ABSTRACT
The outcome of the election at Tamworth was the return of Peel and Captain à Court as the borough’s two MPs. Nationally, the Conservative Party returned a majority of 76 over the Whigs.
Peel’s address at the election dinner following his victory offered an opportunity to set out the terms upon which he would assume power as head of a majority Conservative government.
However, rather than setting out detailed proposals for exercising power, Peel referred to the speeches which he had made in 1835 (at the time of his first government) and 1840 (during the debate on Yarde Buller’s motion of no-confidence). This reticence drew criticism in some quarters, not least amongst Conservatives, but Peel maintained that the proper time to determine the action to be taken was when he was commissioned to form a government.
Peel proceeded to defend himself against the insinuations of the Globe newspaper concerning his relations with Queen Victoria and mocked the ministry’s defence of its record in government. He denied that landlord influence over tenants was responsible for the Conservative majority at the election and recalled the government’s reliance on Irish MPs, through the ‘Lichfield House Compact’ of 1835, for its majority in Parliament.
The contribution made by thousands of Conservative supporters in patiently laying the groundwork for success was also acknowledged by Peel. Reviving the theme laid out in his 1837 address at Tamworth, he noted that ‘the victory which has been achieved must be secured in the registration courts’. He exhorted Conservatives to maintain their efforts in municipal, county, and borough elections, with the same ‘zeal and industry and perseverance’ which they had already demonstrated in securing victory.
