The Liberal Democrats Flashcards
What are the origins of the Liberal Democrats?
- The Whig Party
- Aristocratic faction that was opposed to the Tories in the 17th and 18th Century
- By 19th Century - they had garnered support from the lower/middle class - moved toward liberal policy for all - thus forming the liberal party
What are classical liberals?
19th Century:
- Freedom of the individual
- State to play a minimal role in society
- 19th century manifests itself in support of free trade, the widening of the franchise, and the extension of civil liberties to those who were not part of the Anglican Church
- Widening educational opportunity
Who was W.E Gladstone? What did he do?
- PM, 1869-74, 1880-5, 1886 and 1892-94
- Tried to extend self-government to Ireland but didn’t get the bill passed through the commons - believes in freedom of the individual
What happened during the Edwardian Era (1901-10)?
- Social reform
- Old age pensions
- National insurance
- Liberals had to wrestle with the founding of the Labour Party
What is modern liberalism?
- Idea that the individual could never be truly free - due to the increase of free market capitalism
- People could not longer be left alone
- The state had to intervene to support people - enabling state
- A take on managing capitalism
Why did WWI see the decline of the Liberal Party?
- Due to an internal split in the party, the success of the Conservative party in government, and the rise of Labour
Who was H.H Asquith?
PM 1908-16 - Classical Liberal
Who was David Lloyd George?
PM 1916-1922 - the last Liberal PM - Modern Liberal
Why did the liberal party split?
- Intense rivalry between modern and classical liberals
- The liberals tried to appeal to both middle and working-class voters - were undermined due to a lack of coherent policy
- Middle voted Tory, and working class voted Labour
- Liberals were a victim of a two-horse race
What happened to the Liberals in the 1960 and 70s?
- Mini sporadic revivals
- But the party was undermined by the blue and red titans of politics
- FPTP also went agains them
What were the main reasons for the decline of the Liberal Party?
- Industrialisation and the rise of the working class and the Labour Party
- Massive split in the party between classical and modern liberalism
- Internal fight in the 1920s
- Lost support from the middle class
What did Lloyd George attack Asquith on?
- Argued that Asquith was clinging on to the laissez-faire Gladstonian policies and principles
What did Asquith attack Lloyd George on?
- Argued that he betrayed his party and principles
- E.g., enthusiasm for military conscription - going against liberal ideas
Who were the SDP?
- A party in the 1980s, who were a faction of unhappy moderate Labour MPs
- It formed a pact with the Liberals
- They fought the 1983 and 1987 generale elections as the SDP-Liberal Alliance
What happened to the SDP and the Liberals in the 1980s?
The merged to form the Liberal Democrats.
What was the result for the Lid Dems in 1997?
46 seats in the commons - tactical voting.
What was the result for the Lid Dems in 2005?
62 seats.
How did the Lib Dems see themselves during the Kennedy years?
- As being on the centre-left
- In terms of policy, they didn’t really provide a viable alternative to labour
- Though they did oppose the Iraq war
- Saw themselves as an internationalists party
- Socially liberal
How did Charles Kennedy under-take social liberalism?
- He was opposed to the Iraq War
- He was opposed to the idea of identity cards and student tuition fees
- Sought to impose a larger income tax rate on those earning more than £100,000
What was interesting about the Lid Dems compared to Labour during the Blair years?
The Lib Dems could be considered as being more left-wing than Labour were during new Labour
What was the internal split in the Lid Dems under Kennedy?
- Between social and economic or ‘orange book’ liberals who took their name from policy initiate and a policy book of the same title that sought to reform the party
What did ‘economic liberals’ support?
- Supported free market solutions to key problems and emphasised the Party’s commitment to the individual
- Providing a move away from the centre-left to mainstream centrists politics
During the Clegg years, the party moved towards…
- The centre
- Free market capitalism
- More limited government intervention than during Kennedy
- Freedom of the individual
When did Nick Clegg become the leader of the Lib Dems?
2007.
Why was Clegg open to coalition with either party (Tory and Labour)?
Because he sought mediation with them and was willing to a coalition to get the Lib Dems into power
How many seats did the Liberal Democrats get in 2010?
57 - propped up the Tories.
Why did Clegg not really have a choice but to enter coalition?
- This was a time of national emergency, and if he didn’t he would have been accused of running scared from government the Lib Dems would have been back to square one
What did the Lib Dems achieve whilst in government with the Tories?
- Voted with the Tories to introduce austerity measures that arguably saved the country from recession
- Lib Dems were fairly distributed in Cabinet and were enacting policy
Who were the prominent Liberal Democrats in government?
Nick Clegg - Deputy PM
Vince Cable - Business, Innovation and Skills Secretary
Chris Huhne and then Sir Ed Davey - secretary of state for Energy and climate change
Danny Alexander - Secretary of State for Scotland
David Laws - Chief Secretary of the Treasury
What were the failures of the Lib Dems during their time in government?
- Didn’t get their referendum through for changing the voting system in the country
- Rejection for AV
What did Clegg’s decision to go into coalition ultimately do?
His decision to back Cameron on tuition fees, and other things, led to a loss of faith for the party and from the electorate.
What happened ruing the Farron Years?
- Tim Farron took over in 2015
- He lasts until 2017
- He was left leaning Lib Dem
- Farron was overshadowed by an inability from the electorate to place the party on the political specturm
- Farron decided to leave his post in 2017 due to religious convictions
Who served as an interim leader, after Tim Farron?
Sir Vince Cable - led them back to the centre
- Stood down due to his age and lack of wanting to re-stand as an MP
Who led the Lib Dems into the 2019 election?
Jo Swinson - used Brexit to enhance the work that Cable had started
- Stated that if the Lib Dems were voted into a majority government, they would repeal article 50 and get rid of Brexit
