The Liberal Party

In the middle of the 19th century the Whigs became uncomfortable with the aristocratic connotations surrounding their political name. Leaders of the Whigs such as Lord Melbourne and Earl Grey began refering to themselves as Liberals, a term used by reforming politicians in Europe. However, the term Liberal was not used officially until 1868 when William Gladstone became Prime Minister.

General Election	Total Votes	% of total votes	MPs Elected
1868	1,428,776	61.5	387
1874	1,281,159	52.7	242
1880	1,836,423	55.4	352
1885	2,199,998	47.4	319
1886	1,353,581	45.0	192
1892	2,088,019	45.1	272
1895	1,765,266	45.7	177
1900	1,572,323	45.0	183
1906	2,751,057	49.4	399
1910 (Jan)	2,866,157	43.5	274
1910 (Dec)	2,293,869	44.2	272
1918	2,785,374	23.1	163
1922	4,139,460	18.7	115
1923	4,301,481	29.7	158
1924	2,928,737	17.8	40
1929	5,308,738	23.5	59
1931	1,372,595	6.5	32
1935	1,443,093	6.7	21
1945	2,252,430	9.0	12
1950	2,621,487	9.1	9
1951	730,546	2.6	6
1955	722,402	2.7	6
1959	1,640,760	5.9	6
1964	3,099,283	11.2	9
1966	2,327,457	8.6	12
1970	2,117,035	7.5	6
1974 (Feb)	6,059,519	19.3	14
1974 (Oct)	5,346,704	18.3	13
1979	4,313,804	13.8	11
1983	7,780,949	25.4	23
1987	7,341,633	22.5	22