IF you thought mudslinging by politicians was something new, maybe you should check what happened when a future Prime Minister stood for Parliament in Taunton 187 years ago.

There were racist undertones and accusations of slander as insults were traded by both sides - and even the threat of a gunfight to the death.

It was April 1835 and 30-year-old Benjamin Disraeli was chosen to fight the Taunton seat for the Tories.

Disraeli, who later became the country's only Jewish PM, had already failed to become an Independent Radical MP at elections in Wycombe.

He tried again when a by-election was called in Taunton after the sitting MP was forced to resign and seek re-election after becoming a government minister due to rules in force at the time.

Standing against him was the Whig candidate Henry Labouchere.

Disraeli was the underdog and was written off by The Sun, which reported: "A richer joke than this we have not heard for many a day.

"The young gentleman in question possesses actually not one qualification for the part he has undertaken to play at a moment’s notice.

"He has no political experience, not an atom of sound judgment."

Disraeli, whose extensive campaigning left him "exhausted", was initially not discouraged and retorted: "The potwallopers (voters) of Taunton are as eloquent as those of Athens, and we gain votes by such a demonstration.”

But days later he admitted he would not win "this time", but was confident he would be successful in Taunton in the future as "even my opponents promise to vote for me next time".

Unfortunately, he was the target of anti-Semitic jibes from the public and became embroiled in a long-running verbal spat with Irish Nationalist MP Daniel O'Connell.

O'Connell, fired up by inaccurate press reports - don't blame the Somerset County Gazette as it wasn't launched until the following year - believed Disraeli had slandered him while electioneering in Taunton.

O'Connell retaliated by describing Disraeli as "a reptile", saying: "He possesses all the necessary requisites of perfidy, selfishness, depravity, want of principle, etc."

He added: "His name shows that he is of Jewish origin. I do not use it as a term of reproach; there are many most respectable Jews.

"But there are, as in every other people, some of the lowest and most disgusting grade of moral turpitude; and of those I look upon Mr Disraeli as the worst."

The feud lingered on and an incensed Disraeli demanded a duel with O'Connell's son, leading to the former's temporary detention by the authorities.

As for the election itself, Labouchere won easily by 452 votes to 282 and Disraeli left the town licking his wounds, never returning to fight the next election he had appeared sure he would win.

He became an MP two years later, winning a seat in Maidstone, and was Prime Minister briefly in 1868 and again from 1874-1880.

Benjamin Disraeli died in April 1881, 46 years after his unsuccessful attempt to become MP for Taunton.

But his foray into politics in Taunton is marked by a blue plaque on a house in Canon Street, where he stayed during the election campaign.