His position was very difficult, for some of his followers felt he had betrayed them once already over Catholic Emancipation. But he was sure of himself. … Perhaps he believed that his personal ascendancy would carry the majority with him; but he needed time to convince his party, and time was denied him. … In August 1845 the potato crop failed in Ireland. Famine was imminent and Peel could wait no longer, but when he put his proposals to the Cabinet several of his colleagues revolted and in December he had to resign.

Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Sp…, loc. 1716