The preceding chapter has shown quite clearly that party discipline in the House of Commons increased from the 1850s to the 1870s. This chapter asks if an explanation for this increase can be found by examining the prior decline in discipline, from 1836 to the 1850s. This decline is generally attributed to the controversy over the Corn Laws and the resulting break-up of the Conservative party. If this explanation is correct, one might expect that when the split in Conservative ranks had been resolved, discipline would recover. Hence, some portion of the post-1850 increase might be accounted for by a simple recovery or rebound theory. Because Liberal cohesion was almost constant over the 1836–60 period, falling only slightly, notions of recovery are not attractive as an explanation for the increase in Liberal discipline over the 1860–81 period, which appears to be a first-time phenomenon. But trends in Conservative discipline (Tables 3.1–3.2) show a considerable dip from 1836 to 1850 and 1860, and “recovery” may be an apt explanation of the trend from 1860 to 1871. In order to assess this idea, we must first briefly examine what the effects of the split in Conservative ranks were, and when these effects began and ended.

The schism in the Conservative party came in the Parliament of 1841–47 when Sir Robert Peel, then Conservative leader, introduced and passed a bill repealing the Corn Laws (with the aid of the Whigs).