Earl of Derby Conservative Earl of Derby Conservative The 1852 United Kingdom general election was held between 7 July 1852 and 31 July 1852 to elect members of the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament of the United Kingdom.

However, a split between Protectionist Tories, led by the Earl of Derby, and the Peelites who supported Lord Aberdeen made the formation of a majority government very difficult.

This accounts for the fact that there were two fewer seats in the House of Commons as compared to the previous election, though no redistribution took place.

In June 1846, when Peel was the Prime Minister of a Tory government, he led a group of Tory/Conservatives to vote with the minority Whigs against a majority of his own party.

For some parliamentary leaders, like John Bright, Richard Cobden and Charles Pelham Villiers, the repeal of tariffs on imported corn was not enough.

The effect of this split was felt in the election of July–August 1847, when the Whig party won a 53.8% majority of seats in Parliament.

An opportunity for the opposition arose in December 1852, when the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Benjamin Disraeli, introduced the budget of the Derby minority government.

The budget also extended the income tax to the Irish middle class, angering some of the members from Ireland who had supported the minority government on the Irish Church issue and were opposed to the previous Prime Minister, the Liberal leader Lord John Russell.

This government served until 30 January 1855, when it too collapsed due to issues surrounding British involvement in the Crimean War.

[5] While the Conservatives had, in theory, a slim majority over the Whigs, the party was divided between Protectionist and Peelite wings: the former numbered about 290 and the latter 35–40.