The End of the Liberal Party

[Booster Gold]

I've seen a lot of things on the site about a surviving/thriving Liberal party but I wonder if there was any point where the Liberals could have gone extinct entirely.

How would that effect later politics? Would the former Liberals become Tories or Labour or go to fringe parties? Would Britain remain a two-party state as FPTP seems to prefer or would a new third party rise up? Would Labour still split in 1981 and, if so, how would the SDP fare without the Liberal alliance? (IIRC the Liberals always had more seats I believe)

 

[Cymraeg]

I've seen a lot of things on the site about a surviving/thriving Liberal party but I wonder if there was any point where the Liberals could have gone extinct entirely.

How would that effect later politics? Would the former Liberals become Tories or Labour or go to fringe parties? Would Britain remain a two-party state as FPTP seems to prefer or would a new third party rise up? Would Labour still split in 1981 and, if so, how would the SDP fare without the Liberal alliance? (IIRC the Liberals always had more seats I believe)

I don't think that they could have gone extinct, the local parties are far too tough for that, but I do think that the party came awfully close to the abyss in the 1950's. Without the leadership of Jo Grimond it might have died.

 

[Derek Jackson]

I don't think that they could have gone extinct, the local parties are far too tough for that, but I do think that the party came awfully close to the abyss in the 1950's. Without the leadership of Jo Grimond it might have died.

Accepting Churchill's offer of Cabinet seats in 1951, perhaps a slightly closer Parlieamntary balance

 

[David T]

" The Conservatives were particularly adept at exploiting recruits from the Liberals for this purpose, using the National Liberal label in many constituencies. Some Conservatives were keen to go further and absorb the Liberal Party into an anti-socialist alliance. Clement Davies's decision to refuse Churchill's offer of a ministerial post in 1951 probably contributed more than anything else to the survival of the Liberals at this time."
http://www.liberalhistory.org.uk/item_single.php?item_id=4&item=history

Of course, even if Davies were willing to dissolve the Liberal party into a larger anti-socialist coalition (making it part of the Conservatives in all but name, as the National Liberals long had been), there might have been a few dissident Liberals who would not agree and would try to keep it going as a genuinely independent party--but the party was at such a low point then, that it is doubtful that such dissidents could have gotten *any* seats in the House of Commons, and it is more likely that anti-Davies Liberals would instead defect to Labour (as some did in OTL anyway).

 

[Meadow]

I've seen a lot of things on the site about a surviving/thriving Liberal party but I wonder if there was any point where the Liberals could have gone extinct entirely.

How would that effect later politics? Would the former Liberals become Tories or Labour or go to fringe parties? Would Britain remain a two-party state as FPTP seems to prefer or would a new third party rise up? Would Labour still split in 1981 and, if so, how would the SDP fare without the Liberal alliance? (IIRC the Liberals always had more seats I believe)

I would recommend this TL, which is an attempt to explore exactly this.

 

[Booster Gold]

I don't think that they could have gone extinct, the local parties are far too tough for that, but I do think that the party came awfully close to the abyss in the 1950's. Without the leadership of Jo Grimond it might have died.

I like this line. So let's say Mother Grimond has a headache one fateful night and Jo is either not conceived at all or comes into being via a most apolitical spermatozoon. Fast forward to the 80s (as I don't think it would have made that much difference in the 60s and 70s). How does this affect the SDP and the split? I doubt it's enough to knock Thatcher out of power but what would be the effects?

" The Conservatives were particularly adept at exploiting recruits from the Liberals for this purpose, using the National Liberal label in many constituencies. Some Conservatives were keen to go further and absorb the Liberal Party into an anti-socialist alliance. Clement Davies's decision to refuse Churchill's offer of a ministerial post in 1951 probably contributed more than anything else to the survival of the Liberals at this time."
http://www.liberalhistory.org.uk/item_single.php?item_id=4&item=history

Of course, even if Davies were willing to dissolve the Liberal party into a larger anti-socialist coalition (making it part of the Conservatives in all but name, as the National Liberals long had been), there might have been a few dissident Liberals who would not agree and would try to keep it going as a genuinely independent party--but the party was at such a low point then, that it is doubtful that such dissidents could have gotten *any* seats in the House of Commons, and it is more likely that anti-Davies Liberals would instead defect to Labour (as some did in OTL anyway).

The Liberals tried to hold on as a separate party after the merger with the SDP. It didn't work out well. Apparently British politics only has room for 3 (just)

I would recommend this TL, which is an attempt to explore exactly this.

Had a gander, looks interesting. Something to read on the commute to work methinks.