UK Party Politics - Whigs and Tories - Exclusion to The Reform Act

David and Roifield go over the start of UK party politics from Exclusion Crisis to the Great Reform act of 1832


  • Make the point that the growth of political parties is closely linked to the growth in the power of parliaments in Britain, and the exercise of politics in parliament rather than court, in the public eye (importance of war in that process)
  • What are political parties?  A few definitions
  • Parliamentary politics before the Stuarts & the shock of the Civil Wars, & the arrival of adversarial parliaments; the concept of representation & involvement in politics
  • The Exclusion crisis and the Glorious Revolutions: The appearance of Whig and Tory, and what they stood for
  • The Whig Dominance, Hanoverians, Walpole and the unconstitutional office of PM
  • George III and the attempt to turn back the clock – putting the Bute in
  • Pitt, the French Revolution and Tory dominance 
  • The Great Reform Act & it’s impact.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.