The catalogue of the papers of the former Liberal Party leader, David Steel, is now available online via the Archives Catalogue|. The collection is an essential resource for anyone interested in the modern history of the Liberal Party and Liberal Democrats.
Steel began his political career as President of the Liberal Club at Edinburgh University. In 1965 he stood in the by-election for Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles, winning the seat to become the youngest MP in Parliament. He retained his seat (later Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) until he retired at the 1997 General Election. In 1976 Steel became leader of the Liberal Party, a position he maintained until 1988. With Steel as leader the party enjoyed the highest share of the popular vote cast for a third party in fifty years, winning more seats in Parliament and local government than it had held since the Second World War. In 1977 Steel led the Party into the Lib-Lab pact, thus keeping the Labour Party in government. After the formation of the Social Democratic Party in 1981, the Liberals formed an Alliance with the new party, which resulted in the parties' merger and the formation of the Liberal Democrats (Lib Dems) in 1988. Steel decided to step down as leader at this point and went on to work as the Lib Dems Foreign Affairs Spokesman between 1989 and 1994. In 1999 Steel was elected to the Scottish Parliament as MSP for the Lothians, where he also served as Presiding Officer from 1999-2003.
Highlights from the collection include papers regarding the following:
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Leadership of the Liberal Party: comprising correspondence with Liberal MPs and members of the Conservative Government, papers regarding the alliance and later merger with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and correspondence and papers regarding visits made overseas (STEEL/A & STEEL/B/1)
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Parliamentary Papers: including correspondence and papers regarding the introduction of a number of important pieces of legislation during the 1990s, including the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, the Wild Mammals Bill and local government reform (STEEL/B/2)
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Foreign Affairs: these papers largely relate to Steel's work as Foreign Affairs Spokesman for the Liberal Democrats (1989-1994). The series also includes a fascinating insight into the introduction of multi-party politics in Africa, particularly regarding Kenya and Malawi, and the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe (STEEL/B/5)
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International Liberal organisations: comprising correspondence and papers regarding meetings of Liberal International (STEEL/B/6) and European Liberal, Democratic and Reform Parties (ELDR) (STEEL/B/7)
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Scotland: including papers regarding the work of the Scottish Constitutional Convention working towards devolution for Scotland (STEEL/B/9), and subject files relating to various themes including health, education, environment and defence (STEEL/B/3)
Most of the collection has been closed for twenty years, however files may be consulted with permission from Lord Steel. Please see the catalogue for details of file closures. For further information please contact the Archivist (Contact details|).
The completion of the catalogue marks the conclusion of a fourteen month project to catalogue two Liberal collections. The papers of Richard Wainwright (MP for Colne Valley 1966-1970; Feb 1974-1987) have already been catalogued and are available via the Archives Catalogue|. For further information about the project please see our Projects| page.