In The Alliance
Penhaligon supported the SDP-Liberal Alliance from the start, although he resented SDP attempts to take control of the Liberal Party's target seats. He was named in January 1982 as one of the 'firemen' who would sort out any disagreements between the parties (John Horam was his SDP counterpart). He was particularly prominent and impressive in the 1983 election campaign in which he spoke for the Liberal Party on Transport, Industry and Energy; Hugo Young described him as having "a closer grasp of national electoral politics ... than any other Liberal MP". After the election he became an early proponent of a merger between the SDP and the Liberals under a single leader, largely to avoid disputes over allocations of Parliamentary seats.
Read more about this topic: David Penhaligon
Famous quotes containing the word alliance:
“In short, no association or alliance can be happy or stable without me. People can’t long tolerate a ruler, nor can a master his servant, a maid her mistress, a teacher his pupil, a friend his friend nor a wife her husband, a landlord his tenant, a soldier his comrade nor a party-goer his companion, unless they sometimes have illusions about each other, make use of flattery, and have the sense to turn a blind eye and sweeten life for themselves with the honey of folly.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)