| Description | The SDP was a short-lived political party formed as a result of serious divisions within the Labour Party in the early '80's; the SDP's founders (Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Shirley Williams, Bill Rodgers) all believed that Labour had swung too far to the Left.
The SDP fought the 1983 and 1987 General Elections as part of an electoral alliance with the Liberal Party and the two parties merged in 1988; although a minority faction of the SDP was kept alive as a seperate party (led by David Owen) until 1990, and some tiny local SDP's still survive today (in parts of Yorkshire and South Wales). |
