1-150-478 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

'Political Economy', 1866. Disraeli has dragged out of the 'Props Cupboard' his old banner which had last seen the light of day some seven years previously. The previous Liberal government had been brought down by the attacks on its reform plans by both MPs from its own party, and by the continuous attacks on its proposals by Disraeli. Now Lord Derby and Disraeli were back in power for the first time since 1859 when they had fallen from power whilst pursuing the same cause of parliamentary reform. Derby and Disraeli now believed that they could only retain parliamentary authority by taking over the banner of parliamentary reform again, a decision based on a general House of Commons agreement that, in principle, the cause of reform should be furthered by giving the previous Liberal government's proposals a second reading. From Punch, or the London Charivari, December 1, 1866.