The Dilemma(s) of Voluntary Deference in the Fin De Siècle

Disraeli appears on the conservative side of Bagehot’s liberal coin. Disraeli’s understanding of the constitution, the role of parties, elites and deference is analysed here, along with A. V. Dicey’s shifting ideas from the 1880s to World War I. Dicey accepted Bagehot’s historical interpretation of deference without defining it, and added to it the three pillars of the English constitution, which all require a certain degree of political deference in an uncodified system. Little has been said over the last century about how Bagehot and Dicey’s emphasis on the supremacy of Parliament entailed deference to the whole system and how, without deference, the ‘historical’ British constitution could not function. In this chapter, however, the crucial function of deference for Bagehot, Disraeli, and Dicey is explained.