1976-1988
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Nancy Seear (Lady Seear), 1913-1997
When Lady Violet Bonham Carter died in 1969, the Liberal Party lost its most powerful and indomitable female campaigner. The vacuum she left was filled by Beatrice Nancy Seear, always known by her middle name, a formidable politician possessed of a towering intellect. Seear was an active Liberal and latterly Liberal Democrat for over fifty…
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Lord Tony Greaves
An appreciation of the life of Tony Greaves (27 July 1942 – 23 March 2021).
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The two Davids: Steel versus Owen
In 1981 the alliance between the Liberal Party and the newly founded SDP was agreed; the two parties would fight elections together on a joint platform with join candidates. Between 1983 and 1987, however, the working relationship between the Liberal leader, David Steel, and his SDP counterpart, Dr David Owen, became increasingly marked by tension…
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Ulster’s Liberal MP
Review of Ruth Illingworth, Sheelagh Murnaghan – Stormont’s only Liberal MP (Ulster Historical Foundation, 2019).
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Hampshire Liberals
Review of Martin Kyrle, Liberals in Hampshire: a part(l)y history, Part 4, Eastleigh 1978–85 (Sarsen Press, 2020).
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Why did the SDP fail?
Review of Patricia Lee Sykes, Losing from the Inside (2nd edn., Routledge, originally published 1989, republished 2018 as an e-book).
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The twisting path
Review of Tudor Jones, The Uneven Path of British Liberalism: from Jo Grimond to Brexit (2nd edn., Manchester University Press, 2019).
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The 1979 general election
Report of evening meeting, 3 February 2020 with David (Lord) Steel and Professor Sir John Curtice. Chair: Lord Wallace.