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
1976 Ontario Liberal Party leadership election 1976 Ontario Liberal Party leadership election The Ontario Liberal Party held a leadership election in 1976 on January 24–25 to replace Robert Nixon. Nixon had announced his retirement after the 1975 election in which the Liberal Party was reduced from Official Opposition status in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to being the third party. Stuart Smith was elected as the party's new leader. After the disappointing results of the 1975 provincial election, Robert Nixon announced his resignation on September 30, 1975. He said, "the best interests of our party will be served if we contest the next election under new