‘broad-bottom administration’

views updated

‘broad-bottom administration’ was the facetious name given to the coalition formed in December 1744, at the expense of Carteret and Pulteney. Henry Pelham, his brother Newcastle and Lord Hardwicke were joined by Chesterfield, George Lyttelton, Gower, Bedford, Hinde Cotton, and Dodington. The Pelhams promised to bring in William Pitt as soon as George II's dislike could be overcome. Hardwicke told the king that there was not one man left in the Commons ‘capable of leading or conducting an opposition’. The coalition represented a significant development in the rehabilitation of the Tories and the reunification of the Whigs. The opportunities given by the nickname to cartoonists were not overlooked.

J. A. Cannon