List of United Kingdom Liberal Party leaders

List of United Kingdom Liberal Party leaders

The Liberal Party was formally established in 1859 and continued to exist until it merged with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to create the Liberal Democrats. This article provides a List of United Kingdom Liberal Party Leaders.

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

ee also

* List of United Kingdom Liberal Democrat leaders
* Liberal Democrat Leader in the House of Lords
* Liberalism in the United Kingdom
* Politics of the United Kingdom

References

*David Butler and Gareth Butler, "Twentieth-Century British Political Facts 1900-2000" (8th edition). Macmillan, 2000. ISBN 0-333-77222-9.
*John Campbell, "Lloyd George: The Goat in the Wilderness 1922-1931". Jonathan Cape, 1977. ISBN 0-224-01296-7.
*Chris Cook, "A Short History of the Liberal Party, 1900-2001" (6th edition). Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2002. ISBN 0-333-91838-X.
*Roy Douglas, "History of the Liberal Party 1895-1970". Sidgwick & Jackson, 1971. ISBN 0-283-48477-2.
*Roy Jenkins, "Asquith". Collins, (paperback edition) 1988. ISBN 0-00-217358-1.
*Roy Jenkins, "Gladstone". Macmillan, 1995. ISBN 0-333-60216-1.
*Jonathan Parry, "The Rise and Fall of Liberal Government in Victorian Britain". Yale, 1993.ISBN 0-300-06718-6.

External links

* [http://www.liberalhistory.org.uk/ Liberal Democrat History Group]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • List of United Kingdom Liberal Democrat leaders — The Liberal Democrat members elect the United Kingdom Liberal Democrat leader. Under the federal constitution of the Liberal Democrats the leader is required to be a member of the House of Commons.Before the election of the first federal leader… …   Wikipedia

  • List of United Kingdom Whig and allied party leaders 1801-1859 — During the nineteenth century the Whigs, Radicals and Peelites gradually evolved into the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party was formally eatablished in 1859 and continued to exist until it merged with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to create… …   Wikipedia

  • List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies — United Kingdom This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the United Kingdom …   Wikipedia

  • List of United Kingdom Labour and Labour Co-operative MPs 2005- — This is a list of current Labour Party and Labour Co operative Members of Parliament (MPs) elected to the British House of Commons. The names in bold are the leaders of their party, the names in italics are the current Speaker and Deputy Speakers …   Wikipedia

  • List of United Kingdom Labour Co-operative MPs 2005- — This is a list of current Labour Co operative Members of Parliament (MPs) elected to the British House of Commons. The names in bold are the leaders of their party, the names in italics are the current Speaker and Deputy Speakers and the names… …   Wikipedia

  • Liberal Party (UK) — Infobox Historic Political Party party name= Liberal Party party party articletitle= Liberal Party (UK) active= 1859 1988 ideology= Classical Liberalism Social Liberalism position= Centre, Centre left international= Liberal International preceded …   Wikipedia

  • United Kingdom Independence Party — Infobox Political party party name = United Kingdom Independence Party party articletitle = United Kingdom Independence Party party leader = Nigel Farage MEP foundation = 1993 ideology = Euroscepticism, Conservatism,fact|date=July 2008 Populism [ …   Wikipedia

  • United Kingdom general election, 2010 — United Kingdom general election, 2010[1] 2005 ← members …   Wikipedia

  • List of current United Kingdom MPs by party — This is a list of current Members of Parliament (MPs) elected to the British House of Commons by political party. The names in bold are the leaders of their party, the names in italics are the current Speaker and Deputy Speakers and the names… …   Wikipedia

  • United Kingdom — a kingdom in NW Europe, consisting of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: formerly comprising Great Britain and Ireland 1801 1922. 58,610,182; 94,242 sq. mi. (244,100 sq. km). Cap.: London. Abbr.: U.K. Official name, United Kingdom of Great… …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”