Stephen Bates

Stephen Bates, an author and journalist specializing in historical issues, dives deep into the 19th-century Corn Laws crisis. He explains how these protectionist tariffs aimed to keep grain prices high for landowners, stirring intense parliamentary debates. Bates explores the unrest caused by high bread prices, linking protests and the rise of the Anti-Corn Law League to broader demands for political representation. He discusses the contrasting Tory attitudes to the Irish famine and how this crisis ultimately reshaped British politics for decades to come.