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David Steel
David Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood, (born 31 March 1938) 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. Steel served as a Member of the UK Parliament for 32 years, from 1965 to 1997, and as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) from 1999 to 2003, during which time he was the parliament's Presiding Officer. He was a member of the House of Lords as a life peer from 1997 to 2020. Steel resigned from the House of Lords after the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse accused him of an "abdication of responsibility" over his failure to investigate allegations of child sex abuse against Liberal MP, Cyril Smith. Early life and ...
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The Right Honourable
''The Right Honourable'' ( abbreviation: ''Rt Hon.'' or variations) is an honorific style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations. The term is predominantly used today as a style associated with the holding of certain senior public offices in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and to a lesser extent, Australia. ''Right'' in this context is an adverb meaning 'very' or 'fully'. Grammatically, ''The Right Honourable'' is an adjectival phrase which gives information about a person. As such, it is not considered correct to apply it in direct address, nor to use it on its own as a title in place of a name; but rather it is used in the third person along with a name or noun to be modified. ''Right'' may be abbreviated to ''Rt'', and ''Honourable'' to ''Hon.'', or both. ''The'' is sometimes dropped in written abbreviated form, but is always pronounced. Countries with common or ...
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Gruffydd Evans, Baron Evans Of Claughton
David Thomas Gruffydd Evans, Baron Evans of Claughton, DL (9 February 1928 – 22 March 1992) was a British solicitor and Liberal politician. As Lord Evans, held the office of Deputy Lieutenant of Merseyside. He was created a life peer as Baron Evans of Claughton, of Claughton in the County of Merseyside, on 24 April 1978. Evans was born in Birkenhead. His family were Welsh-speaking, originally from Anglesey. He studied at Birkenhead School and later at Liverpool University. Over a period he served on Birkenhead County Borough Council, Wirral Borough Council and finally Merseyside County Council, leading the Liberal group. He tried twice, in 1964 and 1966, to win a parliamentary seat but was unsuccessful. As President of the Liberal Party in 1977-78, he played an important role in dealing with the fall-out from the controversy relating to the activities of former party leader Jeremy Thorpe John Jeremy Thorpe (29 April 1929 – 4 December 2014) was a British p ...
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Jeremy Thorpe
John Jeremy Thorpe (29 April 1929 – 4 December 2014) was a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament for North Devon from 1959 to 1979, and as leader of the Liberal Party from 1967 to 1976. In May 1979 he was tried at the Old Bailey on charges of conspiracy and incitement to murder his ex-boyfriend Norman Scott, a former model. Thorpe was acquitted on all charges, but the case, and the furore surrounding it, ended his political career. Thorpe was the son and grandson of Conservative MPs, but decided to align with the small and ailing Liberal Party. After reading Law at Oxford University he became one of the Liberals' brightest stars in the 1950s. He entered Parliament at the age of 30, rapidly made his mark, and was elected party leader in 1967. After an uncertain start during which the party lost ground, Thorpe capitalised on the growing unpopularity of the Conservative and Labour parties to lead the Liberals through a period of notable electoral succe ...
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Liberal Chief Whip
The Chief Whip of the Liberal Democrats is responsible for administering the whipping system in the party which ensures that members attend and vote in parliament when the party leadership requires a majority vote. Whips, of which two are appointed in the party, a member of the House of Commons and a member of the House of Lords, also help to organise their party’s contribution to parliamentary business. On some occasions, the party leadership may allow MP's to have a free vote based on their own conscience rather than party policy, of which the chief whip is not required to direct votes. This is a list of people who have served as Chief Whip of the Liberal Democrats in the Parliament of the United Kingdom and of its predecessor parties. The Liberal Party was formed in 1859, but through its roots in the Whig Party dates back to the late 1670s. In 1988, the Liberals merged with the Social Democratic Party, formed by dissident Labour Party members in 1981, to create the Libera ...
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Liberal Democrats (UK)
The Liberal Democrats (commonly referred to as the Lib Dems) are a liberal political party in the United Kingdom. Since the 1992 general election, with the exception of the 2015 general election, they have been the third-largest UK political party by the number of votes cast. They have 14 Members of Parliament in the House of Commons, 83 members of the House of Lords, four Members of the Scottish Parliament and one member in the Welsh Senedd. The party has over 2,500 local council seats. The party holds a twice-per-year Liberal Democrat Conference, at which party policy is formulated, with all party members eligible to vote, under a one member, one vote system. 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. In 1981, an electoral alliance was established b ...
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Jo Grimond
Joseph Grimond, Baron Grimond, (; 29 July 1913 – 24 October 1993), known as Jo Grimond, was a British politician, leader of the Liberal Party for eleven years from 1956 to 1967 and again briefly on an interim basis in 1976. Grimond was a long-term supporter of Scottish home rule; and, during his leadership, he successfully advocated for the Liberal Party to support the abolition of Britain's nuclear arsenal. Early life Grimond was born in St Andrews, Fife, and was educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford. He was at school and university with, among others, cricket commentator Brian Johnston and playwright William Douglas-Home. He received a first-class honours degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He later became a barrister, being admitted to the bar as a member of Middle Temple. Member of Parliament After serving as a Major in World War II, he was selected by the Liberal Party to contest Orkney and Shetland, the most northerly constituency in the ...
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Adrian Slade
Adrian Carnegie Slade (born 25 May 1936), is a British Liberal Democrat politician and advertising agency founder. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he became President of the Footlights, and famously recruited Peter Cook to the society. He was a Liberal Party parliamentary candidate in the 1960s and 1970s, contesting Putney in 1966, February 1974 and October 1974. He stood as an SDP–Liberal Alliance candidate in Wimbledon in 1987. He scored an upset win in the 1981 elections to the Greater London Council (GLC), winning the Richmond seat from the Conservatives by just 115 votes. He became Leader of the SDP–Liberal Alliance group on the GLC, and remained so until the GLC's dissolution in 1986. He served as the last President of the Liberal Party, from 1987 to 1988, conducting its merger negotiations with the SDP. He was vice-president of the Liberal Democrats 1988–89. He is also known within Liberal Party circles as a pianist and singer, talents ...
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Des Wilson
Des Wilson (born 5 March 1941) is a New Zealand-born British campaigner, political activist, businessman, sports administrator, author and poker player. He was one of the founders of the British homelessness charity Shelter and was for a while an activist in, and President of, the British Liberal Party. Background From a working-class family in New Zealand, Wilson attended Waitaki Boys' High School, leaving at 15 to become a reporter on the local newspaper. After periods working for the '' Otago Daily Times'' and the '' Evening Star'' in Dunedin, and the ''Melbourne Star'' in Melbourne, Australia, Wilson moved to the United Kingdom in 1960 at the age of 19. Over the next few years he took a range of jobs before becoming a journalist. He became the founding director of the housing charity Shelter in 1966, and then became a columnist for ''The Observer'' newspaper. He also spent two years as director of public affairs for the Royal Shakespeare Company. He edited the magazine ''So ...
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David Penhaligon
David Charles Penhaligon (6 June 1944 – 22 December 1986) 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. Background Penhaligon was born on D-Day and brought up in Truro. He was a cousin of actress Susan Penhaligon. He attended Truro School, and then Cornwall Technical College where he studied mechanical engineering. Penhaligon worked for Holman Brothers in Camborne as a research and development engineer working on rock drilling. As an interesting anecdote, he was also a part-time DJ at the Hall for Cornwall where he once encountered 14 year old Roger Taylor, subsequently the Queen drummer, at a musical event that he compered in Truro City Hall during 1964. By 1973 he had quali ...
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Alan Watson, Baron Watson Of Richmond
Alan John Watson, Baron Watson of Richmond (born 3 February 1941) is a UK-based broadcaster, Liberal Democrat politician and leadership communications consultant. Early life and education Lord Watson of Richmond is the son of the Rev. John William Watson and Edna Mary Peters. He was educated at the Diocesan College, Cape Town in South Africa and Kingswood School in Bath. He was an Open Scholar in history at Jesus College, Cambridge 1959, a State Scholar 1959 and was awarded an MA in 1963. He was the Vice-President of the Cambridge Union. Watson's German-born wife Karen is an artist: they have two sons, Stephen and Martin. Career Broadcasting Watson joined the BBC after graduating from Cambridge University in 1963, and later became a regular presenter for ''The Money Programme'' on BBC Two and '' Panorama'' on BBC One. He also reported on London Weekend Television, Radio 4 and the BBC World Service, and wrote and presented award-winning documentaries over many years. H ...
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Geoffrey Tordoff, Baron Tordoff
Geoffrey Johnson Tordoff, Baron Tordoff (11 October 1928 – 22 June 2019) was a British businessman and politician. Biography The son of Stanley Acomb Tordoff, he was educated at Manchester Grammar School and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. Tordoff worked for Shell from 1950 to 1983, first as marketing executive of Shell Chemicals, then as public affairs manager for Shell UK. Between 1986 and 1992 he was Honorary President of the British Youth Council. From 1990 to 1994 he was chair of the Middle East Committee of the Refugee Council. He was a member of the Press Complaints Commission between 1995 and 2002. As a Liberal Party candidate, Tordoff contested Northwich in the 1964 general election and Knutsford in the 1966 general election and 1970 general election. On 11 May 1981 he was created a life peer as Baron Tordoff, of Knutsford in the County of Cheshire and sat in the House of Lords as a Liberal Democrat Several political parties from a ...
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John Griffiths (Liberal Politician)
John Charles Griffiths (born 19 April 1934) is a former British Liberal Party politician, author and media entrepreneur. Griffiths worked for Thomson Newspapers and the BBC while becoming active in the Liberal Party.John Griffiths, Esq Authorised Biography
, Debrett's People of Today
Chairman of the National League of Young Liberals.
, Asthma UK
He stood unsuccessfully in at the
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