The Rise and Fall of Liberal Government in Victorian Britain.

THIS volume, part textbook and part personal interpretation, suffers from problems of organization and nomenclature. It does not deal with all Liberal government in Victorian Britain, as its detailed treatment stops at 1886, thus omitting the 1892-5 ministries. On the other hand, it does deal with government (most of it not by the Liberal party) in the sixteen years preceding Victoria's accession. In fact, some 120 of the 311 pages of text have been traversed before we reach 1837, the start of Victorian Britain. Historical accuracy is not amded by such promiscuous and overflowing use of 'Victorian'. Moreover, Dr Parry generally goes for the 'big L' rather than the small one: his account is meant to be about Liberal, rather than simply liberal, government. It seems incongruous, therefore, to give so much detail about liberal Toryism in the 1820s, which is treated as an integral part of this 'Liberal' book. Liberal Toryism was of vital importance, as it began the general liberal trend in British government which has continued to the present day. But after 1830 liberal Conservatism receives short shrift in the book. There is a good brief chapter on 'Peel's legacy', but hardly anything on the important reforms of Disraeli, Peel's successor in the adoption of liberal Conservative policies. This results in Conservative reforms being …