Define benjamin disraeli biography summary

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1868; 1874–1880)

"Disraeli" redirects here. For other uses, see Disraeli (disambiguation).

Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman, Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation of the modern Conservative Party, defining its policies and its broad outreach. Disraeli is remembered for his influential röst in world affairs, his political battles with the Liberal Party leader William Ewart Gladstone, and his one-nation conservatism or "Tory democracy". He made the Conservatives the party most identified with the British Empire and military action to utöka it, both of which were popular among British voters. He is the only British prime minister to have been born Jewish.

Disraeli was born in Bloomsbury, at that time a part of Middlesex. His father left Judaism after a

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Benjamin Disraeli, the Earl of Beaconsfield

Politician, novelist and bon viveur, Benjamin Disraeli was a man with many interests, but it was as a Conservative politician that Disraeli achieved lasting fame. PM for almost 7 years, he initiated a wide range of legislation to improve educational opportunities and the life of working people.

Benjamin ‘Dizzy’ Disraeli was the son of Isaac, a Jewish Italian writer, and had an Anglican upbringing after the age of 12. With Jews excluded from Parliament until 1858, this enabled Disraeli to follow a career that would otherwise have been denied him. He was Britain’s first, and so far only, Jewish Prime Minister.

Aged 20 he lost money by gambling on the Stock Exchange, and helped to launch The Representative, a newspaper intended to usurp The Times, but it soon failed.

He went on to produce an anonymously-written satirical novel, Vivian Grey, which caricatured a former business partner. Success, however, turned to slander when his authors

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Benjamin Disraeli(1804 - 1881)

Benjamin Disraeli  © British statesman and novelist, Disraeli provided the Conservative Party with its policies of popular democracy and imperialism.

Born to Italian-Jewish parents, in 1817 Disraeli's father baptised his children as Christians. With Jews excluded from parliament until 1858, this enabled Disraeli to pursue a career that would otherwise have been denied him.

Early business ventures failed, leaving him heavily in debt. He had a breakdown and for four years did little until he decided to pursue a political career. After four attempts, in 1837 he was elected as Tory candidate for Maidstone.

He soon established himself as a compelling speaker and his career took off. But the failure of the Conservative leader, Sir Robert Peel, to give him a cabinet position in 1841 prompted his bitter opposition to Peel's decision to repeal the Corn Laws, the protective duties on foreign grain. Although the laws passed, Peel resigned the following