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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Lee: [QB] Well, the UK didn't so much change from two-party to three-party, as go from two-party to two-different-party (and one of them was the same as before, anyway). Historically you had the Tories and the Whigs, which started off less as parties than tendencies, ways of thinking, leanings in policies, whatever. The Tories became the Conservatives, the Whigs became the Liberals. Then, over the course of the 20th century, the Liberal party began to decline in membership, influence and support while the newly-formed Labour party gained in those areas. Come the 1970s, Labour had many internal problems (so what else is new?) which led to a split after they lost the General Election in 1979, with many of their senior figures leaving to form the Social Democrats, the SDP. That party was effectively stillborn when the Conservatives won their 1983 landslide, and they ended up having to form a coalition with the remnants of the Liberals, the Lib-Dem alliance (jokingly referred to at the time as the LSD party) with two joint leaders. Eventually they merged for real as the Liberal Democrats. Electorally, for a long time they muddled along with about 20 MPs. This started to rise as John Major's bare majority of about 20 after the 1992 election was whittled down over time in lost by-elections. Then, come the 1997 Labour landslide they came out of it with about 60 MPs. The problem is, they remain the third-choice party. I voted Lib Dem in 1997 because I lived in a safe Tory seat and they were the best chance to change (didn't work). In 2001 and 2005 I lived in safe Labour seats so voted for them. Compuinding the problem is the fact that Labour's move towards right-leaning policies has left the Lib Dems marginalised, shorn of the centrist policies that could once snare voters keen to move away from one of the main two parties, but not ready to move to the other main party. Added to that are the problems with their leaders - Paddy Ashdown became known as Paddy Pantsdown after he had an affair; Charles Kennedy was a boozer; Menzies "Ming the Merciless" Campbell was far too old; Nick "legover" Clegg is yet to make an impact apart from revealing how many sexual partners he'd had in a magazine interview. Secondary figures in the party are few and anonymous, or known for other things - Simon Davies had bizesual affairs; Lembit Opik ditched one fiancée (TV weathergirl Sian Lloyd) for another (a member of novelty pop act The Cheeky Girls - they've now split) to universal hilarity. There are positives though. Vince Cable, deputy leader who stood in after Ming resigned, is an excellent parliamentarian who knows he's not the man to lead the party; I would have preferred Chris Huhne as leader but he lost out to Clegg because, although a long-time Lib Dem financial supporter, he was only elected to Parliament in 2005 so was viewed as inexperienced. . . [/QB][/QUOTE]
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