On November 1, 1845, Sir Robert Peel gathered his cabinet for an emergency meeting. The atmosphere was sour and ministers were divided. The prime minister, alarmed by the disaster of the Irish potato blight, believed the government needed to suspend the corn laws, which kept the price of grain (and thus of bread) high. A number of his colleagues were unpersuaded.

And, as it turned out, unpersuadable. Senior ministers, led by Lord Stanley, believed that the Conservative Party had to remain the party of protection, defending the livelihood of landowners and farmers. Peel, however, was convinced that suspension was the only way to help starving people.

In the end, in 1846, he succeeded in repealing the corn laws with the votes of the opposition, but