The Glee Club is a traditional event at the twice-per-year
Liberal Democrat Conference and the
Liberal Assembly
The Liberal Party Assembly was the annual party conference of the British Liberal Party before its merger with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the Liberal Democrats; the name is still used by the continuity Liberal Party created as ...
, consisting of attendees singing around a piano. It is a popular event in
British politics
The United Kingdom is a unitary state with devolution that is governed within the framework of a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy in which the monarch, currently Charles III, King of the United Kingdom, is the ...
and was a formative event in the lives of many British political leaders, including the former leader of the Labour Party,
Michael Foot
Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Labour Leader from 1980 to 1983. Foot began his career as a journalist on ''Tribune'' and the ''Evening Standard''. He co-wrote the 1940 p ...
, amongst them. Foot described its opening song, "
The Land", as the best political song he had come across, imbued with the democratic spirit, and designed to put fear in the hearts of the landlords.
Although the Glee Club has informally existed for many years, in 1967 the first songbook (entitled ''After the Count was Over'') was published by the
National League of Young Liberals
National League of Young Liberals (NLYL), often just called the Young Liberals, was the youth wing of the British Liberal Party. It was in existence from 1903 to 1990. Together with the party's student wing, the Union of Liberal Students (ULS), ...
. Songbooks have been produced since the 1975 by ''
Liberator'', and in 2009 the 20th edition of the Liberator Songbook was published – the 27th songbook in its publishing history.
[''The Liberator Song Book'', 2009, Liberator, p.49.]
It is often combined with the ''Liberal Revue'', a series of
sketches consisting mostly of
in-joke
An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or a private joke, is a joke whose humour is understandable only to members of an ingroup; that is, people who are ''in'' a particular social group, occupation, or other community of shared interest. It ...
s and irreverent takes on political matters.
See also
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''The Land''
*
Liberalism
Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostilit ...
*
Glee Club
A glee club in the United States is a musical group or choir group, historically of male voices but also of female or mixed voices, which traditionally specializes in the singing of short songs by trios or quartets. In the late 19th century it w ...
*
''Liberator'' (magazine)
References
Political events
Political events in the United Kingdom
Liberal organizations
Liberal Party (UK)
Liberal Democrats (UK)
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