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
Earl Peel of Works from 1924-28. At the same time, he was created Viscount Clanfield, of Clanfield in the County of Southampton, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. He was the son of Arthur Wellesley Peel, 1st Viscount Peel, who served as Speaker of the House of Commons between 1884 and 1895, and was created Viscount Peel, of Sandy in the County of Bedford, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1895. The first Viscount Peel was the fifth son of Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, of Drayton Manor (see below for earlier history of the family).