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Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Conservative Party, in the 19th and early 20th centuries.[3] Beginning as an alliance of Whigs, free trade-supporting Peelites, and reformist Radicals in the 1850s, by the end of the 19th century, it had formed four governments under William Gladstone. Despite being divided over the issue of Irish Home Rule, the party returned to government in 1905 and won a landslide victory in the 1906 general election.

This article is about the former British Liberal Party. For the party formed by the 1988 merger with the SDP, see Liberal Democrats (UK). For the Liberal Party formed by those opposed to the 1988 merger, see Liberal Party (UK, 1989).

Liberal Party

9 June 1859 (1859-06-09)

2 March 1988 (1988-03-02)

Offices at the National Liberal Club, 1 Whitehall Place, London

SDP–Liberal Alliance (1981–1988)

Ulster Liberal Party (1956–1987)

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Under prime ministers Henry Campbell-Bannerman (1905–1908) and H. H. Asquith (1908–1916), the Liberal Party passed reforms that created a basic welfare state.[4] Although Asquith was the party leader, its dominant figure was David Lloyd George. Asquith was overwhelmed by the wartime role of coalition prime minister and Lloyd George replaced him in late 1916, but Asquith remained as Liberal Party leader. The split between Lloyd George's breakaway faction and Asquith's official Liberal Party badly weakened the party.[5]


The coalition government of Lloyd George was increasingly dominated by the Conservative Party, which finally deposed him in 1922. By the end of the 1920s, the Labour Party had replaced the Liberals as the Conservatives' main rival. The Liberal Party went into decline after 1918, and, by the 1950s, the party had won as few as six seats at general elections. Apart from notable by-election victories, its fortunes did not improve significantly until it formed the SDP–Liberal Alliance with the newly formed Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981. At the 1983 general election, the Alliance won over a quarter of the vote, but due to the first-past-the-post voting system won only 23 of the 650 seats it contested. At the 1987 general election, its share of the vote fell below 23% and the Liberals and the SDP merged in 1988 to form the Social and Liberal Democrats (SLD), who the following year were renamed the Liberal Democrats. A splinter group reconstituted the Liberal Party in 1989.


Prominent intellectuals associated with the Liberal Party include the philosopher John Stuart Mill, the economist John Maynard Keynes, and social planner William Beveridge. Winston Churchill authored Liberalism and the Social Problem (1909), which was praised by Henry William Massingham as "an impressive and convincing argument" and is widely considered the movement's bible.

(1859–1865)

Granville George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville

(1865–1868)

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell

(1868–1891)

Granville George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville

(1891–1894)

John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley

(1894–1896)

Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery

(1896–1902)

John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley

(1902–1905)

John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer

(1905–1908)

George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon

(1908–1923)

Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe

(1923–1924)

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon

(1924–1931)

William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp

(1931–1936)

Rufus Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading

(1936–1944)

Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe

(1944–1955)

Herbert Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel

(1955–1967)

Philip Rea, 2nd Baron Rea

(1967–1984)

Frank Byers, Baron Byers

(1984–1989)

Nancy Seear, Baroness Seear

Category:Liberal Party (UK) MPs

List of Liberal Party (UK) MPs

Liberalism in the United Kingdom

Liberal Democrats

List of United Kingdom Liberal Party Leaders

List of United Kingdom Whig and allied party leaders (1801–59)

List of Liberal Chief Whips

President of the Liberal Party

List of UK Liberal Party general election manifestos

St. John, Ian. The Historiography of Gladstone and Disraeli (Anthem Press, 2016) 402 pp. .

excerpt

Thompson, J. A. “The Historians and the Decline of the Liberal Party.” Albion' 22#1, (1990), pp. 65–83, .

online

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Liberal Democrat History Group

of the Liberal Party papers (mostly dating from after 1945) at LSE Archives.

Catalogue

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The Liberal Magazine Volume 2 1895

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Liberal Magazine A Periodical for the Use of Liberal Speakers, Writers and Canvassers Volume 1 1893

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Facts for Liberal Politicians By John Noble 1879

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Proceedings in Connection with the Annual Meeting of the National Liberal Federation with the Annual Report By National Liberal Federation, 1881

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Election Address and Speeches By Samuel Smith, 1882

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Annual Report Presented at a Meeting of the Council By National Liberal Federation, 1887

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Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Council By National Liberal Federation, 1895

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Five Years of Liberal Policy and Conservative Opposition By George Charles Brodrick, 1874

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Leaflets published by the Liberal Publication Department for the General Election of 1906, 1906

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The Liberal year book for 1908

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The Government's record, 1906–1913 : seven years of Liberal legislation and administration By Liberal Publication Dept. (Great Britain)

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The Yale Review Volume 4 1895

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The Age of Lloyd George The Liberal Party and British Politics, 1890–1929 By Kenneth O. Morgan, 2021