Page "Liberal Party (UK)" Paragraph 2

During the 19th century the Liberal Party was broadly in favour of what would today be called classical liberalism: supporting laissez-faire economic policies such as free trade and minimal government interference in the economy ( this doctrine was usually termed ' Gladstonian Liberalism ' after the Victorian era Liberal Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone ).

The Liberal Party favoured social reform, personal liberty, reducing the powers of the Crown and the Church of England ( many of them were Nonconformists ) and an extension of the electoral franchise.

Sir William Harcourt, a prominent Liberal politician in the Victorian era, said this about liberalism in 1872: