1976 Liberal Party (UK) leadership election the only time it was ever used to elect a Liberal leader. The election was won by David Steel, who served as leader of the Liberal Party until merger with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1988, forming the Liberal Democrats. David Steel later served as interim leader of the Liberal Democrats (jointly with Bob Maclennan of the SDP) for the duration of the 1988 leadership election which eventually elected Paddy Ashdown as the new party's first permanent leader. 1976 Liberal Party (UK) leadership election The 1976 Liberal Party (UK) leadership election was called following the resignation of Jeremy Thorpe
National Party (UK, 1976) National Party (UK, 1976) The National Party (NP) was a short lived conservative splinter party from the British National Front (NF). It was formed on 6 January 1976, and was dissolved before the 1983 general election. The origins of the party were the result of internal dissention within the Monday Club over "entry to the EEC and immigration" which led to "several leading Powellites" leaving the Conservative Party for the NF, and of later ideological disagreements within the National Front. John Kingsley Read became leader of the NF in 1974, but faced resistance from John Tyndall and his supporters for