ABSTRACT
By the early 1820s, it was difficult to determine whether he should more properly be described as a 'conservative Whig' or a 'liberal Tory'. After Canning's death Lamb was soon associated with the 'liberal Tory' group led by William Huskisson, and it was no surprise that, along with Huskisson and Palmerston, he left Wellington's government in May 1828. Bizarre though it might seem, he took on the post of private secretary to the Queen, while also prime minister. A strong case exists for seeing the last years of Melbourne's second ministry as a long diminuendo. It was aristocratic Whiggery, moderated by patriotism and government expertise, which provided leadership for the Liberals in the substantial shapes of Palmerston and Gladstone until the last years of the nineteenth century. Melbourne’s part in facilitating this orderly, and fundamentally conservative, transition should not be underestimated.
