Journal of Liberal History

England Objects to the Treaty of Versailles, June 1, 1919

Journal of Liberal History

For the discussion and research of Liberal, Liberal Democrat and SDP history

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On This Day

18 October 1990

David Belotti gains Eastbourne from the Conservatives

David Bellotti wins Eastbourne for the Liberal Democrats in a by-election caused by the murder of sitting Conservative MP Ian Gow by the IRA. Bellotti gained the seat with a majority of 4,550, on 50.8% of the vote. Liberal Democrat Leader Paddy Ashdown celebrated, describing the win as his best day as Leader of the Liberal Democrats. Just a week before, at the Conservative Party conference, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had used Monty Python’s ‘dead parrot’ sketch to mock the Liberal Democrats’ newly designed bird of liberty logo. After the by-election, Conservative Party Chairman Kenneth Baker commented that, ‘the parrot twitched’. Six weeks later Conservative MPs removed Mrs. Thatcher as their leader.

  • Menzies Campbell, 1941–2025

    To commemorate the sad death of Menzies Campbell, Lord Campbell of Pittenweem, on 26 September 2025, we are reprinting here the chapter on him from our book British Liberal Leaders (Biteback, 2015).

    Sir Menzies Campbell

    (more…)

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Liberal History offers a collection of books, concise booklets, and individual issues.

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We publish the Journal of Liberal History and a range of books

The Liberal Democrat History Group promotes the discussion and research of topics relating to the histories of the British Liberal Democrats and its predecessor parties, the Liberal Party and the SDP, and of liberalism more broadly.

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We aim to appeal to anyone with an interest in the history of British Liberalism, whether academics, party activists or spare-time students of political history.

Things we do:

Publish the quarterly Journal of Liberal History, containing articles, book reviews, biographies, and meeting reports

Publish books, including Peace, Reform and Liberation: A History of Liberal Politics in Britain 1679-2011, Dictionary of Liberal Thought, and Great Liberal Speeches

Make resources available to students of Liberal history, including news of research in progress and guides to archive sources (see Research resources)

Provide a concise history of the Liberal Democrats and its predecessor parties, along with a more extensive set of historical articles and biographies – the Liberal History Online project, available through themes and time periods.

Publish shorter booklets as concise reference sources, including Liberal History (a concise history of the Liberal Democrats and its predecessor parties), Liberal Leaders 1828-1899, Liberal Leaders of the Twentieth Century and Mothers of Liberty: Women who built British Liberalism

Organise discussion meetings, both in London and as fringe meetings at Liberal Democrat conferences

“There are hazards in everything one does, but there are greater hazards in doing nothing.”

Shirley Williams

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