Page "Benjamin Disraeli" Paragraph 19

Although a Conservative, Disraeli was sympathetic to some of the demands of the Chartists and argued for an alliance between the landed aristocracy and the working class against the increasing power of the merchants and new industrialists in the middle class, helping to found the Young England group in 1842 to promote the view that the landed interests should use their power to protect the poor from exploitation by middle-class businessmen.

During the twenty years between the Corn Laws and the Second Reform Bill Disraeli would seek a Tory-Radical alliance, to little avail.

Prior to the 1867 Reform Bill the working class did not possess the vote and therefore had little tangible political power.

Although Disraeli forged a personal friendship with John Bright, a Lancashire manufacturer and leading Radical, Disraeli was unable to convince Bright to sacrifice principle for political gain.

After one such attempt, Bright noted in his diary that Disraeli " seems unable to comprehend the morality of our political course.