The Liberal Party

This text provides an up-to-date survey of the historical literature relating to the Liberal Party which includes the reasons for their collapse and a summation of their achievements. In the course of the 1920s the Liberal Party disappeared as a serious party of government, though its demise followed hard upon one of its greatest periods of success. For many years historians have struggled to make sense of this strange story. Some see the Party's collapse as the consequence of a deep moral or ideological crisis, a loss of belief in Liberalism as a creed. Others think that the Liberals fell victim to the process of class polarization. Yet another approach is to emphasize the role of personality and accident. The book suggests ways in which different interpretations can be reconciled. The author has also written "Eugenics and Politics in Britain 1900-1914" and "Corruption in British Politics, 1895-1930".