One leading politician later claimed that the ensuing "Days of May" were the only time of real peril he could recall in his lifetime. There was open talk of civil war and "every man you met seemed to be convulsed with rage". The king was damned as "perfidious Billy", and Queen Adelaide's fears of being a Marie Antoinette in-the-making appeared less fanciful. The Birmingham Political Union held an open-air meeting attended by 200,000. Though the crowd was orderly, speakers warned that "violent revolution" was unavoidable if the Reform Bill was abandoned. Fortunately Wellington proved unable to form a government. With the Whigs back in power, the Bill passed a thinly-attended House of Lords on June 4.

Antonia Fraser relates these events with tremendous verve, admirably describing the exuberance and fury stirred up by Reform, and explaining complex issues with exemplary clarity. She is masterly at depicting the personalities involved, such as the Whig Lord Althorp, who toiled in parliamentary debates despite yearning for his prize bulls in Northamptonshire. Bringing out the drama of all-night sessions in the stifling Commons' chamber, and massive public meetings animated by the reforming spirit, she vividly captures both the excitement and "bowel-disturbing" fear that only subsided when the Reform Bill became law.