Kirjahaku

Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, remains one of the most fascinating and enigmatic figures in British political history. He was the romantic radical, who went on to lead the Conservative party; the urban, middle class Jew, who identified himself with a ruling elite based on the aristocracy, land and Anglicanism. This study of Disraeli seeks to provide a balanced coverage of the whole of his career, giving equal weight to the long period spent as leader of the opposition, as well as examining his rise to the Conservative leadership and his subsequent record as Prime Minister. An assessment is offered of Disraeli's contribution to the late-Victorian Conservative party's political ascendancy, and in particular to its image as the 'national' party.

Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850) is always remembered for three things: his creation of the Metropolitan Police, his principal role in the repeal of the Corn Laws and his status as founder of the modern Conservative Party. This is quite sufficient to make him the key statesman of the early Victorian period, but there were many other aspects of his personality and politics which make the study of his career uniquely useful for students of the period. In many ways, he can be seen as the archetypal link figure between the pre-Reform and post-Reform political worlds - embodying a strange mixture of reactionary Toryism and vigorous progressivism.