1976-1988

History (7)
Journal articles (55)
Events (3)

History

Richard Holme on the merger negotiations

My recollections of the process which led to the merger of the Liberal Party and the SDP are hazy since I am not a diary-keeper. Nor can I give anything but an outsider's view of the formal merger negotiations since, to my chagrin at the time, I was not elected to be a member of the negotiating team – any small ability I had as a negotiator being nullified in the eyes of the Party Assembly by my parti-pris commitment to the merger itself.

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.

The Liberal – SDP merger

The poor performance of the Liberal-SDP Alliance at the June 1987 election prompted the Liberal leader, David Steel to call for the unity of both wings, after only 22 seats were secured by both sides.

Joint Statement on the Lib-Lab Pact: Steel and Callaghan

Joint statement issued by Prime Minister James Callaghan and David Steel on the aims of the Lib-Lab pact issued 23rd March 1977.

Simon Hughes: Defence debate at Eastbourne, 1986

Simon Hughes in the debate on the Alliance defence commission report; Liberal Assembly, Eastbourne, 23 September 1986.

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 them at the time.

Local history: Epsom & Ewell Social Democrats

David Gourley on joining the SDP in 1981 and working with the Liberals through the Alliance and merger.

Journal articles

The changing face of election campaigning

An interview with Chris Rennard, former Director of Campaigns and Chief Executive of the Liberal Democrats, about election campaigning.

The straight line deviationist

Review of Dick Taverne, Against the Tide (Biteback Publishing, 2014)

The Pact

Review of Jonathan Kirkup, The Lib–Lab Pact – A Parliamentary Agreement, 1977–78 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015)

Churchill Archives Centre

Liberal archives at the Churchill Archives Centre at Cambridge

Ploughing his own furrow

Review of Norman Baker, Against the Grain (Biteback Publishing, 2015)

The legacy of Roy Jenkins

Evening meeting of the Liberal History Group, 27 June 2016, with John Campbell and David Steel. Chair: Dick Newby

Richard Livsey and the politics of Brecon and Radnor

A review of the life and political career of Richard Livsey, Lord Livsey of Talgarth (1935–2010)

Jeremy’s story

Review of Michael Bloch, Jeremy Thorpe (Little, Brown, 2014)

Report: Community politics and the Liberal revival

Conference fringe meeting held jointly with the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors, 13 March 2015

Emlyn Hooson

An examination of the life and career of the Liberal MP for
Montgomeryshire, 1962–79

It’s Boy David

Review of David Torrance, David Steel: Rising Hope to Elder Statesman (Biteback Publishing, 2012).

Too short a history

Review of Chris Cook, A Short History of the Liberal Party 1900-2001 (Palgrave, 2002).

The strange survival of Liberal Lancashire

It’s Boy David

Review of David Torrance, David Steel: Rising Hope to Elder Statesman (Biteback Publishing, 2012)

Liberal defectors identified and explored

Review of Alun Wyburn-Powell, Defectors and the Liberal Party, 1910-2010: A Study of Inter-Party Relations (Manchester University Press, 2012).

Elegant and concise

Review of David Dutton, A History of the Liberal Party Since 1900 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2nd edition, 2013).

Liberal roots

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).

Simon and Southwark, Bermondsey

The watchword liberty

Review of, 50 Years On: A History of the Association of Liberal Democrat Trade Unionists, 1947-97 (Association of Liberal Democrat Trade Unionists, 1997).

Merger most foul

Review of Rachael Pitchford and Tony Greaves, Merger: The Inside Story (Liberal Renewal, 1989).

Research notes: Issue 18

Merger hopes and fears: Were they realised?

One man’s pride

The Alliance and after: The travelling of a necessary road

The Merger Process: an SDP retrospect

The Alliance: parties and leaders

The Alliance: two-party cooperation in practice

Alliance days

The merger debate in the SDP 1981-87

The SDP’s ideological legacy

Young Liberals; the ‘Red Guard’ era

Report: from Beveridge to Blair

A Party for what?

Review of Ivor Crewe and Anthony King, SDP: The Birth, Life and Death of the Social Democratic Party (Oxford University Press, 1995).

The slow death of Liberal Wales 1906 – 1979

The flawed strategy of the SDP

One of nature’s Liberals

The growth of Liberal International

The Liberal Party and general elections

The SDP: Beginnings, 1981-83

Rise … the SDP 1983-85

… and decline: the SDP 1985-87

What might have been

Alliance, Liberals and the SDP

Report: the Limehouse declaration and the birth of the SDP

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.

Liberals and local government in London since the 1970s

Working with others – the Lib-Lab Pact

The yellow glass ceiling: the mystery of the disappearing Liberal women MPs

The role of women in merger

Helen Suzman: An Appreciation

Liberal thought

Review of Kevin Hickson (ed.), The Political Thought of the Liberals and Liberal Democrats since 1945 (Manchester University Press, 2009).

Consolation government?

Review of Bernard Donoughue, Downing Street Diary Volume Two: With James Callaghan in Number 10 (Jonathan Cape, 2008).

Policy and ideology

Review of Tudor Jones, The Revival of British Liberalism – From Grimond to Clegg (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).

Labour’s right wing

Review of Stephen Meredith, Labours Old and New: The Parliamentary Right of the British Labour Party 1970-79 and the Roots of New Labour (Manchester University Press, 2008).

Events

The Limehouse Declaration and the birth of the SDP

Monday 29th January 2001

On 25 January 1981, four former Labour cabinet ministers – Roy Jenkins, David Owen, William Rodgers and Shirley Williams – published the Limehouse Declaration, publicly signalling their intention to quit the leftward path that the Labour Party had taken. The Declaration advocated a classless society and called for the realignment of British politics. After an […]

Liberals and local government in London since the 1970s

Monday 4th February 2008 / 19:00

Lady Violet Room, National Liberal Club, London

Winning local elections has been a keystone in Liberal (Democrat) success in the years since the adoption of the community politics strategy at the Eastbourne Assembly in 1970. There have been many spectacular advances across London, from the heartland of the south western boroughs to Southwark, Islington and more recently breakthroughs on Camden and Brent […]

Working with Others: the Lib-Lab Pact, 1977-78

Monday 14th July 2008 / 19:00

National Liberal Club, 1 Whitehall Place, London SW1

From March 1977 to October 1978, the Liberal Party kept Jim Callaghan’s Labour government in power through the Lib-Lab Pact. Labour ministers consulted systematically with Liberal spokespeople across a wide range of policy areas. Arguably, the Pact restored a degree of political and economic stability to the country, but its achievements from a Liberal point […]

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