Politics in Britain at the end of the eighteenth century was described as the “Old Corruption”. The state was, at every level, in the hands of the great landowners and their allies. It was used to serve their interests, to protect their wealth and privilege, and they ruthlessly pillaged it to further enrich themselves. Place and position were wholly at their disposal. What made all this possible was the enormous scale of social and economic inequality. This Old Corruption came under sustained assault from a number of directions in the course of the nineteenth century.
It was attacked by the new capitalist class that was emerging and was determined to have the state represent their interests. Allied with this class was a new middle class, educated professionals whose great victory was the creation of a modern civil service where entrance was determined by examination rather than aristocratic sponsorship. But there was no great revolution in nineteenth century Britain to overthrow