In the 1840s, the Conservative linked Irish Metropolitan Conservative Society supported Daniel O'Connell's call for repeal of the Act of Union, believing that a resurrected Irish parliament would offer the best chance to defend Protestant and/or unionist interests.
The English Tory Sir Robert Peel's second ministry sent food shipments to Ireland from late 1845.
[2] However Peel lost power in 1846 to the Liberal Whig Lord John Russell, when his party split over reforming the Corn Laws.
Russell was an old ally of O'Connell, and his new government preferred a laissez-faire policy of not sending food to the starving poor.
Note: Results from Ireland for the UK general elections contested by the Irish Conservative Party.