David Penhaligon - in The Alliance

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.