| The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07. |
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| Liberal Democrats, British political party |
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| British political party created in 1988 by the merger of the Liberal party with the Social Democratic party; the party was initially called the Social and Liberal Democratic party. The Social Democratic party, which was formed in 1981 by politically centrist members of the Labour party, joined with the Liberals in 1981 in an electoral alliance, and in 1983 they won 23 seats in the House of Commons. In 1987 the alliance won 22 seats, and the next year the parties merged. In the 2001 and 2005 parliamentary elections the Liberal Democrats won 52 and 62 seats respectively. The 2005 result was the largest number won by the group since the predecessor Liberals gained 158 seats in 1924. Nonetheless, the party remains a minor party in British politics, its centrist position threatened by Tony Blair’s movement of the Labour party away from socialist positions in the 1990s. Sir Menzies Campbell was party leader from 2006 to 2007. |
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| | | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2007 Columbia University Press. |
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