill, but after its passage he engineered the Tories' adaptation to the new political world it had created. He briefly led a minority government in 1834, but not until the general election of 1841 could the Tories return to real power, with Peel as prime minister and chancellor of the exchequer. Peel's abandonment of traditional Tory policies - particularly on the agricultural protection system of the corn laws - brought him wide popularity, but divided his party, making it unmanageable, and Peel was forced to resign in 1846.