Lichfield House Compact

The Lichfield House Compact was an 1835 agreement between the Whig government, the Irish Repeal Party (led by Daniel O'Connell) and the Radicals to act as one body against the Conservative Party.

The Compact has been argued by historians such as Robert Stewart[1] to have been the moment of formation of the Liberal Party.

A number of supporters of Daniel O'Connell saw this agreement as a betrayal of their hopes for a repeal of the Act of Union.

However, the Whigs and their Radical and Repeal allies won a majority in the January 1835 general election, and in April their leader Lord Melbourne replaced Peel as Prime Minister.

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