Time to let Salads go?

Press, 28 September 1988, Page 9

Time to let Salads go?

NZPA-Reuter Blackpool Britain’s centrist Social and Liberal Democrat (S.L.D.) Party adopted the shorter working title of “Democrats” yesterday at an inaugural conference designed to generate political momentum. After a divisive debate, the party — formed nine months ago by a merger of the Social Democratic and Liberal parties — voted overwhelmingly for the one-word name. The decision effectively relegated the title “Liberal” to the reference books after a 120-year history. The S.L.D. put the name debate at the top of the agenda for its first conference, in a bid to shed the unpopular tag “Salads” widely used since the merger because of its initials. The party, which holds 19 out of 650 seats in Parliament, has fared badly in the polls with

only 8 per cent support compared with 47 per cent for the Conservatives. The new group was formed when the former Liberal leader, David Steel, forced a merger with the. smaller Social Democratic Party (S.D.P.) after the two fared badly in last year’s General Election. The merger process split the SDP and led to Dr Steel standing down. A fellow former, Liberal, Paddy Ashdown, was elected the first S.L.D. leader two months ago. Yesterday’s decision allows some local party organisations with a long Liberal tradition and no S.D.P. association to call themselves “Liberal Democrats” for an indefinite period. A motion to adopt that term as the official title was defeated by a vote of 679 to 527.

Centrist parties, page 20