Drawing on hitherto neglected local archives and the records of election solicitors, Dr Salmon demonstrates how the Reform Act's practical details, far from being mere 'small print', had a profound impact on borough and county politics. Combining computer-assisted electoral analysis with traditional methods, he traces the emergence of new types of voter partisanship and party organisation after 1832, and exposes key differences between the parties which resulted in a remarkable national recovery by the Conservative party. En passant he provides important new perspectives on issues such as MPs' relations with their constituents, the expense and culture of popular politics after 1832, the electoral impact of railway development, and the role of 'deference voting' in the counties.

This highly original and wide-ranging study shows how the Reform Act politicised the electorate and caused nationally-oriented party structures to multiply through all levels of British politics, from the parish vestry to the new board of guardians and elected town council. As a result a far more uniform political culture was established, which laid the constitutional foundations for the representative democracy of the Victorian era.

Dr PHILIP SALMON is a Research Fellow at the History of Parliament, University of London.  less