Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"The abolition of the Corn Laws led to cheaper food in Britain, boosted industry, and heralded free-trade, but Peel was defeated and ejected from office." [Furtado: 1001 Days] "But there would be no revolution in nineteenth-century Britain, despite the prevalence of social tensions in the world's most industrialized society. The landed elite, which dominated Parliament, supported by manufacturing interests, enacted reforms that defused social and political tensions by bowing to middle -class demands for change. The greatest of these were the Reform Act of 1832 and the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. The resolution of these crises contributed to the emergence of a liberal consensus in Victorian Britain that lasted throughout the century." [Merriman: Modern Europe, p. 630-1] "In 1839, the Anti-Corn Law League, a powerful pressure group largely made up of businessmen, brought together economic liberals, Whig politicians, and radicals. . . . Repeal would be an act of political courage, as he was bound to fall from power, but Peel believed only such a move could forestall a popular insurrection." [Merriman: Modern Europe, p. 634-5]