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This chapter begins by looking at long-term support in elections and in the polls for the Liberal Democrats, to see how it has evolved over the last half-century or so. This provides a context within which to judge the party’s future electoral prospects. The analysis of trends in Liberal Democrat voting intentions over a thirty-year period shows that the competitive situation between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats is significantly greater than the competitive situation between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. It also shows that the party has to wait for its main rivals to make political mistakes and lose support before it can profit by winning over voters. This is described as the political equivalent of ‘waiting for Godot’, meaning that the Liberal Democrats are not the masters of their own electoral fate.

This chapter examines the role of the Liberal Democrat Party members in influencing voting behaviour in the 1997 general elections. Debates in literature about the importance of campaigns in elections are reviewed. To evaluate the impact of Liberal Democrat campaign activity on the election, it is important to take into account the campaign activities of its main rivals, Labour and the Conservatives. This is done using data from a survey of Labour party members conducted in 1997, together with local campaign spending data for all three parties. The results suggest that local campaigning plays a very important role in influencing the Liberal Democrat vote.

This chapter examines the social and demographic profiles as well as the political attitudes of Liberal Democrat party members, drawing upon an earlier study of Liberal Democrat party to identify changes in their profiles during the 1990s. Comparisons are made between the social backgrounds of party members and those of Liberal Democrat voters to determine what differences, if any, exist between the two types of party supporters. Activism within the party and whether there is any evidence of a decline in participation in recent years are analyzed. The evidence suggests that while many party members are active, there has been a decline in party activism over time and a weakening of the ties between the party and its members.

This introductory chapter begins with a brief history of the British Liberal Democrat Party, followed by an examination of the evolution of its policy goals over time. The Liberal Democrat Party was founded in 1988 from a merger of two hitherto independent but allied parties: the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party. The former had existed in different forms for more than 300 years, whereas the latter emerged from a split in the Labour Party in 1981. An overview of the chapters included in this volume is presented.

This chapter examines the political prospects of the Liberal Democrat Party. The big question is whether or not it can replace its rivals as the second, or even the first, party of British electoral politics. It begins with an analysis of the necessary conditions for the Liberal Democrats to replace one of the other parties as the second party of British politics. This leads into an examination of the likelihood that these conditions will be met in the foreseeable future. The evidence suggests that the party has a real opportunity to break the existing two-party hegemony at a general election in 2009 or 2010.

This chapter begins by examining if there is evidence that a set of belief structures underlies the attitudes of party members. This is followed by an analysis of the sources of ideological variations in the grassroots party, paying particular attention to the social characteristics of members, as well as their political experiences and political roots. It is shown that there is a distinctive set of principles underlying Liberal Democrat political ideology. The ideology centres around individual freedom and tolerance in relation to lifestyle issues, a belief in redistribution and social equality, a commitment to free markets and a positive attitude to internationalism, as exemplified by members’ views of the European Union (EU).

This chapter examines the pathways to Liberal Democrat Party membership. The recruitment process is discussed, followed by what it means for the average respondent to be a party member. The key issue of why people join the party is then considered. In examining motives for joining, two theoretical models of political participation are utilized: the civic voluntarism model and the general incentives model. Both resources and choices are important in explaining why people join the party. Members have more resources in the sense of higher incomes, better educational attainments, and higher status class characteristics than voters, but incentives are also important for influencing the decision to join the party. Thus, both models appear to be relevant in explaining why people join.

This chapter examines grassroots activism in the Liberal Democrat Party. The results suggest that party activism can be explained by a combination of the individual’s psychological engagement with both politics and the party, together with their judgements about the costs and benefits of political engagement. Resources play a role in this, but it appears that incentives, and the choices associated with them, are particularly important in influencing the individual’s decision to be active.

The authors analyse the long process of modernization of the Labour party that had its origins in Neil Kinnock's period as a leader of the party between 1983 and 1992 and that culminated in Labour's victory in the 1997 general election. Heath, Jowell, and Curtice draw the conclusion that on the non‐economic issues such as disarmament, Europe, and devolution, Tony Blair's New Labour was merely a continuation of Neil Kinnock's policy. It was Neil Kinnock not Tony Blair who had made the radical break with Labour's recent past. However, on economic issues New Labour made a clearer break with its Old Labour inheritance—on nationalization, unions, government spending, and taxation, New Labour adopted many Thatcherite precepts. The decisive move of New Labour towards the centre on the economic issues, did have major electoral benefits because it squeezed the Liberal Democrats’ share of the vote on the centre‐left, but it also captured ground on the centre‐right from the Conservatives. New Labour's move to the centre also disrupted the usual patterns of vote‐switching; more Conservatives than usual switching directly to Labour rather than to the Liberal Democrats.

This chapter on the Liberal Democrats enables inquiry into whether liberalism in general, rather than its neoliberal offspring, is a stronger influence on globalisation discourse. The focus is on the Westminster-based national leadership. It focuses attention on the individuals most influential on the party's foreign economic policy stance and on British political culture more generally. It is also the case that the most relevant documents were published and indeed authored by the party headquarters in Westminster. This chapter shows that the globalisation concept clearly resonated with many of the Liberal Democrats' commitments in relation to foreign economic policy—particularly free trade, economic freedom and the marketplace and multilateralism.

The Liberal Democrats are the UK's third party at Westminster: they currently have fifty-seven MPs, less than 10 percent of the House of Commons. Despite the fact that they are currently in coalition government with the Conservatives, their third party status is reflected in the relative lack of attention paid to the party, hence less is known about the party's organisation, policies and personnel compared to the Labour and the Conservative parties. This introductory chapter establishes both the national and international context within which the themes of this book — the descriptive, substantive, and symbolic representation of women by the Liberal Democrats — are examined. As such, it addresses five key areas: it provides a brief overview of the Liberal Democrats in respect of contemporary electoral politics in the UK; considers inter-party comparisons of women's representation; situates this research within an international context by comparing the number and percentage of Liberal Democrat women MPs with other liberal parties from Europe; outlines the main contentions of the research; and explores the various approaches to the concept of representation that underpin this study.

This chapter tells the story of the Liberal Democrats between 2015 and 2017. It begins by describing the party’s disastrous performance in the 2015 general election and their dramatic loss of support from participating in the 2010 coalition government. It examines how the party under its new leader, Tim Farron, sought to capitalise on the 2016 Brexit referendum by making it a platform on which to win over those who had voted Remain. It explains why the party’s strategy failed and why, despite gaining a small number of MPs, the party saw a further decline in its vote share.

This chapter focuses on the merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to form the Liberal Democrats. The pro-merger factors in both parties emerged after the disappointing result of the 1987 general elections. Richard Wainwright foresaw this merger and he was determined to ensure that the new party embodied as much as possible of the Liberal spirit. This chapter suggests that though the merged party lacked the religious dimension of the old Liberal Party and it had different approach to policy-making, Wainwright can be considered undoubtedly a Liberal Democrat.

To understand the Liberal Democrats' response to women's descriptive representation, one must also understand the ideology and organisation of the party. Analysis of these institutional factors will allow us to assess the extent to which a masculine ethos pervades formal rules and informal values. This is important, because party rules and values help determine the party's response to women's lack of descriptive representation. This chapter establishes the milieu within which women and feminists can seek to influence debates surrounding women's descriptive representation within the Liberal Democrats. It explores three key arguments: ideological tensions between liberalism and feminism regarding the concept of equality have influenced the way in which the party approaches the issue of women's representation; the structure and organisation of the party are such that few women reach senior levels within the party; and the women's organisation Women Liberal Democrats has limited opportunities to influence the party leadership.

This chapter considers the House of Lords’ membership, and the role and behaviour of its different groups. It briefly describes the key groups - Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, independent Crossbenchers and bishops - and how they are organised. It then analyses attendance and voting patterns in the chamber, considering factors such as party cohesion, rebellion and the role of the whips. It also asks who are the 'pivotal voters’ or 'veto players’ in the Lords, in terms of which group(s) in practice hold the balance of power. This analysis, based on all votes in the chamber during 1999-2012, demonstrates the key role of the Liberal Democrats in inflicting defeat under Labour, and the growing importance of the Crossbenchers under the 2010 coalition government. The chapter also discusses how this delicate party balance helps create the chamber’s famous 'less political’ culture, and affects relationships between its different groups.

This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this volume, which is British politician Richard Wainwright and his role in the Liberal Party and the Liberal Democrats. Wainwright joined the Party at its lowest ebb and he helped lead its return from the wilderness when others drifted elsewhere. He also witnessed the transformation of the Party, including its alliance with the Labour Party and its alliance and merger with the Socialist Democratic Party (SDP) to form the Liberal Democrats.