Themes: Leaders
Liberal Democrat leadership
A description of the key characteristics of Liberal Democrat leaders and analysis of the record of the four leaders to date.
Robert Maclennan (Lord Maclennan), 1936-2020
When Robert (Bob) Maclennan was first elected President of the Liberal Democrats in the summer of 1994, few realised just how much this seemingly self-effacing politician would come to represent so completely the ethos and values of the Liberal Democrats. Still fewer would realise quite how hard he fought for those values. It is characteristic…
David Steel (Lord Steel), 1938-
With the exception of H. H. Asquith, David (now Lord) Steel has been the longest serving leader of the Liberal Party. During his twelve-year tenure of the leadership, the party enjoyed the highest share of the popular vote cast for a third party in half a century and won more seats in Parliament and in…
Views of Peel
Review of Richard A. Gaunt, Sir Robert Peel: The Life and Legacy (I. B. Tauris, 2010).
Jo Grimond 1913-1993
David Steel’s commemoration lecture, given at Firth Kirk, Finstown, Orkney, 18 May 2013.
David Lloyd George: the legacy
Report of the Liberal Democrat History Group meeting at the Liberal Democrat conference, 9 March 2013, with Kenneth O. Morgan and David Howarth; chair: Celia, Baroness Thomas.
Jo Grimond – the legacy
Jo Grimond, leader of the Liberal Party from 1956 to 1967, holds a particularly affectionate place in the collective memory of the Liberal Democrats. His charisma, charm, good looks, political courage, intellect and inherent liberalism inspired many to join the Liberal Party in the late 1950s and 1960s and gained him a national reputation as…
Hattersley on Lloyd George
Review of Roy Hattersley, The Great Outsider: David Lloyd George (Little, Brown, 2010).
Lloyd George and leadership
The influences on Lloyd George of Gladstone and Abraham Lincoln.