Party strength in Parliament from 1690 to 1740
The Godolphin-Marlborough ministry was a period of British political history that lasted from May 1702 to 8 August 1710, after the Pembroke ministry and before the Harley ministry, during which John Churchill and Sidney Godolphin's moderate Tories formed an alliance with Whigs to govern the nation amid the War of the Spanish Succession.
Queen Anne took the throne in March 1702 and appointed a Tory ministry due to her support for the Church of England and her expression of a heart that was "entirely English." Godolphin and the Duke of Marlborough, the "duumvirs," remained in power after the Tories won the 1702 parliamentary election in a landslide, undoing the Whig gains made just eight months previously. 298 Tories and 184 Whigs were elected, and the hearing of election cases altered these numbers to 304 Tories and 178 Whigs. Godolphin helmed the treasury and Marlborough the army, while Robert Harley handled the House of Commons for Godolphin. However, militant Tory backbenchers challenged the administration, and the revived commission of accounts persecuted the Whigs. Failures in war strategy resulted in a bolstering of the army's strength, and Tories questioned the wisdom of a vastly expensive land war in favor of a "blue water" naval strategy. By 1704, the Whigs' attempt to implicate Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham in a Jacobite plot resulted in increased factionalism. The Queen dismissed Nottingham and his High Tory colleagues due to their obstructiveness, and Harley took over as secretary of state, while other moderate Tories entered ministerial roles.
Marlborough's victory at the August 1704 Battle of Blenheim boosted the ministry's confidence, and the government and its Whig allies shot down a "High Tory" effort to pass a third conformity bill tacked to a tax bill. Junto Whigs blocked the Tories from pursuing a censure motion against Godolphin. At the next election in May-June 1705, 41% of English and Welsh constituencies were contested. The Tories campaigned on the basis that the Church of England stood "in danger" from the Dissenters, while Godolphin and Marlborough aligned themselves with the Whigs and distributed propaganda stating the importance of the war and the Protestant succession. Mob violence occurred in large and small boroughs like Coventry. 260 Tories and 233 Whigs would be elected, but Harley's Tory moderates put the parties neck-and-neck.
Godolphin once again presided over a mixed cabinet, and Marlborough's victory at the May 1706 Battle of Ramillies boosted the ministry's security. However, Junto Whigs pressured Godolphin for a greater part in government, causing relations between Godolphin and Harley to deteriorate. In 1706-1707, England made progress in its move towards a union with Scotland despite Tory opposition to the Whigs' guarantees given to the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. On 29 April 1707, a proclamation presented Parliament as the "first of Great Britain."
In 1707-1708, the Whigs attacked the mismanagement of the Admiralty, the failure of the allied cause in the Iberian Peninsula, and the need for additional measures towards union with Scotland. Harley counseled Queen Anne against the Junto Whigs, and Godolphin's refusal to admit younger Tories to the government resulted in more clashes with Harley. In 1708, Harley and most of the remaining moderate Tories left the government. Godolphin filled the vacancies with existing Whig leaders, saving the ministry from censure over the defeat at the Battle of Almanza. In 1708, the Queen issued her only veto, shooting down the recreation of a Scottish militia, even as a Franco-Jacobite invasion fleet approached Scotland.
In 1708, 35% of constituencies were elected. The fortunes of the Whigs rose as Marlborough won a victory at the Battle of Oudenarde, and the Whigs won 268 seats to the Tories' 225. In 1709, the Whigs passed law allowing European Protestant refugees to settle in England. The ministry also insisted on "no peace without Spain" amid preliminary peace talks, causing King Louis XIV to decide on continued war. However, mounting human losses on the continent and the continued financial burden of the war caused public opinion to turn against the war, and the Queen turned away from Marlborough's wife Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough and towards Harley's cousin Abigail Masham. In 1709, High Church clergyman Henry Sacheverell preached against "false brethren in the Church and state," attacking the ministers, their allied bishops, and their pro-Dissenter policies. After the cabinet moved to impeach Sacheverell, the Anglican public attacked the Whigs for endangering the Church of England. After Godolphin rebuked the Queen at a council meeting, he was dismissed as lord treasurer and Harley appointed to replace him. In 1710, anti-war and pro-Sacheverell Tories won 329 seats to the Whigs' 168, inaugurating the Harley ministry.