List of successful votes of no confidence in British governments
The first motion of no confidence to defeat a ministry was in 1742 against the Whig government of Robert Walpole, who is generally regarded as the de facto first prime minister.
In January 1742, the government introduced in a petition against the return of two Members of Parliament for Chippenham in recently held by-elections.
Walpole had been created Earl of Orford by King George II on 6 February and left the House of Commons.
After the defeat of the British troops in the Siege of Yorktown, Henry Seymour Conway, a Whig MP, introduced into Parliament a motion to end "the further prosecution of offensive warfare" in America.
He enjoyed the support of King George III but was opposed and attacked by Charles James Fox and the Whigs in Parliament.
On 2 February, Thomas Coke, a Whig MP, proposed in the House of Commons a motion that the "continuance of the ministers in office" is an obstacle to an "efficient, united and extended administration" of the country.
Despite these series of defeats in the House of Commons, Pitt resolutely remained in office, watching the Opposition's majority shrink.
This was the first time that a prime minister avoided resignation by asking for a dissolution of Parliament and created an important precedent for future political practices.
Sir Henry Parnell, Bt, a Whig MP, proposed conversely an inquiry into the details of the Civil List before it went into the committee.
King William IV invited Whig leader Lord Grey to form a government which was to propose the Great Reform Act 1832.
The following general election did not change this situation, which left the Conservative Party over 100 seats shorter than the Whigs in the House of Commons.
On 7 April, Ralph Bernal, a Whig MP, brought up a Report of the Committee of the House on the Church of Ireland.
[10] Peel resigned on the next day and King William IV invited Whig leader Lord Melbourne to become Prime Minister and form a government.
On 27 May 1841, Robert Peel, leader of the Conservative Party, introduced in the House of Commons a motion of no confidence against the Melbourne government.
The Whig Party lost 70-odd seats in the following general election, and the government was defeated in a further vote of no confidence on 27 August.
He resigned on 30 August, and the Queen invited Conservative leader Robert Peel to become Prime Minister and form a government.
In order to relieve the suffering caused by the Great Famine in Ireland, he decided in 1845 to repeal the Corn Laws which were passed in 1815 to protect British agricultural production by restrictions on grain imports.
The Conservative free-traders, including Lord Aberdeen and William Gladstone, followed Peel to form a distinct faction called the "Peelites".
On 20 February 1851, Whig MP Peter King brought a motion in the House of Commons to "make the franchise in counties in England and Wales the same as that in boroughs, by giving the right of voting to all occupiers of tenements of the annual value of £10."
[23] Russell resigned on the next day and Queen Victoria asked Conservative leader Lord Derby to form a minority government.
On 3 December 1852, Chancellor of the Exchequer Benjamin Disraeli proposed the budget for the financial year of 1853–54, in which he increased the house tax.
George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen became Prime Minister in December 1852 and formed a coalition government of Peelites and Whigs.
On 26 January 1855, John Arthur Roebuck, a radical MP, proposed in the House of Commons to appoint a select committee to inquire into the condition of the British Army and into the government's conduct of war administration.
Following Felice Orsini's attempt, backed by English radicals, to assassinate Napoleon III in Paris, Palmerston introduced a Conspiracy to Murder Bill to increase the criminal penalties in England.
However, the Liberal Party held the majority in the House, and Benjamin Disraeli refused to form a minority Conservative government.
The government lacked a majority, but was not able to immediately dissolve as the changes to the franchise and constituency boundaries in the Reform Act had not yet become law.
On 26 January, Jesse Collings, Liberal MP for Ipswich moved an amendment "expressing regret that no measures were announced [in the Queen's Speech] for the present relief of those suffering under economic pressures, especially for affording facilities to the agricultural labourers and others in the rural districts to obtain allotments and small holdings on equitable terms as to rent and security of tenure.
[44] Although the actual motion of censure moved by Robert Horne MP in the terms "That the conduct of His Majesty's Government in relation to the institution and subsequent withdrawal of criminal proceedings against the editor of the 'Workers' Weekly' is deserving of the censure of this House" was expressly rejected by 198 votes to 359 (a notional Government majority of 161), an alternative motion proposed by John Simon MP "That a Select Committee be appointed to investigate and report upon the circumstances leading up to the withdrawal of the proceedings recently instituted by the Director of Public Prosecutions against Mr. Campbell" was passed by 364 to 198.
[45] The government however, had made clear that they regarded both motions as votes of confidence[46] and thus MacDonald requested and obtained a dissolution on the following day.
Dominated by the publication of the controversial Zinoviev letter shortly before polling day and scares over Labour connections with Bolshevik Russia, the Conservatives were returned to power with a majority of 208.
