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 |
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.[1]
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.[2]
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 |
| 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, | |
| 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 |
| John Thurso | 10 September 1953 | ||
| ... further results | |||
Related Document
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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? |
References
- ↑ "Election results: Nick Clegg resigns after Lib Dem losses". BBC News. 8 May 2015. Archived from the original on 15 May 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015. Cite uses deprecated parameter
|deadurl=(help)Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto"). - ↑ "SDP and Liberal Democrats"
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