Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) was the son of the Jewish writer Isaac D'Israeli. He started out on a literary and journalistic career before deciding to enter politics in the early 1830s. He was elected to Parliament in 1837 as a Tory; but snubbed by Robert Peel, he devoted himself to establishing a new vision of Toryism and a reputation for parliamentary oratory. He made himself one of the most prominent opponents of Peel's plans to repeal the corn laws: when the party fell into open schism and lost power Disraeli became the most effective of the spokesmen of its protectionist rump. He was appointed Leader of the House and chancellor of the exchequer in Lord Derby's short-lived administrations of 1852 and 1858-9. When the Conservatives retrieved office on a more permanent basis in 1866, Disraeli seized the initiative on parliamentary reform, creating a Reform Bill which split the Liberal party and prevented the Tories from being placed at an electoral disadvantage. When Derby was forced to retire out of ill-health in 1868 Disraeli became premier in his place; and although they lost the election that year, in the following one, in 1874, they won an overall majority. Disraeli led the government from the Commons until he accepted a peerage as Earl of Beaconsfield in 1876; he remained premier until his defeat by Gladstone's Liberals in the election of 1881.