Page "Benjamin Disraeli" Paragraph 47

After six years in opposition, Disraeli and the Conservative Party won the election of 1874, giving the party its first absolute majority in the House of Commons since the 1840s.

Under the stewardship of R. A.

Cross, the Home Secretary, Disraeli's government introduced various reforms, including the Artisan's and Labourers ' Dwellings Improvement Act 1875, the Public Health Act 1875, the Sale of Food and Drugs Act ( 1875 ), and the Education Act ( 1876 ).

His government also introduced a new Factory Act meant to protect workers, the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act 1875 to allow peaceful picketing, and the Employers and Workmen Act ( 1875 ) to enable workers to sue employers in the civil courts if they broke legal contracts.

As a result of these social reforms the Liberal-Labour MP Alexander Macdonald told his constituents in 1879, " The Conservative party have done more for the working classes in five years than the Liberals have in fifty.