1-150-188 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

'A game of foot-ball as played by certain Westminster boys', 1858. In this cartoon, Derby (in the crown) is on the left with Disraeli representing the Tories, whilst Palmerston (the former prime minister) and Lord John Russell (the little one) are on the right and representing the Liberal Party, a newly developing party forming from Whigs and Peelites. Mr Punch held the view that India was being made the football of British politics during 1858. Two separate India Bills had recently been introduced, but both had been abandoned to avoid destabilising Lord Derby's new minority government. From Punch, or the London Charivari, May 29, 1858.