The Whig Party is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

which is intended to be a revival of the Whigs that existed in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

from 1678 to 1868. The party is led by Waleed Ghani, who launched it in October 2014. It is based on

Whiggism Whiggism or Whiggery is a political philosophy that grew out of the Roundhead, Parliamentarian faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (1639–1653) and was concretely formulated by Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, Lord Shafte ...

, the ideology of the former Whigs.

History

Waleed Ghani and his fiancée Felicity Anscomb applied to register the Whig Party with the

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

on 27 May 2014. The Whig Party was registered with the

on 15 September 2014. The Electoral Commission lists Waleed Ghani as its

Leader Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

and Nominating Officer and Felicity Anscomb as its treasurer. A mirror of data from the

PE
entity registration search
Ghani founded the party with the intention of filling a vacuum he saw in British politics.

Jesse Norman Alexander Jesse Norman (born 23 June 1962) is a British politician who has served as Shadow Leader of the House of Commons since November 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Hereford and So ...

, a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Member of Parliament who in 2013 published a biography of the famous Whig politician

Edmund Burke Edmund Burke (; 12 January ew Style, NS1729 – 9 July 1797) was an Anglo-Irish Politician, statesman, journalist, writer, literary critic, philosopher, and parliamentary orator who is regarded as the founder of the Social philosophy, soc ...

, proposed that Ghani may have exaggerated Whigs' historical progressive achievements. On 9 December 2014, Ghani was interviewed by Jo Coburn on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's ''

Daily Politics ''Daily Politics'' is a BBC Television programme which aired between 6 January 2003 and 24 July 2018, presented by Andrew Neil and Jo Coburn. ''Daily Politics'' took an in-depth review of the daily events in both Westminster and other areas a ...

''. Ghani has also received support from American Whigs. The party was founded without any policies, but instead a group of values such as human rights, love of country and diversity, for which they use the Swedish word ''mångfald'' (meaning "diversity", "variety" or "multitude"). In early 2015, the Whig Party formed an agreement with Something New that meant both parties would cross-endorse candidates and they would not stand opposing candidates in the same seats. On 31 March 2015, the Whig Party released their

manifesto A manifesto is a written declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party, or government. A manifesto can accept a previously published opinion or public consensus, but many prominent ...

for the 2015 general election. The party is pro-

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and pro-

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

; it supports universal

childcare Child care, also known as day care, is the care and supervision of one or more children, typically ranging from three months to 18 years old. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(ren), childcare typica ...

from ages two to four and the abolition of student tuition fees; and it defends the rights of renters in the United Kingdom in addition to

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

and

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

around the world. Following the 2016 referendum on UK membership in the European Union, in which the party voiced support for the "remain" campaign, the party announced that they would not field candidates in the 2017 general election. The party also fielded no candidates in the 2019 general election but is still registered with the Electoral Commission as of March 2024.

Party leaders

Electoral performance

The Whig Party fielded four candidates at the 2015 general election: Waleed Ghani stood in

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( , ) is an area of South London, within the London Borough of Lambeth. Named after a medieval manor called Fox Hall, it became well known for the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. From the Victorian period until the mid-20th century, Va ...

, Alasdair Henderson stood in

Bethnal Green and Bow Bethnal Green and Bow was a United Kingdom constituencies, constituency in Greater London, represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 2010 until its abolition for the 2024 United Kingdom ...

and Felicity Anscomb stood in Camberwell and Peckham, all in

Inner London Inner London is the group of London boroughs that form the interior part of Greater London and are surrounded by Outer London. With its origins in the bills of mortality, it became fixed as an area for statistics in 1847 and was used as an area ...

, whereas Paul Bradley-Law stood in Stretford and Urmston in Manchester.

General election, 2015

References

{{British political parties 2014 establishments in the United Kingdom Liberal parties in the United Kingdom Political parties established in 2014 Pro-European political parties in the United Kingdom Whiggism