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1857 United Kingdom general election
← 1852
27 March – 24 April 1857 (1857-03-27 – 1857-04-24)
1859 →
← outgoing members
elected members →
All 654 seats in the House of Commons 328 seats needed for a majority
First party
Second party
Leader
Viscount Palmerston
Earl of Derby
Party
Whig
Conservative
Leader since
6 February 1855
July 1846
Leader's seat
Tiverton
House of Lords
Last election
324 seats, 57.9%
330 seats, 41.9%
Seats won
377
264[1]
Seat change
53
66
Popular vote
464,127
239,712
Percentage
64.8%[n 1]
33.5%[n 1]
Swing
6.9%
8.4%
Colours denote the winning party—as shown in § Results
Prime Minister before election
Viscount Palmerston
Whig
Prime Minister after election
Viscount Palmerston
Whig
In the 1857 United Kingdom general election, 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.
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 be more than a plebiscite for Lloyd George; even Disraeli and Gladstone offered a clash of policies as well as of personalities. In 1857 there was no issue before the electorate except whether Palmerston should be Prime Minister; and no one could pretend that Palmerston had any policy except to be himself.[2]
1847 election
MPs
1852 election
MPs
1857 election
MPs
1859 election
MPs
1865 election
MPs
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^Including Peelites.
^A. J. P. Taylor, "Lord Palmerston," History Today (1951) 1#7 pp 35-41 at p. 38 online
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