ABSTRACT
The explanation for Portland's unique distinction of having been at the head of both a Whig and a Tory ministry lies in the fragmentation of party allegiances in the years following the French Revolution. After nearly sixteen years in opposition, Portland was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the second Rockingham ministry in 1782. The King finally acquiesced in April 1783, but he intended to dismiss Portland as soon as possible. The Portland Whigs had not simply drifted towards a reactionary government, but had actively sought 'to make it reactionary by joining it'. Certainly, Portland's Whig credentials counted for little with his new associates: he was chosen on account of his stalwart service to Pitt. Although Portland survived, it became imperative to decide upon a successor. ‘A perfectly amiable man, with an honourable mind’, noted one contemporary diarist, adding laconically, ‘his death is now not likely to create any sensation whatever in the state of parties’.
