Why Disraeli Passed the 1867 Second Reform Act

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Why Disraeli Passed the 1867 Second Reform Act

The 1867 Second Reform Act was an extremely intelligent piece of

politics and demonstrated how clever Disraeli was as a politician, the

act itself would enable Disraeli to the gain power amongst the

Commons. With the death of Palmerston in 1865 the question of Reform

was immediately back on agenda. Palmerston had been such a major

political figure that while he was present, reform would never be an

issue in the Houses of Parliament.

Within a couple of months of the Derby administration coming into

power there were two days of riots in Hyde Park over the reform of

Parliament, involving clashes with police and the destruction of some

of the park railings. If the Conservatives wished to remain in power

something needed to be done, or so Disraeli said when he made a speech

to the Commons in 186 7 saying that reform needed to be passed in

order to "destroy the present agitation". However, we know that this

is not really the case as these riots were nothing in comparison to

the riots in 1932 over the first Reform Act when the entire city of

Birmingham was seized by protestors and rioters, this was merely given

as a reason to help gain support of the MP's in Parliament in passing

the Act.

A similar reason that Disraeli presented to the Conservative Party for

the need to Reform was a phrase that he coined Tory democracy, this he

explained was the theory that the Conservatives should not resist

social Reform but should in fact use it to gain the support of the

newly enfranchised voters i.e. the working class. This meant that if

the Tory's passed an act of social Reform the working class ma...

... middle of paper ...

...passing the Second Reform Act was

his intense dislike of Ewart Gladstone, the rivalry between Disraeli

and Gladstone had been present since the repeal of the Corn Laws in

1845, and during the 1866 Russel administration Disraeli had cleverly

demolished an attempt by Gladstone to push through a Second Reform

Bill. If therefore, Gladstone was able to push through a Reform Bill

of his own only a year later he would be humiliating the Liberals and

in particular Gladstone himself, this is a concept he called, "to dish

the Whigs".

Principally the reasons for Disraeli passing the 1867 Second Reform

Act was to gain power for himself among the government, potentially

succeeding Derby as the Prime minister. However, his stated political

reasons of the time might simply have been said to justify reform

amongst his own party.

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