Editing John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (section)

=== Appointment and cabinet ===
{{Further|First Russell ministry}}
Russell took office as prime minister with the Whigs only a minority in the House of Commons and particularly during a time of national crisis, facing "famine, fever, trade failing, and discontent growing", as described in his wife's journal on 14 July.{{Sfn|Reid|1895|p=141}} It was the bitter split in the Conservative Party over the Corn Laws that allowed Russell's government to remain in power in spite of this, with Sir Robert Peel and his supporters offering tentative support to the new ministry in order to keep the protectionist Conservatives under [[Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby|Lord Stanley]] in opposition. At the [[1847 United Kingdom general election|general election of August 1847]] the Whigs made gains at the expense of the Conservatives, but remained a minority, with Russell's government still dependent on the votes of [[Peelite]] and [[Repeal Association|Irish Repealer]] MPs to win divisions in the Commons.{{Sfn|Reid|1895|p=154}}

The new cabinet inevitably included Palmerston as Foreign Secretary, [[Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax|Sir Charles Wood]] as the [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]], [[Sir George Grey, 2nd Baronet|Sir George Grey]] as the [[Home Secretary]], [[Henry Grey, 3rd Earl Grey]] as the [[Secretary of State for War and the Colonies]], the [[George Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon|Lord Clarendon]] as the [[President of the Board of Trade]], and Lord Lansdowne as President of the council. [[John Hobhouse, 1st Baron Broughton|Sir John Cam Hobhouse]], [[Fox Maule-Ramsay, 11th Earl of Dalhousie|Fox Maule-Ramsay, the Lord Panmure]], and [[Thomas Babington Macaulay|Mr. Thomas Macaulay]] held lesser roles. [[Sir James Graham, 2nd Baronet|Sir James Graham]] declined the [[Governor-General of India|Governor-Generalship of India]] to pursue unfulfilled aspirations in Westminster. The Conservative Party, fractured by Peel's disgrace and suspicion among its factions, lacked effective leadership, with Disraeli yet to be taken seriously. "We are left masters of the field", Palmerston remarked, "not only on account of our own merits, which, though we say it ourselves, are great, but by virtue of the absence of any efficient competitors".{{Sfn|Reid|1895|p=141}}