Irish Liberal Party
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Liberal Party
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| Founded | 9 June 1859 |
| Dissolved | 2 March 1988 |
| Merger of | Whigs, Radicals, Peelites |
| Merged into | Liberal Democrats |
| Ideology |
Liberalism (British) Internal factions: • Social liberalism • Classical liberalism |
| National affiliation | SDP–Liberal Alliance (1981–88) |
| European affiliation | Federation of European Liberal Democrats (1976–88) |
| International affiliation | Liberal International (1947–88) |
| European Parliament group |
Liberal and Democratic Group (1976–85) Liberal and Democratic Reformist Group (1985–88) |
| Colours | Yellow |
The Liberal Party was a liberal political party which with the Conservative Party was one of the two major parties in the United Kingdom in the 19th and early 20th century.
The party arose from an alliance of Whigs and free-trade Peelites and Radicals favourable to the ideals of the American and French Revolutions in the 1850s. By the end of the nineteenth century, it had formed four governments under William Gladstone. Despite splitting over the issue of Irish Home Rule, the party returned to power in 1906 with a landslide victory and introduced the welfare reforms that created a basic British welfare state. H. H. Asquith was Liberal Prime Minister between 1908 and 1916, followed by David Lloyd George. The Lloyd George coalition was dominated by the Conservative Party, which finally deposed him in 1922.
By the end of the 1920s, the Labour Party had replaced the Liberals as the Conservatives' main rival. The party went into decline after 1918 and by the 1950s won no more than six seats at general elections. Apart from notable by-election victories, the party's fortunes did not improve significantly until it formed the SDP–Liberal Alliance with the newly formed Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981. At the 1983 General Election, the Alliance won over a quarter of the vote, but only 23 of the 650 seats it contested. At the 1987 General Election, its vote fell below 23% and the Liberal and Social Democratic parties merged in 1988 to form the Liberal Democrats. A splinter group reconstituted the Liberal Party in 1989. It was formed by party members opposed to the merger who saw the Lib Dems diluting Liberal ideals.
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