Events
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Liberalism: the ideas that built the Liberal Democrats
Politics rest on beliefs. Political parties that operate without a philosophical framework stand for little more than personality and populism. But equally, beliefs must rest on thought – they must be continually defined, tested and debated rather than simply inherited unquestioningly. Liberalism, the tradition of political thought on which Liberal Democrats’ philosophy rests, possesses an…
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Liberals, Europe and the people
The Liberals were the first party to argue for British participation in the European Common Market, in 1956. Support for membership of the European Economic Community was one the main drivers behind the formation of the SDP in 1981. Since the two parties merged, Britain’s destiny as part of the European Union has been a…
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A new economic policy for the Liberal Party?
In the 1929 election campaign, Lloyd George, as leader of a Liberal Party reunited after years of dissension and decline, put forward the eye-catching slogan: ‘We can conquer unemployment’. The slogan was backed by the ‘Yellow Book’ (Britain’s Industrial Future) with its new and distinctive approach to policy based on the ideas of the famous…
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Breakthrough: the Liberal Democrat performance in the 2024 election
The outcome of the general election on 4 July 2024 was extraordinary. Compared to the 2019 election, the Liberal Democrats’ share of the vote rose by less than 1 per cent, to 12.2 per cent, but the number of MPs jumped from 11 (plus 4 by-election gains) to 72, the highest number since 1923. Highly…
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Friends or Enemies, Allies or Competitors? Liberals and Labour 1903–2019
The history of the association between the Liberal Party / Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party features electoral pacts (both formal and informal), support for minority governments, participation in coalitions – and periods of bitter enmity. So are Liberals and Labour friends or enemies, allies or competitors? The long and complex relationship between Liberals and…
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Lloyd George, Herbert Samuel and Palestine: background and legacy
What role did Liberals play in the Middle East settlement after the First World War? In 1917, the Lloyd George Coalition Government announced its support for the establishment of a ‘national home for the Jewish people’ in Palestine, then an Ottoman region with a small minority Jewish population. This was the ‘Balfour Declaration’, named after…
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Greening Liberalism
The history of Liberal and Liberal Democrat environmental thinking. How and when did environmental policy become important to British political parties, and to the Liberal Party, SDP and Liberal Democrats in particular? Speakers: Professor Neil Carter (York University) and Baroness Parminter. Chair: Keith Melton (Green Liberal Democrats). You can view the accompanying slides here
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The 1847 Financial Crisis and the Irish Famine
The Irish famine of the 1840s remains the worst humanitarian crisis in the United Kingdom’s history. Within six years of the arrival of the potato blight in Ireland in 1845, more than a quarter of its people had died or emigrated. Despite this, Lord John Russell’s Whig government decided in spring 1847 – long before…
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What Have the Liberals Ever Done For Us? Book Launch
Launch of the Liberal Democrat History Group’s new concise guide to the greatest Liberal achievements, from the seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries. Speakers: Layla Moran MP, Sarah Olney MP, Wendy Chamberlain MP, Baroness Barker. Chair: Lord Wallace of Saltaire.