The 1852 UK general election was very close, Lord John Russell's Whigs again winning the popular vote, but once again Conservative candidates won a very slight majority. Again the split between Protectionist Tories, led by the Earl of Derby and the Peelites made the formation of a majority government very difficult. Lord Derby's minority Protectionist government soon collapsed, bringing about a Peelite-Whig coalition government under Lord Aberdeen, one of the leading Peelites, which collapsed during the Crimean War.