Feature

Overview 2006/2007
2006 was the year that we saw Charles Kennedy ousted from his own party, after admissions to a serious alcohol problem and accusations of ineffective leadership.

This sudden departure left the door wide open for an even contest for leadership of the Lib Dems. The hot contest coming from Simon Hughes, Chis Huhne and Sir Menzies Campbell, with Mark Oaten falling from the race after it was revealed that he had paid for sex with a rent boy.

Menzies (pronounced ’Mingis’) Campbell won out in the end with a 33% majority and has be paving the way for the Lib Dems throughout the later half of 2006. The 64 year old has served the liberal agenda all his political life and is well liked within the party.

However, as we roll on into 2007 it appears that the party has solved nothing through the appointment of a new leader. Ming appears to carry the same burdens of Kennedy, in that he lacks presence and passion. His leadership has failed to deliver strong policies on both domestic issues, such as law and order, and foreign policy.

A brief history
The Liberal Democrat Party is founded on the belief that the state should assume responsibility in achieving equal opportunities, ending poverty and eradicating discrimination.

Its roots are in the 1868 election of William Gladstone, who was so devoted to the ’Irish Question’ that he split the party only twenty years later over the issue. These splits became worse until eventually they lost their position as the official Opposition to the Labour Party after the First World War.

By 1960, MP’s joked that the withered Liberal party could all travel to the commons in the same taxi. They were saved by Jo Grimond, who began to bring the Liberal Agenda towards community issues. They began a tradition of securing local power bases at bi-election and slowly but surely began crawling their way back.

In the tumultuous 70’s and early 80’s, the Liberals made a series of strategic alliances. Firstly it was with Jim Callaghan’s minority Labour government, and then later the Social Democratic Party of former Labour MP’s. In 1988 they formally merged, creating the Liberal Democrat Party. Despite a false start, the new party enjoyed an encouraging and increasing level of support in the 1990’s.

Despite sharing much of the same political territory as New Labour, expert election strategy returned 46 MP’s to parliament in 1997, and they have been making steady gains ever since. They currently hold 62 seats in the House of Commons.

They remain committed to electoral reform that would bring in proportional representation (PR). This would deconstruct the two-party system opening the door, they argue, to a more representative system of government. Under Charles Kennedy they also became a powerful force of opposition to the Iraq war and argued for a revision of British foreign policy.

Official Links
www.libdems.org.uk
www.scotlibdems.org.uk
www.welshlibdems.org.uk