In 1858 a change of government broke the deadlock. Now the Conservatives took power - with Benjamin Disraeli as their Prime Minister. Disraeli was born a Jew, and although baptised into Christianity as an young man, was always proud of his background and ready to support Jewish causes. He was also a good friend of the Rothschild family.

Disraeli was determined to avoid another rejection of a Disabilities Bill by his Conservative colleagues in the Lords. His ingenious solution sidestepped the problem: the Commons and the Lords could decide separately the words of the outh to be used in their own chamber. The objections of the House of Lords thus became irrelevant to taking a seat in the House of Commons.

On 26 July 1858, Lionel presented himself yet again in the House, declared his objection to the oath and withdrew. A vote on the new path was taken immediately and was passed with little opposition. Lionel was summoned back in.

He entered the Chamber, with John Abel Smith, the banker, and Lord Russell at his side. Both had supported and encouraged him throughout his campaign. An eleven-year struggle ended with a simple ritual that nevertheless represented a major step forward in the long campaign for religious freedom and the acceptance of Jews in mainstream political life.

Lionel remained Member of Parliament (MP) for the City of London for 16 years. The year after he took his seat, he was joined in the Commons by his brother, Mayer, who was elected MP for Hythe in Kent, and by David Salomons, who was voted in once more for Greenwich.

In a final irony, just six years after Lionel's death in 1879, it was Lionel's son, Nathaniel ('Natty') de Rothschild who became the first Jew to sit in the House of Lords. The climate had changed and the battles of the 1850s were largely won.

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