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The 1976 Liberal Party leadership election was called following the resignation of Jeremy Thorpe in the wake of allegations which would eventually lead to Thorpe's trial and acquittal for conspiracy to murder in 1979.
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The 1976 Liberal Party leadership election was called following the resignation of Jeremy Thorpe in the wake of allegations which would eventually lead to Thorpe's trial and acquittal for conspiracy to murder in 1979.
There were two candidates, David Steel and John Pardoe, who were elected by a ballot of an electoral college made up of representatives of the various constituency associations, with their vote "weighted" by the strength of the Liberal vote at the previous general election. This electoral system was devised by Michael Steed, and this election proved to be the only time it was ever used to elect a Liberal leader.
The election was won by David Steel, who served as leader of the Liberal Party until merger with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1988, forming the Liberal Democrats. David Steel later served as interim leader of the Liberal Democrats (jointly with Bob Maclennan of the SDP) for the duration of the 1988 leadership election which eventually elected Paddy Ashdown as the new party's first permanent leader.
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| David Steel | 12,541 | 64.1 | |
| John Pardoe | 7,032 | 35.9 | |
The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party dissenting splinter groups, it was Australia's largest minor party from its formation in 1977 through to 2004 and frequently held the balance of power in the Senate during that time.
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. 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.
The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of the Labour Party in 1945, with a majority of 144 seats.
The 1987 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 11 June 1987, to elect 650 members to the House of Commons. The election was the third consecutive general election victory for the Conservative Party, and second landslide under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who became the first Prime Minister since the Earl of Liverpool in 1820 to lead a party into three successive electoral victories.
The SDP–Liberal Alliance was a centrist and social liberal political and electoral alliance in the United Kingdom.
David Anthony Llewellyn Owen, Baron Owen, is a British politician and physician who served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs as a Labour Party MP under James Callaghan from 1977 to 1979.
David Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood, is a British politician. Elected as Member of Parliament for Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Peebles, followed by Tweeddale, Ettrick, and Lauderdale, he served as the final leader of the Liberal Party, from 1976 to 1988. His tenure spanned the duration of the alliance with the Social Democratic Party, which began in 1981 and concluded with the formation of the Liberal Democrats in 1988.
The Liberal Party is a liberal political party in the United Kingdom that was founded in 1989 as a continuation of the original Liberal Party by former members who opposed its merger with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to form the Liberal Democrats. The party holds twelve local council seats.
David Charles Penhaligon was a British politician from Cornwall who was Liberal Member of Parliament for the constituency of Truro from 1974–86. He was a popular figure in all parties and had potential to be a front-runner for the party leadership had he not been killed in a car accident. In 2014 a Crowdfunder campaign was launched to record his life's work and impact.
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) is a political party in the United Kingdom established in 1990. Ideologically, the SDP combines moderate social conservatism with centre-left economic policy and support for a social market economy. It has been led by William Clouston since 2018.
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) formed in 1988 was a political party in the United Kingdom led by David Owen which lasted for only two years. The party was formed as a result of the original Social Democratic Party, created in 1981 by the "Gang of Four" voting to turn its electoral alliance with the Liberal Party into a full merger of the two parties. The new Social and Liberal Democrats (SLD) party thus gained all of the records and assets of the original SDP.
The 1988 Social and Liberal Democrats leadership election was called in the United Kingdom following the formation of the then Social and Liberal Democrats. It was intended to replace the two interim leaders, David Steel and Robert Maclennan, with a single figurehead better able to represent both the former members of the Liberal Party and of the Social Democratic Party.
The 1967 Liberal Party leadership election was called following the resignation of Jo Grimond, in the wake of disappointing results in the 1966 general election.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats is a liberal, federalist political party in Scotland, a part of the United Kingdom Liberal Democrats. The party currently holds 4 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 4 of the 59 Scottish seats in the House of Commons.
Michael Stuart Thomas is a former British politician, identified with the Labour Party until 1981 and thereafter with the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He became well known for his role in both the establishment of the SDP and then in the SDP's subsequent demise. The SDP's leader, Roy Jenkins, referred to Thomas as the "pint-sized Pavarotti", on the basis of his stocky build and beard together with his ebullient manner.
The Liberal Party was formally established in 1859 and existed until merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to create the Liberal Democrats.
National League of Young Liberals (NLYL), often just called the Young Liberals, was the youth wing of the British Liberal Party. It was in existence from 1903 to 1990. Together with the party's student wing, the Union of Liberal Students (ULS), the organisations made up the Young Liberal Movement. In 1988, the ULS merged with the Social Democratic Party's own student wing, and in 1990 the youth and student sections themselves merged to form Liberal Democrat Youth and Students (LDYS). It was renamed Liberal Youth in Spring 2008, and then as Young Liberals in December 2016. The NLYL played a significant role in the development of Liberal thought and action, particularly from the 1960s until the end of the 1980s.
The Liberal Democrats are a liberal political party in the United Kingdom. Since the 1992 general election, with the exception of 2015 general election, it has been the third-largest UK political party by the number of votes cast. It has 14 Members of Parliament in the House of Commons, 84 members of the House of Lords, four Members of the Scottish Parliament and one member in the Welsh Senedd. The party holds over 2,500 local council seats. The party holds a twice-yearly Liberal Democrat Conference, at a variety of locations. The party served as the junior party in a coalition government with the Conservative Party between 2010 and 2015; with Scottish Labour in the Scottish Executive from 1999 to 2007, and with Welsh Labour in the Welsh Government from 2000 to 2003 and from 2016 to 2021.
Charles Peter Kennedy was a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1999 to 2006, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ross, Skye and Lochaber from 1983 to 2015.
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) was a centrist to centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. The party supported a mixed economy, electoral reform, European integration and a decentralised state while rejecting the possibility of trade unions being overly influential within the industrial sphere. The SDP officially advocated "social democracy", but its actual propensity is evaluated as close to social liberalism.
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