Before the adoption of the 1969 constitution of the party, the party was led by the prime minister or the most recent politically active prime minister from the party. In the absence of one of these, the leaders in the House of Lords and House of Commons were of equal status and jointly led the party.
When a new leader was required, with the party in government, the monarch selected him by appointing someone as prime minister. However, in 1916David Lloyd George, with the support of a minority of the Liberal MPs, formed a coalition government.H. H. Asquith, the former prime minister, remained as Liberal Party leader. Asquith retained the leadership until his health failed in 1926, including periods when he was not in the Commons or was a peer. He was the last leader of the whole party under the original arrangements for leadership.
When no overall party leader was a member of a House and a new leader was required in opposition, a leader emerged and was approved by party members in that House. From 1919 onward, the Chairman of the Liberal Parliamentary Party, elected by MPs, functioned as the leader in the House of Commons. This required all the leaders after Asquith to retain their seat in order to continue as leader. After 1926 the leader in the House of Commons was clearly pre-eminent over the leader in the House of Lords.
In 1931 Lloyd George was leader in the House of Commons, but he was ill when negotiations led to the formation of theNational Government. SirHerbert Samuel, who had been the deputy leader, was effectively the leader of the mainstream party from the time when he entered the government. This was made formal after the1931 general election.
Under the original provisions of the 1969 party constitution, the MPs elected one of their number to beLeader of the Liberal Party. This was the same system as that used for thelast MP only contested leadership election in 1967, whenJeremy Thorpe became leader after a vote split between three candidates of 6-3-3.
As the number of Liberal MPs was very small (between 6 and 14 during the period the MPs retained the sole power of election) party members argued for a wider franchise. Prior to theleadership election of 1976, all members were given a vote in an electoral college based on allocating electoral votes to constituency associations (which were then divided proportionately to the votes of the members of the association). The candidates were required to be members of the House of Commons, nominated by a quarter of the MPs. The electoral college system was only used once, whenDavid Steel was elected leader.
^abPalmerston was appointed Prime Minister a few days after the meeting at Willis's Rooms on 6 June 1859, which formally created the Liberal Party. He was an Irish peer and a member of the House of Commons. He died in office.
^Russell did not formally retire, but indicated to Gladstone at Christmas 1867 his decision to abstain from taking office again, after which Gladstone was recognized as the overall leader of the party and led it on to the1868 general election. See:Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911)."Gladstone, William Ewart" .Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
^Gladstone retired from the leadership in 1875, when the party was in opposition. The overall leadership of the party then became vacant until Gladstone was again appointed Prime Minister.
^Rosebery resigned the leadership when the party was in opposition. The overall leadership of the party became vacant until the formation of the next Liberal government in 1905.
^abMaclean was elected Chairman of the Liberal Parliamentary Party. In the absence from Parliament of Asquith, who had lost his seat in the1918 general election, he acted as leader of the Liberal MPs opposed to the Lloyd George coalition. Although this was a smaller group than the Parliamentary Labour Party, Maclean also performed the functions of Leader of the Opposition.
^Asquith resigned the leadership when the party was in opposition. The overall leadership of the party became vacant until the adoption of the 1969 party constitution.
^abLloyd George was elected Chairman of the Liberal Parliamentary Party. In the absence from Parliament of Asquith he acted as leader of the Liberal MPs. When Asquith became a peer in 1925, Lloyd George became leader in the House of Commons. When Asquith retired then from 14 October 1926, Lloyd George became the leading figure in the party.
^abSamuel deputised for the ill Lloyd George during the summer of 1931 and took office in the National Government on 24 August 1931. Following Lloyd George's move to complete opposition to the National Government in October, Samuel effectively acted as party leader. However he did not receive the formal title until after the1931 general election. He lost his seat in the1935 general election.
^Thorpe was the first Leader of the Liberal Party under the 1969 constitution.
^abGrimond was appointed interim leader by the parliamentary party, between the resignation of Thorpe and the election of Steel.
^abSteel was the last party leader. He became one of the joint interim leaders of the Liberal Democrats on the merger in 1988.
^Asquith became Prime Minister on 5 April althoughBritish Political Facts considers him to be leader from 30 April 1908. He lost his seat in the1918 United Kingdom general election.
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