I am not massively into politics, but a friend of mine is an supporter of the Lib Dems, and when I asked her have they ever been in complete power of the UK, I was shocked to hear "Yes, but not in my life time". So after looking it up, I believe it was 1964? Would they be any good? I mean surely anyone but Bojo at the moment. As I said, Politics never grips me but I know some of you are very into it. I would be interested to read your take on the matter.
The Lib Dems were only formed in 1988 out of the old Liberal Party and the Social Democrats which split from Labour. So they have never been in power. The old Liberal Party did form governments in the 19th Century. The reasons why the Liberals have been in electoral decline since the early part of the 20th Century are the Tories and Labour. Essentially one is the party of the bosses and their allies, the other the party of the workers and theirs. They may be more or less good at that, steal each other’s language and policies, but essentially they represent the two important flavours, the way in which society is structured. That means the Liberals do not represent any conglomerated interest, for example, business or trade unions. In short, they have limited relevance in an electoral system that is first past the post.
Correct, unfortunately. However, which would be better, a perpetual coalition of the moderate left, or a cycle of Tory destruction followed by an interlude of a Labour government scrambling to repair the damage followed by the Tories tearing it all down...
Well, I agree that if you put all the other parties together, Labour, Lib Dems, SNP, Plaid, Green, they would govern the Country in a far more consensual and less divided way. You can see it at every election debate how isolated the Tories are. But I don’t think the last Lib Dem intervention in Government helped the cause for PR. It just ushered in a 1000 yr Reich.
It was on a promise of a vote on PR, but they were suckered into a vote on the most cumbersome form. I think you might get a very different outcome today.
Interesting take on Wilson's first government. I suppose abolition of capital punishment, reform of the divorce laws and the decriminalisation of homosexuality could be claimed as 'Liberal'. The last Liberal government was in 1915 (Campbell-Bannerman & Asquith governments 1905-1915 - a 'lot' of Liberal welfare reforms). To show how fluid the terms Tory and Liberal were (and the idea of rigid political parties) Churchill was a member. The Liberal led coalitions of 1915-1922 are seen by many political historians as the foundation of the 'Modern' British state (and incidently the modern Tory Party). The demise of the Liberals was due to the rise of Labour which, in turn, came about because of the slaughter witnessed in WWI... Before then both of the two main parties flirted between free (market) trade and protectionism between the UK, Empire, Europe (political struggles over our relationship aren't new) and the rest of the world. David Edgerton covers this in his excellent, but weighty, "The Fall and Rise of the British Nation A 20th Century History" (2018).
I don’t know. The Tories got, how much, 43% last time. Their supporters won’t go for it because they usually win and then it doesn’t need much of Labour’s support.
Most people treat political parties like a sports team. As a result, it's very difficult for new parties to come in an disrupt the status quo, because 60%+ of voters almost always vote the same way. When the big established parties have a lock on large swathes of the voters there's no easy long term way to attract an equivalent block of your own, unless you're running on a single issue...and that never lasts (see UKIP).
The last majority Liberal government was elected in 1906; Lloyd George led a coalition in 1916-22. After that the growing organisation and appeal of the Labour party amongst those opposed to the Conservatives saw it become their main competitor. Bwood_Horn has given a much more detailed summary a few posts above.
Today's liberal mob are not very liberal if you have an opinion that differs from theirs Today's Labour has been infiltrated by a bunch of affluent canutes waffling on about 1st world problems the poor have little interest in . So enjoy your opposition. The Tories are same as they always were . You pay your money you takes your choice
Unfortunately it is because intellectuals and idealists come across to the masses, rightly or wrongly, as arrogant know it alls, and that is not a good look in politics. The appeal of the Liberals\Lib Dems is very limited, and the agendered mass University education of the last twenty years has driven many of their potential voters to Labour. Radicalisation of intelligent young people has drawn them away from the Libs. The intellectual issue is similar now for Labour, but they still have the legacy reputation of being the anti tory party, and the last vestiges of being the "party of the people", which maintained their mainstream opposition position until the last election. They are bolstered by extremists finding a home within the party, but sadly this simply makes them unacceptable to most voters, no matter what Boris does in the back rooms of Number 10, and the party's tolerance of racism and anti-Semitism is just vile.
