Jeremy Thorpe 1,166. After the 1966 election, Grimond confided to senior party officials that he wished soon to step down from the leadership. Thorpe was now the senior Liberal MP after Grimond, and the party's highest-profile member, although Timothy Beaumont, chairman of the party's organising committee, noted in his diary: "I am pretty certain that he has little popularity within the Parliamentary Party". When Grimond finally resigned, on 17 January 1967, an election to replace him was arranged to take place within 48 hours, leaving little time for manoeuvring. The 12 Liberal MPs formed the whole electorate; after the first ballot, Thorpe
Ulster Liberal Party Ulster Liberal Party The Ulster Liberal Party was a liberal political party in Northern Ireland, supporting a unionist position and linked to the British Liberal Party. The party succeeded the Northern Ireland Liberal Association, which was active before the First World War and was relaunched in May 1928. It nominated candidates in the 1929 UK general election, including future Seanad Éireann member Denis Ireland and Unbought Tenants' Association MP George Henderson, before the party became inactive. The party was re-founded by Albert McElroy in 1956, as the Ulster Liberal Association. From 1961 to 1969, the party had one seat in