10 June 1859

Lord Derby is defeated on a vote of no confidence

A motion of no confidence in Lord Derby’s Conservative government is passed by the House of Commons by 323 to 310 votes. The motion, moved three days earlier by the rising young Whig star Lord Hartington, resulted from the meeting the day before when leading Whigs, Radicals and Peelites met in Willis’s Rooms and agreed to co-operate in a move to remove Derby and his government from office. The day after the vote, Derby’s cabinet resigned and a day later, after an attempt by Queen Victoria to saddle the country with a government led by Lord Granville, Lord Palmerston became Prime Minister.