Liberals

The party of William Gladstone, Herbert Asquith, David Lloyd George, and the adorable David Steel, committed to personal liberty, social justice, constitutional reform, peace, and free trade. The party formed out of the collapse of the Whigs in the mid nineteenth century as the newly enfranchised middle classes took over the progressive vote share in the Commons, and is generally considered to formally launch in 1859 with the formation of rogue Tory Lord Palmerston's second government. After enjoying a period of dominance at the turn of the last century, the Liberals lost their vote share to the Labour Party and suffered a long interval of irrelevance and decline, before merging with the SDP in 1988 to become the Liberal Democrats.

Famous Liberals

• William Gladstone
• David Penhaligon
• David Steel

Liberal Prime Ministers

• William Gladstone