Whig strength in Parliament from 1690 to 1740
The Townshend ministry was a period of British history that lasted from 1714 to 1717, after the Harley ministry and before the Frist Stanhope-Sunderland ministry, during which time the Whig Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend served as Prime Minister.
After the transition to the House of Hanover, new elections were held. On the advice of his Whig ministers, King George I of Great Britain purged Tories from every level of office-holding, regarding them as potential supporters of the exiled House of Stuart. The Tories attempted to raise their old electoral war cry of "Church in Danger," but they were soundly defeated as 341 Whigs and 217 Tories were returned, a reversal of the 1713 election. The Tories retained their strength in the English and Welsh counties, while the Whigs gained considerable in boroughs. Townshend served as the king's chief minister, but paymaster-general Robert Walpole outshone Secretary of State James Stanhope as paymaster-general and later first lord of the treasury. Walpole and Townshend's growing influence put them at odds with Stanhope and Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland, and intrigues over foreign policy led to Walpole and Townshend leaving government in 1717 amid the "Whig Split." The Townshend-Walpole faction won the support of the Prince of Wales at a time when the heir and his father differed in politics.