1857 United Kingdom general election

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The 1857 United Kingdom general election was held between 27 March 1857 to 24 April 1857, to elect members of the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Whigs, led by Lord Palmerston, won a majority in the House of Commons as the Conservative vote fell significantly. The election had been provoked by a vote of censure in Palmerston's government over his approach to the Arrow affair which led to the Second Opium War. The election also saw radical liberal John Bright lose his seat for his opposition to the Crimean War. There is no separate tally of votes or seats for the Peelites. They did not contest elections as an organised party but more as independent Free trade Conservatives with varying degrees of distance from the two main parties. According to A. J. P. Taylor: The general election of 1857 is unique in our history: the only election ever conducted as a simple plebiscite in favour of an individual. Even the "coupon" election of 1918 claimed to...

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