ABSTRACT
Lord Liverpool suffered a stroke in February 1827. It left him partially paralysed and necessitated his resignation a few weeks later. His departure severely exacerbated divisions in the party over which he had presided for almost fifteen years. The King confirmed Canning in his expectation that he should succeed Liverpool as prime minister, but the Tory ‘right’ was reluctant to back such a firm supporter of Catholic emancipation. Peel’s opposition to Canning turned exclusively on the Catholic question. Peel was as opposed as ever to ‘carrying the Catholic question’ and thus ‘of injuring the Protestant Constitution of the country’.
