Benjamin Disraeli: progressing in politics

Benjamin Disraeli has been called the most gifted Parliamentarian of the 19th century and a first class orator, writer and wit.

Twice Prime Minister, he played a major part in the creation of the modern Conservative Party. He also made the Tories the party most identified with the glory and power of the British Empire: he brought India and the Suez Canal under the control of the British crown.

Reading in Disraeli: a Personal History by Christopher Hibbert about Disraeli’s rise from relative obscurity to international renown and what he called ‘the top of the greasy pole’ makes me wonder how he did it, why he did it and which, if any, subterranean forces were at work to move him into such a high position. These articles are a record of my attempts to understand what was going on and to answer those questions.

Getting in: the political party lottery

Although Disraeli may have decided on a political career in 1826, he didn’t do much about it until 1832. This was after his return from the Grand Tour of Europe and the Orient, a tour that restored him to health.

His long term goal was to become Prime Minister.

The first step in this direction was to get into the House of Commons as a Member of Parliament.  This entailed deciding which of the three political parties to campaign for.

The Tory, or Conservative, Party was considered to be worn out at the time, a lost cause, and Disraeli didn’t want to attach himself to a falling star; he couldn’t bring himself to be a Whig (who became the Liberals), so in 1832 he decided that he would campaign as a Radical.

After making a few unsuccessful attempts to get into Parliament by standing as an Independent Radical, in 1835 Disraeli changed his political affiliations and campaigned as a Tory.

For Disraeli, the end was much more important than the means; he felt that he had to do whatever it took to reach his goal. He was in no position to have scruples. Perhaps he changed parties because he felt that time was running out; he was going nowhere with the Radicals so had not got much to lose by joining the Conservatives.

He lost a by-election in 1835. He was then offered the safe seat of Maidstone, and easily defeated his Whig opponent in the general election of 1837.

He was in! He had finally made it at the age of 32. His decision to switch parties had paid off.

The Conservatives, while still a minority in Parliament, made large gains in this election; their star was on the rise again.

Criticism of the traitor

Disraeli was condemned by some of his former Radical colleagues for his pragmatism and expediency. The Irish MP Daniel O’Connell was outraged by Disraeli’s treachery and said this about him:

“a reptile... just fit now, after being twice discarded by the people, to become a Conservative. He possesses all the necessary requisites of perfidy, selfishness, depravity, want of principle, etc., which would qualify him for the change.”

In other words, Benjamin Disraeli and the Conservatives deserved each other!

Perhaps Disraeli believed that while commitment, selflessness, honour and integrity and similar attributes were all very well for privileged people in high positions, for him they were luxuries that he couldn’t afford.

Perhaps Disraeli felt he had no time to lose; he needed to make up for the wasted years and was under immense inner pressure to be spectacularly successful as compensation for all the failed enterprises. He still had it all to do.

He didn’t have the advantages of the Lords, Earls, Dukes and Viscounts who filled the list of British Prime Ministers.

Lord Melbourne had told him that only aristocrats such as these, bluebloods with their own fortunes who were educated at the top schools, were suitable for and able to attain this high office. Disraeli was determined to prove him wrong.

If this meant letting his Radical colleagues down and behaving badly by the standards of English gentlemen, this was just too bad.

What Daniel O’Connell said about Benjamin Disraeli was nothing compared to what was later said about him during his long journey to Number 10 Downing Street.

Getting on: the long walk to the summit

It took Benjamin Disraeli over 30 years to achieve his ambition.

He was Leader of the Opposition by 1848; he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1852; he became Prime Minister for the first time in 1868.

It is ironic that he should be involved with the country’s finances considering how debt-ridden he was for much of his life.

I don’t know how much of this advancement can be attributed to merit and recognition of his talents and how much to manipulation and opportunism. It is probably a mixture of both.

Huge amounts of persistence, determination and ambition, not to mention low cunning, would have been required. Perhaps Disraeli had an overwhelming compulsion to get to the top, show the lot of them and pay them all back.

Luck, chance and political, social and economic factors outside his control may have been involved too. Sometimes it is just a matter of being the right man in the right place at the right time.

While he had many detractors and enemies, Disraeli also had many friends and allies in high places who helped to further his interests.

Disraeli won the heart and support of Queen Victoria. In return, he made her Empress of India. In return, she made him Earl of Beaconsfield.

He benefitted immensely from a very happy marriage with a rich and very supportive woman. She cleared many of his debts.

His career in politics was the most important feature in his sister Sarah’s life, and she was always there for him in the early years.

He befriended an elderly lady who left him a large legacy when she died.

Is all this enough to explain how such a man, originally a nonentity in the eyes of the right people and often suffering from poor health, could achieve what he did?

Dead men on Disraeli’s path

Getting something at other people’s expense is a warning signal to me.

In Disraeli’s case the possible victims were William Meredith, his sister Sarah's fiancé who died, and Wyndham Lewis, the man who died suddenly and unexpectedly, which tragic event left his rich widow free to marry Disraeli.

There is also the unidentified man his sister might have married if he hadn’t died too.

William Meredith and Benjamin Disraeli were friends. They travelled widely together. Their tour ended when Meredith died of smallpox in Cairo. He was 29 years old. 

Disraeli was devastated by this tragedy, both on his own behalf and that of his sister, but the end result was that he did not have to share her with the family she might otherwise have had. He remained the most important man in his sister’s life and retained all her undivided loyalty, support, attention and interest in his career.

It is likely that, just as Margaret Thatcher would probably never have become Prime Minister if she had not married a rich man, Benjamin Disraeli might never have made it to the top if he had not married a rich woman.

Wyndham Lewis did a lot more for Disraeli than conveniently dying at the age of 57, less than a year after Disraeli first entered Parliament.

The two men were close political associates. Lewis became MP for Maidstone in Kent in 1835. In 1837, the year of the general election, he arranged for Disraeli to stand alongside him in this safe-seat, two-member constituency. They shared a platform and campaigned together, and Lewis bankrolled Disraeli’s electioneering expenses. 

They both gained their seats.

Perhaps Disraeli would never have got into Parliament without Wyndham Lewis’s help and encouragement. It is unlikely that he would have remained there without the help and encouragement of the former Mrs Wyndham Lewis.

Were these convenient deaths just a result of chance and bad luck, or were they some kind of sacrifice?

There is still more to say about the man who, despite acting primarily from self-interest, had some attractive features, enhanced many people’s lives and made many memorable quotations.