Leader of the House of Commons 1812–22

Abstract

The Leadership of the House of Commons is the least explored aspect of Castlereagh’s career; it is also one of the most criticised. It coincided with one of the greatest eras of popular distress and discontent in British history. Yet even this phase of his career has its admirers. Sir Charles Webster has described him as the best manager of the Commons since Walpole,¹ and indeed once one has cut through party prejudice, a remarkable degree of unanimity is to be found among contemporary opinion. Creevey, one of his arch-critics, thought party management his only talent. ‘[He] managed a corrupt House of Commons pretty well, with some address. This is the whole of his intellectual merit.’ Greville, who confessed to little personal knowledge of Castlereagh, made a determined effort to sum up his career from the opinions of others. He concluded, ‘I believe he was considered one of the best managers of the House of Commons who ever sat in it, and he was eminently possessed of the good taste, good humour, and agreeable manners which are more requisite to make a good leader than eloquence, however brilliant.’ Lord John Russell, looking back over his vast experience of parliamentary life, remarked, ‘yet I never knew two men who had more influence in the House of Commons than Lord Castlereagh and Lord Althorp’.