Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby led the "Who? Who?" ministry, a short-lived British Conservative government which was in power for a matter of months in 1852. Lord Derby was Prime Minister and Benjamin Disraeli served as Chancellor of the Exchequer. It marked the first time the protectionist wing of the Conservative Party had taken office since the Corn Laws schism of 1846. It is also called the First Derby–Disraeli ministry.[1]
Early in 1852 Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, by then very deaf, gave Derby's first government its nickname by shouting "Who? Who?" as the list of inexperienced cabinet ministers was read out in the House of Lords.[2][3]
- ^ Tout, T. F. (1910). An advanced history of Great Britain from the earliest times to the death of Edward VII. New York: Longmans, Green. pp. 740-741. OL 13991885M.
- ^ Bloy, Marjorie (2011). "Biography-Edward George Geoffrey Smith Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby (1799–1869)". A Web of English History. Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
- ^ "A Web of English History". Retrieved 4 June 2011.