Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrats   (Political party)
Predecessor	•  UK/Liberal Party •  UK/Social Democratic Party
Formation	3 March 1988
Leader	Liberal Democrats/Leader
Subpage	•Liberal Democrats/Leader •Liberal Democrats/Trade Spokesperson •Liberal Democrats/Treasury Spokesperson
A liberal political party in the United Kingdom.

The Liberal Democrats (Lib Dems), originally founded as the Social and Liberals Democrats, are a liberal political party in the United Kingdom. The Lib Dems are currently led by Vince Cable and have 11 Members of Parliament in the House of Commons, 96 members of the House of Lords, 16 members of the European Parliament, five Members of the Scottish Parliament and one member in the Welsh Assembly and London Assembly. At the height of its influence, the party served as junior partners in a coalition government with the Conservative Party from 2010 to 2015.

History

In 1981, an electoral alliance was established between the UK Liberal Party, a group which was the direct descendent of the 18th-century Whigs, and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a splinter group from the Labour Party. In 1988, the parties merged as the Social and Liberal Democrats, adopting their present name a year later. Under the leadership of Paddy Ashdown and then Charles Kennedy, the party grew during the 1990s and 2000s, focusing its campaigns on specific seats and becoming the third largest party in the House of Commons. Under its leader Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrats were junior partners in David Cameron's Conservative-led coalition government; Clegg served as UK Deputy Prime Minister. The coalition damaged the Liberal Democrats' electoral prospects: the party was reduced from 57 to 8 seats at the UK/2015 General Election.

Policy

Positioned in the centre ground of British politics, the Liberal Democrats are ideologically liberal. The party calls for constitutional reform, including a transition from the first-past-the-post voting system to proportional representation. Emphasising stronger protections for civil liberties, the party promotes socially liberal approaches to issues like LGBT rights, education policy and criminal justice. Different factions take different approaches to economic issues as a classical liberal faction promotes greater economic liberalism while others endorse a social market economy. The party is pro-Europeanist, supporting continued UK membership of the European Union and greater European integration; it previously called for adoption of the Euro currency. Other policies have included further environmental protections and drug liberalisation laws while it has also opposed certain UK military engagements like the 2003 Iraq War.

The party is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and Liberal International. The Liberal Democrats are historically strongest in northern Scotland, southwest London, southwest England and mid-Wales.

 

Party Members

Politician	Born	Died	Description
Andrew Adonis	22 February 1963		Labour party politician and Bilderberger. Vice Chairman of the European Movement (UK)
Danny Alexander	15 May 1972		Scottish politician. The deputy of George Osborne (2010 to 2015)
Paddy Ashdown	24 February 1941	22 December 2018	Chatham House President for 10 years. MI6 operative and UK politician
Norman Baker	26 July 1957		MP convinced that David Kelly was murdered.
Catherine Bearder	14 January 1949
Tim Beaumont	22 November 1928	8 April 2008	British politician and an Anglican priest. Bullingdon Club. Transgender and euthanasia activist. Epstein's black book.
Alan Beith	20 April 1943		UK politician
Luciana Berger	13 May 1981		Former Labour MP Liverpool Wavertree, former Chair of Labour Friends of Israel. After parliament started working for PR-company Edelman.
Sharon Bowles	12 June 1953		A member of the European Parliament
Paul Burstow	13 May 1962
Lorely Burt	10 September 1954
Vince Cable	9 May 1943		Retired British politician
Alastair Campbell	25 May 1957
Menzies Campbell	22 May 1941		Leader of the Liberal Democrats 2006-7 MSC regular
Alexander Carlile	12 February 1948
Lord Carlile	12 February 1948
Wendy Chamberlain	20 December 1976
David Chidgey	9 July 1942	15 February 2022
Nick Clegg	7 January 1967		Former British politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2015. Now works for Facebook
Ralf Dahrendorf	1 May 1929	17 June 2009	German born philosopher. Regular contributor to Bilderberg meetings.
Edmund Dell	15 August 1921	1 November 1999	Attended the 1978 Bilderberg as Secretary of State for Trade. Ditched Labour in 1981 for the well-financed Social Democratic Party.
Andrew Duff	25 December 1950
Bill Newton Dunn	3 October 1941		UK MEP
Sarah Dyke	1971
Tim Farron	27 May 1970		UK politician and Leader of the Liberal Democrats 2015-2017. Member of Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.
Sarah Green	September 1983
Joseph Grimond	29 July 1913	24 October 1993	Attended the 1958 Bilderberg as leader of the UK Liberal Party. Early proponent of Britain joining the EEC.
Fiona Hall	15 July 1955
Nick Harvey	3 August 1961
John Hemming	16 March 1960
Christine Jardine	24 November 1960		Scottish Liberal Democrat MP since 2017
Roy Jenkins	11 November 1920	5 January 2003	UK politician
Rachel Johnson	3 September 1965
Susan Kramer	21 July 1950		As a Jewish politician (UK Liberal Democrats), Kramer succeeded Jenny Tonge MP (1997-2005) who had been accused of antisemitism.
David Laws	30 November 1965
Sarah Ludford	14 March 1951		A member of the European Parliament
Liz Lynne	22 January 1948		A member of the European Parliament
George Lyon	16 July 1956
Edward McMillan-Scott	15 August 1949
Tom McNally	20 February 1943
Helen Morgan	1975
Sarah Olney	1977
Brian Paddick	24 April 1958		British politician and retired police officer,
Zack Polanski	2 November 1982
William Rodgers	28 October 1928
Angela Smith (Sheffield MP)	16 August 1961
Cyril Smith	28 June 1928	3 September 2010	Sir Cyril Smith was MP for Rochdale from 1972 to 1992. He never prosecuted for his paedophilia.
David Steel	31 March 1938		Leader of UK Liberal party, merged with the Social Democratic Party
Dick Taverne	18 October 1928		UK politician with deep state connections
Jeremy Thorpe	29 April 1929	4 December 2014	UK politician
... further results

 

Related Documents

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Document:Cognitive Dissidents?	Article	27 May 2019	Alun Smith	I voted remain but I would happily leave under a Corbyn government with a deal that protects our rights and our jobs. Isn't that the sensible thing to do now? Isn't that the compromise that can bring us all together again?
Document:Jeremy Corbyn leads cross-party push in Parliament for immediate recognition of Palestine	Article	4 September 2024	Joe Connor	Early Day Motion 71 "Calls on HM Government to immediately recognise the state of Palestine in accordance with the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion of 2024, which recognised that the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip constitute a single territorial unit the integrity of which is to be respected."

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References

This page imported content from Wikipedia on 28 May 2019.
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