It is an open question whether Lord John Russell should be considered the last of the Whigs or the first of the Liberals. He has an equal claim to both distinctions. His upbringing could hardly have been more Whiggish. The third son of the sixth Duke of Bedford, he was brought up to believe that Charles James Fox was the fount of all wisdom. He was the first person to describe his party as Liberal rather than Whig, and he should perhaps be regarded as the first Liberal Prime Minister, though Palmerston is usually accorded this honour. In the general election which followed the passage of the Bill, in which the Whigs, with their Radical and Irish allies, won an overwhelming majority, Lord John was returned for the new county constituency of South Devon. In 1839, while retaining the leadership of the Commons, he swapped jobs with the Colonial Secretary, Lord Normanby.