"In the years 1865 to 1880, the Conservatives did more than the Liberals to improve the lives of the working classes." Discuss.

In the context of this period, to 'improve' their lives, a successful government would need to embark on: political reform to enfranchise the working class and social reform to create an egalitarian society insofar that that working class could have access to similar benefits of the middle classes and the opportunity to improve their own living conditions. It can be argued that the Liberals did more to improve the lives of the working classes due to Gladstone’s education and meritocratic reform. Yet the Conservatives did do more than the Liberals as Disraeli had continuously outperformed Gladstone’s attempts to reform the status quo for the working class, as was manifested in the 1866 Reform Act and the Trade Unions legislation. Indeed, his One Nation Conservatism was a doctrine conceived to ensure an egalitarian and paternalistic society.