Robert Peel by Douglas Hurd
A Biography of the Famous Prime Minister and Political Reformer
While 2007 was dominated by the misery memoir, a time when any tale of depravation and a terrible childhood was a sure-fire bestseller, so 2008 could well be shaping up to be the year of the chart topping political biography. William Hague has considered William Wilberforce while his wife Ffion opted for Lloyd George, Richard Holmes has tackled Lord Marlborough, Alastair Campbell as chronicled The Blair Years, and now Conservative elder statesman Douglas Hurd has taken a turn with his biography of Robert Peel.
Thankfully the popularity of the genre has caused no adverse impact on the quality of the material produced. Hurd’s Robert Peel is an excellent biography: meticulous, thoroughly researched, highly informative and eminently readable.
Robert Peel
Those British Prime Ministers who have achieved lasting popularity have [with the notable exception of the penultimate one] by and large been wartime leaders who were able to rally their people bravery against the tyranny of foreign oppression. At the very least they have been charismatic individuals whose showy personalities have been able to drum up a lasting cult of personality. Robert Peel comes under neither of these headings and yet he has steadfastly remained one of the most enduringly popular and respected Prime Ministers of all time.
In Robert Peel Hurd concentrates on what he considers to be Peel’s three greatest political achievements and, in so doing, provides an insight into Peel’s popularity and impact on the national and international political outlook of Britain.
Although Peel was a Tory, he was something of a moderate one who was noted (and derided in some circles) for switching opinions from the traditional party line to a more reformist outlook. One of Peel’s first great achievements, and the one that started to make cracks appear in the Tory party, was the Catholic Emancipation Act which resulted in Catholics finally being able to attend university, join the professions and take part in parliamentary elections.
Even more controversial, and the move that finally caused an irreparable split in the Tory party, was Peel’s decision to repeal the Corn Laws [laws which imposed high import tariffs on cheaply imported grain and so protected the interests of the rich landowning farmers]. Although the repeal cost Peel the support of many of the old landowning families, it ensured great popular support from the poor, the working classes and the middle classes who made their livings from manufacturing. Simply put, the end of the Corn Laws meant a decrease in the price of bread and so the poor could afford to eat. It also meant that Britain had entered the era of free trade and begun the spread of globalisation. As Prince Albert commented, Peel’s actions in repealing the Corn Laws resulted in the removing of “all protection and abolishing all monopoly, but not in favour of one class, and as a triumph over another, but to the benefit of the nation, farmers as well as manufacturers”.
Perhaps Peel’s greatest achievement, and certainly the one that is name is still most popularly associated with, was the establishment of the first police force, the creation of the Bobbies on the beat. Even the upper classes were pleased by moves towards the official protection of law and order. Hurd quotes Lady Palmerston as saying “there never was such a good invention as that new police. Peele ought to have a statue raised to him if for nothing else”. It is a shame that such a glowering commendation has to include the incorrect spelling of Peel’s name but that’s the aristocracy for you.
A Great Statesman
Hurd acknowledges that Peel “was not an original mind, but he was quick to assimilate and act on the ideas of others” and that, no doubt, was the secret of Peel’s success – he was “a doer, happiest when putting ideas into action”. Although Peel did ultimately switch sides on a number of issues, if he had not done then surely Britain would be the poorer for it. Hurd has done an excellent job at demonstrating the importance of Peel’s political achievements; he presided over world-changing events even if they were not the action packed happenings that popular history often prefers.
The private life of Robert Peel is also covered in appropriate detail, no mean feat when the subject of the biography is as notoriously private and understated as Peel, as well as the popular opinion of the man that existed during his lifetime. Hurd probably has the best working knowledge of the Conservative party of any of the politicians writing today and so he is able to pepper this biography of Peel with political allegories and modern titbits which are always interesting if not directly relevant to the text.
Robert Peel is one of the best of the current crop of political biographies and is a fascinating read.
Robert Peel: A Biography by Douglas Hurd
ISBN 978-0753823842, Phoenix, 2008, £14.99, pp 448
