Robert Peel In 1830 the Whigs finally returned to power and Peel became a member of the Opposition for the first time. After successive election defeats, leadership of the Conservative Party gradually passed from Wellington to Peel, and when King William IV asked Wellington to become Prime Minister in November 1834, he declined and Peel was selected instead, with Wellington serving as caretaker until Peel took office. Peel then issued the Tamworth Manifesto (December 1834), laying down the principles upon which the modern British Conservative Party is based. His first ministry was a minority government, dependent on Whig support and with Peel
Prime minister hundred years, though Edward Heath in 1974 did delay his resignation while he explored whether he could form a government with Liberal party support. During the period between the time it is clear that the incumbent government has been defeated at a general election, and the actual swearing-in of the new prime minister by the monarch, governor-general, or president, that person is referred to as the "prime minister-elect" or "prime minister-designate". Neither term is strictly correct from a constitutional point of view, but they have wide acceptance. In a situation in which a ruling party elects or appoints a new