The Promise of ‘Liberal Democracy’, c. 1981–2010

This chapter surveys the promise of ‘Liberal Democracy’ from the foundation of the Social Democratic Party to the arrival of the coalition government. In that period the Liberal Democrats came into being as a political force, and established themselves as the third party at Westminster, before entering government in coalition with the Conservatives in 2010 and suffering a consequent electoral backlash. To what extent was the new party able to develop a coherent and popularly-understood ‘promise’ of Liberal Democracy? Ultimately, the Liberals, and later the Liberal Democrats, did not consistently adhere to a fixed ideology. The instability of the Liberal Democrats’ broader philosophical promise represented a key issue in terms of their failure to deliver a distinctive agenda in the coalition government.