Benjamin Disraeli

Benjamin Disraeli was born in London in 1804 to a Jewish family and raised as an Anglican from the age of 12, which allowed him a parliamentary career at a time when Jews were excluded from Parliament. He wrote novels before and during his political career and entered Parliament in 1837. He rose by attacking Robert Peel over the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Lord Derby and was Prime Minister briefly in 1868 and again from 1874 to 1880, becoming Earl of Beaconsfield in 1876. His rivalry with Gladstone became one of the best known in British parliamentary history. In 1875 his government bought a large shareholding in the Suez Canal Company, and in 1878 he represented Britain at the Congress of Berlin.

Conservatives often regard Disraeli as the founder of one-nation conservatism, which links national institutions, social reform and the condition of working people. Critics, beginning with Gladstone and many Liberals, saw his politics as opportunistic and his imperial and Eastern policy as aggressive, and some historians argue that his governments' social laws owed more to cabinet colleagues than to him. He remains Britain's only Prime Minister of Jewish birth, and faced antisemitic attacks during his career.