1988-2010
Liberal Sutton
Review of A Flagship Borough: 25 years of a Liberal Democrat Sutton Council (Sutton Liberal Democrats, 2012).
‘Remains to be seen’
Review of Chris Bowers, Nick Clegg: The Biography (Biteback, 2011; paperback edition, 2012) and Jasper Gerard, The Clegg Coup (Gibson Square, 2011).
The progressive coalition that never was lessons from the Ashdown-Blair ‘project’
Between 1994 and 1999, Paddy Ashdown and Tony Blair led a process of collaboration between the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party, with the aim not merely of defeating the Conservatives but of establishing clear common ground between the progressive parties in British politics. Some of the outcomes of this process – ‘the project’, in…
Audacious – but fundamentally flawed
Review of Paddy Ashdown, The Ashdown Diaries, Volume 1: 1988-1997 (Allen Lane, The Penguin Press, 2000).
250 High Streets later…
Review of Mark D’Arcy & Rory Maclean, Nightmare! The Race to Become London’s Mayor (Politico’s Publishing, 2000).
More mirage than vision
Review of Garry Tregidga, The Liberal Party in South-West Britain since 1918: Political Decline, Dormancy and Rebirth (University of Exeter Press, 2000).
A progressive’s dilemma
In 1995, John Dickie, Liberal Democrat councillor in Camden and Federal Executive member, quit the party and joined Labour. Neil Stockley interviewed him on his defection.
The 1988 leadership campaign
Following this year’s leadership election for the Liberal Democrats, Harriet Smith looks back to the party’s first such election.