Politics
The Pitt ministry continued to court him, and he held legal office for the Prince of Wales from 1795 until 1805. Furthermore, in 1804, he obtained the post of Chief Justice of Chester. As part of the Welsh circuit, this post did not debar him from being returned as Member of Parliament for Totnes in December. He was made Solicitor General in February 1805 and knighted; however, he left office in favour of Sir Arthur Piggott after Pitt's death in January 1806.
Hostile to Grenville, he lost his seat at Totnes, but the formation of the second Portland government in 1807 saw him made Attorney General and returned to Parliament for Great Bedwyn. In the 1807 general election, he defeated Lord Henry Petty to become member for Cambridge University. Under the Portland and Perceval ministries, he was noted for his zealous activities against publishers of seditious libels. In the House of Commons, his most significant activity occurred in 1809, during the inquiry into military corruption and the activities of Mary Anne Clarke, mistress of the Duke of York. However, her adroit response to his examination delighted the press, many members of whom had suffered from Gibbs's activities. His caustic tongue did not make him a favorite among the House, and his principles were quite conservative.
Read more about this topic: Vicary Gibbs
Famous quotes containing the word politics:
“All politics takes place on a slippery slope. The most important four words in politics are “up to a point.””
—George F. Will (b. 1941)
“While you’re playing cards with a regular guy or having a bite to eat with him, he seems a peaceable, good-humoured and not entirely dense person. But just begin a conversation with him about something inedible, politics or science, for instance, and he ends up in a deadend or starts in on such an obtuse and base philosophy that you can only wave your hand and leave.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)