|
|
Article: Liberal party
- Article from:
- The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
CopyrightThe Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information)
|
Liberal party former British political party, the dominant political party in Great Britain for much of the period from the mid-1800s to World War I.
Origins
The Liberal party was an outgrowth of the
Whig
party that, after the Reform Bill of 1832 (see
Reform Acts
), joined with the bulk of enfranchised industrialists and business classes to form a political alliance that, over the next few decades, came to be called the Liberal party. Much of the Liberal program was formulated by an important manufacturing middle-class element of the party known as the Radicals, who were strongly influenced by Jeremy
Bentham
. The Liberals distinguishing policies included free trade, low budgets, ...