History of liberalism electoral reform was provided by "Philosophical radicals" who followed the utilitarian philosophy of Jeremy Bentham and strongly supported parliamentary reform, but were generally hostile to the arguments and tactics of the "popular radicals". Improved economic conditions after 1821, improvements in economic and criminal law and the abandoning of policies of repression led to decreasing polarisation and a more consensual form of reform politics that was to dominate in Britain for the next two centuries. In 1823 Jeremy Bentham co-founded the "Westminster Review" with James Mill as a journal for "philosophical radicals", setting out the utilitarian philosophy. The Reform Act 1832
Jeremy Bentham a largely private offence – public displays or forced acts being dealt with rightly by other laws. When the essay was published in the "Journal of Homosexuality" in 1978, the "Abstract" stated that Bentham's essay was the "first known argument for homosexual law reform in England". For Bentham, transparency had moral value. For example, journalism puts power-holders under moral scrutiny. However, Bentham wanted such transparency to apply to everyone. This he describes by picturing the world as a gymnasium in which each "gesture, every turn of limb or feature, in those whose motions have a visible impact on the general