It was formed of the merger between the seceded pro-European section of the Old Labour Right around the High Priest of 1960s Permissiveness, and the remains of those who had not followed into the Tory machine the Liberal Unionists, the Liberal Imperialists, the National Liberals, Alfred Roberts's daughter, and so on.
Therefore, it ought to be the natural party of the British Establishment.
Therefore, it ought to be the natural party of the British Establishment.
Yet somehow, it never quite has been.
And now, it never will be.
The tale is familiar. The FDP has come to have no seats in the Bundestag. None whatever.
More closely related, the Liberals have become only the third party in the House of Commons of Canada, a country the political culture of which they effortlessly dominated and defined until very recently, to an extent arguably without international parallel.
There is no longer any party in Australia affiliated to the Liberal International. Not even the Australian Democrats, who, despite 30 years of playing a pivotal role in the Senate, today hold no seats in it. Not one.
Considering quite who and what do sometimes secure election to that body, last time including both a party purely for sports fans and a party purely for motorists, that is doing very badly indeed.
Malcolm Fraser has lately been on RT giving a valiant account of the very traditional Commonwealth Tory case against the theory of American exceptionalism.
But it is some years since he resigned from the party that he had once led as its fifth Prime Minister, saying that it had become "Conservative, not Liberal".
The impending oblivion of Nick Clegg and of his supporters, who are disgracefully pretending to oppose the Bedroom Tax that in fact exists only because of their support for it, is very much part of a pattern.
Must do better, David. In Denmark, there are 3 liberal parties in Parliament, 1 the largest and 2 smaller ones. In Switzerland, Sweden, Iceland,Belgium,Finland and Norway the liberal parties are partners in coalition governments. In the Netherlands there is a Liberal party in government and another in opposition. In Estonia and Luxembourg liberal parties lead the government, in Austria the new Liberal party is polling a strong 16% of the vote and rising towards big three. In the Czech Republic,Poland and Israel liberal movements have come from nowhere to be very large parties indeed. Currently the Canadian Liberals are polling in first place again.
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Not really. Beyond a fairly distant family resemblance, none of those is anything to do with British Liberalism apart from the last one, and it is a shadow of its former self.
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