This is an exploration of the conflict between Whig politicians and London radicals in metropolitan government.

This is an important study of British radicalism in the years between the collapse of Chartism in 1848 and the rise of Gladstonian liberalism in the 1860s. Taylor begins by examining the rise of radicalism in the 1830s and 1840s, arguing that it was the 1832 Reform Act which invigorated radicalism, by enlarging the powers of Parliament and increasing the need for independent MPs. Set against the backdrop of revolution and reaction in Europe, the Crimean War, and the Indian Mutiny, this wide-ranging book looks at how and why radicalism lost its hold on British politics.