SDP
Subtitle: the birth, life and death of the Social Democratic Party
By: Ivor Crewe and Anthony King.
Contributors: King, Anthony Stephen.
Publisher: Oxford University Press; Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 611
Subjects: Social Democratic Party (Great Britain); Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1979-1997
Description: Launched on a wave of euphoria in 1981, the SDP aroused the hopes and enthusiasm of millions of people. Promising to break the mould of British politics, its leaders included four of the most respected figures in British public life - Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Shirley Williams and Bill Rodgers.

But the SDP failed. Despite winning, with the Liberals, a quarter of the vote in two general elections, by the autumn of 1987 it had disintegrated amidst acrimony and bitter infighting. This book, based on unprecedented access to the SDP's archive, analyses in detail the reasons for its early success and its ultimate demise.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.