Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrats

Facts:
- Leader: Nick Clegg
- December 18th 2007
- He won the leadership with a majority of 511 votes (1.2%) over his opponent Chris Huhne,
- MP (Member of Parliament)
- Founded: 3rd March 1988
(by joining the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party.)
- Headquarters: 4 Cowely Street
London, SWIP 3NB
- Ideology: Liberalism & Social Liberalism
- International affiliation (tilknytning): Liberal International
- European affiliation: European Liberal Democrat & Reform Party
- European Parliament Group: Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
- Official Colours: Gold
- The Liberal Democrats are the third-largest party in the British Parliament, behind Labour and the Conservatives
- There are 63 Liberal Democrats in the Parliament

History:
- The party was formed in 1988, and got its name (Liberal Democrats) in 1989.
- Earlier known as the Social and Liberal Democrats, which were a merger (sammensetning) of the social democratic party (SDP) and the liberal party
- The SDP itself was established by four members of the Labour Party known as the ‘gang of four’. ( Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Shirley Williams, and William Rodgers),
- As a new centre party, the SDP under David Owen's leadership, formed an alliance with the Liberal Party.
- After a poor result in the 1987 election, the SDP voted to merge with the Liberal Party, forming the Social and Liberal Democrats under the leadership of Robert Maclennan.
- Paddy Ashdown (leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 to 1999 managed to substantially increase the number of Liberal Democrat MPs in the 1997 election. Ashdown was succeeded as leader by Charles Kennedy.

Ideology:
- Their ideology is about “Giving power to the people”
- They are fundamentally against concentration of power in unaccountable (uansvarlig) bodies
- They propose decentralisation (spre) of power out of Westminster and into the hands of the people
- Want to create a system of tiered... [continues]

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