Liberals: A History of the Liberal and Liberal Democrat Parties

by Roy Douglas

The Liberal Party, the party of Gladstone, Asquith and Lloyd George, was a dominant force in Britain, and the world, at the height of the power of the British Empire. It emerged in mid-Victorian Britain from a combination of Whigs and Peelite Tories. Split by Gladstone's Home Rule Bills, it nevertheless returned to power in Edwardian England and held it until after the outbreak the First World War. Riddled by internal divisions and with its traditional ground increasingly occupied by Labour, the party lost ground in Parliament, becoming little more than a token for many years. With the foundation of the Social Democrats in 1981, and their subsequent merger with the Liberals as Liberal Democrats in 1988, a modern version of the party emerged, under Paddy Ashdown and now Charles Kennedy as a significant third force in British politics.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction

395 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2005

Reviews

[Allan Heron · Rating 3 out of 5]

An overview of the history of liberalism that acts as a glorified timeline through to 2005 when the book was published.

Focusing very much on the key players there's not enough about the growth and development of liberal ideas through these times.

The book certainly helps to highlight periods where you might want to dig further to get at this type of detail.

The format can make the book a little hard-going and it's only in the final chapter where you feel the author is injecting some of his own passion.

Reading the author's conclusions 11 years after they were written makes for some bittersweet reading given the state the party finds itself in after the disaster of the Clegg years. A deeper knowledge of Liberal history would have suggested a different course.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Supurb, recommended reading for Lib Dems, outlines several areas where the mission of a liberal Britain is still incomplete.