Election candidates directory

This is probably the first comprehensive biographical Index (in fourteen individual regional sections) to appear of the individuals who have contested a UK parliamentary election under the designation Liberal, Liberal Democrat and Social Democrat, over the years 1945-2019. Directories have appeared listing candidates of all parties, election by election, though usually with scant biographical detail. […]

The Devon & Cornwall Region of course has been traditionally a bastion of Liberal/Liberal Democrat strength, even in the darkest days of party fortunes. Virtually every constituency has been fought consistently over the period. None has been left uncontested for more than two or three elections in succession. Many party MPs held their seats over […]

The East Midlands has traditionally been unpromising territory for the party, returning just two Liberal Democrat MPs since World War II.  Nevertheless the party has a fair record of contesting elections here compared with other regions. Compiling this Index has faced the special problem, however, of constituencies within the Humberside district established in the 1970s. […]

The compilation of this Index has been complicated by name changes of many constituencies over the years. Forty or more of the candidates listed have fought constituencies in up to five regions of the United Kingdom. Unlike industrialised regions, there have been no pockets of constituencies which the party failed to contest over the period […]

The process of compilation of this Index for the Greater London Region, despite its sheer size, has presented no intractable problems.  All constituencies within the Greater London area as constituted in 2015 are included. Before the boundaries of Greater London were changed in the reform of local government in the 1970s many of these constituencies […]

The North East became barren territory for the Liberal Party as early as the 1920s and remained so, except for a handful of constituencies where the party commanded vestigial support, until the final years of the C20th. Many constituencies were left unfought for decades, possibly a greater percentage than in any other region of Britain. […]

The North West was a barren region for the Liberal/Liberal Democratic Party for decades from the 1920s with a higher than average number of constituencies left unfought at many General Elections. After a brief revival in 1950, in common with most regions in the UK, when the party widened the front considerably, there ensued a […]

The Liberal Party contested no parliamentary elections in Northern Ireland in the inter-war years nor over the period 1945-55. In 1956 the Ulster Liberal Association, later re-named the Ulster Liberal Party, was founded. A limited number of constituencies were contested for both the Westminster and the Stormont Parliaments from 1959. Of the nine candidates listed, […]

Scotland has been traditionally one of the party’s strongest regions though there was a bleak period, 1945-50, when there were no Scottish Liberal MPs. There were two for the brief interval of the Parliament of 1950-51 but over 1951-64, Jo Grimond remained the sole Scottish Liberal MP at Westminster. The position improved considerably in 1964 […]

The Party has a creditable record for contesting constituencies within the region, few having been left unfought for long intervals, even at lean times in its fortunes. Individuals appearing on the roster have been generally worthy, dependable, types rather than colourful characters or outstanding party personalities though there are several exceptions. Many candidates listed below […]

Few constituencies in this region have been left uncontested for long periods by the party though there are exceptions. There was a barren period in the 1950s, the party then being at the lowest ebb of its fortunes, when not a single constituency was contested in the county of Kent for eight years. In the […]

Many of the constituencies in this region have been contested repeatedly by the same candidates over several elections. Some of those elected to Westminster remained MPs over three or more parliaments. There have been surprisingly few ‘single contest’ candidates. Few constituencies have been left uncontested for long even in the most barren periods in party […]

The Party has an enviable record for contesting parliamentary elections in Wales. Until 1951, Wales was considered something of a mini party stronghold, returning four Liberal MPs. There were however many constituencies in the South Wales mining areas where the Liberals had been absent from the fight from as long ago as the 1920s. Something […]

The Liberal challenge was weak in the West Midland Region over the period 1945 to 1959 in common with most regions of Britain. The number of constituencies fought fluctuated wildly; 1945, 21; 1950, 31; 1951, 3; 1955, 4. The number of parliamentary constituencies in the region averaged just short of 60, a large proportion urban […]

The region has been home to an impressive gallery of party personalities, several of whom receive extended entries. The spirited independence with respect to LPO HQ in London which the Yorkshire Regional Party has often demonstrated, and the relatively strong direction it has exerted over its constituency associations, would account for the formidable challenge maintained […]