周梁淑怡
The Liberal Party was founded on the basis of a loose political grouping Co-operative Resources Centre (CRC) in 1993. The Co-operative Resources Centre was formed by the conservative faction in the Legislative Council (LegCo) as a counter-force to the new emerged pro-democratic United Democrats of Hong Kong who won a landslide victory in the first Legislative Council direct elections in 1991. Led by the Senior Unofficial Member Allen Lee and his fellow LegCo colleagues, Steven Poon, Selina Chow and Stephen Cheong, 12 legislators appointed by the British colonial government and 8 legislators indirectly elected by the functional constituencies aligned themselves and formed the CRC as a think tank, research unit and brain trust for a future political group. Four of the legislative council members, Allen Lee, Selina Chow, Rita Fan and Edward Ho had also been appointed members of the Executive Council (ExCo). This group of conservative elites shared a dislike for the United Democrats but lacked a common philosophy and ambition. Sir Sze Yuen Chung, the former senior unofficial member of the executive and legislative councils, suggested Lee and Poon to abandon any pretense of being above politics and form a proper political party with its belief, vision, discipline and platform.