{{short description|Political party in the United Kingdom (1988–90)}} {{About|the UK Social Democratic Party that existed between 1988 and 1990|the original Social Democratic party founded in 1981|Social Democratic Party (UK)|the still active political party|Social Democratic Party (UK, 1990–present)}} {{More citations needed|date=January 2008}} {{use dmy dates|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox political party | name = Social Democratic Party | logo = SDP Logo.png | colorcode = {{party color|Social Democratic Party (UK, 1988)}} | ideology = [[Social liberalism]]<br />[[Social democracy]] | international = | country = the United Kingdom | abbreviation = SDP | founded = {{Start date and age|1988|03|08|df=y}} | dissolved = {{Start date and age|1990|06|03|df=y}} | split = [[Social Democratic Party (UK)|Social Democratic Party (1981)]] | successor = [[Social Democratic Party (UK, 1990–present)|Social Democratic Party (1990)]] (minority) | colours = [[Blue]] and [[Red]] | position = [[Centrism|Centre]] }} The '''Social Democratic Party''' ('''SDP''') formed in 1988 was a [[list of political parties in the United Kingdom|political party]] in the [[United Kingdom]] led by [[David Owen]], which lasted for only two years. A successor party to the original [[Social Democratic Party (UK)|Social Democratic Party]] (SDP), it was known informally as the "'''continuing SDP'''". The "continuing SDP" was dissolved in 1990 in the aftermath of a [[1990 Bootle by-elections|by-election]] in [[Bootle (UK Parliament constituency)|Bootle]], in which the party's candidate received fewer votes than [[Screaming Lord Sutch]]'s [[Official Monster Raving Loony Party]].
The party was formed after the first incarnation of the SDP, created in 1981 by the "[[Gang of Four (SDP)|Gang of Four]]" (Owen, [[Roy Jenkins]], [[Bill Rodgers (politician)|Bill Rodgers]] and [[Shirley Williams]], all dissident former ministers from the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]]), voted to turn its [[SDP-Liberal Alliance|electoral alliance]] with the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] into a full merger of the two parties. The new [[Social and Liberal Democrats]] (SLD) party thus gained all of the records and assets of the original SDP; however, three sitting SDP members of parliament — Owen, [[John Cartwright (UK politician)|John Cartwright]], and [[Rosie Barnes]] — did not join the SLD, opting instead to create a new 'continuing' Social Democratic Party. They were joined by a minority of former members of the original SDP. The new party was not alone in having members who rejected the merger with the Liberal Party to form the SLD: among Liberals, [[Michael Meadowcroft]] led a breakaway faction which created a new [[Liberal Party (UK, 1989)|Liberal Party]] the following year.
==Post-merger SDP== The post-merger 'continuing' SDP was established on 8 March 1988.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005569/19880308/064/0004 |title=SDP restarts and prepares for deal with ex-partners |date=8 March 1988 |access-date=27 May 2026 |work=Shropshire Star |page=4 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000578/19880309/060/0002 |title=Owen's SDP 'ready for deal' with Democrats |date=9 March 1988 |access-date=27 May 2026 |work=The Press and Journal |location=Aberdeen |page=2 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}}</ref> It had two major advantages over the Social and Liberal Democrats (later known as the [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]]). Firstly, it enjoyed the financial support of [[David Sainsbury]], owner of the [[J Sainsbury|Sainsbury]] chain of supermarkets. Secondly, its members regarded David Owen as a charismatic leader who looked and acted the part of a potential Prime Minister. The party also held the allegiance of seventeen members of the [[House of Lords]], led by [[Phyllis Stedman, Baroness Stedman|Baroness Stedman]],<ref name="odnb">"[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/92375 Stedman, Phyllis]", ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]''</ref> and was supported by a few public figures, most notably the musician [[Eric Woolfson]] and chess grandmaster [[Nigel Short]], both of whom became involved in the party's affairs.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Owen |first1=David |title=Time to Declare |date=1991 |publisher=Michael Joseph |location=London |isbn=9780718135140 |page=743}}</ref><ref name="Majorpress">{{cite web |title=Social Democrats Press Release – Supporting John Major – 17 February 1992 |url=https://johnmajorarchive.org.uk/1992/02/17/social-democrats-press-release-supporting-john-major-17-february-1992/ |website=John Major Archive |access-date=1 March 2026 |date=17 February 1992}}</ref> Despite an energetic tour of the nation's university campuses by Owen, the party remained very short of active members. A party conference at [[Paisley Town Hall]] in 1989 was held behind closed doors without the usual television coverage to conceal the rows of empty seats. A shortage of members left the party exposed to electoral embarrassment if it stood candidates in areas where there was a lack of activists to bring out the vote. Owen later admitted that the party's initial estimate of 25,500 "committed" members had proved to be inaccurate, and that had he been aware of the actual figure of 11,000 from the start he would not have formed the new party.<ref name="Owenbiog">Owen, ''Time to Declare'', pp. 742-3.</ref>
In addition to its political activity, the 'continuing' SDP also played host to many of the individuals who in 1989 established the [[Social Market Foundation]] (SMF), an influential centrist [[think tank]] later described by one commentator as "the intellectual legacy of the Owenite rump of the SDP".<ref>Richard Cockett, "Off-the-peg policies to suit the Left", ''The Times'', 8 August 1994, p. 8.</ref> The SMF was formed primarily as a vehicle for Owen's 'social market' economic ideas, and Owen himself became one of the Foundation's trustees upon its launch.<ref name="Owenbiog2">Owen, ''Time to Declare'', p. 802.</ref> The SMF's first executive director, [[Alastair Boyd, 7th Baron Kilmarnock|Lord Kilmarnock]], was one of the post-merger SDP peers, while its chairman from 1991 was [[Robert Skidelsky]], Professor of Political Economy at [[Warwick University]], who was responsible for much of the 'continuing' SDP's economic policy, having written a [[green paper]] on the social market economy for the party's first conference in September 1988.<ref name="Owenbiog2"/><ref>Robin Oakley, "A few problems with party's 'very own big idea'", ''The Times'', 20 September 1988, p. 4.</ref> Two other directors of the SMF, Rick Nye and [[Daniel Finkelstein]], had both been employed as Owen's political advisers, as had [[Andrew Cooper, Baron Cooper of Windrush|Andrew Cooper]], who was the Foundation's Head of Research in the mid-1990s. When the SMF became more closely associated with the [[Premiership of John Major|Major Government]] following the 'continuing' SDP's demise in 1990, Skidelsky, Finkelstein, Cooper and Nye all joined the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]], with the latter three publicly endorsing the party alongside other ex-Owenites shortly before the [[1992 United Kingdom general election|1992 general election]].<ref name="Majorpress"/><ref>Michael White, "Children of the Gang of Four", ''The Guardian'', 14 April 1997, B8.</ref>
==By-elections== In the [[1989 Richmond (Yorks) by-election|Richmond by-election of 1989]], held in a constituency where it had an energetic branch and strong local support, the new SDP took second place behind Tory candidate [[William Hague]], who retained the seat for his party. Shortly afterwards, it contested a seat in [[Northern Ireland]] for the first time in the [[1990 Upper Bann by-election|Upper Bann by-election]]. Previously, the SDP-Liberal Alliance had given support to the [[Alliance Party of Northern Ireland]]. The Liberal Democrats continued this policy in Upper Bann. Apart from the [[Northern Ireland Conservatives|Conservative Party]], it was, and remains, extremely rare for a party from elsewhere in Britain to contest elections in Northern Ireland. The SDP nominated its own candidate, despite having virtually no local organisation, and finished last with only 154 votes.
===Bootle by-election=== {{Main|Bootle by-election, May 1990}}
On paper, [[Bootle (UK Parliament constituency)|Bootle]] looked like fertile territory for the SDP – the local Labour Party had faced major problems with the [[entryist]] [[Militant tendency]] some years before, subsequent boundary changes had incorporated parts of the [[Crosby (UK Parliament constituency)|Crosby constituency]] into Bootle – nine years after [[Shirley Williams]] had won the party its first seat there. However, the party found itself unable to get any significant media attention, vital to compensate for a lack of [[activist]]s at local level.
The level of political apathy was high, and Bootle was known to be a Labour [[safe seat]] – traditionally one of Labour's safest seats nationally. The little media attention that the by-election attracted was focussed on a bizarre row between Labour and the Raving Loonies. Relations between the Labour Party and the Loonies had never been good, but they reached a new low when the Labour agent tried erroneously to have the Loony candidate, party leader [[Screaming Lord Sutch]], arrested for breaking an electoral law that had been changed in 1987. He attempted to have Sutch charged with the former offence of using a [[public house]] as an election campaign headquarters. The main by-election headlines in the tabloid newspapers referred to "[[Neil Kinnock|Kinnock]]'s Killjoys" for the campaign's duration. In the event, when the votes were counted the SDP candidate, Jack Holmes, finished far behind the [[Official Monster Raving Loony Party]], and the SDP suffered even worse publicity than Labour. Within a week of the result, Owen announced that the party's National Executive had voted to dissolve the party, saying that it could not possibly continue after finishing behind the Raving Loonies. The SDP formally dissolved on 3 June 1990.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000540/19900604/001/0001 |title=Owen sounds SDP death knell |last=Robertson |first=Joanne |date=4 June 1990 |access-date=27 May 2026 |work=The Scotsman |page=1 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19900604/127/0010 |title=Party postscript |date=4 June 1990 |access-date=27 May 2026 |work=The Yorkshire Post |page=10 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
===Another breakaway=== A number of SDP members, however, accused the party's National Executive of arranging the Bootle disaster as a "get-out clause" so that they could resurrect their political careers within the Conservative or Labour Parties.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} In a repeat of the events of 1988, a number of SDP activists met days after the National Executive had voted for dissolution and, in defiance of the Executive, voted to create a new [[Social Democratic Party (UK, 1990–present)|Social Democratic Party]]. This group was led by Jack Holmes, whose defeat by the Raving Loonies at Bootle had ensured the party's demise.
==The end== Senior members of the 'continuing' SDP scattered in different directions following its dissolution. The party's three MPs all continued to sit as "Independent Social Democrats", although none of them were to join Holmes's new SDP. A number of peers, such as Lord Kilmarnock and [[Henry Wilson, Baron Wilson of Langside|Lord Wilson of Langside]], essentially pursued the same strategy in the Lords, continuing to describe themselves as "Social Democrats" or "SDP" while sitting on the [[crossbench]]es.<ref>"Obituaries: Lord Kilmarnock", ''The Times'', 24 March 2009, p. 55.</ref><ref>"Obituaries: Lord Wilson of Langside", ''The Times'', 1 December 1997, p. 25.</ref> As mentioned above, many of those close to Owen who were involved in the SMF subsequently became associated with the Conservatives, as did several prominent young 'continuing' SDP activists such as the future MP [[Rob Wilson]].<ref name="Majorpress"/><ref>Patrick Wintour, "Owenites ready to back Tories", ''The Guardian'', 12 February 1992, p. 1.</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Wilson |first1=Rob |title=Rob Wilson's Westminster Diary |url=https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/13383281.rob-wilsons-westminster-diary/ |website=The Reading Chronicle |access-date=1 March 2026 |date=15 February 2008}}</ref> Others, however, joined – or in many cases re-joined – the Labour Party, most notably David Sainsbury, [[Polly Toynbee]], and peers such as [[Jack Diamond, Baron Diamond|Lord Diamond]], [[Wayland Young, 2nd Baron Kennet|Lord Kennet]], [[Thomas Taylor, Baron Taylor of Gryfe|Lord Taylor of Gryfe]], and [[Michael Young, Baron Young of Dartington|Lord Young of Dartington]] (who had left the new party as early as 1989, attracted by Labour's change of policy on issues concerning the [[EEC]] and [[Trident (nuclear programme)|Trident]]).<ref>Patrick Wintour, "SDP peer defects to Labour Party", ''The Guardian'', 14 June 1989, p. 6.</ref><ref>"What do they stand for now?", ''The Guardian'', 16 April 1990, p. 11.</ref><ref>"Obituary: Lord Taylor of Gryfe", ''Daily Telegraph'', 19 July 2001, p. 29.</ref> Only a select few members – most notably [[Walter Perry|Lord Perry]] and [[Herbert Bowden, Baron Aylestone|Lord Aylestone]], the former chair of the SDP peers – gravitated towards the Liberal Democrats, while the party's relative Euroscepticism prompted others, such as the [[Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire|Duke of Devonshire]] and the future MEP [[Julia Reid]], to eventually support the [[UK Independence Party]] (UKIP).<ref>"Obituaries: Lord Aylestone", ''The Times'', 2 May 1994, p. 17.</ref><ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3607413/Notebook.html | title = Notebook | first = Frank | last = Johnson | author-link = Frank Johnson (journalist) | date = 19 June 2004 | work = The Telegraph | access-date = 16 April 2011 | quote = "[...] the three dukes among Ukip's patrons – Somerset, Rutland and the late Devonshire, as well as the Earl of Bradford and Lord Neidpath, heir to the earldom of Wemyss [...]" | location=London}}</ref>
Owen did not contest the [[1992 United Kingdom general election|1992 general election]]. John Cartwright and Rosie Barnes stood under the "Independent Social Democrat" banner they had adopted in the House of Commons, defending their seats in [[Woolwich (UK Parliament constituency)|Woolwich]] and [[Greenwich (UK Parliament constituency)|Greenwich]] respectively. The Liberal Democrats did not run candidates against them, and helped them with their campaigns. The new SDP, now led by John Bates, also aided both MPs in their bids for re-election, as did those councillors who had been elected to [[Greenwich London Borough Council]] either as 'continuing' Social Democrats or as Liberal Democrats.<ref>In 1990 four 'continuing' SDP councillors were elected in Abbey Wood and Eynsham wards, alongside two Lib Dems who were elected elsewhere in the borough. All four SDP councillors were re-elected as Social Democrats in 1994. See Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, [https://www.electionscentre.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Greenwich-1964-2010.pdf "London Borough of Greenwich Election Results 1964-2010"]. ''Elections Centre''. Retrieved 17 March 2023.</ref> Cartwright and Barnes were allowed under Electoral Broadcasting rules to address the whole country in a joint Party Political Broadcast. Both narrowly lost their seats to Labour, which made substantial efforts to win them back.
==Election results== {{main|Social Democratic Party (UK, 1988) election results}}
===By-elections=== {| class="wikitable sortable" |- style="text-align:center;" ! Constituency ! Date ! Candidate ! Number<br />of votes ! % of<br />votes ! Position ! colspan=2 | Winner |- | [[1988 Kensington by-election|Kensington]] | 14 July 1988 | John Martin |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 1,190 |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 5.0 |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 4th | {{Party name with colour|Conservative Party (UK)}} |- | [[1988 Epping Forest by-election|Epping Forest]] | 15 December 1988 | Michael Pettman |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 4,077 |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 12.2 |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 4th | {{Party name with colour|Conservative Party (UK)}} |- | [[1989 Pontypridd by-election|Pontypridd]] | 23 February 1989 | Terry Thomas |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 1,199 |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 3.1 |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 5th | {{Party name with colour|Labour Party (UK)}} |- | [[1989 Richmond (Yorks) by-election|Richmond (Yorks)]] | 23 February 1989 | Mike Potter |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 16,909 |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 32.2 |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 2nd | {{Party name with colour|Conservative Party (UK)}} |- | [[1989 Vale of Glamorgan by-election|Vale of Glamorgan]] | 4 May 1989 | David Keith Davies |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 1,098 |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 2.3 |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 5th | {{Party name with colour|Labour Party (UK)}} |- | [[1989 Glasgow Central by-election|Glasgow Central]] | 15 June 1989 | Peter Kerr |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 253 |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 1.0 |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 6th | {{Party name with colour|Labour Party (UK)}} |- | [[1990 Mid Staffordshire by-election|Mid Staffordshire]] | 22 March 1990 | Ian Wood |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 1,422 |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 2.5 |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 4th | {{Party name with colour|Labour Party (UK)}} |- | [[1990 Bootle by-elections|Bootle]] | 24 May 1990 | Jack Holmes |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 155 |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 0.4 |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 7th | {{Party name with colour|Labour Party (UK)}} |- | [[1990 Upper Bann by-election|Upper Bann]] | 24 May 1990 | Alistair Dunn |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 154 |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 0.4 |style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 11th | {{Party name with colour|Ulster Unionist Party}} |- |}
===European elections=== {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Year !! Number<br />of votes !! % of<br />vote !! Seats !! Position !! colspan=2 | Winner |- style="text-align:center;" | [[1989 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|1989]] ||style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 75,886 ||style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 0.5 ||style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 0 ||style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | 10th || {{Party name with colour|Labour Party (UK)}} |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Social Democratic Party (UK, 1988-1990)}} [[Category:Defunct social democratic parties in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Political parties established in 1988]] [[Category:Political parties disestablished in 1990]] [[Category:1988 establishments in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:1990 disestablishments in the United Kingdom]]