Ingram was a staunch Liberal who favoured social reform. He announced in "The Illustrated London News" that the concern of the magazine would be "with the English poor" and the "three essential elements of discussion with us will be the poor laws, the factory laws, and the working of the mining system". Despite arguing the case for social reform, the paper claimed to be nonpartisan. Its first editorial had stated, "We commence our political discourse by a disavowal of the unconquerable aversion to the name of Party." However, this may have been no more than a desire to gain the widest possible readership, because as time progressed, the paper displayed its Whig inclination. It showed moderation and caution in its reportage and this extended to that of the Irish Famine, which was largely sympathetic, even if not quite able to denounce the inadequacy of government policy or the ideas of prevailing economic or political orthodoxy. It had none of the overt negative stereotyping found in the most acerbic "Punch" cartoons. Overall, it shoed an attitude that England had a responsibility towards the victims of what was largely interpreted as a natural disaster.