David Lloyd George (top left) was the leader of the first National Liberal Party which was formed in 1922. The NLP was formed as a result of a merger between Liberals & the National Democratic and Labour Party. Major Clifford Hugh Douglas (top right) was the founder of the Social Credit movement. Douglas called for a National Dividend – a payment to all citizens with a basic income guarantee, regardless of employment status - to be issued. Douglas (and his Social Credit ideas) remain an important ‘point of reference’ for National Liberals. A ward in the London Borough of Havering (bottom) was the first area where the present-day NLP put forward its ideas to the electorate.

WELCOME TO the first in a new ad hoc series hosted by the National Liberal Party.  Called From The Archives we’ll be looking back at all of the original articles that we’ve posted up since this website went live.  Our idea is to re-examine articles, activities & events as they happened at the time.  With the benefit of hindsight (which, admittedly, is a wonderful thing) we’ll see what lessons, if any, can be learnt.

However, before all that, it may be instructive to give an overview of the core beliefs of National Liberalism itself.  In future articles in this From The Archives series, we aim to examine these beliefs in more detail.  We also hope to examine the British political current known as National Liberalism from its roots in the early 1920s, led by David Lloyd George.  We’ll also look at other National Liberals such as Otto Fischbeck, Giuseppe Mazzini & Gustav Stresemann.

As well as looking at National Liberals, we’ll also examine the ideas of people like Hilaire Belloc, G.K. Chesterton, Major C. H. Douglas, John Hargrave, William Morris, Arthur Penty and others.  (We view these people as ‘points of reference’ – meaning that they all have either said and/or done something that we find of great interest).

However, when it comes to the core beliefs of National Liberalism, we feel that the following accurately sums up our ideals:

NATIONAL LIBERALS believe that individual liberty and the right to organise social change is essential for human progress – but we believe a Liberal society can only be attained by people sharing an inclusive culture within the framework of an independent national state.

NATIONAL LIBERALS believe that national sentiment is intrinsic to mankind and that an independent nation state is a natural building block of human society. As nationalists we believe in the right to self-determination for all nations and reject imperialism.

NATIONAL LIBERALS believe that the principal enemy of liberty are Big Brother Governments who are ever ready to abuse their power for selfish ends or lead us to war. They enslave the people in ‘the name of the people’.

NATIONAL LIBERALS believe that the antidote to Big Brother Government attacks on liberty and national feeling is by introducing forms of Direct Democracy. By building democratic institutions and voting systems we can ensure the ‘sovereignty of the people’.

In conclusion:

NATIONAL LIBERALS believe “individuals require a national identity in order to live meaningful autonomous lives” and believe liberal societies need the “stability of national identity in order to function properly”. Both liberty and independent nations need strong democratic institutions to defend them from the corruption of Government.

With the above in mind, the current National Liberal Party web-site kicked off with the news that NLP was putting its ideas before the electorate in the London Borough of Havering, way back in 2007.  And as this first report noted, our candidate was local man Gregory Campbell:

National Liberals Contest another Local Election 30/07/2007

Nominations recently closed for the forthcoming Squirrels Heath Council by-election in Havering(August 23rd).

The National Liberal Party will be fielding a local man, Gregory Campbell. Gregory had led the campaign against the loss of the large Hare Lodge building by Upper Brentwood Road and he previously stood in the ward as an Independent in the borough elections in 2006.   Now standing for the National Liberals he said “If Hare Lodge is replaced by high-density flats I believe this could incite flat applications throughout the Gidea Park Area of Special Character. Many residents moved to the area for a better quality of Life. We must stop this creeping over-development!”

Apart from the National Liberals there are four other parties standing in the election – Labour Party, UKIP, Havering RA and Conservative.

• CHECK OUT the original report here: http://nationalliberal.org/national-liberals-contest-another-local-election30072007

• ALSO CHECK out the National Liberals on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/52739504313/