Leaders
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Ashdown as leader
In November 2000 Paddy Ashdown published the first volume of his diaries. This article comprises two interviews with him on his period as leader.
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Campbell-Bannerman and Asquith
Analysis of the uneasy political relationship between the two Liberal leaders.
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Leader out of time
Review of Menzies Campbell, My Autobiography (Hodder & Stoughton, 2008).
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Interview: Jeremy Thorpe
Interview with the former Liberal leader.
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The ‘Buckingham Palace plot’, 1916
Edwin Montagu, Minister of Munitions and confidant of both Asquith and Lloyd George lamented that the two great men of England were being slowly but surely pushed apart during the winter of 1916.
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Jo Grimond (Lord Grimond), 1913-1993
Regarded by many contemporary Liberals as their spiritual leader and mentor, Jo Grimond was a figure of great magnetism and intellectual originality. He was once described as a politician on whom the gods smile, and inspired a rare degree of public affection.
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Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, 1836-1908
There have been four Liberals at the head of clearly Liberal governments – Gladstone, Rosebery, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and Asquith. Three of them are well-known names. Yet of the four, ‘CB’ was far and away the best party leader. […]
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Biography: David Owen
The political career and record of Dr David Owen.
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On this day 27-2-1941
After a career in the Royal Marines, the Special Boat Squadron, intelligence and diplomacy, Ashdown was selected as Liberal candidate in Yeovil in 1976 and won the seat in 1983. A supporter of the Lib-Lab Pact and the Alliance with the SDP, Ashdown was elected the first leader of the merged Social and Liberal Democrats in…