When Gladstone won his first seat in Newark in 1832, the area was under the influence of a powerful Tory, the Duke of Newcastle, whose views were very similar to the ones held by Gladstone, this was infact a so called 'pocket borough' under the influence of a strong Noble. His education and the influence of his parents played a key role in developing Gladstone's early career down the Tory path. His family were not aristocracy, but middle class, his father was a staunch Tory, even being an election agent for a previous Tory Prime minister, Lord Canning, and was...
had accepted reform was Liberal party leader and was confident of winning vast support.

There could be many different interpretations on why and how much Gladstone changed his political opinions. There could be the changes in society during the 1850s and again during the 1860s, was it down to personal conviction or was it down to political expediency, for his own advantage. Whatever reasons and motives there were for Gladstone to change political opinions and parties it is clear that his opinions and views were not altered slightly but changed dramatically over the period 1846 to 1868.