|
SDP–Liberal Alliance
The SDP–Liberal Alliance was a centrist and social liberal political alliance, political and electoral alliance in the United Kingdom. Formed by the Social Democratic Party (UK), Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party, the SDP–Liberal Alliance was established in 1981, contesting the 1982 United Kingdom local elections, 1983 United Kingdom local elections, 1983 United Kingdom general election, 1983 general election, 1984 United Kingdom local elections, 1984 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom, 1984 European election, 1985 United Kingdom local elections, 1986 United Kingdom local elections, 1987 United Kingdom local elections and 1987 United Kingdom general election, 1987 general election. The SDP–Liberal Alliance ceased to exist in 1988, when the two component parties merged to form the Social and Liberal Democrats, under which label they stood in the 1988 United Kingdom local elections, later renamed the Liberal Democrats (UK ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Centrism
Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the left or the right. Both centre-left and centre-right politics involve a general association with centrism that is combined with leaning somewhat to their respective sides of the left–right political spectrum. Various political ideologies, such as Christian democracy, Pancasila, and certain forms of liberalism like social liberalism, can be classified as centrist, as can the Third Way, a modern political movement that attempts to reconcile right-wing and left-wing politics by advocating for a synthesis of centre-right economic platforms with centre-left social policies. Usage by political parties by country Australia There have been centrists on both sides of politics who serve alongside the various factions within the Liberal an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1986 United Kingdom Local Elections
Local elections were held in the United Kingdom in 1986. There was a 3% reduction in the number of councillors, owing to the abolition of the Greater London Council and the Metropolitan County Councils. The national projected share of the vote was Labour 37%, Conservative 34%, Liberal-SDP Alliance 26%. The Conservatives lost 975 seats, Labour gained 13 seats and the Liberal-SDP Alliance gained 338 seats. Summary of results England London boroughs In all 32 London boroughs the whole council was up for election. Metropolitan boroughs All 36 metropolitan borough councils had one third of their seats up for election. District councils Whole council In 2 districts the whole council was up for election. In 2 districts there were new ward boundaries, following further electoral boundary reviews by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England. ‡ New ward boundaries Third of council In 121 districts one third of the council was up for election. Local educati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1981 Croydon North West By-election
The Croydon North West by-election took place on 22 October 1981. It was caused by the death of Conservative Member of Parliament Robert Taylor on 18 June 1981. The Conservative Party selected John Butterfill, then vice-chairman of Guildford Conservative Association. The Labour Party, the runners-up at the 1979 general election, selected a local councillor, Stanley Boden. The Liberal Party had come a distant third in 1979, but the by-election came shortly after the formation of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), with whom the Liberals had entered into an electoral pact, the SDP-Liberal Alliance. It was therefore expected that the election would provide a platform for Shirley Williams of the SDP to return to Parliament, having lost her seat in 1979. However, the Liberal Party insisted on their own candidate and selected the lesser known Bill Pitt who had stood in the seat for the previous three general elections and at the time was the London Regional Party Chair. The then ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coalition Government
A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in nations with majoritarian electoral systems, but common under proportional representation. A coalition government might also be created in a time of national difficulty or crisis (for example, during wartime or economic crisis) to give a government the high degree of perceived political legitimacy or collective identity, it can also play a role in diminishing internal political strife. In such times, parties have formed all-party coalitions ( national unity governments, grand coalitions). If a coalition collapses, the Prime Minister and cabinet may be ousted by a vote of no confidence, call snap elections, form a new majority coalition, or continue as a minority government. Coalition agreement In multi-party states, a coalition agr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1981 Warrington By-election
The 1981 Warrington by-election was held on 16 July 1981. The by-election was caused by the appointment of Thomas Williams, Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Warrington, as a High Court Judge. Warrington had been held by the Labour Party since the 1945 general election, and by Williams since the 1961 Warrington by-election. It had long been regarded as a safe seat for the party, and even in 1979, generally a year of poor results for Labour, Williams won with a majority of 32.8%. Labour expected to hold the seat comfortably, and selected Doug Hoyle, the former MP for Nelson and Colne, who had lost his seat in 1979. The Social Democratic Party (SDP) was formed by prominent figures on the right of the Labour Party in early 1981, known as the "Gang of Four" – Shirley Williams, Roy Jenkins, David Owen and Bill Rodgers. Of the four, Williams and Jenkins lacked Parliamentary seats, and were keen to stand in by-elections as candidates under their new party label. Fol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of Social democracy, social democrats, Democratic socialism, democratic socialists and trade unionists. The Labour Party sits on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum. In all general elections since 1922 United Kingdom general election, 1922, Labour has been either the governing party or the Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition (United Kingdom), Official Opposition. There have been six Labour List of prime ministers of the United Kingdom, prime ministers and thirteen Labour Cabinet of the United Kingdom, ministries. The party holds the annual Labour Party Conference, at which party policy is formulated. The party was founded in 1900, having grown out of the Labour movement, trade union movement and History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom, socialist List of political parties in the United Kin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shirley Williams
Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby, (' Catlin; 27 July 1930 – 12 April 2021) was a British politician and academic. Originally a Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP), she served in the Labour cabinet from 1974 to 1979. She was one of the " Gang of Four" rebels who founded the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981 and, at the time of her retirement from politics, was a Liberal Democrat. Williams was elected to the House of Commons for Hitchin in the 1964 general election. She served as Minister for Education and Science from 1967 to 1969 and Minister of State for Home Affairs from 1969 to 1970. She served as Shadow Home Secretary from 1971 and 1973. In 1974, she became Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection in Harold Wilson's cabinet. When Wilson was succeeded by James Callaghan, she served as Secretary of State for Education and Science and Paymaster General from 1976 to 1979. She lost her seat to the Conservative P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Rodgers, Baron Rodgers Of Quarry Bank
William Thomas Rodgers, Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank, (born 28 October 1928) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Transport from 1976 to 1979, and was one of the 'Gang of Four' of senior British Labour Party politicians who defected to form the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He subsequently helped to lead the SDP into the merger that formed the Liberal Democrats in 1988, and later served as that party's leader in the House of Lords between 1997 and 2001. Early life Rodgers was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, and educated at Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool. After national service in the King's Regiment (Liverpool), he studied Modern History at Magdalen College, Oxford on an Open Exhibition. He was general secretary of the Fabian Society from 1953 to 1960 and a councillor on St Marylebone Borough Council from 1958 to 1962. He was instrumental in lobbying the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party to reverse its vote in favour of unilatera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Owen
David Anthony Llewellyn Owen, Baron Owen, (born 2 July 1938) is a British politician and physician who served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs as a Labour Party MP under James Callaghan from 1977 to 1979, and later led the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He was a Member of Parliament over 26 years from 1966 to 1992. Owen served as British Foreign Secretary from 1977 to 1979, at the age of 38 the youngest person in over forty years to hold the post. In 1981, Owen was one of the " Gang of Four" who left the Labour Party to found the Social Democratic Party. He was the only member of the Gang of Four who did not join the Liberal Democrats, which was founded when the SDP merged with the Liberal Party. Owen led the Social Democratic Party from 1983 to 1987, and the continuing SDP from 1988 to 1990. Appointed as a life peer in 1992, he sat in the House of Lords as a crossbencher until March 2014, and now sits as an "independent social democrat". I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roy Jenkins
Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead, (11 November 1920 – 5 January 2003) was a British politician who served as President of the European Commission from 1977 to 1981. At various times a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, Social Democratic Party (UK), Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrats, he was Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary under the First Wilson ministry, Wilson and Callaghan government, Callaghan Governments. The son of Arthur Jenkins (politician), Arthur Jenkins, a coal-miner and Labour MP, Jenkins was educated at the University of Oxford and served as an intelligence officer during the Second World War. Initially elected as MP for Southwark Central (UK Parliament constituency), Southwark Central in 1948, he moved to become MP for Birmingham Stechford (UK Parliament constituency), Birmingham Stechford in 1950. On the election of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Limehouse Declaration
The Limehouse Declaration was a statement issued on 25 January 1981 by four senior British Labour politicians, all MPs or former MPs and Cabinet Ministers: Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams. It became known as the Limehouse Declaration as it was made near David Owen's London home in Limehouse. The four were known as the Gang of Four. The opening paragraph of the declaration indicates that it was triggered by decisions taken at the Labour Party conference in January 1981. In this document the so-called 'Gang of Four' signalled their intent to leave the Labour Party and form a Council for Social Democracy, as they felt the party had been taken over by the left-wing members. This Council became the basis for the British Social Democratic Party (SDP). The declaration was launched on a small bridge on Narrow Street, Limehouse. Organisation was last-minute, with Matthew Oakeshott being sent to the Savoy Hotel to make photocopies of the statement, and vis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
