Page "Liberal Party (UK)" Paragraph 48

The new middle-class suburban generation began to find the Liberals ' policies attractive again.

Under Grimond ( who retired in 1967 ) and his successor, Jeremy Thorpe, the Liberals regained the status of a serious third force in British politics, polling up to 20 % of the vote but unable to break the duopoly of Labour and Conservative and win more than fourteen seats in the Commons.

An additional problem was competition in the Liberal heartlands in Scotland and Wales from the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru who both grew as electoral forces from the 1960s onwards.

Although Emlyn Hooson held on to the seat of Montgomeryshire, upon Clement Davies death in 1962, the party lost its other Welsh five Welsh seats between 1950 and 1966.

In September 1966 the Welsh Liberal Party formed their own state party, moving the Liberal Party into a fully federal structure.