Successes and Failures of Benjamin Disraeli’s Rhetoric and Heresthetics: Corn Laws, Franchise, and Empire

It is not news that Benjamin Disraeli was a reckless and shape-shifting politician. This chapter claims that he was one of those rare shape-shifters who practised what has been called ‘heresthetics’, namely the art and science of turning a losing position to a winning one. His manoeuvres in 1846 (Co...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Iain McLean
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée 2025-04-01
Series:Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
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Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/cve/15562
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Summary:It is not news that Benjamin Disraeli was a reckless and shape-shifting politician. This chapter claims that he was one of those rare shape-shifters who practised what has been called ‘heresthetics’, namely the art and science of turning a losing position to a winning one. His manoeuvres in 1846 (Corn Laws), 1867‒68 (Reform) and 1876 (Royal Title Bill) show him at his heresthetic finest. Although it took him 30 years, he both destroyed and rebuilt the Conservative Party.
ISSN:0220-5610
2271-6149