Leader of the Liberal Party (UK) - iSnare Free Encyclopedia Leader of the Liberal Party (UK) The Liberal Party was formally established in 1859 and existed until merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to create the Liberal Democrats . Contents 6 External links Leadership selection 1859–1969 Before the adoption of the 1969 constitution of the party, the party was led by the prime minister or the most recent politically active prime minister from the party. In the absence of one of these, the leaders in the House of Lords and House of Commons were of equal status and jointly led the party. When a new leader was required, with the party in government, the monarch selected him by appointing someone as Prime Minister. However, in 1916 David Lloyd George , with the support of a minority of the Liberal MPs, formed a coalition government. H. H. Asquith , the former Prime Minister, remained as Liberal Party leader. Asquith retained the leadership until his health failed in 1926, including periods when he was not in Parliament or was a peer. He was the last leader of the whole party under the original arrangements for leadership.

When no overall party leader was a member of a House and a new leader was required in opposition, a leader emerged and was approved by party members in that House. From 1919 the Chairman of the Liberal Parliamentary Party, elected by MPs, functioned as the leader in the House of Commons. This required all the leaders after Asquith to retain their seat, to continue as leader. After 1926 the leader in the House of Commons was clearly pre-eminent over the leader in the House of Lords. In 1931 Lloyd George was leader in the House of Commons, but he was ill when negotiations led to the formation of the National Government . Sir Herbert Samuel , who had been the deputy leader, was effectively the leader of the mainstream party from the time when he entered the government. This was made formal after the 1931 election. Leadership selection 1969–1988 Under the original provisions of the 1969 party constitution, the MPs elected one of their number to be Leader of the Liberal Party.

This was the same system as that used for the last MP only contested leadership election in 1967 , when Jeremy Thorpe became leader after a vote split between three candidates of 6-3-3. As the number of Liberal MPs was very small (between 6 and 14 in the period the MPs retained the sole power of election) party members argued for a wider franchise. Before the leadership election of 1976 , all members were given a vote in an electoral college based on allocating electoral votes to constituency associations (which were then divided proportionately to the votes of the members of the association). The candidates were required to be members of the House of Commons, nominated by a quarter of the MPs. The electoral college system was only used once, when David Steel was elected leader. Lists of Liberal Party Leaders Leaders of the Liberal Party Name 1988 Notes ^ a b Palmerston was appointed Prime Minister a few days after the meeting at Willis's Rooms on 6 June 1859, which formally created the Liberal Party. He was an Irish peer and a member of the House of Commons. He died in office.

^ Gladstone retired from the leadership in 1875, when the party was in opposition. The overall leadership of the party then became vacant until Gladstone was again appointed Prime Minister. ^ Rosebery resigned the leadership when the party was in opposition. The overall leadership of the party became vacant until the formation of the next Liberal government in 1905. ^ a b Maclean was elected Chairman of the Liberal Parliamentary Party. In the absence from Parliament of Asquith, who had lost his seat in the 1918 general election , he acted as leader of the Liberal MPs opposed to the Lloyd George coalition. Although this was a smaller group than the Parliamentary Labour Party, Maclean also performed the functions of Leader of the Opposition. ^ Asquith resigned the leadership when the party was in opposition. The overall leadership of the party became vacant until the adoption of the 1969 party constitution. ^ a b Lloyd George was elected Chairman of the Liberal Parliamentary Party. In the absence from Parliament of Asquith he acted as leader of the Liberal MPs. When Asquith became a peer in 1925, Lloyd George became leader in the House of Commons.

When Asquith retired then from 14 October 1926, Lloyd George became the leading figure in the party. ^ a b Samuel deputised for the ill Lloyd George during the summer of 1931 and took office in the National Government on 24 August 1931. Following Lloyd George's move to complete opposition to the National Government in October, Samuel effectively acted as party leader. However he did not receive the formal title until after the 1931 general election . He lost his seat in the 1935 general election . ^ a b Sinclair lost his seat in the 1945 general election . ^ Thorpe was the first Leader of the Liberal Party under the 1969 constitution. ^ a b Grimond was appointed interim leader by the parliamentary party, between the resignation of Thorpe and the election of Steel. ^ a b Steel was the last party leader. He became one of the joint interim leaders of the Liberal Democrats on the merger in 1988. ^ Asquith became Prime Minister on 5 April although British Political Facts considers him to be leader from 30 April 1908.

He lost his seat in the United Kingdom general election, 1918 . ^ Asquith was elected in a by-election and sat until he lost his seat in the United Kingdom general election, 1924 . See also A brief history of Liberal leaders - BBC News BBC News A brief history of Liberal leaders 16 July 2015 Read more about sharing. Close share panel The Liberal Democrats name their new leader on Thursday. Either Tim Farron or Norman Lamb will follow in the footsteps of some distinguished and colourful figures, who have led the party and its Liberal Party forerunner through the peaks and troughs of their post-war history. Prime Ministers and political legends The great Liberal prime ministers of the late 19th Century and early 20th Century - most notably William Gladstone, Herbert Asquith and David Lloyd George - achieved a status that perhaps none of their recent successors could have hoped to emulate, although Nick Clegg came closest as deputy prime minister.

While their eccentricities and peccadilloes would not stand up to contemporary scrutiny, Gladstone led the country on a record four separate occasions and was prime minister when Britain's writ ran across much of the globe while Asquith and Lloyd George saw the country through the trauma of the First World War and its aftermath. The Earl of Rosebery and Henry Campbell-Bannerman are less celebrated, the former noteworthy for owning a Derby winner while in power and the latter for winning the 1906 election - the last time the party gained an overall majority. Clement Davies (1945-56) The Welsh barrister and politician became Liberal Party leader in the aftermath of Labour's landslide victory in the 1945 election. The result marked the end of an era for the party, which had been part of the wartime coalition government for five years. Its leader Archibald Sinclair, who had been Secretary of State for Air under Winston Churchill and had previously been a Cabinet minister in Ramsay MacDonald's national government, had lost his own seat and the party saw its parliamentary representation almost halved from 21 to 12 - its worst performance for more than 100 years.

However, things were to get progressively worse under Mr Davies' leadership, with its share of the vote falling from 9.1% in the 1950 election to 2.5% a year later and 2.7% in 1955. By that point, the party had been reduced to just six seats. Originally viewed as a caretaker leader until the more charismatic Sinclair returned to Parliament - which he never did - Davies held the party together for more than a decade at perhaps its lowest point. Jo Grimond (1956-1967) Jo Grimond succeeded Clement Davies in 1956 after a coup by senior party figures. The Orkney and Shetland MP - whom leadership contender Tim Farron has named as one of his three heroes - put a spring back in the party's step and gradually rebuilt its standing in the country and its presence in Parliament. Although the party effectively stood still in the 1959 election, it fared much better in the two subsequent polls, winning nine seats in 1964 and 12 seats two years later, largely at the expense of the Conservatives.

Its performance in 1964, when it won 11.2% of the vote, was its best for more than 30 years. It was during Grimond's reign that the party won the first and, by no means the last, of a series of sensational by-election victories, taking the seats of Torrington in 1958 and Orpington in 1962. Jeremy Thorpe (1967-1976) After leading the party into three general elections, Mr Grimond made way for a younger leader although, ironically, he was to step in on a temporary basis almost a decade later after Jeremy Thorpe's own resignation. Thorpe, the first Liberal leader to be elected, led the party through the most eventful period in its post-war history. While the party lost ground in 1970, when its number of MPs halved to six, it made spectacular progress in February 1974, winning almost 20% of the vote - although it only had 14 seats to show for its best performance since 1929.

Edward Heath tried to strike a deal with Thorpe so he could stay in Downing Street, which could have seen the Liberal leader offered a cabinet post, but the negotiations came to nothing. Six months later, the Lib Dems repeated their feat - winning 13 seats and 18% of the vote. However, two years later Thorpe resigned the leadership to fight charges of conspiracy and incitement to murder amid allegations of an affair with a former male model, After a high-profile trial - which was interrupted so he could fight the 1979 election - he was acquitted of the charges but his political career was over. David Steel (1976-1988) David Steel overwhelmingly defeated John Pardoe to become Liberal Party leader in 1976 and his decade in charge of the party was characterised by huge shifts and realignments in British politics. Under his leadership, the Liberals effectively kept James Callaghan's Labour government in power for nearly three years, when its majority disappeared, although under the terms of the Lib-Lab pact, Steel never joined the government.

The party did respectably in the 1979 election, winning 11 seats but when it joined forces with the new Social Democratic Party to fight the 1983 election as the SDP-Liberal Alliance, it briefly threatened to break the mould of British politics. Although together they won a spectacular 25% of the vote, just 700,000 fewer votes than Labour, this only translated into 23 seats, of which the Liberal side of the alliance won 17. Four years later, it repeated the feat, winning 22 seats - of which 17 again were Liberal. Robert Maclennan/David Steel (1988) After the Liberal Party officially agreed to merge with the SDP, David Steel and the SDP's Robert Maclennan acted as interim joint leaders of what initially was the Social and Liberal Democrats until a new leader was elected. Neither men chose to stand in the subsequent contest, in which Paddy Ashdown comfortably beat Alan Beith.

Paddy Ashdown (1988-1999) Image copyright PA The former royal marine took the party to a different level altogether, in terms of organisation and electoral performance, although his leadership opened a debate about the Lib Dems position in the political spectrum which still rages today. Paddy Ashdown fought two elections as leader. In 1992, the party effectively trod water, winning 20 seats in an election which was dismayingly familiar to critics of the two-party system. But that all changed when, in 1997, the Conservative vote collapsed in large parts of the country and the Lib Dems, particularly in the west country and the London suburbs, were the main beneficiaries. They won 46 seats - ironically on a lower share than in 1992. Despite having the largest third party presence in Parliament for over 60 years, the scale of Labour's landslide meant the Lib Dems were effectively marginalised. Pre-election talk of a realignment on the centre-left, and progressive co-operation in the shape of electoral reform largely disappeared and Paddy Ashdown stepped down two years later.

Charles Kennedy (1999-2006) Charles Kennedy saw off four other candidates, the largest field in the party's history, to win the leadership in 1999. Establishing a principle of so-called equidistance between the two main parties, Mr Kennedy took the party to its post-war electoral pinnacle, winning 52 seats in 2001 and 62 seats in 2005 - when its vote share exceeded 22%. Mr Kennedy's opposition to the Iraq War gave the party a distinct identity and electoral asset it had perhaps lacked in the past and it started winning seats in places such as Solihull and Cardiff Central, which were virgin territory for the party. But, despite this success, there was a rebellion against Mr Kennedy - who had been fighting a drink problem - by MPs who thought the party should have done better and he was forced to resign less than eight months after the election. Sir Menzies Campbell (2006-7) Sir Menzies Campbell led the party for less than two years, winning a leadership contest in 2006 but stepping down voluntarily, albeit in the face of calls to quit, eighteen months later.

The former champion sprinter, who competed in the Olympic and Commonwealth Games, is the only permanent leader in the party's history not to have fought a general election. From the start, Sir Menzies was dogged by question marks over his age and whether the party needed a more youthful figure. But when he stood down, the then 66-year old was temporarily succeeded by Vince Cable, himself only two years younger. Nick Clegg (2007-2015) Image copyright PA Nick Clegg achieved a series of notable firsts in his eight years as Lib Dem leader. The former EU official and MEP was the narrowest winner of any leadership election in the party's history, prevailing by just over 500 votes from Chris Huhne. He took part in the first ever TV general election debate and, most significantly, he took the party into government for the first time in 60 years, becoming deputy prime minister in the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition, in which the party had more than 20 ministers and influence over all its key decisions.

He stood down after a series of electoral reverses, which culminated in May when the party saw its number of MPs drop from 62 to eight and its lowest vote share for 45 years. Who's going to be next? We find out on Thursday afternoon whether it will be Tim Farron, above left, or Norman Lamb, above right, who will be tasked with resurrecting liberal fortunes. Find out more about them and the leadership contest here. Liberal Party | political party, United Kingdom | Britannica.com political party, United Kingdom political party Liberal Party, a British political party that emerged in the mid-19th century as the successor to the historic Whig Party . It was the major party in opposition to the Conservatives until 1918, after which it was supplanted by the Labour Party . The Liberals continued as a minor party until 1988, when they merged with the Social Democratic Party to form what is now called the Liberal Democratic Party . Through its long history, the Liberal Party included various schools of thought, but all Liberals were united by the conviction that the source of progress lay in the free exercise of individual energy.

The purpose of politics, therefore, was to create the conditions within which individual energy could thrive to the betterment of all. This article covers aspects of the Liberal Party in two sections: History and Policy and structure. Resources for further study are recommended in the Bibliography. History. After Britain’s First (electoral) Reform Act of 1832, the mainly aristocratic Whigs were joined in the House of Commons by increasing numbers of middle-class members and by a smaller number of Radicals, who, from about 1850, tended to work together in cooperation with the Peelites (antiprotectionist Tories). By 1839 Lord John Russell was referring to “the Liberal party” in his letters to Queen Victoria. Russell’s administration of 1846 is sometimes regarded as the first Liberal government; others reserve the distinction for Lord Palmerston ’s 1855 administration. The first unequivocally Liberal government was that formed in 1868 by William E. Gladstone , under whose leadership these various elements became a cohesive parliamentary party.

After 1865 the personality and politics of Gladstone dominated the party, which held power under him for a total of more than 12 years between 1868 and 1894. The main achievement of the Liberal Party under Gladstone was its reforms. These included the establishment of a national system of education, voting by secret ballot, the legalization of trade unions, the enfranchisement of the working class in rural areas, reconstruction of the army (involving the abolition of the purchase of commissions), and reform of the judicial system. In the process, Gladstone attached a broad range of popular support to the party. Similar Topics Labour Party In 1886 the party was weakened by the defection of the Liberal Unionists, who disliked Gladstone’s plan for Home Rule of Ireland and eventually joined the Conservatives. By the early 20th century the Liberal Party seemed moribund , but a Conservative split helped the Liberals to victory. The period 1906–15, during which the foundations of the British welfare state were laid, was the last during which the Liberals held power alone. In 1915, during World War I , the Liberal H.H.

Asquith formed a national coalition government with the Conservative and Labour parties. However, during the war the Liberals clustered into two distinctly different camps, centred on the rival personalities of Asquith and his successor, David Lloyd George . Aligned with Asquith were those who felt that cherished Liberal beliefs were being threatened by such wartime exactions as military conscription, introduced in 1916. Allied to Lloyd George were those who sided with the Conservatives in seeking a more rigorous prosecution of the war. The Liberals’ divisions became more firmly drawn after the postwar election of December 1918, in which Lloyd George’s Coalition Liberals ran unopposed by their Conservative partners while Asquith’s Independent Liberals were routed. In the years that followed, the party’s internal conflicts exacted a terrible toll on it at precisely the time when the Labour Party was emerging as a coherent and effective source of reform in the country. In the general election of 1924, the Liberals’ share of the popular vote was reduced to less than 20 percent and its parliamentary representation to 40.

By 1933 the party was divided between Sir John Simon’s Liberal National supporters of the Conservative-dominated National Government, Sir Herbert Samuel’s opposition Liberals, and a small number of Independent Liberals who still clung to the aging Lloyd George. The Liberals’ last experience of national government was provided by their participation in Winston Churchill’s World War II coalition of 1940–45. Britannica Stories Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent The Liberal Party’s 20th-century nadir came in the 1950s, when it polled as little as 2.5 percent of the popular vote and when serious consideration was given to merging with the Conservatives. Leader Clement Davies rejected Winston Churchill’s overtures in 1951, however, and the Liberals survived as a small rump in the House of Commons for the remainder of the decade. The seeds of political rebirth were sown under the leadership of Jo Grimond (1956–67), when the party generated a revived reputation as an intellectually credible left-of-centre group.

Liberals demonstrated a willingness to adopt radical and often innovative approaches to reform, which often brought them close to the ideological space occupied by the Labour Party, though their social and political analysis was not rooted in class loyalty. From the early 1960s on, the party enjoyed spectacular by-election successes; fueled by these performances, an increasing number of Liberal candidates was fielded. Under Jeremy Thorpe the party made substantial progress in the 1974 general election, returning almost 20 percent of the popular vote. The charismatic Thorpe himself fell victim to a scandal in which money was alleged to have been paid to secure the silence of his former homosexual lover, but under Thorpe’s successor as party leader, David Steel (1976–88), the Liberals retained their position as a significant national force in British politics. In return for supporting the minority Labour government of James Callaghan , Steel was able to extract a number of concessions , including an agreement to consult the Liberals on legislation prior to its presentation in Parliament.

This “Lib-Lab” pact foundered in 1978, and the Liberals fared poorly in the general election of 1979, but their strategic importance was enhanced by the emergence of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981. An Alliance (as their cooperation became known) was forged between the two parties in time for the 1983 general election, in which they won 25 percent of the popular vote. British Culture and Politics Between 1983 and the formal merger with the larger part of the SDP in 1988, there were a number of tensions between the two parties at all levels over policy, strategy, and electoral arrangements. Notable parliamentary figures such as Cyril Smith and Michael Meadowcroft expressed their doubts about the Alliance, and the Association of Liberal Councillors argued that its own tradition of locally based “community politics” was more truly “mold-breaking” than the comparatively elitist SDP. Yet it became clear that the Liberals fared rather the better under the Alliance.

They, rather than the SDP, retained the right to field Alliance candidates in a majority of the most winnable parliamentary seats, while their historic ties to certain areas of the country remained strong. The Liberal Party provided the major part of the organizational infrastructure and resources on which the new party, known initially as the Social and Liberal Democrats and later simply as the Liberal Democrats, was based. Policy and structure. Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest During its period as a major political party, the Liberal Party was characterized by certain attitudes rather than a precise ideology . Central to Liberal attitudes was a trust in rationality, faith in the idea of progress, attachment to individualism , emphasis on human rights, and an eagerness to emancipate underprivileged groups. But Liberals’ distrust of the enlargement of the functions of the state eventually came into conflict with the egalitarian political aspirations of the party, leaving it unprepared to adopt the role subsequently taken up by the emergent Labour Party.

On the one hand, the Liberal Party championed individualism, free trade , and private enterprise, opposing what it saw as the centralizing and stultifying power of the state; on the other, it pursued policies of active social reorganization to prevent abuses of private power, to promote social justice , and to extend the role of the state in fields such as education, social welfare, and industrial relations. The Liberal Party always sought reform of the system of government, and Liberal reforms molded most of Britain’s political institutions. In overseas policy, Liberal attitudes were pacific and internationalist. The party was wary of imperial expansion in the 19th century and supported the independence of colonial peoples in the 20th century. It constantly promoted international cooperation. Britannica Lists & Quizzes Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies The Liberal Party’s most significant organizational feature was its decentralized structure. Owing to the paucity of its parliamentary representation throughout most of the 20th century, its parliamentarians and national head office were less able to dominate the national organization than was the case in the major British parties.

The local parties controlled the process of candidate selection and also afforded their individual members a direct vote in the election of the party leader. Financial resources were also retained at the local level to a degree that was not typical of either of the major parties. The Liberal Party’s annual assembly held a consultative rather than a formally sovereign position within the party constitution, while a National Executive Committee directed its day-to-day business. More about Liberal Party Liberal Party of Great Britain | Uncyclopedia | Fandom powered by Wikia Liberal Party of Great Britain From Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation , search The British Liberal Party was a former political party burped into existence in 1859 after an all night tea drinking binge . It lasted until 1988 when the Liberals merged with the Social Democratic Party to make one huge political joke out of two minor ones. It was also called the Pantsdown-Knickersdorf Merger in honour of Paddy Ashdown and his personal assistant Paddina Von Knickersdorf .

Pantsdown became the leader of the Liberal Democrats a.k.a 'Funny-Haha' Party and kept his clothes on long enough to make a speech about the start of a new political yawn...er dawn..(yeah..fill out the rest of the cliches) Radicals , Peelites and Whigs combine to create the Liberal Party. The Radicals were too mean to buy their own bicycle. Contents edit Tea for Three A scene from the HBO/BBC TV film Formation of the Liberal Party. For those without comedic tastes, the "questionable parody" of this website called Wikipedia have an article about Liberal Party of Great Britain . The story goes that the Liberal Party was formed in the Willis Tea Rooms in the Piccadilly area of London in June 1859. The reason why they met there and not the Houses of Parliament was that it was essentially a well known 'knocking shop' with secret bedrooms. Whilst undressing for dinner (it was one of those parties ) , the leaders of the Whigs , Peelites and Radicals agreed to combine together to defeat the Conservative Party which was then in government.

They decided to call themselves Liberals as it sounded bold and beautiful and emphasised their commonly held beliefs in Free Trade , Free Sex and Free Gifts For The Deserving Wealthy'. Once they put their Victorian clothing back on , the newly minted Liberals returned to the House of Commons , defeated the Tories and made Lord Palmerston Prime Minister again. Only William Gladstone wasn't happy as he had missed the meeting whilst out rescuing fallen women outside his home in London. They seemed to trip up everytime they passed his front door and would wait for him to come out and pick them up. The women were later known as Gladstone's Bags. edit So Who Was Really A Liberal ? At first it would be fair to say that the Whigs really expected to remain in control of the new fangled Liberal Party. They had the men - the wealthy ones - and the social and political expectation that they would always remain in charge. They liked the lazy part of laissez-faire capitalism and thought economic liberalism should keep government spending down to a bare minimum. Whigs were however a declining breed , probably too much prescribed Laudanum and the notorious addictive Earl Grey tea were perhaps also a factor.

This political laxativism by the wimpy Whigs meant they left Gladstone to get on with it as he seemed to be keener to do things in government , As for the Radicals...well they were always banging on about a number of strange causes like banning drink for small people , saving sailors from licensed whore houses and preaching about sin which just wasn't to the Whig taste. The best known Radical leader was John Bright - except his wasn't and liked to wear suits two sizes too small for him. edit The Liberal Conspiracy..Oops Ascendancy edit William Gladstone Gladstone trying to think of a suitably insulting word to describe his political enemy Benjamin Disraeli in a letter to Queen Victoria . Known later as 'The People's Willy Warmer' , William Ewart Gladstone is the perhaps the best remembered Liberal leader. Originally a Rigid Conservative , Gladstone could stand erect in the same political position for hours which impressed other M.P.s and also his wife who went on to produce ten little liberal children.

However Gladstone eventually left the Conservatives when he discovered that he wasn't getting enough opportunities to meet the opposite sex and embarked on a long secret career trawling the streets of London looking for 'Fallen' or 'Loose Women'. In contrast to the pleasure seeking Whigs , Gladstone convinced himself that it was his duty to do this and that God had dropped him a telegram outlining His Divine Plan. Gladstone's growing bend away from Conservatives to Liberals (via the Orange-Peelites) marked him out as something of a maverick. He liked to unwind (when not in the House of Commons or in lurking outside brothels), by scrubbing up with Homer in a hip bath , showering with Socrates and finishing with a hot rub down with Sappho . Once they had gone home for the night, Gladstone would curl up with Alfred Tennyson and listen to him reading Charge of the Light Brigade to make him forget about sex for that day. In 1868 Gladstone became both leader of the Liberals and Prime Minister . He wanted to make sure the new Liberal government would have a solid list of achievements from which to shout out about .

This is a summary of what they were :- A political discussion gets out of hand in the Showtime/ITV series Gladstone's First Ministry. 1869. Irish Catholic Jacket Potato Act. 1870. Liberal Re-Education Act for the Politically Insane. 1871. Vice Bill (This Is My Address) Act. 1872. Free Drugs for Cheer Leaders Act. 1872. Secret Sex in a Barrel Act. 1873. Loose and Fallen Women Amendment Act. 1874. Atheism on Omnibuses Act. After all this legislation , the Conservative party leader Disraeli was to comment that the Liberals looked 'like a range of exhausted drunks who'd finished throwing up their Radical sick' . Gladstone was so upset with this attack that he resigned and the Conservatives won the next election. He then went out and took out his anger on a copse of trees near his country home. Gladstone's brutal axe attack disqualified him from leadership of the Liberal party and he was told to go away and practise his twisted habits in private. edit Gladstone Returns With His Chopper In Hand Jack the Ripper who was Liberal M.P.

for the Mile High End seat in London. Said to have once worked with Gladstone before 'turning to the dark side' and later became leader of the Monster Raving Loony Party under the new name of Screaming Lord Sutch . Gladstone's enforced retirement left the Liberals with the choice of John 'Fatty' Bright , a newcomer from Birmingham called Joseph Chamberlain who spoke with a distinctive monotonous I am going to hang myself Brummie accent and a brace of Whigs led by the Marquis of Hartington. The Liberals chose the hairy faced aristocrat but he spent most of his time sleeping on the opposition side of the House of Commons or with his mistress . The Radicals grew impatient and demanded Gladstone back even if he was going mad with his powerful sex drive , cutting down a lot of phallically symbolic trees to curb his urges. When Gladstone ran out of trees, he went back to public speaking in a series of gigs in Scotland known as the 'Mid-loathing Campaign' against Disraeli (in that he was working up for a headlining Full-loathing concert at Covent Garden Opera House, London.

) In response to Gladstone's renewed political activity , Hartington was shoved out of the way and the frenetic tree feller came back in 1880 and became Prime Minister for the second time. Gladstone would later wish he hadn't as everything that could go wrong did during this ministry and would see the party break up in a major hissing fit about Irish self government. edit An Old Man In A Hurry to See The Doctor Gladstone slips on a real banana skin as his political enemies celebrate by performing a parliamentary Can-Can. The Liberals were an unhappy bunch of campers between 1880-1885. Troubles in Ireland caused them plenty of anguish there and to make matters worse , the Irish nationalists had a new monochromatic (and skirt chaser) leader in the imposing shape of Charles Stewart Parnell. Though a nationalist wanting Home Rule for Ireland , he was a Liberal when it came to the bedroom where he carried on with another man's wife Kitty 'Twin Perkies' O'Shea.

The Liberal leaders soon got to know about Parnell's wandering eye (and walking stick) as one of their leaders Charles Dilke was doing one better than Parnell by enjoying threesomes in the privacy of Hyde Park. So Parnell and Dilke became friends in shared guilty secrets. Only Gladstone was told about this backstairs channel of communication with the Irish leader but he was often out searching for more fallen women to save and bring back to Number 10 for tea and a fumble on the chaise longue. So Gladstone wrote all the relevant details in a notebook and gave it to his son Herbert 'Dense' Gladstone who was acting as his personal secretary but refused to wear the regulation corset as required. Perhaps this is the reason and in discomfort for not strapping is belly in, Herbert Gladstone flew a large kite over the family house which spelt in huge letters 'PARNELL AND SEX : HOME RULE FOR THE EMERALD ISLE' .This alerted the Whigs that the Prime Minister was about to hand over Ireland to the Irish.

Appalled by this and a threat that their country home beds would be jumped on by uncouth Dubliners , the Whigs and Joseph 'Joey Boy' Chamblerlain huffed off and created their own Liberal (Gladstone Is Not Invited) Party - otherwise known as the Liberal Unionists . edit The End of Gladstone and Failure of Blubbering Lord Rosebery Charles Stewart Parnell: Briefly leader of the Libido-Liberal Party following his resignation from the Irish nationalists. Gladstone generously blamed everyone for the political disaster of 1886. Dilke was sacked and his troilist trysts in Hyde Park were illustrated all over the News of the World in revenge. This also marked the end of Gladstone's midnight rummagings when his wife finally told him that he should retire now he was nearly 80. So the Grand Dirty Old Man (G.D.O.M for short) as he was fondly called by his lady friends reluctantly agreed and decided to blow off his excess sexual energy by attacking more forests. A few days later Gladstone was killed by a falling tree.

As the joke went round , for a politician who had spent so much time with fallen women, it was fitting Gladstone was flattened by a tumbling tree. Lord Rosebery staring out of a misted up window after too much heavy breathing with Oscar Wilde. The Liberals elected Parnell as their leader but he died suddenly from a surfeit of melancholy when his libido broke down in the bedroom. Keeping to their tradition of inviting sexual athletes as leaders , the Liberals chose Lord Rosebery. He was one of the few old time Whigs who hadn't bolted with the others out of the party. Rosebery had a stable for his racehorses and another building for his team of jockeys who were reputed to 'ride both ways' . Oscar Wilde was also a friend and a regular visitor who was open to the offer to 'saddle up'. Shortly after becoming Liberal leader Rosebery was given the job as Prime Minister as Queen Victoria admired his virile young body and had grown tired of 'Old Hairy Chops' - otherwise the Marquis of Salisbury - who was leader of the Conservatives. But like his thoroughbred equines , Rosebery needed a 'goat' to calm his nerves down.

The Tories cleverly stole the goat one day and the distraught Rosebery resigned in tears and spent the next 30 years in his house going through endless boxes of Kleenex. edit The Challenge to Free (Sex) Trade Following the 1895 election , the Liberals were deservedly in the political wilderness. Their next leader William Harcourt liked foot stamping and head butting rivals , though in this case his 'rivals' were his own party colleagues. Harcourt was dismissed and replaced by Henry Campbell-Bannerman who was a professional Scotsman . He would wail if he heard the poetry of Robert Burns and would suck on a kilt to calm himself down. Campbell-Bannerman and the Liberals were dismissed as anti-British by the Conservative/Liberal Unionist government and history would have ignored them if Chamberlain had brought up the idea of ending the Free Sex Trade. A scene from the Disney film Return of the Liberals where a polling expert loses his swingometer . Though now an imperialist and close friend of the Tories , Chamberlain had found it difficult to escape his poisonous liberal background .

So he decided the best way to combat it was to reintroduce Prophylactic Protection (or Tariff Reform when talking to the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal) to protect all good British patriots and maintain the British Empire . He called it the Blighty Raincoat and urged all supporters to wear one to save them from unprotected liberalism. However this policy failed . Even the English rejected Chamberlain's 'Raincoat Solution' to banish liberalism and preferred to keep things as they were. Some of Chamberlain's old Whig allies led by Duke of Devonshire (formerly Lord Hartington) campaigned against him with the slogan Puncture the Protectionist Rubber and urged all their followers to 'plough away unsheathed and unabashed' . Distressed, delirious and deranged , Chamberlain resigned and went to bed early where he died eight years later from an overdose of Colonial Coco Pops . The campaign against Free Sex Trade appeared to be over for now. The collapse of the Conservative government now meant The Liberals were back in office and ready to drop their pants in an ejaculation of empowerment. They also had a slop bucket of extreme Liberal ideas which were so extreme the Communists could have sued for political copyright.

edit Liberals Introduce Communism Lloyd George about to have an erotically lucky day. No wonder he is smiling. Normally described as the introduction of the 'Welfare State', legislation was brought in by the Liberals with their new political allies, the Labour Party , to end capitalism and bring about communism . It had been no coincidence that the Russian Social Democratic party (i.e. The Bolshevik Party) had been allowed to hold their party meetings in London without anyone bothering them. Only Winston Churchill was suspicious, but he was at this stage a Liberal ( changing political parties after he met his wife Clementine at a 'fruity frolic' in Downing Street) and was therefore not very paranoid at this time. This is some of the examples of what the Liberals did:- 1906. Trade Unions Can Blackmail Business Act 1907. Act of God Act (Abolition of Christianity ) 1908. Old-Age Pensions for Old Liberal Girlfriends Act 1909. The House of Lords 'Get Stuffed' Act. 1910. Introduction of the Cult of Liberalism Act 1911. Second Homes and Second Wives Act for Left-Leaning Politicians. 1912.

Irish Gnome Rule Act. And so Liberally on. Henry Campbell-Bannerman, who was the tartan face for the proto-Trotskyite Liberal regime, died in France, where he had been enjoying more of the entente and less of the cordiale. Officially it was said he died admiring himself in a hotel mirror in the Ritz Hotel, Paris , but other stories mentioned Stalin and Lenin as having been there also. The whole event was put in a brown envelope and deposited in a safe deposit box in Harrods , where it still is (number 1908 if you are interested). He was replaced by Herbert-Sherbet Asquith, who had been the financial minister for the Liberal government. Asquith's number two was David Lloyd George , Philanderer of the Exchequer and a Radical. He had left his wife in Wales and filled up empty hours in London bed-hopping to raise money for a secret political fund. edit Suffragette City Suffragettes at Guantanamo Bay Prison in the Fox TV Series The Liberal Origins of Terrorism. Like all Liberals in that era , Asquith preferred his 'little women' , lying down passive , expectant and non-voting.

This policy outraged one group of women who said they were the modern day 'Little Women' and would suffer for the vote - and hence got given the name Suffragettes . They were led by Dame Emmeline 'Edna' Everage-Pankhurst and her daughters Christobel and Sylvia . Asquith and other Liberals called them 'The Spankhursts' and suggested that they only wanted the Vote for Ladies so they could support that 'nice Mr Balfour and the Conservatives'. The Suffragette problem even reached King Edward VII who was very much a liberal himself when it came to women. When Asquith and the Liberals refused to give in to the Suffragettes , Edward blew a raspberry whilst reading the King's Speech' in Parliament to voice his support. The Opposition M.P.s laughed but women were still kept away from the ballot boxes. In revenge , Asquith's best trousers were stolen and set alight in Parliament Square .The leading Suffragettes chained themselves to policemen in the resulting fight. Winston Churchill asked the American government to help out and the leading Suffragettes were sent to Cuba to knit woollen socks for the British navy.

The Liberals were still hoping to increase Government communism during this period but were faced with the selfless and principled opposition by the House of Lords. The Conservatives wanted reforms to be paid with introduction of a Fornication (Outside Marriage) Tax as they knew this would hurt the Liberals more than them. However the crafty Liberals dressed up their blatant mob socialism in the fake language of democracy. The Duke of Mucque (that is Mu-Kay NOT Muck !) stood up for the people and denounced Asquith , Lloyd George and the rest of the Liberals as wanting to introduce compulsory wife cheating. Unfortunately the People didn't listen that year and returned the Liberals to power. edit The Kaiser Has Got My Chocolates Asquith about to send his book of Lewd Limericks for Liberal Ladies to a much desired friend . By 1914 it seemed the Liberals would stay in power for ever. Somehow they got over the scandals of rampant sexual activity, criminal food activity by Lloyd George in the Macaroni Case when he tried introduce Italian pasta to a nation brought up on boiled cabbage and bully beef and building the new Dreadlocks to take on the bullet headed Prussian navy.

Only Ireland was giving problems to the government but real opposition came from protestants in Ulster who believed they were about to have a Catholic wafer shoved down their throats. Once again the Liberals were their own worse enemies . Asquith who was married to the formidable Margot Asquith began writing to the well connected society beauty Venetia Stanley. Asquith sent her a stream of silly love letters, gossip stories , limericks and saucy sea shanties . He also put in an a regular order of Monsieur Poirot's Bedtime Chocolate Novelties to be delivered to Venetia every week. This little sweet toothed affair carried on discretely until the Germans invaded Belgium and personally looted the chocolate shop. They discovered Asquith's regular standing order for the chocolates and were about to go public on the British Prime Minister's secret love life. However Asquith - scared of the news breaking out and also scared of his wife , decided that the best way to cover his back was to declare war on Germany. That way any story about the chocolates could be dismissed as vile German propaganda. The cover of the musical hall sheet Meet Lord Kitchener.

The poster persuaded many young men to sign up and die heroically. World War One so started - at least for the British Empire - on a very trivial issue but there had been no doubt the German Emperor Willy Kaiser wanted to mess up the map of Europe to his country's advantage . It was also rumoured Germany wanted to introduce a single currency as well to be called the Kaisermark. The British didn't care much if anything for their supposed allies - the French or the Russians - but felt a twinge when another country threatened the imperial British pound. Now that Asquith had started a war about a box of chocolates , he needed allies with real military experience and chose Lord Kitchener to lead the war effort. It wasn't a wise decision as Lord Kitchener looked better on a poster than he did in real life. The British press loved him and called the man who was widely praised for finishing off the rebellion in South Africa by the Boers , a 'war winner'. However even Churchill worked out Kitchener was probably less then he appeared . Nor was he impressed with Kitchener's habit of dropping all business and then heading to a band stand to perform with his group 'General Kitchener's Shell Shocked Band' .

The government eventually stopped this and made Sergeant Mustard Pepper a scapegoat for 'leading the noble Lord astray' and had him shot. Lord Kitchener agreed to resign and then steered his yacht in the path of a torpedo fired by German U-Boat a few months later so they could die with an unblemished reputation. But even this didn't help Asquith and the Liberals were forced into a coalition with the Conservatives . Appalled by Asquith as a war leader , the Conservatives eventually offered to support David Lloyd George to become Prime Minister . Lloyd George agreed and Asquith was forced out to pasture . The Liberals split with half of them going with Asquith whilst the others decided to stay put with the new Prime Minister as they were promised political (and especially) sexual favours. They also hoped to win the war as well but hoped the Goat Would Get Their Oats first. edit Lloyd George Knew My Mother.That's Why I Look Like Him A smug looking David Lloyd George in a photo he liked to send to all his admirers. The last official bigamist to occupy Downing Street.

It just goes to show how Great Britain was desperate in 1916 that they allowed David Lloyd 'LG the Goat' George to become Prime Minister. An M.P. since 1890, Lloyd George had pretended to be a lot of things in his career up until then. The Radicals thought he was one of them and he had used the language of the socialists and communists in his fight against the Conservatives. But really the main motivator for a Liberal like Lloyd George was sex. This is why he got the name 'The Goat' . He had a huge advantage in that he liked women (at least good looking and interesting ones ) whilst other Liberals were dull . The Conservatives were hampered by their exposure to excessive kinky sex at private schools and were tongue tied and shy with the girls. Lloyd George had no problem in those departments. He was also one of the very first politicians to make his secretary a work-in lover when Frances Stevenson joined his staff just before the First World War. Before then secretaries were always men and it was thought women were not up to the job (at least the official one).

It also helped to calm Lloyd George who now drifted into a cosy arrangement where his wife stayed in Wales most of the time and would only come down to London for show. Otherwise Lloyd George could live more or less openly with his mistress and encouraged everyone who worked around him to adopt the same louche attitude. Remarkably...Lloyd George probably did make the difference and the war was won. He should of really resigned after that but the coalition Prime Minister wanted to fix the peace as well . In 1918 he fought an election with the Conservatives against his former Liberal allies. Asquith lost his seat along with nearly all the other Liberals who had opposed Lloyd George. His new plan was now to persuade his political followers to create a new party with the Conservatives but they were still wary of sharing a bed with Lloyd George. To them , Lloyd George carried the deadly disease of Sex-Liberalism and it wasn't long before many in their party became infected. Of Lloyd George's old pre-war Liberal colleagues , only Churchill had stayed with him. But unlike Lloyd George, Churchill had only been a liberal for political reasons and not moral ones.

He then became more interested in fighting 'bolshevism' and said the British Labour party was really a Communist wolf in sham sheep clothing. This offended many Liberals who began to desert Lloyd George. With his reputation (ok WHAT REPUTATION ?) crumbling, Lloyd George decided he needed a war to divert everyones attention away from his failings. In Ireland who sent over the Black Eyes and Tanned Tommies , an army of British football hooligans to take on the I.R.A. Most of them never got out of Dublin, preferring to singing and smashing up the bars. Looking for a new enemy , Lloyd George instead picked on the Turks and threatened them with war if they recaptured Constantinople. The Turks ignored this attempt of fake heroics so Lloyd George resigned to avoid taking the blame. Though no one knew it at the time, the last Liberal to be British Prime Minister packed up his suitcases and left by the back door with his mistress. edit The Liberal Degeneracy..Oops Decline edit Disunity and Dissing A scene where two Liberals throw it all away including their clothes in the climatic end of the Channel 4/Channel X series The Decline and Fall of the Liberal Party.

The loss of office meant those Liberals who stayed with Lloyd George now had sit once again with their erstwhile political friends who had remained bovine-like loyal to Asquith. These were known as the Squiffy Liberals as they had been drinking themselves silly and hugging bottles under tables for the last six years in their anguish of political exclusion. The two groups eyed each other like a pair of bar room brawlers over who was 'the real Liberal Party' but then the Conservatives reminded everyone of the past with a renewed attempt to end Britain's Free Sex Trade once again. Forgetting their mutual hatreds for the moment, the Squiffy-Liberals and the Sleaze-Liberals had a noisy slurpy kiss-and-a-make-up session and agreed to fight as one party against the Conservatives. Perhaps they remembered all the good times they had before the First World War and like an old married couple, they wanted to renew their passions one more time. It was time to jump on the couch and pull each others clothes off.

Even Winston Churchill who was never one much for the cause of Liberal Free Sex and had been thinking about trying his political luck with the Tories again, rallied once to the Liberal banner and fought the 1923 General Election as one of their candidates. But like any remarriage , it was a false dawn, followed by spilling the glass containing the false teeth. The Liberals came in third behind the Tories and the Labour party and so were given no chance to form a government. Within a few months , the Liberals were fighting each other again . The British electorate finally grew bored of them and they were reduced to a flabby rump of 40 M.Ps in the House of Commons at the next election. Asquith (now more or less permanently pickled) was removed as the Liberal leader and Lloyd George got the job because at least everyone knew who he was. Sir Archibald 'Educated Archie' Sinclair . The last Liberal to hold a cabinet job and the first politician to become a ventriloquist's dummy. This went down badly with Asquith's drinking pals who pretended to accept 'The Goat' as leader but now wanted to head off somewhere else.

They got their chance in 1931 when Lloyd George's breeding tackle let him down and forced him to temporarily retire as leader to have a prostrate gland operation. This gave the chance for those Liberals who preferred economics and alcohol to slip out of the party and form an alliance with the Conservatives at the 1931 election. They were even happy to give up their old Liberal belief in Free Sex and so it was left to the Conservative party to finally introduce Protection and Rubbers All Round. This saved the British economy, made Cricket popular and ended the rampant domination of the Liberal Sexual Elite that had held sway in England since the 1840s. edit Passing of the Libido Age Lloyd George eventually returned to politics but he now had no few followers except his own family and one friend. Even those Liberals who hadn't buggered off to join the Conservatives didn't want him , so the disillusioned former Liberal Prime Minister went off to visit Adolf Hitler and ask for political asylum. However even the Nazis refused to have a sexed-up/washed-up Liberal living there and expelled Lloyd George back to Britain.

The old Liberal hung around until 1945 and died in the arms of his former mistress who had decided to marry when his first wife died. At least the recent Liberal leaders had been interesting but now the party selected a right bunch of dismal donkeys to lead them. Herbert Samuel who was an ex-Squiffy Liberal who chose not join other colleagues in their bed sharing arrangement with the Conservatives was so dull that that he forgot his own name in a debate in the House of Commons. The party's next leader was Archibald Sinclair. He liked to wear tight button up suits and high wing collars . This made him look less interesting than tailor's dummy . In World War Two Winston Churchill gave Sinclair a job looking after the Air Ministry. This was a wise decision as most Liberal ideas were flying pigs in the sky by this time . Sinclair lost his job and seat in 1945 General Election and by 1951 the Liberals numbered just six M.P.s, four mistresses, three dogs and countless bastard children from nearly a century of libertinism. edit I Once had the Liberal Party in the Back of My Cab Times were hard for the Liberal Party in the 1950s.

Asquith's Great Grand daughter Helena Bonham Carter had to slip out of her frocks to help raise party funds. The General election results of 1951 should really have been the end for this long discredited party. With just a half a dozen M.P.s and a few fossils in the House of Lords , the entire Liberal Party could have been squeezed into a London cab and driven at a brick wall at high speed. Instead they were allowed to live on thanks to the sentimental Winston Churchill who still had a soft spot for his former party colleagues. However by this time Churchill was past his best so he really can't be blamed. But perhaps there is an answer. At this time the Conservative Party was really run by Sir Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan who would both go on to become British Prime Ministers . Neither Eden or Macmillan were true Conservatives so the suspicion that they were either deep under cover Communists or had become secret sexed-up Liberals during their early formative political careers. The evidence for both these explanations can been seen as it was they who persuaded local Conservatives not to stand against the few pathetic Liberal M.P.s left and so ensured that the party survived.

It is said the truth lies with Scotland Yard who have a box that holds a lot of suspicious papers in their possession which cannot be opened until 2051 . This really was a shame as it meant Eden and Macmillan's clandestine support for amoral and immoral liberalism allowed it to survive and indeed flourish. It was helped by the Communist led BBC and the spread of liberal sexualism at universities like Oxford and Cambridge. Communists and Liberals openly twisted the minds of children who had come from solid Conservative backgrounds and indoctrinated them with pervertism and the ideas of sexual liberalisation. At this time Britain still appeared to be happy, Conservative in thought and deed and with a common fear of non-British food and people. Even the Labour party (which never really did sex except with Ramsay McDonald and that was very kinky) were enthused with a similar conservative spirit and though they talked about a 'workers paradise' and other such political moonshine, they were sober on the issue of sex outside the marital bedroom. Now this was all going to change in the 1960s.

edit Return of Liberalism It cannot be no accident the recovery of the Liberal Party in Great Britain in the 1960s was a national tragedy for everyone who liked listening to the Wireless and wearing grey suits. Even though the Liberal Party itself wasn't particularly big , its acolytes and followers had insinuated themselves into the heart of what had been the Conservative Establishment and turned it Liberal. So persuasive was this liberalism that it is also got to the Conservative Government who now for the first time began to have their own sex scandals. In 1963 it got so bad that the then Prime Minister Harold Macmillan had to clarify a press report that he went to bed 'with trollops' what he actually meant the Victorian writer Anthony Trollope and not prostitutes . In the end a British minister John Profumo had to resign when it was discovered he was sharing a bed with the KGB , CIA , Marks & Spencer and the entire cast of My Fair Laddie ( a homosexual Scottish version of My Fair Lady) and had no time to play with his ministerial boxes. Joan Collins and others in a sex and back biting scene in Bournemouth 1975:The Liberal Party Conference .

It was later released under the new title of The Stud for international audiences. The Liberal Leader during this time had been Jo Grimond (not Joe, an example of Liberal sexual ambiguity) and when he decided stop sleeping around being leader, the party elected Jeremy Thorpe as their leader. A strange looking man who looked a bit like the lost brother of American President Richard Nixon , Thorpe wasn't very photogenic and had the appearance of a man who was at least a day behind with shaving. However he didn't need to look that good because the real Liberal leader was Roy Jenkins . Nominally a Labour Party M.P. , Jenkins had been liberalised at some unknown date and was now in a position to implement the full Liberal package on the British people. As Home Secretary , he introduced a raft of sex-liberal measures that even the governments of Asquith and Lloyd George had been afraid to introduce : They included:- Compulsory Homosexuality Unless You Opted Into Marriage Sexual Abandon on Television/Theatre/Radio/Literature/Personal and Public Life. Letting Joan Collins Take All Her Clothes Off. Anti-Christianity.

This spread of Liberal License to thrust their nudity in your face and waggle their privates was also helped by the spread of drugs so that the people of Great Britain drifted through a fug of moral irresolution . Even the Conservatives were no help as they too were putting it about as well. Just when all seemed to be lost, a man and his dog entered the picture to stand up against this liberal tide of filth : Norman Scott and Rinka the Great Dane. edit Kill Me or Shoot the Dog Rinka the Great Dane advertises she has a lot to say before her unexpected assassination . Rinka's American lawyer Droopy explains the circumstances behind his client's sudden demise as part of a criminal plot involving doped dog smuggling..or was it really about something else ? The name 'Rinka the Great Dane' still gives Liberals today the cold sweats . It was the dog that could have told the waiting world the truth about the British Liberal party. However before she could paws to paper or slobbery lips to microphone , Rinka was shot whilst being taken for a walk near the Glassy Tor on Dartmoor . Her escort on that day , the former male model Norman Scott later claimed they were ambushed by leading members of the Liberal party.

I knew it was them...I could smell their dirty sandals and a strong smell of body odour before they popped out in front of me with loaded shotguns. I shouted to Rinka - Run You Bitch..but before she had gone a few paces, the Liberals shot her in the back. They then turned their weapons on me and said 'and this is from the leader of the party'..but the guns jammed and my executioners all then burst into tears and blamed the pro-Conservative gun lobby for the misfires. I made myself scarce and made contact with the police. Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe. Who really ordered the death of Rinka the Talking Dog ? Scott got himself a lawyer and arranged Rinka to be represented by Droopy , a cartoon dog with a droll sense of humour. The Liberals denied they had any plan to shoot Rinka and asked 'We Don't Shoot Doggies Do We ?. Meanwhile other information emerged suggesting Jeremy Thorpe and Norman Scott were smuggling rare rabbits into France in the 1960s and that both liked to wear the same underpants whilst alone together on camping trips. It was all becoming very luridly Liberal so Thorpe resigned as the party's leader.

He was latter charged as part of a conspiracy to murder Norman Scott but in the end the British legal system decided this 'damned dog's death' was threatening the establishment and found Thorpe and other Liberals not guilty. edit Come Back To My Bedroom and Prepare for a Great Shag Following Jeremy Thorpe's resignation , the Liberals chose the Scottish Liberal David Steel who had a few years had been responsible for changing the law in England to legalise abortion . This Herodian approach to child care went down well the Immoralistic-Liberal British establishment and helped to establish Steel as a political 'moderate' . They also decided to support the Labour party government against the opposition Conservatives (Thatchbollah - Party of God) who were eager to take over. However this last ditch attempt to stop the arrival of Margaret Thatcher into power failed in 1979 and the Tories were swept back into power and would remain the Governing party for the next 18 years. Oddly the new Conservative government confused many people by indicating that they believed in '19th century Liberalism' and supported Free Trade. It soon became clear that for Thatcher at least , her liberalism was of the economic type but not all her followers accepted or understood this.

As they should have known, embracing any form of liberalism is like trying to dance the tango with a diseased corpse . So it isn't surprising that during this period it was the Tories who were often caught with their pants down in a series of sex scandals which would also include one of their future leaders and Prime Ministers John Major. Liberals and Social Democrats have a 'Difference of Opinion'. Meanwhile the Liberal Party had formed an alliance with a band of dissident Labourites (Social Democratic Party) lead by Roy Jenkins . As the founding father of Social Liberalism of the 1960s had so damaged British society , it was a natural for Jenkins to organise an alliance between his followers and the Liberal party. Calling it 'The Alliance' - this new political combination was at one stage they most popular political movement in Britain and they believed for the first time since the 1920s , the Liberals were on the verge of government again. This lead to a speech in 1981 by the then Liberal leader David Steel...

I am in the first Liberal leader in donkey's years to say to all my fellow party members : Get dressed, Cut off your beards , shave your armpits , stub out those funny smelling cigarettes and ring your partners to tell them you will now be home for dinner. Because as Liberals and Social Democrats , you must prepare for Government. There is no such thing as a free shag in Centre Party politics again. The Liberal Establishment (The B.B.C. and The Guardian newspaper) loved this speech and told everyone that Margaret Thatcher and her brand of economic liberalism were doomed. But once again no amount of liberal waffle could have prevented Argentina invading the Falkland Islands . The British needed Margaret Thatcher's robust shedding of blood (mostly Argentinian) to show that at least the British Armed forces were still free of the bacillus liberalis and were able to kill anyone (except Americans of course) who offended this country. edit 'Orrible' Merger The Liberal-Social Democratic alliance failed to make an electoral break through in 1983 and Jenkins resigned as their 'Prime Minister in Waiting' role.

He was replaced by the Social Democrats by David Owen , a telegenic former Labourite government minister who had the advantage that he was a lot younger than Jenkins and appeared to be less stuffy and Scottish compared to Steel. He was more allergic to liberalism as well and wanted the Alliance to adopt the 'Social Market' and outflank the Conservatives on the right. The Liberals and Social Democrats agree to consummate their merger in a hot scene from the Boner-Boobs Straight-to-DVD Adult Entertainment Production Sex Games Liberal Politicians Play . It stars Paddi Glory-Hole, Daffy Owen Fluids and Dame Cherie Bone Polisher. This worried many Liberals whose preferred option was a full on , no holds barred merger with the Social Democrats. They also had a new Liberal champion , Paddy Ashdown a former soldier turned politician who it was said could kill with his bare hands. Following the 1987 election when again the Alliance made no progress the Liberals made their move and demanded the two parties should properly combine and create a new one . Owen declined but was forced out by other Social Democrats who went ahead with the creation of the new party that later became known as the Liberal Democrats.

The Owenite Social Democrats marched on alone until everyone grew tired of them and laughed when they finished behind the Monster Raving Loony Party in a by-election. A few of the more beardier and smellier members of the Liberals refused also to join up and have carried on ever since as the Home Weave Liberal Party, a sad band of hairies living in caves and eating their own toenails. In 1988 therefore the old Liberal party was finally put to rest . In its place arose a supposedly new party called the Liberal Democrats but it didn't take too long for the old Liberal vices of sexual incontinence and political incompetence to be aroused once again. When Paddy lost his pants...it was Happy Liberal Days Are Here Again ! If only Rinka had lived..what stories she could have told. edit Liberal Party Leaders Rinka the Great Dane. Hero of Anti-Liberalism. Toys can be bought from the Ann Summers-Coulter Sex and Conservatism Mail Order Shop.

Lord Palmoliverstone (1859-1865) William Gladstone (1880-1894) (Return of the Randy One) Lord Rosebowl (1894-1896) Learn and talk about Leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Leaders of political parties in the United Kingdom, Liberal Party (UK), Lists of leaders of political parties 6 External links Leadership selection 1859–1969[ edit ] Before the adoption of the 1969 constitution of the party, the party was led by the prime minister or the most recent politically active prime minister from the party. In the absence of one of these, the leaders in the House of Lords and House of Commons were of equal status and jointly led the party. When a new leader was required, with the party in government, the monarch selected him by appointing someone as Prime Minister. However, in 1916 David Lloyd George , with the support of a minority of the Liberal MPs, formed a coalition government. H. H. Asquith , the former Prime Minister, remained as Liberal Party leader.

Asquith retained the leadership until his health failed in 1926, including periods when he was not in Parliament or was a peer. He was the last leader of the whole party under the original arrangements for leadership. When no overall party leader was a member of a House and a new leader was required in opposition, a leader emerged and was approved by party members in that House. From 1919 the Chairman of the Liberal Parliamentary Party, elected by MPs, functioned as the leader in the House of Commons. This required all the leaders after Asquith to retain their seat, to continue as leader. After 1926 the leader in the House of Commons was clearly pre-eminent over the leader in the House of Lords. In 1931 Lloyd George was leader in the House of Commons, but he was ill when negotiations led to the formation of the National Government . Sir Herbert Samuel , who had been the deputy leader, was effectively the leader of the mainstream party from the time when he entered the government. This was made formal after the 1931 election.

Leadership selection 1969–1988[ edit ] Under the original provisions of the 1969 party constitution, the MPs elected one of their number to be Leader of the Liberal Party. This was the same system as that used for the last MP only contested leadership election in 1967 , when Jeremy Thorpe became leader after a vote split between three candidates of 6-3-3. As the number of Liberal MPs was very small (between 6 and 14 in the period the MPs retained the sole power of election) party members argued for a wider franchise. Before the leadership election of 1976 , all members were given a vote in an electoral college based on allocating electoral votes to constituency associations (which were then divided proportionately to the votes of the members of the association). The candidates were required to be members of the House of Commons, nominated by a quarter of the MPs. The electoral college system was only used once, when David Steel was elected leader. Lists of Liberal Party Leaders[ edit ] Leaders of the Liberal Party[ edit ] Name

Question: Who became leader of the British Liberal Party in July 1976?
Answer: David Steel