What were the motives behind the passing of the 1867 bill?

... Daniel Evans Page 1/2 What were the motives behind the passing of the 1867 bill? The passing of the Second Reform Act was more the result of two men's personal ambition and mutual hatred than the will of the People. Indeed, the public's deep disinterest in this issue allowed party feuds, betrayals, and rash plans to flourish at Westminster, while middle-class Radicals campaigned loudly outside. William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli had declared war on each other years earlier, but the passing of the Second Reform Bill was to be their greatest clash yet, and in the heat of battle all sense of proportion and restraint were lost, giving Radicals what they had been wanting for years, and which the rest of the Nation had forgotten about for half a generation. As such, the Act was not a response to widespread demand, but rather was more of an accident prompted by

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