Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major British political parties from the early 19th century until the 1920s, and a third party of varying strength and importance up to 1988, when it merged with the Social Democratic Party (the SDP) to form a new party which would become known as the Liberal Democrats.

The post 1988 Liberal Party

A group of Liberal opponents of the merger, including Michael Meadowcroft formerly Liberal MP for Leeds West and Dr Paul Wiggin who served on Peterborough City Council as a Liberal, continued under the old name of "the Liberal Party"; this was legally a new organisation (the headquarters, records, assets and debts of the old party were inherited by the Liberal Democrats), but its constitution asserts it to be the same party as that which had previously existed.

Related Topics:
Michael Meadowcroft - The Liberal Party

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(Ironically, they also gave help to the rump Jack Holmes led SDP after its official disbandment in 1990)

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It has a handful of local councillors, though its annual assembly scarcely attracts more than a hundred members, and it has never been a serious contender to win seats in the House of Commons. That said, the fact the party lives on is testament to one of the greatest strengths of the Liberal tradition as a whole in the UK - its ability to produce an active membership to make up for a lack of resources. In the West Country (ie Devon & Cornwall) and in Liverpool the Liberal Party can still stand a near full slate of candidates at elections, whilst in other areas such as Peterborough, Slough & Wyre Forest (Worcestershire), the party has returned three councillors regularly for over a decade. The party's current HQ is in Liverpool, though its major base of operations remains its West Country stronghold (a traditional stronghold of Liberalism, whether Liberal or Liberal Democrat).

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