Sir Robert Peel: Statesmanship, Power and Party (Lancaster Pamphlets)

by EricJ.Evans (Author)

• Used

  Textbook Binding
  1991

  $3.25

  Sir Robert Peel's historical reputation is a high one. Recent research however has tended to cast doubt on both his political skill and on the extent to which he deserves credit for reviving the fortunes of the Tory party in the 1830s. Eric J. Evans argues that although Peel was an efficient administrator and a dominant political leader in the 1830s and 1840s, his arrogance, inflexibility and anachronistic views of the role of a Prime Minister were largely responsible for the break-up of the Conservative party in 1846, and its subsequent exclusion from government. Peel appreciated the importance of new forms of party organization after 1832 but proved remarkably insensitive in the 1840s to the attitudes and beliefs of the majority of his followers. The Conservative party continued to reflect old Tory values much more than the modern Conservatism which Peel was trying to advance and Peel's leadership was ill-attuned to party considerations. His commitment to liberalism presented political problems which he was temperamentally and intellectually incapable of resolving. Ultimately, his executive and administrative gifts were much greater than his political ones.