‘All image, no substance’. Assess this view of Disraeli

Although image was vitally important to both Disraeli and the style of politics he practiced, this does not mean that he was a shallow, worthless politician. Many historians, looking at the historians implemented by Disraeli in the Conservative Party, and in government, conclude that Disraeli dressed modest, piecemeal reforms up in fancy rhetoric. In fact, Disraeli, within the constraints of party and the prevailing political climate at the time, implemented a series of reforms that together can be called ‘Disraelian Conservatism’.
The first accusation levelled against Disraeli was that in all his glorious speeches of the 1870s and before, little in the way of concrete policy was actually spelt out. Walton comments “The only Disraelian apects [to social policy] were rhetorical.” Yet this view is essentially a twentieth century view of Disraeli. During the nineteenth century, leaders of parties were not expected to ‘spell out’ policy minutiae, but give the broad policy dire...