This page lists all the content on the site relevant to Liberal leaders.
When Robert (Bob) Maclennan was first elected President of the Liberal Democrats in the summer of 1994, few realised just how much this seemingly self-effacing politician would come to represent so completely the ethos and values of the Liberal Democrats. Still fewer would realise quite how hard he fought for those values. It is characteristic […]
With the exception of H. H. Asquith, David (now Lord) Steel has been the longest serving leader of the Liberal Party. During his twelve-year tenure of the leadership, the party enjoyed the highest share of the popular vote cast for a third party in half a century and won more seats in Parliament and in […]
If we date the modern Liberal Party from the 1859 meeting in Willis’ Tea Rooms, we must accord Palmerston the honour of being the first Liberal Prime Minister, though he would have thought himself the Queen’s minister and the nation’s leader rather than a party’s. In truth, he was more the last of the old […]
Lord Aberdeen was the Prime Minister who first brought together the coalition of Whigs, Peelites and Radicals which later became the Liberal Party. He is perhaps best known for being premier at the time of the Crimean War. After his death several copies of a text were found which seemed to indicate that he felt […]
Rosebery is perhaps the least well-known of the Liberal Prime Ministers, having the misfortune to serve in the office for only a short period, immediately after the extended career of the charismatic Gladstone. He had a difficult relationship with the radicals of his parliamentary party, not because of his social policy attitudes (he was a […]
H. H. Asquith, Prime Minister from April 1908 to December 1916, bore the chief part in some of the greatest Liberal achievements of the twentieth century. Herbert Henry Asquith was born at Morley, West Yorkshire, on 12 September 1852. His father died when he was eight, and in 1863, sent to London to live with […]
The infamy of Jeremy Thorpe’s downfall unfairly colours all else in his life. Thorpe was a stylish, progressive and popular politician. Under his leadership the Liberal Party won more votes than ever before or since at a general election and helped drive legislation taking Britain into the European Community through a divided Parliament. But the […]
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.
Meeting following the AGM, 28 January 2019, with Professor Jon Parry and Dr David Brooks; chair Tony Little
A review of Lloyd George’s time at the Board of Trade, from 11 December 1905 to 8 April 1908
Liberal Democrat leadership candidates’ historical heroes
Review of Richard Wilkinson, Lloyd George: Statesman or Scoundrel (IB Tauris, 2018)
A look at how Paddy Ashdown’s life and career were remembered and celebrated in the media.
A recollection of the career of Paddy Ashdown, Leader of the Liberal Democrats 1988–99.
Gladstone’s library at Hawarden
Analysis of the reasons behind the crushing Liberal defeat in 1874
Gladstone’s first government and the House of Lords
Discussion of one of the outstanding achievements of Gladstone’s government
The Liberal government’s policy on Ireland
Examination of the role played by the publication of Gladstone’s pamphlet during the 1868 election campaign
Analysis of the achievements of Gladstone’s ministry
Discussion of the results of the election that brought the Liberals to power
Introduction to this special issue of the Journal of Liberal History, marking 150 years since William Ewart Gladstone first became prime minister
David Steel on his recollections of Jeremy Thorpe
Review of A Very English Scandal, BBC One, 20 May – 3 June 2018
An analysis of the partnership between the Liberal leaders which finally split under the strains of war
Interview with Tim Farron MP on his period as Leader of the Liberal
Democrats, 2015–17
How did Liberal Prime Minister Asquith’s friendships and relationships affect his political decisions?
W. E. Gladstone and Joseph Chamberlain
Nelia Penman (Graeme Peters); Lloyd George and Nonconformity (Kenneth O. Morgan); French elections (Ian Stuart); The 2017 election (Trevor Jones and Richard Pealling)
Examination of Gladstone’s role in the introduction and abolition of the Contagious Diseases Acts
Evening meeting of the Liberal Democrat History Group, 3 July 2017 with Greg Hurst and Lord Newby; chair: Baroness Lindsay Northover
The roots of Lloyd George’s political beliefs
Comparative table of leadership performance updated to 2017
Vince Cable explains why Roy Jenkins is his political hero
John Preston, A Very English Scandal: Sex, Lies and a Murder Plot at the Heart of the Establishment (Viking, 2016)
Stefan Buczacki, My Darling Mr Asquith: The extraordinary life and times of Venetia Stanley (Cato & Clarke 2016)
Ian Cawood and Chris Upton (eds.), Joseph Chamberlain: International Statesman, National Leader, Local Icon (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016)
Liberal Democrat History Group meeting, 6 February 2017, with Ronald Porter; chair: Michael Steed
Review of Paul Bew, Churchill and Ireland (Oxford University Press, 2016)
An analysis of Winston Churchill’s and David Lloyd George’s volumes on the First World War
Review of Alan Mumford, David Lloyd George: A Biography in Cartoons (Matador, 2014).
Review of Michael Bloch, Jeremy Thorpe (Little, Brown, 2014).
Report of the Conference fringe meeting, 20 September 2015, with Simon Hughes, Paul Tyler and Lynne Featherstone.
Review of Peter Rowland, Lloyd George’s Tada – the one father he never knew! (PublishNation, 2014).
Review of Travis L. Crosby, The Unknown Lloyd George: a Statesman in Conflict (I. B. Tauris, 2014).
Review of Duncan Brack, Robert Ingham and Tony Little (eds.), British Liberal Leaders: Leaders of the Liberal Party, SDP and Liberal Democrats since 1828 (Biteback Publishing, 2015).
A comparison of the two great wartime leaders
A review of Charles Kennedy’s obituaries and tributes
The political heroes of Tim Farron and Norman Lamb
Report of the History Group evening meeting, 26 January 2015, with Ian Packer and Nigel Keohane; chair: Raymond Asquith (Earl of Oxford and Asquith and great-grandson of Herbert Asquith)
Lloyd George and Basil Zaharoff
Four views on Thorpe’s record and character
Review of Dick Leonard, The Great Rivalry: Gladstone & Disraeli (I. B. Tauris, 2013).
A commemoration of the Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe, who passed away in December 2014.
Review of David Torrance, David Steel: Rising Hope to Elder Statesman (Biteback Publishing, 2012)
How David Lloyd George was portrayed in cartoons throughout his long career.
A description of the key characteristics of Liberal Democrat leaders and analysis of the record of the four leaders to date.
Review of Richard A. Gaunt, Sir Robert Peel: The Life and Legacy (I. B. Tauris, 2010).
The influences on Lloyd George of Gladstone and Abraham Lincoln.
Report of LDHG meeting of February 2000, on Liberal, SDP and Liberal Democrat leaders, with Robert Maclennan MP and Professor Peter Clarke.
Interview with Jeremy Thorpe, leader of the Liberal Party 1967-76.
Considers the options open to Charles Kennedy and draws some lessons from the historical record.
Examination of Clement Davies’ resignation from the leadership in 1956.
Following this year’s leadership election for the Liberal Democrats, Harriet Smith looks back to the party’s first such election.
Review of Gerard J. De Groot, Liberal Crusader: The Life of Sir Archibald Sinclair (Hurst & Co.,1993).
The Gladstone Lecture, given at St Deiniol’s Library, Hawarden, on 8 July 1998, in the centenary year of Gladstone’s death.
Liberal Democrat leadership candidates describe their historical inspirations.
As the Liberal Democrats enter their second leadership contest, Robert Ingham looks at contests of the past.
Review of Peter J. Jagger (ed.), Gladstone (The Hambledon Press, 1998).
Asquith’s return to Parliament in 1920.
Examination of how much the failure of the Alliance was due to the failures of its leaders.
Review of Ferdinand Mount, Umbrella (Heinemann, 1994).
The first phase of the Liberal postwar revival came to an end with the resignation of Jo Grimond as leader. Tim Beaumont recalls the election of his successor.
‘The personification and the hope of postwar Liberalism.’ The record of Jo Grimond.
In November 2000 Paddy Ashdown published the first volume of his diaries. This article comprises two interviews with him on his period as leader.
Assessment of the record of the man who led the Liberals into the 1906 landslide
Review of H.C.G. Matthew, Gladstone 1809-1874 (Oxford University Press, 1988).
Interview with Menzies Campbell, Leader of the Liberal Democrats 2006-07, on his political career.
Review of Menzies Campbell, My Autobiography (Hodder & Stoughton, 2008).
Analysis of the uneasy political relationship between the two Liberal leaders.
Review of Paddy Ashdown, A Fortunate Life: The Autobiography of Paddy Ashdown (Aurum Press, 2009).
The story of the relationship between the successive Liberal leaders Sir Archibald Sinclair and Clement Davies.
A look at the lives in retirement of Russell, Gladstone, Rosebery, Asquith and Lloyd George.
Party leaders matter: they embody a party’s present, while also shaping its future. This is particularly important in the values-based Liberal tradition. A total of twenty-five individuals led the Liberal Party, SDP and Liberal Democrats between Earl Grey’s assumption of the leadership of the Whig opposition in 1828 and Nick Clegg’s resignation in 2015. What did it take to […]
Robert Maclennan MP, himself a former leader of the SDP, and Professor Peter Clarke, leading expert on the New Liberals, looked at leaders of the Liberal Party and the SDP over the last hundred years, using analysis and anecdotes to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of the two parties leaders. The audience was polled to […]
This thesis will be a study of the political positioning and leadership strategy of the Liberal Democrats. Consideration of the role of equidistance; development of policy from the point of merger; the influence and leadership strategies of each leader from Ashdown to Clegg; and electoral strategy from 1988-2015 will form the basis of the work. […]
