1976-1988
The role of women in merger
A personal view of women in Alliance politics.
Working with others – the Lib-Lab Pact
Report of meeting of 14 July 2008, with David Steel, Tom McNally and Michael Steed.
The Launch of the SDP
Review of The Launch of the SDP 1979-1981 – Report of witness seminar in Contemporary Record, Vol 7, autumn 1993, No. 2.
What might have been
Interview with John Pardoe, Liberal MP for North Cornwall, 1966-79.
Rise … the SDP 1983-85
Original cartoons from the Social Democrat illustrate what was perhaps the party’s happiest years.
Report: the Limehouse declaration and the birth of the SDP
Report of Liberal Democrat History Group meeting of January 2001, with speakers including Lord Oakeshott and Sir Ian Wrigglesworth.
Bernard Greaves, 1942-
For thirty years, Bernard Greaves has influenced Liberal, Liberal Democrat and public policy on a range of issues. Generally, he has done so by a willingness to rigorously follow through original ideas based on firm and clear principles and a painstaking application to detail. He has greatly influenced a smaller number by the force of…
Michael Meadowcroft on the merger negotiations
It is difficult to realise that it is now sixteen years since the trauma and angst of the merger negotiations. As far as factual accuracy is concerned the book by Tony Greaves and Rachael Pitchford is an excellent record of the proceedings. There were only a few points of difference that I took up with…
Realignment of the left
The end of Jo Grimond's leadership in 1967 heralded a bleak period for the Liberal Party. His successor, Jeremy Thorpe, was never assured of the complete confidence of his parliamentary colleagues. Unlike Grimond, he displayed little interest in ideas, though he was an accomplished organiser, fund-raiser and speaker.