Themes: Elections
General Election 2019: Disappointment for the Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats entered the 2019 general election campaign buoyed by their best opinion poll ratings in a decade, a second place showing in the recent European Parliament elections, impressive local election results in England and high-profile defections from the other parties. The party had a dynamic, young new leader in Jo Swinson and a…
But how to win elsewhere?
Review of Chris Rennard, Winning Here – My Campaigning Life (Biteback, 2018).
Birmingham, the ‘Caucus’ and the 1868 general election
An examination of the emergence and impact of the Birmingham Liberal ‘caucus’.
Gambling on Brexit
Analysis of the Liberal Democrat performance in the 2019 general election.
The 1979 General Election
The 1979 general election inaugurated the premiership of Margaret Thatcher and an eighteen-year period of Conservative government. It took place after the ‘winter of discontent’, marked by public sector strikes which destroyed the Labour government’s social contract. The results signalled the end of the post-World War II political consensus, based on an enhanced role for…
Chamberlain’s machine
Review of Andrew Reekes, The Birmingham Political Machine: Winning Elections for Joseph Chamberlain (West Midlands History Limited, 2018).
The Liberal Democrat performance in the 2019 European election
Analysis of the Liberal Democrat vote in May 2019.
Letters to the Editor
Elections in Glasgow (Michael Steed).
‘Vote for Mr Crum and one other Liberal’
The origin of two 1874 election leaflets.
The general election of 1874
Analysis of the reasons behind the crushing Liberal defeat in 1874.