Who? Who? Ministry

Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1852, 1858-1859, 1866-1868.

The First Derby Ministry, known as the "Who? Who?" Ministry, was a short-lived British Conservative Government which was in power for a matter of months in 1852. Lord Derby was the Prime Minister and Benjamin Disraeli served as Chancellor of the Exchequer. It marked the first time the protectionist wing of the Tory party had taken office since the Corn Laws schism of 1846.

History

After the fall of Lord John Russell's Whig government in early 1852, the Tory leader Lord Derby formed a government. The conservatives had been weakened by the defection of the Peelites, and many of the new Cabinet ministers were men of little experience. The government became known as the Who? Who? Ministry due to the lack of prominence of its ministers. The government was in a significant minority, and lasted less than a year, collapsing in December. The Whigs and Peelites then formed a coalition government under the Peelite leader Lord Aberdeen.

Though the government had little impact, it gained infamy through its plethora of new political names, which demonstrated the relative inexperience of the party. Only four members of the Cabinet (Derby himself, St Leonards, Lonsdale, and Herries) were existing Privy Councillors and many others were complete political unknowns. This led the then octogenarian and largely deaf Duke of Wellington, then in his last year, to shout out "Who?", "Who?" as each new cabinet member was announced in the House of Lords.^[1]

Cabinet

February 1852 - December 1852

List of Ministers

Cabinet members are listed in bold face.

References

• C. Cook and B. Keith, British Historical Facts 1830-1900

External links

• Lord Derby looses bigotry on the streets - Manchester Guardian, Saturday July 3, 1852”

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