History
William IV’s dismissal of the Whig administration in 1834
William IV's dismissal of Lord Melbourne's Whig government in November 1834 was the last time a British monarch tried to assert political authority by bringing down a government that had majority support in the House of Commons.
Community politics
Community Politics describes a particular style of locally organised campaigning on specifically local issues pioneered by the Liberal Party in the 1950s and 1960s and now practised by Liberal Democrat activists throughout the UK.
Formation of the SDP
Launching the new Social Democratic Party (SDP) on the 26th March 1981, the former Labour Home Secretary, Roy Jenkins announced that the aim of the new party was to get away from the politics of outdated dogmatism and class confrontation and to release the energies of those who were fed up with the old slanging…
The Liberals and the First World War
Understanding the history of the Liberal Party during the First World War has been made harder by hindsight. Later Liberal decline has called into question the efficacy of Liberal ideology in wartime.
Nonconformists
The Nonconformists were members of several Protestant groups outside the Church of England. They included in their ranks the Old Dissenters, denominations that went back to the seventeenth century. The largest body then had been the Presbyterians, who believed that there should be no bishops since all ministers were equal.
The Liberal – SDP merger
The poor performance of the Liberal-SDP Alliance at the June 1987 election prompted the Liberal leader, David Steel to call for the unity of both wings, after only 22 seats were secured by both sides.
Limehouse Declaration
Issued by Shirley Williams, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Roy Jenkins to the Press Association on 25th January 1981
Old heroes for a new leader
As we have done in each of the last two Liberal Democrat leadership elections, in 1999 and 2006, the Liberal Democrat History Group has asked both candidates for the Liberal Democrat leadership to write a short article on their favourite historical figure or figures – the ones they felt had influenced their own political beliefs…
Joint Statement on the Lib-Lab Pact: Steel and Callaghan
Joint statement issued by Prime Minister James Callaghan and David Steel on the aims of the Lib-Lab pact issued 23rd March 1977.