A little premature...

One hundred and fifty years ago, on the 6 June 1859, at Willis Rooms in St James, Westminster, Radical, Peelite and Whig Members of Parliament met to formalise their Parliamentary coalition to oust the Conservative government and finally brought about the formation of the Liberal Party.

To commemorate the compact made at Willis Rooms in 1859 and the consequent founding of the Liberal Party, the Liberal Democrat History Group and the National Liberal Club organised a joint event at the Club on 20 July 2009. The evening was chaired by Lord Wallace of Saltaire (William Wallace), the President of the Liberal Democrat History Group.

After dinner, Professor Anthony Howe of the University of East Anglia and author of the books, Free Trade and Liberal England, 1846-1946 and Rethinking Nineteenth-Century Liberalism: Richard Cobden Bicentenary Essays, gave a talk.

Hear Professor Howe’s speech by clicking play below (or here if you are reading this syndicated somewhere else). You can also download it for use with your MP3 player. Why not listen to the speech next time you’re out delivering leaflets? If you use iTunes you can search the podcast directory for Lib Dem Voice; for other podcast software, you can use this RSS feed of LDV’s audio content.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:33 — 20.6MB)