Freelance Journalist and Writer

There are many examples in the history of British politics of inter-party cooperation or pacts but nothing quite like the Liberal/Social Democratic Alliance. The Alliance sought to change the political landscape itself by replacing the two-party system and the ‘single member - simple majority’ electoral method, with a system of proportional representation.

The Alliance duly declared war on the old parties and threatened to end their unchallenged dominance for ever more. Not surprisingly, the Labour and Conservative Parties retaliated with vigour.

What kind of alliance was this? A marriage of expediency or principle?

Jeremy Josephs was assistant to David Steel from the inception of the Alliance in 1981. In this books he gives a spirited account of the its formation and development from the Liberal point of view. His conclusion? Guardedly optimistic in his belief that the ‘three-party system’ has at last arrived.

• Liberal Democrat web sites around the UK