[1] While the principle of a return to gold became broadly accepted, its implementation was repeatedly postponed, until in 1819 public outrage forced the establishment of a committee to review the matter, chaired by Sir Robert Peel.

[2] Initially proclaiming himself a neutral on the matter – "I voted with Van in 1811"[3] – Peel soon swung his weight behind the Bullionist call for a return to what was seen as the sound and honest money of the gold standard.

Opposition to "Peel's Bill" was widespread among financiers, businessmen, and industrialists alike, who saw it as a potentially deflationary move:[4] among them, perhaps only Manchester's cotton merchants, looking to export more cheaply, were in favour.

[10] The Radical William Cobbett helped crystallise feeling with his slogan "The farmer versus the fundholder"; the Whig Sir James Graham published a best seller lambasting "an administration, more connected with annuities than land", and the Tory banker Thomas Attwood set up the Birmingham Political Union to reform Parliament and rid it of rentier power exercised through rotten boroughs.

[11] Backbench dissatisfaction on the currency question helped bring down the Pittite regime and pass the Great Reform Act, and in 1833 the new Parliament saw an attempt by Attwood, backed by both Radicals and Ultra Tories, to undo the gold standard, narrowly defeated by an alliance of both front benches.