Historians have referred to the period between the first and second Reform Acts as the “golden age of the private MP.” Although this phrase would certainly be a misleading guide to the private member's procedural status, which declined significantly in this period (see Chapter 6), it does convey some idea of the prestige which the private member enjoyed. This prestige was based in part on a conception of the member of Parliament as an independent and significant agent in the “grand inquest of the nation.” Parliamentary independence was in vogue, especially after the Peelites broke off from the Conservatives in 1846: “If there was one attitude that the Peelites popularized and made fashionable, it was that even the most mute backbencher, when it came to a division, had a duty to vote his conscience and his sense of honor” (Jones and Erickson 1972: 222–23). In keeping with this attitude, many MPs emphasized in their election addresses that they would take an “independent” stance in the Commons, or give “independent support to Liberal (or Conservative) principles.” And, in Parliament, party discipline reached its lowest measured levels in the twenty years after the repeal of the Corn Laws.

It is the marked increase in levels of discipline after this mid-century nadir that has attracted the attention of journalists and scholars since the 1870s. Precise measurement of the increase in discipline has lagged behind recognition, however, and is still very incomplete for the period before 1885.