The Tory party had been lagging behind in politics for 20 years: because of the success of the Whigs free trade policies of the time, the Tories seemed outdated. And in many aspects this was the case: the Whigs supported reform in the constitution, the Tories were set firmly against it, whilst the Whigs favoured freedom for Ireland, the Tories were, again, set firmly against it; they were simply backing the wrong policies for a time of change and forward thinking. The economy was booming, with railways springing up all over the country and extremely fast population growth. The Whigs seemed to be doing everything right, and the Tories were only offering to reverse the policies that had brought Britain into the boom it was experiencing. Because of their protectionist policies, all they could hope for to get them out of their rut was a Whig failure, which didn’t come.
After the reform act, the Whigs were becoming an increasingly liberal and middle class party. This meant that a change in party politics was somewhat inevitable, and the formation of the Liberal party catered for this very well; it was a party with contemporary, forward thinking members, and it proved a good choice for the Whigs. The Liberal party represented the middle class businessmen of the country, a very profitable image for the Whigs.
The Liberal Party was finally formed on 6 June 1859, when the Whigs, Peelites and Radicals met at Willis’ Rooms to form a coalition government to overthrow the minority Conservative government. There were more than 300 party members present, with very diverse opinions and political beliefs.
The forming party consisted of many prominent political figures of the time, and it covered much of the political spectrum. On the middle left there were the Radicals- Bright (who was touring the country for publicity) and Cobden, towards the centre, Russel from the Whigs, to the middle right were the Peelites, including Cardwell and Herbert, publicly known for being articulate and very competent. They were lead by the somewhat unenthusiastic Gladstone. Together, lead by Palmerston, who was extremely competent if a little unpopular, they made a formidable party to oppose.
The all-star cast of the liberal party attracted voters from all backgrounds. With such diverse characters in one party, they catered for a broad range of the political spectrum; they covered the mid-left to mid-right of the political spectrum. Popular support for the liberals was there before they even formed; they had a firm electoral base in boroughs, their diversity of opinions and Radical members made them an appealing party in contemporary society. They represented businessmen, aristocrats, lawyers and philosophers, and thus were seen by voters as a party of business mentality, moral integrity, and administrative efficiency, this public opinion of them won many votes, and the growth of towns caused the Conservative’s rural vote to diminish. They had the vote of the “urban peasant”, and the growing number of moderately educated lower classes. The newspaper played a large part in the rise of liberalism, with newspapers widely and cheaply available through the new expansion of railroads throughout the country; liberal ideas were being spread very rapidly. And further more, the newspapers were cheap enough for the working classes to read daily; it was partly this reason that helped the liberals win the borough voters, although the cosmopolitan attitude was already relatively liberal, so the boroughs didn’t need much persuasion. They won the first election to take place after their coalition (1868) very comfortably.
All in all the Liberal party was formed because the prospective members wanted to unite to defeat the minority conservative party. they were, in general, far too competent to sit back in parliament as separate minority parties when they could take advantage of their mutual desire to take power, even if it meant putting contrasting political opinions aside.