After Grey’s first draft of the Bill was rejected at the committee stage, Grey called for an election as a tactic campaigning for the Act to be passed. He won his election and became Prime Minister for another Parliament. This strategy proved to the hostile MPs that the country wanted reform and Grey had the support of the electorate. Grey needed the support of those inside Parliament to proceed with his policy, but had the public outside of Parliament not voted for him, he would not have been able to continue the process.
Outside of Parliament the middle classes were politically discontent. Thomas Attwood established a pressure group to agitate the Government into reforming the electoral system. Attwood was successful in promoting his views through peaceful methods and caused short term but easily solved pressurising problems against the government. Although Attwood was not revolutionary or violent, Grey knew that if he neglected Attwood’s protests then they could develop into uncontrollable violent outbursts.
Attwood’s main support was from university students and middle class citizens who felt repressed by being disenfranchised. Grey wanted to maintain the support of the middle classes and believed in the divide and rule theory. By separating the middle classes from the working classes, via the vote, he would split opposition and ultimately prevent Britain from revolution. Grey had a constant fear of a British revolution, provoked by the recent French revolution.
Outside of Parliament in South Eastern agrarian areas, there were serious riots. In the summer of 1830 disenfranchised villagers protested against the unrepresentative electoral system. The unrest such as the destruction of threshing-machines and the burning of corn, was not only a protest against being disenfranchised but also a political expression of hatred towards tithes and the administration of the Poor Law. The 1830 riots were specifically alarming to landowners in these areas because the South Eastern villages were always regarded as the most loyal part of the country and now that the Government had lost the support of its most loyal it needed to meet their demands of reform to stabilise the whole country. It has been considered that at this point Britain was on the brink of revolution and so the Reform Act was passed eventually in 1832 after being pressured by the public, ultimately as prevention against revolution.
Throughout 1830 Grey’s government suffered an agrarian crisis. Not only did Britain experience outbursts of violent instability but also the discontented were suffering from harvest failure. This inevitably led to high prices on goods and unemployment. The harvest failure caused a knock on effect resulting in a short term sharp deterioration in the economy. A declining economy leads to discontent and the Government had to resolve the discontent, one way to reduce discontent was too pass the Bill, although limited it still satisfied much of the demands of those who wished to reform the electoral system.
The greatest event inside Parliament to contribute to the legitimising of the Bill was the threat of replacement imposed upon the House of Lords. The Lords refused to pass the Bill because they were of a reactionary Tory majority and believed that the reform act would lead to liberals from the middle classes overthrowing the Aristocratic Peers. The Lords had an ultimate veto against the Bill and so Grey threatened to replace the whole chamber with new peers when the Lords used their veto. The Lords were reluctant to pass the bill but preferred the prospect of them passing the bill and keeping their membership of the House of Lords.
After the Lords passed the bill, William IV refused. Although he was regarded as more Liberal than the previous Monarch George IV, William was still too reactionary to give Royal consent. In desperation to pass the Bill Grey resigned this was an internal protest demanding for reformation of the electoral system.
The most influencing character was Grey himself, Prime Minister. All the events he encountered inside Parliament were attempts to pass an act to reform the electoral system. Had Grey not had the support of the public outside Parliament he would not have been successful with his campaign inside Parliament.
