Two closely related problems dominated the thinking of the Newcastle and Rockingham whigs after the political disasters of 1762. The first of these was the question of the fate of the whig party. Because the Rockinghams saw the battle between government and opposition as a struggle between tory and whig, it was not difficult for them to agree with others in opposition who urged that ttee whig party ought to be united against the threat of a (putative) new toryism. This, after all, was merely the application, in opposition, of a tried and well-worn tactic which the whig alliance had used when it had dominated officeholding. But, throughout the first decade of George III's reign, there was very considerable disagreement amongst those who selfconsciously opposed the ‘new toryism’, about both the ideological complexion of the whig party and the composition of its leadership. Tensions that had usually, though by no means invariably, remained covert before 1761 were now, in the adverse circumstance of opposition, made quite explicit.