The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1705: Chapter 63: Carlton Hero _3

He didn’t rush to open it, just gently inspected the bottle before sitting down by himself.

While the others were chatting idly, Disraeli quickly sidled up to Arthur’s side. This half-drunk Jewish fellow lowered his voice and spoke into Arthur’s ear, ”Sir Robert Peel and the Duke of Wellington plan to hold a dinner banquet at Carlton Mansion tomorrow to celebrate the newly elected London MPs, and also to encourage candidates from other constituencies where the polls haven’t closed yet. Are you going?”

”Me?” Arthur said as he uncorked the bottle and poured himself a drink, ”Why should I go?”

”Are you really planning to just let this go as if you had nothing to do with it?” Disraeli, wide-eyed, responded, ”Ever since the Robert Cali memorial ceremony, who doesn’t know you played a role behind the scenes? Or do you plan to reconcile with Viscount Melbourne and Palmerston? Listen to me, Arthur, don’t hesitate — just join the Tory Party. With what you did this time, Sir Robert Peel and the Duke of Wellington certainly have noticed. They even asked me about you yesterday; their words implied that the party might even send you to a safe constituency in the next election if you’re willing.”

”A safe constituency?”

In years past, Arthur might have been tempted by such a proposition, but now, he looked down upon it. He replied half earnestly, ”Lord Brougham has also talked to me about similar topics before, and I don’t think the Tory constituencies are any nobler than Westminster.”

”Westminster?” Disraeli was momentarily stunned before quickly accepting Arthur’s perspective, ”Indeed... If Lord Brougham is willing, giving you one of the two seats in Westminster isn’t out of the question. Or, they could send you back to run in your hometown of York... I remember Lord Brougham’s constituency is in York, right? He could hand it over to you, and then find another contesting district for himself...”

But turning around, Disraeli remembered the task entrusted to him by the newly formed Conservative Party, ”But that’s different, Arthur. Although Westminster has more prestige than a rural constituency, you must consider who the Prime Minister is right now. It’s Sir Robert Peel under His Majesty the King’s command to form a Cabinet, and being favored by the Prime Minister within the party means what? It means a Cabinet Minister position in the government.”

Arthur sipped his drink, crossed his legs, ”Vice Minister of State?”

”Of course.” Disraeli eyed him, ”Or did you expect a Cabinet Minister?”

”Benjamin.” Arthur knew Disraeli surely came with an agenda, but due to their friendship, he had to give him a reasonable explanation to take back: ”The Tory Party, or rather the Conservative Party, is confident of winning this election?”

”Well...”

Disraeli might boast to Heine, but he couldn’t just make empty promises in front of Arthur, especially as Arthur was well-informed about these matters.

It’s important to note that various events have compounded the electoral situation in London this time, so the actual results exceeded party expectations. Nevertheless, they still lost seats to the Whig Party, and in those city constituencies newly established by the 1832 parliamentary reform, the Tory Party stood at a disadvantage.

The parliamentary reform has been most detrimental to the Tory Party here. In the Whig Party’s reform plan, nearly all the abolished corrupt boroughs were Tory strongholds, while the newly established seats were completely under Whig control.

This reciprocal change accounts for close to two hundred seats.

Even though the Whig Party’s policies over the past two years have been unpopular in certain areas, bridging a gap of 200 seats isn’t something that can be reversed in one election.

According to current party estimates, even the most optimistic ones, they still predict losing around 80 seats in the Lower House compared to the Tory Party. This means Sir Robert Peel’s new government is bound to be crippled; without Whig support, they can’t smoothly propose bills in the Lower House.

As for the promise of giving Arthur the position of Vice Minister of State, fundamentally, it’s similar to the position of a Permanent Under-Secretary in White Hall divisions, only differing in who handles political versus administrative affairs.

And given Arthur’s temperament, he clearly prefers the latter to the former.

Moreover, delivering on this promise to Arthur is nearly impossible, as he did not run in this election, thus couldn’t be elected as MP.

Hence, for a newcomer just joining the Tory Party, regardless of how much Sir Robert Peel and the Duke of Wellington admire him, handing over the Vice Minister of State position immediately is clearly impossible.

If they were to act rashly, there would inevitably be sarcastic remarks within the party.

Such potential divisive situations are something that Sir Peel, who emphasizes party unity, absolutely cannot accept.

In other words, for Arthur to become the Vice Minister of State, he would have to wait until the next election, but after the next election, will Sir Robert Peel or the Duke of Wellington still be seated as Prime Minister?