[mannykannot]

Yeah, I'm not certain about the analogy, and I'm basing it more on how I have seen the phrase used in other places, but my cursory search did not dig them up. IIRC, the complaint is that, in order to present history as the steady progress towards what they regarded as an enlightened present, Whig historians attributed influential and powerful historical figures with liberal motives and goals. Tory historians might have attributed them with illiberal motives and goals that were sometimes thwarted (leading to what they regarded as a suboptimal present), which might well be more plausible in general.

Looking a little further into the article, I see it mentions a whig history of science that ignores failed theories and dead ends, and I would agree that this is not the same as attributing successful theories to people who probably did not hold them, though the latter does also tend to present science in 'march of progress' terms.