Peel as Leader

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How successful was Peel as leader of the Conservative Party up until 1841? As leader of the Conservative Party up until 1841, Peel had three main aims; to unify the party, to identify it and to gain power. Ultimately, Peel was successful, he gained a sufficient amount of popularity and hence came into power with a massive majority in 1841, but beneath the surface there were some issues which Peel had turned a blind eye to; was this enough to render him an unsuccessful leader when weighed against all other aspects during this time period? No. Re-uniting the Conservative Party was one of the biggest issues facing Peel; the party had been ripped apart over many issues including Catholic Emancipation, which Peel himself was part of after having to write the bill – this already made him unpopular with the party which he was trying to lead, the Ultras in particular. Peels original attitude towards his leadership was that the members of the Party should agree with what he decided upon and if they did not, then they should not be members of the party and this continued during his time as Conservative leader, meaning that he turned his attention away from attempting to appease the Ultras and unite them with the remainder of the party. This shows Peel unsuccessful in actually uniting the party, but the split between the Ultras and the Moderates caused very little issue during this period – the rest of the party worked sufficiently and from this aspect, Peel was generally successful in his unification. Peel also faced the challenge of organising the party and in doing so, founded the basis of the modern political party system with the Carlton club. The Carlton Club put offices in each town so that the population could gather any information which they need and also speak to party members about further intentions and what they stand for. This proved popular with the voting
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