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144-472: Founded in 1989, the organisation was established by individuals close to David Owen's 'continuing' Social Democratic Party , which had itself been formed the year beforehand by those members of the original SDP who refused to accept that party's merger with the Liberals . Owen had made much use of the term 'social market' when describing the economic model he espoused as an alternative to Thatcherism , and upon

288-459: A Fixed Term Parliament Bill , and end income tax for those earning less than £10,000 a year. The Conservatives also agreed to shelve their plans to replace the Human Rights Act 1998 with a proposed British Bill of Rights . The Conservatives refused to agree to Lib Dem demands for a referendum on proportional representation, instead offering a referendum on a switch from first-past-the-post to

432-490: A leadership election . Between June and October 2019, the total number of MPs rose from 11 to 21, following eight defections from other parties, one by-election win, and Lloyd retaking the whip. The defections were mainly former MPs of Change UK , with Chuka Umunna and Sarah Wollaston joining directly from the party, whereas Heidi Allen , Luciana Berger , and Angela Smith joined after subsequently being part of The Independents . The remaining defectors were three of

576-565: A market-based economy supplemented with social welfare spending. The party has been described as progressive , and is internationalist and pro-European , and supported the People's Vote for the continued UK membership of the European Union and greater European integration , having previously called for adoption of the euro . The Liberal Democrats have promoted further environmental protections and opposed British military ventures such as

720-905: A peerage in 1992. From 1968 to 1970, Owen served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Navy in Harold Wilson 's first government. After Labour's defeat in the 1970 general election , he became the party's Junior Defence Spokesman until 1972 when he resigned with Roy Jenkins over Labour's opposition to the European Community. On Labour's return to government in March 1974, he became Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health before being promoted to Minister of State for Health in July 1974. As Minister of State for Health, Owen encouraged Britain to become "self-sufficient" in blood products such as Factor VIII ,

864-537: A 20 member Policy Advisory Board, which as of 2018 included the Members of Parliament (MPs) Stephen Kinnock , Norman Lamb , Chris Leslie , Alison McGovern , Tom Tugendhat , Chuka Umunna and John Woodcock . In November 2022, the funding transparency website Who Funds You? gave The Social Market Foundation a B grade (rating goes from A to E). David Owen David Anthony Llewellyn Owen, Baron Owen , CH , PC , FRCP (born 2 July 1938)

1008-515: A Conservative government, he wanted the Liberal Democrats to do sufficiently well to ensure a greatly reduced Labour majority. In September 2007, it was reported in the British press that Lord Owen had met the new prime minister Gordon Brown and afterwards had refused to rule out supporting Labour at the next general election. It later emerged that he could have been part of the "government of all

1152-622: A block vote of the trade unions. Early in 1981, Owen and three other senior moderate Labour politicians – Roy Jenkins , Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams – announced their intention to break away from the Labour Party to form a "Council for Social Democracy". The announcement became known as the Limehouse Declaration and the four as the " Gang of Four ". The council they formed became the Social Democratic Party (SDP), with

1296-507: A book entitled Human Rights and championed that cause in Africa and in the Soviet Union. He later admitted to at one stage contemplating the assassination of Idi Amin while Foreign Secretary but settled instead on backing President Nyerere of Tanzania with money for arms purchases for his attack on Uganda which led to the exile of Amin to Saudi Arabia . Shortly after Labour's defeat in

1440-755: A chance to get it launched. The VOPP was eventually agreed in Athens in May 1993 under intense pressure by all parties including Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić but then rejected later by the Bosnian-Serb Assembly meeting in Pale, after Karadžić insisted that the Assembly had the right to ratify the agreement. After Vance's withdrawal, Owen and Thorvald Stoltenberg brokered the EU Action Plan of December 1993. They both helped

1584-659: A collective leadership. Although Owen was one of the founding members of the party, he was not always enthusiastic about creating a schism on the centre-left, saying to the Glasgow Herald in January 1981 that he felt "haunted by the possibility that, if the Labour Party splits, the centre left will never again form the Government in Britain". Twenty-eight other Labour MPs and one Conservative MP ( Christopher Brocklebank-Fowler ) joined

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1728-459: A crisis over the party's future. Michael Foot 's election as Labour party leader indicated that the party was likely to become more left-wing, and in 1980 committed itself to withdrawing from the EEC without even a referendum (as Labour had carried out in 1975). Labour also endorsed unilateral nuclear disarmament and introduced an electoral college for leadership elections, with 40% of the college going to

1872-504: A dynamic Conservative government. The 1987 general election was as disappointing for the Alliance as the 1983 election and it lost one seat. Nevertheless, it won over 23% of the vote – at that time, the second-largest third-placed vote in British politics since 1929. In 1987 immediately after the election, the Liberal leader David Steel proposed a full merger of the Liberal and SDP parties and

2016-531: A few political parties himself." Some believe David Owen comes across badly in Adam Le Bor's book, Milosevic: A Biography : "After he was appointed the European Community negotiator for the former Yugoslavia in 1992, Lord Owen and his wife Debbie cultivated a personal friendship with Milosevic and his wife Mira, flying in a helicopter to lunch with them in one of Tito's former palaces and offering publishing advice to Mira Milosevic". In August 1992, five months after

2160-557: A formal apology for breaking this promise in September 2012. Shortly after the 2015 general election, Liberal Democrat leadership contender Norman Lamb conceded that Clegg's broken pledge on university tuition had proven costly. In the May 2011 local elections and the elections for the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament, the Liberal Democrats suffered heavy defeats. Clegg admitted that

2304-555: A jack-in-the-box in Owen's pocket. He succeeded in keeping the party in the public eye and in maintaining its independence from the Liberals for the length of the 1983 Parliament. Moreover, under him, the SDP increased its representation from six to eight seats via the by-election victories of Mike Hancock , at Portsmouth South (1984), and Rosie Barnes , at Greenwich (1987). However, the progress of

2448-452: A landslide victory in 1997 and did not require a coalition government, Blair was interested in cooperation with the Lib Dems. In July 1997, he invited Ashdown and other senior Lib Dems to join a Cabinet Committee on constitutional affairs. Privately, Blair offered the Liberal Democrats a coalition but later backed down amid fears that it would split his own Cabinet. The joint Committee launched

2592-457: A less centralised economy. This distinguishes the party from many liberal parties elsewhere in Europe that are instead dominated by classical liberalism . By comparison, the Liberal Democrats support a mixed economy and have sometimes opposed privatisation. The party spans the centre and centre-left , and has emphasised each aspect at different times. The public have traditionally viewed

2736-535: A lost cause", says the bubble emanating from Major's mouth. "I'm your man", says the bubble from Owen's mouth. The Labour Shadow Foreign Minister, Jack Cunningham , greeted Major's appointment of Owen in the British House of Commons by saying that the Prime Minister's choice "was regarded as somewhat eccentric by [MPs] and myself – he [Owen] is known for many qualities, but not as a mediator. Indeed he has Balkanised

2880-497: A matter of some importance, whereas most Liberals were either indifferent to the issue or committed disarmers. The SDP favoured a radical social market economy , while the Liberals mostly favoured a more interventionist, corporate style approach. The cumulative effect of these divisions was to make the Alliance appear less credible as a potential government in the eyes of the electorate. Moreover, Owen, unlike Jenkins, faced an increasingly moderate Labour Party under Neil Kinnock and

3024-521: A pact with Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan to back Callaghan's government in a motion of no confidence . This angered many Liberals and damaged them electorally. In the 1979 general election , the Liberals lost three seats in the House of Commons ; the Conservatives, led by Margaret Thatcher , won the election. Within the Labour Party, many centrists were uncomfortable with the growing influence of

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3168-644: A recommendation also promoted by the World Health Organisation. This was principally due to the risk of Hepatitis infection from high-risk blood donors overseas who were often paid and from "skid-row" locations. David Owen has been outspoken that his policy of "Self-Sufficiency" was not put into place (although he was, himself, Minister of Health) and gave rise to the Tainted Blood Scandal which saw 5,000 British Haemophiliacs infected with Hepatitis C, 1,200 of those were also infected with HIV. It

3312-527: A republic was formed. According to a 1999 survey, two-thirds of party members supported retaining the monarchy. In the 1990s, there was an anti-royalist contingent within the party; in 1993, the party conference announced support for removing the royal prerogative , and the 2000 conference backed calls for the monarch to be removed as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England . At its 2003 conference,

3456-488: A successful campaign, the party made the biggest gain in seats in its history, winning a party high of 72 seats. The Liberal Democrats have an ideology that draws on both the liberal and social democratic traditions. The party is primarily social liberal , supporting redistribution but sceptical of increasing the power of the state, emphasising the link between equality and liberty. The party supports investment and progressive taxation, but also promotes civil liberties and

3600-410: A twice-per-year Liberal Democrat Conference , at which party policy is formulated. In contrast to its main opponents' rules, the Liberal Democrats grant all members attending its Conference the right to vote on party policy, under a one member, one vote system. The party also allows its members to vote online for its policies and in the election of a new leader. In 1981, an electoral alliance

3744-412: A week to the state pension for people over the age of 75. In 2003, it outlined plans for devolving control of schools to local councils. In the mid-1990s and early 2000s, it stated that such increases in education spending would be funded through higher taxes. These included a 50% tax on those earning over £100,000 a year, and raising the basic rate of income tax by one penny in the pound. In 2003,

3888-420: 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 for 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

4032-685: Is in a partnership with the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland , while still organising there. Internationally, the party is a member of the Liberal International and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party , with its MEPs formerly affiliated to the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament. The Liberal Party had existed in different forms for over 300 years. During

4176-485: Is the centre-left Beveridge Group , inspired by William Beveridge . The Beveridge Group has been associated with both social liberals and social democrats within the party, including former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy . The Liberal Democrats support institutional reform in the United Kingdom, including the decentralisation of state power, reform of Parliament, and electoral reform. At its 1993 conference,

4320-426: The 1979 general election and following the election of a new Shadow Cabinet Callaghan moved Owen from the position of Shadow Foreign Secretary to Shadow Energy Secretary , a move which was reported as being a demotion. Eighteen months after Labour lost power, the staunchly left-wing politician Michael Foot was elected party leader, despite vocal opposition from Labour Party moderates (including Owen), sparking

4464-555: The 1989 European Parliament elections , beaten to third position by the Green Party . This was the worst election result for an established third party since the 1950s. Its prospects were buoyed after it won the 1990 Eastbourne by-election , followed by-election victories in Ribble Valley and Kincardine and Deeside . In the 1991 local elections it secured a net gain of 520 seats. In the 1992 general election , it secured 17.8% of

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4608-404: The 2008 local elections it gained 34 seats, beating Labour in terms of vote share. The following year, the party was damaged by the expenses scandal as several Lib Dem MPs and peers were found to have misused their expenses; Campbell for example was revealed to have claimed nearly £10,000 in expenses for luxury home furnishings. In the build-up to the 2010 general election , Clegg took part in

4752-485: The 2015 general election , which relegated them to fourth-largest party in the House of Commons. Under the leaderships of Tim Farron , Vince Cable and Jo Swinson , the party was refocused as a pro-Europeanist party opposing Brexit . In the 2019 general election , the party garnered 11.5 per cent of the vote on an anti-Brexit platform, but this did not translate into seat gains, with Swinson losing her own seat. However,

4896-453: The 2023 local elections , gaining 405 councillors and winning control of 12 more councils. They also overturned a 19,000 Conservative majority in the 2023 Somerton and Frome by-election to elect Sarah Dyke as their 15th MP. In the 2024 local elections , Davey said he was confident of toppling the "Tory Blue Wall in Surrey". The Lib Dems finished in second place behind Labour and ahead of

5040-425: The 21 rebel Conservative MPs who had the whip withdrawn for voting against the government on a piece of legislation which would prevent a no-deal scenario on 31 October 2019: Antoinette Sandbach , Sam Gyimah , and Phillip Lee . The latter physically crossed the floor during the debate on the legislation, effectively removing the majority of the first Johnson government. Heading into the 2019 general election ,

5184-516: The Falklands War , Owen spoke at the Bilderberg meeting advocating sanctions against Argentina. Ironically, the success of the war ended any hope that SDP might have had of winning the 1983 election. The Tories were proving unpopular largely due to high unemployment and the early 1980s recession . However, Britain's success in the conflict saw Margaret Thatcher and her Tory government surge back to

5328-528: The House of Lords as a crossbencher until March 2014, and sat as an "independent social democrat" until his retirement in 2024. In the course of his career, Owen has held, and resigned from, a number of senior posts. He first quit as Labour's spokesman on defence in 1972 in protest at the Labour leader and former prime minister Harold Wilson 's attitude to the European Economic Community ; he left

5472-728: The Independent Commission on the Voting System in December; its report, published in October 1998, proposed the change from the first past the post electoral system to an alternative vote top-up system . This was not the Lib Dems preferred option—they wanted full proportional representation —although Ashdown hailed it as "a historic step forward". Many Lib Dems were concerned by Ashdown's growing closeness with Labour; aware of this, he stepped down as party leader in 1999. Before he did so,

5616-555: The Iraq War . The Liberal Democrats are historically strongest in northern Scotland , south-west London, South West England , and mid Wales . Membership is primarily made up of middle-class professionals and the party's composition has a higher proportion of university educated members than the other major political parties of the United Kingdom. The party is a federation of the English , Scottish , and Welsh Liberal Democrats . The party

5760-468: The SDP name ; Bridlington 's was still extant in 2006. Lord Holme later blamed Owen for the Alliance's failure to make a breakthrough at the 1987 general election, believing that a merged party would have performed much better and possibly gained more votes and seats than Labour. After winding up the re-formed SDP, Owen announced his intention to stand down as an MP at the next general election. He then served

5904-683: The September 11 attacks in the United States and the launch of the U.S.-led War on terror , the Liberal Democrat MPs backed the government's decision to participate in the United States invasion of Afghanistan . The party was more critical of Blair's decision to participate in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003; Kennedy joined the large anti-war march in London. With the Conservatives backing

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6048-742: The Vauxhall branch of the Labour Party and the Fabian Society . He qualified as a doctor in 1962 and began work at St Thomas's Hospital. In 1964, he contested the Torrington seat as the Labour candidate against the Conservative Party incumbent, losing in what was a traditional Conservative- Liberal marginal . He was neurology and psychiatric registrar at St Thomas's Hospital for two years, as assistant to Dr William Sargant , then Research Fellow on

6192-633: The Welsh Assembly . The party campaigned for a Remain vote in the referendum on United Kingdom membership of the European Union in June 2016. After the Leave vote, the Liberal Democrats sought to mobilise the 48% who voted Remain, and the party's membership rose again, reaching 80,000 by September. The 2017 local election results saw a loss of about 40 council seats. In the 2017 general election , during which

6336-508: The hard left , who were calling for the UK to leave the European Economic Community and unilaterally disarm as a nuclear power . In January 1981, four senior Labour MPs— Bill Rodgers , Shirley Williams , Roy Jenkins , and David Owen , known as the " Gang of Four "—issued the Limehouse Declaration in which they announced their split from Labour. This led to the formal launch of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in March. One of its first decisions

6480-690: The red wall which supported leaving the EU. Owen retired from the House of Lords on 13 August 2024. In August 1992, Owen was British Prime Minister John Major's choice to succeed Lord Carrington as the EU co-chairman of the Conference for the Former Yugoslavia , along with Cyrus Vance , the former US Secretary of State as the UN co-chairman. Private Eye , the British satirical magazine, playfully alluded towards Owen's legendary tendency towards self-destruction. "It's

6624-418: The tainted blood scandal . Alleging maladministration in 2002 he sought to bring about an inquiry into the matter and was joined in his efforts by former Solicitor General for England and Wales Lord Archer , former Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Services Lord Jenkin and others. In 2009 the culmination of these efforts, the privately funded and independent "Archer Report" in which Lord Owen

6768-588: The 1989 Richmond by-election , but thereafter a string of poor and ultimately disastrous by-election results followed, including coming behind the Official Monster Raving Loony Party in the Bootle by-election of May 1990, prompting Owen to wind up the party in 1990. Owen blamed the SDP's demise on the reforms which had been taking place in the Labour Party since Kinnock's election as leader in 1983. Some branches, however, continued to function using

6912-451: The 19th and early 20th century, it had been one of the United Kingdom's two dominant political parties, along with the Conservative Party . Following World War I , it was pushed into third place by the Labour Party and underwent a gradual decline throughout the rest of the 20th century. In the 1970s, the Liberal leader David Steel began contemplating how an alliance with other parties could return it to political power. In 1977, he formed

7056-432: The 2015 local elections , held the same day. Membership of the Liberal Democrats rose from 45,000 to 61,000 as the party prepared to hold its 2015 party leadership ballot . On 16 July 2015, Tim Farron was elected to the leadership of the party with 56.5% of the vote, beating opponent Norman Lamb . In the May 2016 local elections , the Liberal Democrats gained a small number of council seats, though they lost ground in

7200-445: The 2018 local elections and 704 councillors in the 2019 local elections . In the 2019 European Parliament election the party ran with an anti-Brexit message seeking the support of those who wish the UK to remain in the EU, using the slogan " Bollocks to Brexit " which attracted considerable media attention. In that election, the party gained 20% of the popular vote and returned 16 MEPs. In May, Cable stood down as leader, triggering

7344-489: The Alternative Vote system. The coalition introduced an emergency budget to attack the fiscal deficit. After joining the coalition poll ratings for the party fell, particularly following the government's support for raising the cap on tuition fees with Liberal Democrat MPs voting 27 for, 21 against and eight abstaining. The Liberal Democrats had made opposing tuition fees a major message of their campaign, with all of

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7488-728: The Bosnian war started, Owen said, "Now it is clear that Milosevic really wants peace". Owen became a joint author of the Vance–Owen Peace Plan (VOPP), in January 1993, which made an effort to move away from the presumption of ethnic partition. According to America's last ambassador to Yugoslavia, the Bosnian Government were ready to accept the VOPP, but unfortunately the Clinton Administration delayed in its support, thus missing

7632-483: The Conservative incumbent Dame Joan Vickers by a slim margin (437 votes). He managed to hold on to it in the 1979 general election , again by a narrow margin (1001 votes). From 1981, however, his involvement with the SDP meant he developed a large personal following in the constituency and thereafter he was re-elected as an SDP candidate with safe margins. He remained as MP for Plymouth Devonport until his elevation to

7776-545: The Conservatives in terms of seats. The Liberal Democrats gained Tunbridge Wells council and Dorset Council . They notably added more council seats than any other party over the last parliament, gaining more than 750 in the last five years, largely in southern England . The Liberal Democrats entered the 2024 general election with its manifesto policies including reforming Carer's Allowance , free personal care in England, votes at 16 and proportional representation . After

7920-680: The Contact Group of the US/UK/France/Germany and Russia to present its plan in the summer of 1994. In early 1994, the European Parliament voted by 160 votes to 90, with 2 abstentions, for Owen's dismissal, but he was supported by all 15 EU Member State governments. There was a perception in America that Owen was "not fulfilling his function as an impartial negotiator". Owen, however, was consistently supported by all 15 EU Member States and

8064-406: The Department of Health advised that "the Department does not have any plans to make public the identity of junior officials involved in this matter". On 10 May 2017 he featured in an episode of BBC Panorama called "Contaminated Blood: The Search for the Truth". Liberal Democrats (UK) The Liberal Democrats (colloquially known as the Lib Dems ) are a liberal political party in

8208-470: The European Union. In December 2018, the MP for Eastbourne , Stephen Lloyd , resigned the Liberal Democrat Whip, saying that his party's position on Brexit was inconsistent with his pledge to his constituency that he would "respect the result" of the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum . Although Lloyd remained a Liberal Democrat member, this took the number of sitting Liberal Democrat MPs down to 11. The party gained 76 councillors in

8352-444: The Foundation to work for the Conservative Research Department . In the late 1990s the Foundation moved closer to New Labour , with Gordon Brown giving a speech about 'social markets' at the Foundation in 2003, and SMF publishing a paper by Gordon Brown in 2004. In 2001, Lord Skidelsky was replaced as chair by David, Lord Lipsey , who in the 1970s had been a special adviser to the Labour politician Anthony Crosland . The Foundation

8496-452: The Foundation's establishment he was made one of its trustees. The Foundation's first executive director was the 'continuing' SDP peer Lord Kilmarnock , and its chairman from 1991 was Robert Skidelsky , Professor of Political Economy at Warwick University , who was responsible for much of the Owenite SDP's economic policy, having written a green paper on the social market economy for the party's first conference in September 1988. Following

8640-418: The German Presidency in July 1994 urged him to remain as did the French Presidency in January 1995. Owen was made a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for his services in the former Yugoslavia in 1994. In January 1995, Lord Owen wrote to François Mitterrand as President of the European Union to say that he wished to step down before the end of the French presidency. At the end of May 1995, he

8784-440: The House of Lords as an "Independent Social Democrat". Owen later said he admired Miliband's "integrity" and "guts". In the June 2017 general election, Owen made no political donation nationally although he was "pleasantly surprised that the manifesto was a lot better than expected", and praised Corbyn for showing "more flexibility in taking account of Labour MPs and party members’ views than ever Michael Foot did" in reference to

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8928-403: The House of Lords into an elected Senate, and advancing environmental protections. At the September 1988 conference it adopted the short form name "the Democrats" and in October 1989 changed its name to "Liberal Democrats". The bird of liberty was adopted as its logo. In 1989, its election results were poor: it lost 190 seats in the May 1989 local elections and secured only 6.4% of the vote in

9072-411: The Labour Shadow cabinet over the same issue later; and over unilateral disarmament in November 1980 when Michael Foot became Labour leader. He resigned from the Labour Party when it rejected one member, one vote in February 1981 and later as Leader of the Social Democratic Party, which he had helped to found, after the party's rank-and-file membership voted to merge with the Liberal Party . Owen

9216-508: The Labour Party . In October 2019, Owen warned that Labour would lose potentially 5 million Leave voters who supported them due to its stance for a second Brexit referendum, and said that Labour under Corbyn and John McDonnell reminded voters of "the Labour Party of the 1980s". He also criticised McDonnell's push to change Labour's policy to a second referendum stance. In the subsequent December 2019 general election, true to Owen's warning, Labour lost 60 seats, including long time Labour seats in

9360-440: The Labour government's decision to go to war, the Lib Dems were the only major party opposing it. In following years, Lib Dem MPs increasingly voted against the Labour government on a range of issues. Much of this Lib Dem opposition to the government came from their members in the House of Lords. In the 2003 local elections , the party secured about 30% of the vote, its highest ever result. In 2004, The Orange Book anthology

9504-439: The Lib Dems' public support. In retrospect the move to oust Kennedy was seen as a "graceless" move and a turning point for the Lib Dems, who after 2010 would lose many of the left-leaning voters that Kennedy won over from Labour in 2005, "reeling in disgust from the decision to go into coalition" with the Conservatives (which Kennedy staunchly opposed). In March 2006, Menzies Campbell succeeded Kennedy as party leader. Campbell

9648-467: The Liberal Democrats gained councillors in all countries of Great Britain, with the largest gain of any party in England with 194 new councillors. One month later, the Liberal Democrats contested and won the Tiverton and Honiton by-election with its candidate Richard Foord , overturning a majority of over 24,000 and breaking the record for the biggest overturning of a majority in British by-election history. The Liberal Democrats saw considerable gains in

9792-441: The Liberal Democrats is Leonard Hobhouse , and there is substantial overlap between the party's platform and the form of social democracy advocated by Anthony Crosland in The Future of Socialism . The party's egalitarianism is based on the concept of equality of opportunity . The party has been sceptical of positive discrimination , including in its process for selecting political candidates. The party has frequently debated

9936-405: The Liberals gained five additional seats although the SDP lost many that they had previously inherited from Labour. After the 1983 election, Owen replaced Jenkins as head of the SDP. Several gains were made in subsequent by-elections: the SDP won in Portsmouth South and Greenwich and the Liberals in Brecon and Radnor and Ryedale . Both parties lost seats in the 1987 general election . In

10080-428: The Medical Unit doing research into Parkinsonian trauma and neuropharmacology. At the next general election in 1966 , Owen returned to his home town and was elected Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for the Plymouth Sutton constituency . Aged 27, he was one of the youngest MPs in Parliament. In the February 1974 general election Owen became Labour MP for the adjacent Plymouth Devonport constituency, winning it from

10224-442: The Post being chosen over Alternative Vote by approximately two-thirds of voters. In May 2011, Clegg revealed plans to make the House of Lords a mainly elected chamber, limiting the number of peers to 300, 80% of whom would be elected with a third of that 80% being elected every five years by single transferable vote . In August 2012, Clegg announced that attempts to reform the House of Lords would be abandoned due to opposition for

10368-494: The SDP–Liberal Alliance as a whole was hampered, with policy splits between the two parties. The first was over the miners' strike of 1984–85 , with Owen and most of the SDP favouring a fairly tough line but the Liberals preferring compromise and negotiation. More significantly the Alliance had a dispute over the future of Britain's independent nuclear deterrent. Owen and the SDP favoured replacing Polaris with Trident as

10512-470: The UK's first televised party leaders debate; he was generally considered to have performed well, with pundits referring to an ensuing "Cleggmania". In the election, the Lib Dems secured 23% of the vote and 57 seats; the Conservatives were the largest party but lacked a majority. The Conservatives and Lib Dems formed a coalition government, with Clegg becoming Deputy Prime Minister. Four other Lib Dems—Cable, Huhne, Danny Alexander , and David Laws —entered

10656-578: The United Kingdom, founded in 1988. They are based at Liberal Democrat Headquarters , near Westminster , and the current leader of the party is Ed Davey . They are the third-largest party in the United Kingdom , with 72 members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons . They have 78 members of the House of Lords , four members of the Scottish Parliament , one member in the Welsh Senedd , and more than 3,000 local council seats. The party holds

10800-494: The best way to solve economic problems. Most were against either further privatisation or further nationalisation, although they were overwhelmingly favourable to increasing taxation and government spending. The membership was also heavily against additional restrictions on trade unions. Liberal Democrat policy has generally been favourable to social welfare spending. During the 2000s, the party made pledges for major investment into health, education, and public services. In 1995,

10944-506: The centre-left and others the centre. The party is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE), and Liberal International . It calls for constitutional reform, including a change from the first-past-the-post voting system to proportional representation . Emphasising stronger protections for civil liberties , the party promotes social-liberal approaches to issues like LGBT rights , drug liberalisation , education policy and criminal justice . It favours

11088-509: The coalition Cabinet. Of the 57 Liberal Democrat MPs, only two refused to support the Conservative Coalition agreement, with former party leader Charles Kennedy and Manchester Withington MP John Leech both rebelling against. Many Lib Dems opposed the move, with some favouring a coalition deal with Labour. As part of the coalition agreement, the Conservatives agreed to Lib Dem demands to introduce elected health boards, put forward

11232-485: The demise of the 'continuing' SDP in 1990, the Foundation gravitated to the post-Thatcher Conservative Party , and in press circles it was often cited as " John Major 's favourite thinktank". Skidelsky himself joined the Conservatives in 1992, shortly after being made a life peer by the government, while two directors, Rick Nye and Daniel Finkelstein , both former SDP activists and political advisers to David Owen, later left

11376-642: The eight who contested their seats in the 2019 general election all lost their seats. However, the party did gain 4.2% in the vote, rising to 11.6%. Swinson herself narrowly lost her East Dunbartonshire constituency to the Scottish National Party's Amy Callaghan , forcing her to resign as leader the next day in accordance with the Liberal Democrat Constitution which mandates that the leader must also serve as an MP. Deputy Leader Ed Davey and Party President Sal Brinton then jointly assumed

11520-525: The eurozone. In 2019, Owen recounted that Blair implied that a “political future” awaited him if he rejoined Labour. Owen said he "was very tempted, but then [Blair] started to talk about the euro.” Owen concluded that Blair was “passionately committed” to taking Britain into the Euro; thus, Owen said no. In May 2005, he was approached two days before the general election by someone very close to Tony Blair to endorse Labour. He declined, because though he did not want

11664-642: The form of the Liberal Party and the Continuing SDP . The Social and Liberal Democrats were formally launched on 3 March 1988. Steel and Maclennan initially became joint interim leaders. At the start, it claimed 19 MPs, 3,500 local councillors, and 100,000 members. In its first leadership election, Paddy Ashdown defeated Alan Beith . Ashdown saw the Liberal Democrats as a radical, reforming force, putting forward policies for introducing home rule for Scotland and Wales, proportional representation, transforming

11808-455: The former minister, Chris Huhne . The party's candidate, Mike Thornton , had been a local councillor for the party, and held the seat. In eighteen other by-elections held throughout the 2010 to 2015 Parliament, the party lost its deposit in 11; in the Rochester and Strood by-election held on 20 November 2014, it came fifth polling 349 votes or 0.9% of the total votes cast, the worst result in

11952-713: The history of the party. In the 2013 local elections , the Liberal Democrats lost over 100 council seats. In the 2014 local elections , they lost another 307 council seats and ten of their eleven seats in the European Parliament in the 2014 European elections . In the 2015 general election , the party lost 48 seats in the House of Commons, leaving them with only eight MPs. Prominent Liberal Democrat MPs who lost their seats included former leader Charles Kennedy , former deputy leaders Vince Cable and Simon Hughes , and several cabinet ministers. The Conservatives won an outright majority. Clegg then announced his resignation as party leader. The party lost over 400 council seats in

12096-518: The internal market, which he had championed in the 1980s, the Bill introduced an external market and he worked closely with the Labour Front Bench in the House of Lords. In March 2014, it was revealed that Owen had donated over £7,500 to the Labour Party, following the Labour leader Ed Miliband 's reforms of the party's links with trade unions. No longer eligible to sit as a crossbencher, Owen now sits in

12240-507: The introduction of all-women shortlists in selection, but not implemented them. The Liberal Democrats support a range of constitutional reforms, including by advocating a decentralised federal structure for the United Kingdom, including devolving power to the regions of England . The party supported devolution to Scotland and Wales enacted by the Labour government under Tony Blair . The party has consistently supported electoral reform to produce more proportional results. On social issues,

12384-441: The late winter and spring which saw many politicians infected, the party's board initially pushed the leadership election back to May 2021. The decision was reversed in May 2020 to hold the leadership election in July 2020. On 27 August 2020, Ed Davey was elected as leader of the party, by a margin of almost 18,000 votes. On 13 September 2020, Daisy Cooper was announced as the party's new Deputy Leader. In September 2020, it

12528-428: The leadership of the SDP, but was defeated by 26,256 votes to 20,864. In the following year's general election , the Alliance gained 25% of the vote, only slightly behind the Labour Party, but because of the first-past-the-post voting system , it won only 23 out of 650 seats. Although elected, Jenkins resigned the SDP leadership and Owen succeeded to it without a contest among the six remaining SDP MPs. In 1982, during

12672-445: The liberal – with a small 'l' – establishment. Through that experience I became suspicious of a kind of automatic sogginess which you come across in many aspects of British life. ... The rather defeatist, even traitorous attitude reflected in the pre-war Apostles at Cambridge . I suppose it underlay the appeasement years. Its modern equivalent is a resigned attitude to Britain's continuous post-war economic decline. In 1960, Owen joined

12816-426: The manifesto's commitments to NATO and nuclear weapons despite Corbyn's lifelong pacifism. He did, however, make a personal donation to the Labour candidate in his former constituency of Plymouth Sutton & Devonport, Luke Pollard , who successfully won the seat. However in March 2019, Owen said he would not support Labour, criticising Corbyn's leadership for its failure to "unequivocally" root out antisemitism in

12960-498: The memoirs of at least three of John Major 's cabinet ministers refer to Major being quite keen to appoint Owen to his cabinet, but threats of resignation from within the Cabinet prevented him from doing so. When asked in a conversation with Woodrow Wyatt on 18 December 1988 whether she would have Owen in her government if approached by him, Margaret Thatcher replied: "Well, not straight away. I don't think I would do it straight away. He

13104-544: The merger, Owen resigned as leader, to be replaced by Bob Maclennan . A Liberal conference in September found delegates providing a landslide majority for the merger. Formal negotiations launched that month and in December it produced a draft constitution for the new party. In 1988, Liberal and SDP meetings both produced majorities for the merger; finally, the memberships of both parties were balloted and both produced support for unification. Those in both parties opposed to unification split to form their own breakaway groups, in

13248-518: The merger. The Liberal Party and SDP merged to form the Social and Liberal Democrats (SLD) in March 1988, renamed the Liberal Democrats in October 1989. At the request of two of the remaining SDP MPs, John Cartwright and Rosie Barnes , Owen continued to lead a much smaller continuing SDP , with three MPs in total. The party polled well at its first election, its candidate coming a close second in

13392-432: The minds of the public." The Lib Dems calls for devolution or home rule for Scotland and Wales were enacted by Blair's Labour government in the late 1990s. The 1993 conference also called for the introduction of a bill of rights into the British constitution. Its 2001 manifesto included a commitment to lowering the voting age from 18 to 16. In 2013, an internal pressure group in the party called Liberal Democrats for

13536-473: The new party. In late 1981, the SDP formed the SDP–Liberal Alliance with the Liberal Party to strengthen both parties' chances in the UK's " first past the post " electoral system. The alliance performed so well that for much of the early part of 1982, it appeared that it would become a centre-left coalition government at the next election. In 1982, uneasy about the Alliance, Owen challenged Jenkins for

13680-498: The party advocated continued membership of the European single market and a referendum on the Brexit withdrawal agreement , the Liberal Democrats' vote share dropped 0.5% to 7.4%, its lowest percentage ever, but produced a net gain of four seats. Farron then resigned; in July 2017 Vince Cable was elected leader unopposed . He called for a second referendum on the UK's relationship with

13824-471: The party announced a plan to put £2 billion into education, including nursery places for under fives, while its 2005 manifesto included a commitment to use £1.5 billion to decrease class sizes in schools. In the 2000s, the party also pledged to abolish tuition fees for university students, and in the build-up to the 2010 general election, Clegg pledged that under a Lib Dem government this would be achieved over six years. In 2004, it pledged to add £25

13968-530: The party as centre-left, though during the Cameron–Clegg coalition they were seen as centrist. On economic issues, the party has usually been positioned between the Conservatives and the Labour Party , though typically closer to the Labour Party. There is a degree of ideological diversity among members of the Liberal Democrats, with a wide range of opinions on most subjects. A key ideological influence on

14112-405: The party gained hundreds of seats on local councils under the leadership of Ed Davey , being especially successful in the 2022 , 2023 , and 2024 local elections . Davey is the party's first leader since Ashdown in the 1990s to win four by-elections in the space of one Parliament. This success continued at the 2024 general election , where despite only a small vote share increase to 12.2 per cent,

14256-572: The party had taken "big knocks" due to a perception that the coalition government had returned to the Thatcherism of the 1980s. As part of the deal that formed the coalition, it was agreed to hold a referendum on the Alternative Vote , in which the Conservatives would campaign for First Past the Post and the Liberal Democrats for Alternative Vote . The referendum, held on 5 May 2011, resulted in First Past

14400-566: The party has advocated for the United Kingdom's continued membership of the European Union. The party supports liberal interventionism , and supported the war in Afghanistan , later opposing the 2003 invasion of Iraq due to its lack of support from the United Nations . The party has also faced internal division over the issue of nuclear weapons . The party has a number of factions representing different strains of liberal thought. Although

14544-493: The party is liberal and progressive. It has consistently supported LGBT rights and drug reform. The party is internationalist and pro-European. They have consistently supported policies of European integration, including long-term advocacy of the United Kingdom adopting the euro , though they have opposed the establishing of a European army . Both before and after the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum ,

14688-432: The party polled well, with one poll showing the party with 20% (within 4% of Labour) as late as 28 October. Nonetheless, during the campaign period the party's fortunes dwindled, and leader Jo Swinson received negative reviews. In the election, the Liberal Democrats lost ten seats from the previous parliament and one from the previous election, returning 11 MPs. Of the nine new MPs who joined between June and October 2019,

14832-492: The party put forward plans for the introduction of fixed term parliaments , something it would later secure in the coalition government of 2010 to 2015. Also in 1993, it proposed state funding for political parties. The Liberal Democrats have long included a commitment to proportional representation in their manifestos. According to the New Statesman , this is the "one policy with which the Liberal Democrats are identified in

14976-545: The party took part in the 1999 elections for the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly. In both, the Lib Dems came fourth and became Labour's junior coalition partners. The MP Simon Hughes was initially seen as Ashdown's most likely successor, but was defeated in the contest by Charles Kennedy . To reduce the impact of more leftist members who tended to dominate at conferences, Kennedy proposed that all members—rather than just conference delegates—should vote for

15120-718: The party was damaged by allegations of racism on the Liberal Democrat-controlled council in Tower Hamlets; it faced additional problems as its distinctive centrist niche was threatened by the rise of Tony Blair and New Labour , a project which pushed Labour to the centre. At the 1997 general election , it fielded 639 candidates, securing 46 MPs, the greatest number that the Liberals had had since 1929. These were concentrated in Southwest England, Southwest London, and areas of Scotland. Although Blair's Labour won

15264-408: The party won 72 seats, their highest total ever, and returned to being the third largest party in the House of Commons for the first time since 2015. A centrist to centre-left political party, the Liberal Democrats ideologically draw upon both liberalism and social democracy . Different factions have dominated the party at different times, each with its own ideological bent, some leaning towards

15408-523: The party's MPs, including Nick Clegg, signing the Vote for Students pledge to oppose any increase in student tuition fees prior to the 2010 general election. In November 2010, The Guardian accessed internal party documents on the subject written prior to the election. These revealed that the party had planned to abandon the tuition fee policy after the election had taken place, as part of any hypothetical coalition agreement with either major party. Clegg later made

15552-764: The party's Youth and Student League put forward a motion calling for the abolition of the monarchy and the introduction of an elected head of state . The 2000 party conference produced a call for the 1701 Act of Settlement to be reformed so as to allow the heir to the throne to marry a Roman Catholic, while the party's 2001 manifesto called for the disestablishment of the Church of England. The party's endorsement of secularism dates back to 1990, with standing policy favouring total separation of church and state . The 1999 membership survey found that most favoured free markets and individual responsibility; they were nevertheless split on whether or not they regarded private enterprise as

15696-500: The party's federal executive and federal policy committees. In 2001, Kennedy suspended the Joint Cabinet Committee with Labour. The media characterised him as "Inaction Man" and accused him of lacking a clear identity and political purpose; later criticism also focused on his alcoholism. In the 2001 general election , the party fielded 639 candidates and made a net gain of 6, bringing its total of seats to 52. Following

15840-448: The party's stance on rejoining the EU, he said "We are not a rejoin party, but we are a very pro-European party." This caused anger to some Liberal Democrat members and a few days after Davey wrote a blog post clarifying his position. He stressed the Liberal Democrats were "committed to the UK being members of the European Union again" and insisted that members may have "misinterpreted" what he said on The Andrew Marr Show and that once he

15984-495: The polls changed and the website became a major source of information about hung parliaments. In May 2010 The Sunday Times called Owen "the prophet of the coalition". During the 2011 Alternative Vote referendum he signed a letter in The Guardian stating that he opposed AV but would continue to campaign for proportional representation. In January 2011, Owen said that his "heart was with Labour" and that he looked forward to

16128-413: The positions of acting co-leaders of the party. Brinton was at the end of the year (31 December 2019) replaced by Mark Pack as Party President and acting co-leader while Mike Dixon remains the party CEO. The Liberal Democrats' federal board set out a timetable in January 2020 which stated that a new party leader would be elected in July 2020. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom in

16272-527: 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

16416-409: The proposals by backbench Conservative MPs. Claiming the coalition agreement had been broken, Clegg stated that Liberal Democrat MPs would no longer support changes to the House of Commons boundaries for the 2015 general election. The Lib Dem Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Chris Huhne in 2011 announced plans for halving UK carbon emissions by 2025 as part of the "Green Deal" which

16560-570: The remainder of his term as an independent MP and after the 1992 general election was made a life peer , nominated by then Conservative Prime Minister, John Major , with the title, Baron Owen , of the City of Plymouth in the County of Devon . in Letters Patent dated 30 June 1992. As a member of the House of Lords , he is called "Lord Owen" and he sat as a crossbencher until 2014 (see below). Owen

16704-643: The social liberals, represented by the Social Liberal Forum (often abbreviated to the SLF), are the majority, factions that advocate for more economically liberal positions include Liberal Reform (often abbreviated to LR) and the "Orange Bookers", named after The Orange Book: Reclaiming Liberalism ; The Orange Book is most often associated with former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg , who contributed to it, along with former Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable and incumbent leader Ed Davey . Additionally, there

16848-562: The talents" initiative advising on the NHS, but Owen declined. In October 2009 he wrote an article in The Times predicting that the Conservatives, then well ahead in the opinion polls, were unlikely to win an outright majority. He helped create the web-based Charter 2010 to explain and promote the potential of a hung parliament . The website campaign was launched in January 2010 while the Conservatives still appeared on course to win outright. Within weeks

16992-460: The third-largest party in the House of Commons. In 2010, under Nick Clegg 's leadership, the Liberal Democrats were junior partners in David Cameron 's Conservative-led coalition government , in which Clegg served as deputy prime minister . Although it allowed them to implement some of their policies, the coalition badly damaged the party's electoral standing, and they lost 48 of their 56 MPs at

17136-456: The time when he could vote Labour again. He added that what hampered him in the past was the way the Labour Party elects its leader and it was very necessary for the electoral college arrangement to be reformed and he refused to rule out joining the Labour Party in the future. He vigorously opposed the Health and Social Care Bill in 2011–12. In a pamphlet, "Fatally Flawed", he demonstrated that far from

17280-447: The top of the opinion polls, and her position was strengthened further by the end of the year as the recession died down. Owen is widely regarded as having been, at the very least, a competent party leader. He had high popularity ratings throughout his leadership as did the SDP–Liberal Alliance. Owen kept a high profile, so much so that Spitting Image , the satirical puppet show, depicted the Liberal leader David Steel popping up like

17424-476: The vote and 20 seats in the House of Commons: nine of these were in Scotland and five were in Southwest England. Between 1992 and 1997, the party underwent a period of consolidation, particularly on local councils. In the 1994 local elections , it came second, pushing the Conservatives into third place. In the 1994 European Parliament elections , it gained two Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). In 1993,

17568-531: The wake of this, Steel called for the SDP and Liberals to merge into a single party. At the grassroots, various local constituency groups had already de facto merged. In the SDP, Jenkins, Rodgers, Williams, and the MP Charles Kennedy supported the idea; Owen and the MPs Rosie Barnes and John Cartwright opposed it. The SDP's membership was balloted on the idea: after it produced 57.4% in favour of

17712-457: Was Gaitskell ... criticizing Eden, and here were these men working alongside me, who should have been his natural supporters, furious with him. The Daily Mirror backed Gaitskell, but these men were tearing up their Daily Mirror s every day. ... My working mates were solidly in favour of Eden. It was not only that they taught me how people like them think; they also opened my eyes to how I should think myself. From then on I never identified with

17856-465: Was able to clarify "people were completely relaxed". Under Davey, the Liberal Democrats seized the traditional Conservative constituency of Chesham and Amersham in a by-election in which Sarah Green overturned a 16,000 majority in June 2021 and then repeated a similar feat in North Shropshire in December 2021 when Helen Morgan overturned a 23,000 majority. In the 2022 local elections ,

18000-734: Was appointed his successor. Aged 38, he became the youngest Foreign Secretary since Anthony Eden in 1935. In 1977, Owen was condemned by Black civil rights leader Billy Strachan for refusing to prevent the hanging of two Black Bermudians in the British colony. As Foreign Secretary, Owen was identified with the Anglo-American plan for Rhodesia , which formed the basis for the Lancaster House Agreement , negotiated by his Tory successor, Lord Carrington , in December 1979. The Contact Group sponsored UN Resolution 435 in 1978 on which Namibia moved to independence twelve years later. He wrote

18144-524: Was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Plymouth University in 1992. During the April 1992 election campaign, Owen writing in The Mail on Sunday newspaper advised voters to vote Liberal Democrat where they had a chance of victory and to vote Conservative rather than let Neil Kinnock become prime minister. Owen maintained his long-standing position that he would never join the Conservative Party , although

18288-516: Was born in 1938 to Welsh parents in Plympton , near the city of Plymouth , in Devon , England. He also has Swiss and Irish ancestry. He described Plymouth as, "a Cromwellian city, surrounded by royalists." After schooling at Mount House School, Tavistock , and Bradfield College , Berkshire, he was admitted to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge , in 1956 to read Medicine, and obtained a lower second ; he

18432-559: Was done after prosecutions and jail sentences were brought against government officials in France. In September 2016 at a film-screening of the documentary Bad Blood: A Cautionary Tale , he dramatically ended a 15-minute speech on the subject proclaiming: "I have failed and I feel very miserable about it". In October 2016, the Civil Service Commission refused a request to investigate Lord Owen's destroyed documents and separately

18576-515: Was established between the Liberal Party , a group which descended from the 18th-century Whigs , and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a splinter group from the Labour Party . In 1988, the parties merged as the Social and Liberal Democrats , adopting their present name just over a year later. Under the leadership of Paddy Ashdown and later Charles Kennedy , the party grew during the 1990s and 2000s, focusing its campaigns on specific seats and becoming

18720-441: Was heavily involved, published its findings but was thwarted because it had no power to compel witnesses as it was not a statutory public inquiry . Successive governments have refused to hold a public inquiry into the matter and continue to withhold documentation on grounds of commercial interest. During his investigation into the matter he attempted to access his archived documents and files from his time as minister. At first he

18864-473: Was in his late sixties; in October he resigned and Vince Cable became acting leader. In December 2007, Nick Clegg narrowly beat Chris Huhne to take the party's leadership. Clegg's reshuffle of the leadership team was seen by many as a shift to the right; under Clegg, the party moved away from the social democratic focus it displayed previously. It rebranded itself as a party that would cut rather than raise taxes and dropped its hard pro-EU position. In

19008-537: Was in the 2010 Liberal Democrat manifesto. The Lib Dems lost over 300 councillors in the 2012 local elections , leaving them with fewer than 3,000 for the first time in the party's history. In June 2012, it was reported that membership of the party had fallen by around 20% since joining the coalition. In February 2013, the party won a by-election in Eastleigh , the Hampshire constituency that had previously been held by

19152-682: Was later described in the House of Lords as "the worst treatment disaster in the history of the National Health Service". In September 1976, Owen was appointed by the new prime minister of five months, James Callaghan , as a Minister of State at the Foreign Office , and was consequently admitted to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom . Five months later, however, the Foreign Secretary , Anthony Crosland , died suddenly and Owen

19296-554: Was made an honorary fellow of the college in 1977. He began clinical training at St Thomas's Hospital in October 1959. Owen was deeply affected by the Suez crisis of 1956, when Anthony Eden 's Conservative government launched a military operation to retrieve the Suez Canal after Nasser 's decision to nationalise it. At the time, aged 18, he was working in a labouring job before going to Cambridge . Owen later told Kenneth Harris : [T]here

19440-536: Was not popular with voters and faced a resurgent Conservative Party under new leader David Cameron ; in the May 2007 local elections , the party experienced a net loss of nearly 250 seats. In that year's Scottish Parliament election, the Scottish National Party (SNP) secured the largest vote and the Lib Dem/Labour coalition ended. Campbell was frustrated at the constant media focus on the fact that he

19584-508: Was published. Written largely by centre-right economists in the party, it sparked discussions about Liberal Democrat philosophy and brought criticism from the party's social-liberal wing. In the 2005 general election , the Lib Dems secured 62 seats, the most the Liberals had had since 1923. Kennedy however faced growing calls within the party to resign after admitting that he had been treated for alcoholism; in January 2006 he stepped down under pressure even though his admission wasn't damaging to

19728-468: Was revealed by the party's new campaigning chief that the Liberal Democrats had started planning a four-year drive to woo "soft conservatives ". Cooper said the party could find a route forward by appealing to voters that had always thought of themselves as conservatives but who opposed the current direction of the Conservative Party under Boris Johnson . When Davey was asked by Andrew Marr about

19872-560: Was succeeded by the former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt . "Had I been younger, I would probably have resigned when the Americans ditched the Vance-Owen Peace Plan". Owen testified as a witness of the court in the trial of Slobodan Milošević , the former president of FR Yugoslavia . Lord Owen has continued to speak out on issues of international affairs including on nuclear proliferation and constrained intervention. In 2011 he

20016-474: Was supported for the SDP by Roy Jenkins, Shirley Williams and Bill Rodgers. Owen rejected this notion outright, on the grounds that he and other Social Democrats wished to remain faithful to social democracy as it was practised within Western Europe, and it was unlikely that any merged party would be able to do this, even if it was under his leadership. Nevertheless, the majority of the SDP membership supported

20160-541: Was the first politician to call for a "no-fly zone" over Libya. In an editorial on 27 February 2011 the Sunday Times said, "It was a man who has not been in office for nearly 32 years – Lord Owen, the former foreign secretary – who has been the most eloquent British voice over Libya. His call for a no-fly-zone ... struck the right note". As former Minister of State for Health, Lord Owen has long been highly critical of previous governments for their role in and handling of

20304-556: Was thus associated with some of the policies of New Labour, particularly issues of public service reform. In September 2010 Mary Ann Sieghart , the political and social affairs journalist, took over as Chair. The SMF’s remit is to focus on domestic public policy, particularly the public services and welfare. The majority of publications are therefore focused on issues concerning education, health care and employment. However it also produces publications on wide-ranging subjects such as road-pricing, casinos and energy policy. The SMF has

20448-453: Was to negotiate an electoral arrangement with the Liberals, facilitated between Jenkins, who was the first SDP leader, and Steel. The new alliance initially did well in opinion polls. The SDP and Liberals agreed to contest alternating parliamentary by-elections; between 1981 and 1982, the SDP came close in Warrington and won Crosby and Glasgow Hillhead . At the 1983 general election ,

20592-478: Was told "they couldn't find them" and was later told they had all been destroyed; the exact series of events that led to the destruction of these documents remains a mystery and continues to raise questions amongst MPs such as Alistair Burt . Lord Owen has regularly told the media that he is not a conspiracy theorist but that he does suspect there has been a cover-up carried out by the Civil Service and that this

20736-609: Was very good on the Northern Ireland terrorist business. He's wasting his life now. It's so tragic. He's got real ability and it ought to be used". In another conversation with Wyatt on 4 June 1990 Thatcher said Owen's natural home was the Conservative Party. Owen was approached privately by Tony Blair , then leader of the Opposition, in 1996 on whether he was ready to support New Labour. Lord Owen declined mainly because he disagreed with Blair's intention, as prime minister, to join

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