British political party created in 1988 by the merger of the Liberal party with the Social Democratic party; the party was initially called the Social and Liberal Democratic party. The Social Democratic party, which was formed in 1981 by politically centrist members of the Labour party, joined with the Liberals in 1981 in an electoral alliance, and in 1983 they won 23 seats in the House of Commons. In 1987 the alliance won 22 seats, and the next year the parties merged. In the 1997 parliamentary elections the Liberal Democrats won 46 seats, the largest number won by the group since the predecessor Liberals held 59 seats in 1929. Nonetheless, the party remains a minor party in British politics, its centrist position threatened by Tony Blair's movement of the Labour party away from socialist positions. The current party leader is Charles Kennedy.

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