came to nothing. Instead, there was a steady drift of MPs from the old pro-reform coalition to the Conservatives: some who had originally joined Stanley's group and others who went over independently. One estimate puts that number at least 50 MPs switching political allegiance between 1835 and 1841. For Stanley (now Lord Stanley) and the remaining 'Derby Dilly' supporters (about 20 MPs in by 1837), there was now a staged progression across to the Conservatives. That is best illustrated by Stanley's own movement across the political spectrum. In 1836, he resigned from the Whig-supporting 'Brooks's Club', officially because his old political enemy Daniel O'Connell had become a member, and by the next elections, in 1837, the remaining Stanleyites were reliant on Conservative support to get back into parliament. In November 1837 Stanley and Graham joined other Conservative MPs at a meeting prior to the opening of the new Parliament and in December, they had officially joined them and sat with Peel on the Opposition Front Bench. Lord Stanley finally sealed his new Conservative identity by becoming a member of the Tory 'Holy of Holies', the Conservative supporting Carlton Club. The remaining 'Derby Dilly' MPs were soon absorbed into the main Conservative Party. They included Lord George Bentinck, who was later better known for his alliance with Benjamin Disraeli in the 1840s against Peel on the issue of repealing the Corn Laws. Despite their Whig origins, Stanley, Bentinck and the former Radical Disraeli would ironically go on to break with Peel and take two thirds of his former party with them to recreate a new Conservative Party. References Robert Blake, The Conservative Party from Peel to Thatcher (Fontana 1985) J Parry, The Rise and Fall of Liberal Government in Victorian Britain (Yale University Press; New Ed edition 1996) Charles Greville, A journal of the reigns of King George IV and King William IV, Volume 2 (1875). John O’Connell, Recollections and experiences during a parliamentary career from 1833 to 1848'' (1849) Original from Oxford University Whig factions 1830s in the United Kingdom History of the Conservative Party (UK)