As a party with a long history we embrace the principles of Liberalism and since the merger with the SDP those of social democrats as well.
Outsiders often lazily describe the party as having liberal and social democratic wings.
The reality, of course, is a lot more complicated.
Internal pressure groups like the Social Liberal Forum and Liberal Reform represent different strands of thought within the party, but they are not disciplined organised groups.
Amongst our MPs, it has been a practice to align individuals regarding their attitude to the ground-breaking Orange Book.
If you are one of those who wrote for that particular publication, you will almost certainly find yourself described as an economic liberal.
Again, that is far too simplistic.
Charles Kennedy wrote the forward to that publication, and Vince Cable was one of the contributors.
Both come from the social democrat tradition.
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