ABSTRACT
For R. Shannon, Gladstone became a Liberal the better to be a Peelite' and the better to put into action the lessons which he had learnt from his great master Peel'. If Shannon's interpretation of Gladstone has had the effect of bringing its subject closer to Peel's Conservatism, recent interpretations of Peel have, conversely, served to bring him closer to Gladstone's mature liberalism. From the point of view of man-management, Gladstone must have been one of the most frustrating colleagues with whom Peel ever had to deal. Securing historical validation for the apostolic succession to Peel was a different matter. Gladstone famously commented that there were two Peels one before and one after Catholic Emancipation. Gladstone's mature political career, therefore, may be read as an attempt to align the two parts of Peel's mantle, by aligning its extra-parliamentary and parliamentary dimensions.
