Jeremy John Durham Ashdown,Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon,,better known as Paddy Ashdown,was a British politician and diplomat who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 to 1999. Internationally,he is recognised for his role as High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2002 to 2006,following his vigorous lobbying for military action against Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
David Philip Heathcoat-Amory is a British politician,accountant,and farmer. He was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Wells from 1983 until he lost the seat in the 2010 general election. He became a member of the British Privy Council in 1996. Heathcoat-Amory was previously Chair of the European Research Group.
Michael Kevin Moore is a British former Liberal Democrat politician.
Andrew John Bower Mitchell is a British politician who has been Shadow Foreign Secretary since July 2024. He previously served as Deputy Foreign Secretary between February and July 2024 and Minister of State for Development and Africa between October 2022 and July 2024 respectively. A member of the Conservative Party,he has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sutton Coldfield since 2001 and previously served as the MP for Gedling from 1987 to 1997. Mitchell served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development from 2010 to 2012 and then briefly as Government Chief Whip in the House of Commons in late 2012.
Hugo George William Swire,Baron Swire,is a British politician. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Devon from 2001 until 2019. A member of the Conservative Party,he has had several ministerial roles,most recently as Minister of State for Europe and the Americas,a role he held until July 2016. Swire is currently the Deputy Chairman of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council. He retired from the House of Commons at the 2019 general election. Since 2022 he has been a member of the House of Lords.
In British politics,a Lib–Lab pact is a working arrangement between the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party.
Christopher Murray Paul Huhne is a British energy and climate change consultant,and former journalist,business economist and politician who was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Eastleigh from 2005 to 2013 and the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2010 to 2012. He is currently chair of the UK green gas association –the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association –and senior adviser to the World Biogas Association. He also advises companies on his particular interest in renewable technologies that can provide back up for intermittent energy sources like wind and solar.
Nicol Ross Stephen,Baron Stephen is a Scottish politician who served as Deputy First Minister of Scotland and Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning from 2005 to 2007. A member of the Scottish Liberal Democrats,he was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Aberdeen South from 1999 to 2011,and was leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 2005 to 2008.
Jeremy Richard Browne is a British Liberal Democrat politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Taunton Deane from 2005 to 2015. He served as both Minister of State for Europe and the Americas and Minister of State for Crime Prevention.
Sir Daniel Grian Alexander is a former politician who was Chief Secretary to the Treasury between 2010 and 2015. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Inverness,Nairn,Badenoch &Strathspey constituency from 2005 until the general election in May 2015. In his first parliamentary term (2005–2010),Alexander was the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Work and Pensions (2007–2008),the Chief of Staff to party leader Nick Clegg,and Chair of the Liberal Democrat Manifesto Group (2007–2010).
The 2010 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 6 May 2010,to elect Members of Parliament to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom under the first-past-the-post system. The election resulted in a large swing to the opposition Conservative Party led by David Cameron similar to that seen in 1979,the last time a Conservative opposition had ousted a Labour government. The governing Labour Party led by the prime minister Gordon Brown lost the 66-seat majority it had previously enjoyed,but no party achieved the 326 seats needed for a majority. The Conservatives won the most votes and seats,but still fell 20 seats short. This resulted in a hung parliament where no party was able to command a majority in the House of Commons. This was only the second general election since the Second World War to return a hung parliament,the first being the February 1974 election. This election marked the start of Conservative government for the next 14 years.
David Michael Gauke is a British political commentator,solicitor and former politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South West Hertfordshire from 2005 to 2019. He served in the Cabinet under Theresa May,most notably as Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor from 2018 to 2019. First elected as a Conservative,Gauke had the Conservative whip removed on 3 September 2019 and until the dissolution sat as an independent politician.
The Orange Book:Reclaiming Liberalism is a book written by a group of prominent British Liberal Democrat politicians and edited by David Laws and Paul Marshall in 2004. Three contributors later became leaders of the Liberal Democrats:Nick Clegg,Vince Cable and Ed Davey. Other contributors include Chris Huhne,Susan Kramer,Mark Oaten and Steve Webb. The book's central philosophy,and some of its ideas,are supported by Liberal Reform,an internal group of the Liberal Democrats.
Michael James German,Baron German is a Welsh politician who was Deputy First Minister of Wales from 2000 to 2001 and 2002 to 2003 and Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats in the National Assembly from 1999 to 2008 and overhaul Welsh Party leader between 2007 and 2008. The first-ever deputy first minister of Wales,he was also Minister for Economic Development from 2000 to 2001 and Minister for Rural Affairs and Wales Abroad from 2002 to 2003. He was elected to the National Assembly for Wales in 1999 where he was Assembly Member (AM) for South Wales East until 2010 and led his party group until 2008. In 2010,he was granted a life peerage and has since served in the House of Lords as a working peer for the Liberal Democrats. Ideologically,he is on the more liberal wing of his party.
The Beveridge Group is a centre-left group within the Liberal Democrat party in the UK. It was set up in 2001 by MPs Alistair Carmichael,Paul Holmes,John Barrett and John Pugh to promote debate within the party regarding public service provision.
The Liberal Democrats are a liberal political party in the United Kingdom,founded in 1988. The current leader of the party is Ed Davey. They are the third-largest party in the United Kingdom,with 72 members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons. They have 78 members of the House of Lords,four members of the Scottish Parliament,one member in the Welsh Senedd,and more than 3,000 local council seats. The party holds a twice-per-year Liberal Democrat Conference,at which party policy is formulated. In contrast to its main opponents' rules,the Liberal Democrats grant all members attending the conference the right to speak in debates and vote on party policy,under a one member,one vote system. The party also allows its members to vote online for its policies and in the election of a new leader.
The Southport Resolution is a set of triple-lock directives of the Liberal Democrats,a political party in the United Kingdom,which state the conventions that the leader of the party should follow if they choose to enter into a national political coalition with another party.
David Cameron's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom began on 11 May 2010 when he accepted an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II to form a government,succeeding Gordon Brown of the Labour Party,and ended on 13 July 2016 upon his resignation following the 2016 referendum that favoured Brexit,which he had opposed. As prime minister,Cameron also served simultaneously as First Lord of the Treasury,Minister for the Civil Service,and Leader of the Conservative Party.
The Cameron–Clegg coalition was formed by David Cameron and Nick Clegg when Cameron was invited by Queen Elizabeth II to form a new government,following the resignation of Prime Minister Gordon Brown on 11 May 2010,after the general election on 6 May. It was the UK's first coalition government since the Churchill caretaker ministry in 1945.
The events surrounding the formation of the United Kingdom's government in 2010 took place between 7 May and 12 May 2010,following the 2010 general election,which failed to produce an overall majority for either of the country's two main political parties. The election,held on 6 May,resulted in the first hung parliament in the UK in 36 years,sparking a series of negotiations which would form the first coalition government since the Second World War.
