Page "Benjamin Disraeli" Paragraph 51

Disraeli and Gladstone clashed over Britain's Balkan policy.

Disraeli saw the situation as a matter of British imperial and strategic interests, keeping to Palmerston's policy of supporting the Ottoman Empire against Russian expansion.

According to Blake, Disraeli believed in upholding Britain's greatness through a tough, " no nonsense " foreign policy that put Britain's interests above the " moral law " that advocated emancipation of small nations.

Gladstone, however, saw the issue in moral terms, for Bulgarian Christians had been massacred by the Turks and Gladstone therefore believed it was immoral to support the Ottoman Empire.

Blake further argued that Disraeli's imperialism " decisively orientated the Conservative party for many years to come, and the tradition which he started was probably a bigger electoral asset in winning working-class support during the last quarter of the century than anything else ".