title: Romain Grosjean

text: He dominated the 2005 French Formula Renault championship at his first attempt and joined the Renault young driver programme. He was the 2007 Formula 3 Euro Series drivers' champion. In 2008, he became the inaugural GP2 Asia Series champion and came fourth in his first year in GP2. In he made his Formula One debut for Renault at the and came fourth again in GP2 despite missing the final eight races. After being dropped by Renault, he returned to junior formulae, winning the 2010 Auto GP championship at the first attempt and winning the 2011 GP2 Asia Series and GP2 Series becoming the first – and , only – two-time GP2 Asia champion and the only driver to hold both the GP2 Asia series and main GP2 series titles simultaneously. Due to the Asia and Main GP2 series being discontinued, this will likely remain true for the foreseeable future.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: In , Grosjean returned to Formula One with the Lotus F1 Team, alongside Kimi Räikkönen. He took his first Formula One podium at the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix and took his first fastest lap in the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix. He became the first driver since 1994 to receive a race ban after causing a multi-car pile-up, at the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix. In he remained with Lotus, taking six podiums. He drove for Lotus again alongside Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado in the and seasons and achieved a podium finish at the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix before moving to Haas from to . In what would be his final Formula One race, Grosjean survived a dramatic crash during the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix when his car separated in two and caught fire after penetrating a metal guardrail on the first lap. Grosjean sustained minor burns and credited the halo with saving his life.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: After the 2020 Formula One season, Grosjean moved to the IndyCar Series. He obtained his first pole position and podium in his third race, the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: Grosjean was born in Geneva, Switzerland. He was born to a Swiss father and a French mother. He is the great-grandson of Edgar Brandt, weapon designer and founder of Brandt. He is also the grandson of skier Fernand Grosjean, silver medalist in giant slalom at the 1950 World Ski Championship in Aspen.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: Grosjean won all ten rounds of the 2003 Formula Lista Junior championship and moved to the French Formula Renault championship for 2004. He was seventh in that first season with one win and was champion in 2005 with ten victories. He also appeared in the Formula Renault Eurocup and finished on the podium twice in Valencia. With his results and potential in the Formula Renault series, Grosjean joined the Renault Driver Development programme for the continuation of his career.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: Grosjean made his Formula Three debut at the 2005 Macau Grand Prix, standing in for Loïc Duval at Signature-Plus. He qualified 19th and raced to ninth, beating teammates Fábio Carbone and Guillaume Moreau.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: He did a full season in the 2006 Formula 3 Euro Series but had a tough year, taking only one podium finish and ending the year 13th. In a one-off appearance in the British Formula Three Championship he started on pole position for both races at Pau, won both, and set the fastest lap in each.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: He stayed in the Formula 3 Euro Series for 2007 but moved to the ASM team, for which Jamie Green, Lewis Hamilton, and Paul di Resta won the previous three titles. Sébastien Buemi led the championship in the early stages but Grosjean moved ahead with a victory in the ninth race of the season at Mugello. He maintained a lead in the standings from that point onwards and won the title at the final round of the year with one race in hand.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: Grosjean took pole position for the prestigious Masters of Formula 3 race at Zolder but finished 14th after stalling at the start.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: Grosjean drove for ART in the inaugural GP2 Asia Series season alongside Stephen Jelley, winning both races of the first round of the championship. He went on to win the championship with four race victories and sixty-one points overall.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: He stayed with ART Grand Prix team for the 2008 GP2 Series. His teammates were Luca Filippi and Sakon Yamamoto.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: In the first round at the Circuit de Catalunya, Grosjean started 11th after engine problems in qualifying. He rose through the field to finish fifth in the feature race, giving him fourth on the grid for the shorter sprint race. After a good start Grosjean was up to second and then passed Kobayashi for the lead. But Grosjean made a mistake on a late rolling restart and Kobayashi tried to pass him again for the lead. Grosjean moved across on Kobayashi to keep the position but the stewards decided his defensive move was illegal and gave him a drive-through penalty dropping him to 13th at the end of the race. Victory in the sprint race at Istanbul, the fourth round of the season, moved Grosjean into second place in the championship. Despite dropping back from this position, he finished the season fourth and achieved the distinction of being the highest-placed rookie in the championship.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: 2008 Formula 3 Euro Series champion Nico Hülkenberg joined Pastor Maldonado at ART for 2009, forcing Grosjean out of the team. Nonetheless, Renault placed him at 2008 team champions Campos Grand Prix for 2009, now known as Barwa Addax. Despite missing the last four rounds, Grosjean finished fourth in the championship standings.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: Grosjean was confirmed as Renault's test driver for , replacing Nelson Piquet Jr., who graduated to a race seat. He drove a Formula One car for the first time at the UK round of the 2008 World Series by Renault weekend at Silverstone on 7 and 8 June 2008, where he gave a number of demonstrations of the previous year's R27 car.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: He initially continued in the test driver role at Renault for 2009 but took over Piquet's seat in the wake of the Crashgate controversy from the onwards. Grosjean qualified 14th at the . He was knocked out of Q2 0.323 seconds off the pace of teammate Fernando Alonso. He finished 15th in the race after a first-lap collision with Luca Badoer necessitated a stop for a new front wing. For the next round in Belgium Grosjean qualified 19th, which he blamed on traffic and yellow flags. In the race, he was eliminated on the first lap after a collision with Jenson Button. At the , Grosjean qualified a career-best 12th, but made a poor start, damaged his car with contact at the first corner, spun on the second lap, and finished 15th. He described himself as "very disappointed" after the race.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: At the , Grosjean qualified 19th after suffering brake problems. He was hopeful of making progress in the race, but the brake problems reappeared, forcing him to retire after just three laps. At the , Grosjean qualified 18th, which he blamed on rain throughout practice preventing him from fully learning the demanding Suzuka Circuit, which he had never driven on before. He was promoted to 17th due to Timo Glock being unable to start the race. He was unable to make progress in the race, finishing 16th after struggling with understeer throughout the race on the unfamiliar circuit. At the , Grosjean suffered an accident in practice, although he escaped unhurt. He qualified 13th in his repaired car, gained positions at the start, but then slipped back down to 13th after complaining of grip and tyre temperature problems, his best result of the season. At the season-ending , Grosjean qualified 19th, and finished 18th and last, again complaining of brake problems during the race. He said afterward that he had "learnt an enormous amount this year, especially being a teammate to Fernando".


title: Romain Grosjean

text: On 31 January 2010, after the end of the season news reports had doubts that Grosjean would keep his seat into 2010, Renault confirmed that Grosjean's former GP2 teammate at the Addax Team, Vitaly Petrov would be the team's second driver alongside Robert Kubica for the 2010 season, leaving Grosjean without a Formula One drive for 2010. However, in September 2010, it was confirmed by tyre manufacturer Pirelli that Grosjean would complete a test for the company, in anticipation of their return to supplying tyres to the F1 grid in 2011. Grosjean replaced Nick Heidfeld, who left his testing duties to take up a race seat at Sauber.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: After leaving Formula One, Grosjean became involved in sportscar racing. In March 2010, Grosjean secured a drive in the inaugural FIA GT1 World Championship, driving a Ford GT1 for the Matech Competition team alongside German driver Thomas Mutsch. The pairing won the opening Championship Race of the season in Abu Dhabi and added a second victory at Brno in May to lead the standings after the first three rounds of the season.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: In June 2010, Grosjean made his debut in the famous Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race, sharing a Ford GT1 with Mutsch and Jonathan Hirschi. After qualifying third in the LMGT1 class, they were forced to retire from the race after 171 laps.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: In June 2010, Grosjean made a return to single-seaters, racing for the DAMS team in the third round of the Auto GP season at Spa-Francorchamps. After dominating practice and taking pole position, he won the feature race before finishing second to Carlos Iaconelli in the sprint event. Over the course of the weekend, Grosjean accumulated 18 points out of a possible 19 on offer and took away €80,000 prize money as the event's top points scorer. He went on to win three more races to take the title at Monza 16 points ahead of runner-up Edoardo Piscopo.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: On 20 July 2010, Grosjean announced that he would return to GP2 with the DAMS team. He replaced the then Renault test driver Jérôme d'Ambrosio for the German round of the championship. He later substituted for D'Ambrosio's injured teammate, Ho-Pin Tung, from the Belgian round onwards (despite Tung recovering and returning to the series with a different team), finishing 3rd in Belgium and Abu Dhabi to take fourteenth place in the drivers' standings, only two positions behind D'Ambrosio.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: Grosjean returned to GP2 full-time with DAMS for the 2011 GP2 Series and GP2 Asia Series seasons. He took two pole positions and one race victory to win the Asia Series by six points from Jules Bianchi, and also won the first race of the main series to lead that championship as well. He lost the championship lead to Giedo van der Garde, after the second round of the series, after an event which was hampered by disqualification due to a technical infringement, but regained it again the following week at Monaco, scoring points in both races despite starting from last place on the grid. After scoring four further wins as part of a mid-season run that included six consecutive podium finishes, he pulled clear of his pursuers and clinched the championship at the penultimate round at Spa-Francorchamps.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: At the start of , Grosjean returned to the newly branded Lotus Renault GP team as one of five test drivers along with Bruno Senna, Ho-Pin Tung, Jan Charouz and Fairuz Fauzy. Lotus Renault had planned to run Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov throughout 2011 but Kubica had a horrific rally accident and was unable to drive during 2011. Former BMW Sauber teammate Nick Heidfeld replaced Kubica for the first 11 races before himself being replaced by Senna from the Belgian Grand Prix onwards. In late October 2011, Lotus Renault announced that Grosjean would drive in the first Friday free practice session in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (replacing Senna) and the Brazilian Grand Prix (replacing Petrov).


title: Romain Grosjean

text: On 9 December 2011, it was announced that Grosjean would make his comeback to Formula One in , taking the second seat at the newly renamed Lotus F1 Team (formerly Renault, the team that Grosjean raced with in 2009) alongside World Champion Kimi Räikkönen.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: At the , Grosjean set the second fastest time in the final free practice session, and while teammate Räikkönen was eliminated in the first part of qualifying, Grosjean made it into the top ten – for the first time, as his previous best was twelfth place – and ultimately qualified in third position. He fell to sixth at the start and retired on the second lap after a collision with Pastor Maldonado, which broke his right-front suspension. At the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix he finished third, collecting his first Formula One podium and the first for a French driver since Jean Alesi at the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix. In Spain Grosjean started third, finished fourth and set his first fastest lap in Formula One; the first for a French driver since Alesi at the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix. At the 2012 Canadian Grand Prix, he collected his second Formula One podium with a career best finish of second, behind Lewis Hamilton.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: At Valencia, Grosjean was running second when the car's electronics malfunctioned forcing Grosjean's first mechanical-related retirement of the season. At the , Grosjean topped the timesheets during the first free practice session, but qualifying did not go as well; at the end of Q2 he spun into the gravel at the final corner after managing to get into Q3, this meant he could not take any further part in qualifying and started from tenth, although he was promoted to ninth after Nico Hülkenberg received a grid penalty. At the start of the race, he was involved in an incident with Paul di Resta, which forced a pit stop for a new front wing. However, Grosjean fought back through the field to finish in sixth just behind his teammate. At the , Grosjean started nineteenth due to a gearbox penalty and finished eighteenth after picking up a puncture on lap one. A week later, at the , Grosjean qualified second, the first time a French Formula One driver had started on the front row of the grid since Alesi at the 1999 French Grand Prix; Grosjean finished third in the race behind Hamilton and teammate Räikkönen.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: At Spa Grosjean caused a multi-car pile-up at the start of the race, with Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Sergio Pérez all eliminated from the race as well as Grosjean; the incident was started when Grosjean drove into Hamilton on the approach to the La Source corner. Grosjean was given a one race ban post-race (the first driver to be banned since Michael Schumacher in ), as well as a fine of €50,000, with the FIA saying in a statement "The stewards regard this incident as an extremely serious breach of the regulations, which had the potential to cause injury to others. It eliminated leading championship contenders from the race. The stewards note [that] the team conceded the action was an extremely serious mistake and an error of judgement. Neither the team nor the driver made any submission in mitigation of penalty." He was replaced for the 2012 Italian Grand Prix by Lotus test and reserve driver Jérôme d'Ambrosio. His team boss, Éric Boullier said that Grosjean learned an important lesson following his ban, however at the , Grosjean crashed into Mark Webber at the first corner with Webber branding him a "first lap nutcase". Grosjean's actions were condemned by many drivers in the paddock. At the , Grosjean was involved in another first lap incident. In São Paulo Grosjean hit the back of Pedro de la Rosa's HRT in qualifying.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: On 14–16 December Grosjean won the Race of Champions after a Grand Final victory over Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok. The day before Grosjean finished in second place in the Nations' Cup event along with his teammate Sébastien Ogier in the French team, after defeat by Germany's Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: He had three points-scoring finishes at the three opening races before receiving a new chassis to help his chances at Bahrain; he qualified 11th and climbed to third. At the next race in Spain, his suspension failed on lap 9. At the , Grosjean had three crashes during the practice sessions, leading his team principal, Boullier, to tell Grosjean to "wake up". He qualified 13th but his race ended when he crashed into the back of Daniel Ricciardo, earning him a 10-place grid penalty for the next race. At the he started last on the grid due to the grid penalty but ran as high as eighth in the race before finishing 13th as he had to stop for a third time due to heavy tyre wear. On the first lap of the , Grosjean made contact with Mark Webber, damaging the front wing of Webber's car. Grosjean retired on the last lap while in 8th position due to serious front wing damage. At the after qualifying 5th he led the race for a while and seemed to be on a faster pace than Sebastian Vettel but the intervention of the safety car changed the race. He was forced to let his teammate Kimi Räikkönen pass towards the end of the race as Räikkönen had faster tyres. Grosjean resisted Fernando Alonso to earn his second podium of the season behind Vettel and Räikkönen.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: At the Grosjean qualified 3rd on the grid but finished the race in 6th position after receiving a drive-through penalty for crossing the white line as he overtook Felipe Massa. After the race, he was given a further 20-second time penalty for colliding with Jenson Button, however, this did not affect his final position. At the Grosjean qualified 7th on the grid, and Lotus chose to operate a one-stop strategy on Grosjean's car. Later in the race, he was sent off track by Sergio Pérez while Pérez was attempting an overtake – Pérez received a drive-through penalty for the incident. Grosjean finished the race in 8th position after being overtaken by Massa towards the end of the race. At the Grosjean qualified 13th as both Lotuses showed a slow pace in practice. After a slow pit stop, he came back to finish in 8th after many overtaking moves and resisting Lewis Hamilton on the last lap. In Singapore Grosjean had a difficult weekend full of mechanical problems; and despite qualifying 3rd, he was forced to retire due to an engine issue. At the he qualified 4th and was moved up to third on the grid after a grid penalty for Webber. He made a good start in which he overtook Hamilton and was closing on Vettel until the safety car came out. This intervention aided Räikkönen's progression up the order, and after a small mistake, Grosjean was overtaken by his teammate. Grosjean maintained position behind Räikkönen and secured his third podium of the season, in third.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: The next weekend, at Suzuka, he qualified 4th. After a poor start by the Red Bulls on the front row, Grosjean took the lead into the first corner and showed a good pace compared to the Red Bulls behind him, leading almost half the race. Vettel passed him on lap 28 and he was also later overtaken by Mark Webber, and finished 3rd for the second straight race. In India, Grosjean failed to reach Q2 on medium tyres to save softer tyres, and he ultimately qualified 17th. In the race, he had a longer first stint with soft tyres to apply a one pit stop strategy that worked perfectly as he finished 3rd behind Vettel and Rosberg after overtaking Massa and then Räikkönen who forced him off the track on his first overtaking attempt. At Abu Dhabi, after qualifying 7th (and being promoted to 6th due to teammate Räikkönen's penalty), he had another strong start and strong race, finishing 4th. At the , Grosjean had a good qualifying session and earned the 3rd spot on the grid behind Vettel and Webber. In the race, Grosjean had a strong start once again, by overtaking Webber and nearly overtaking Vettel. Leading a lap during the pit stop phase, Grosjean finished 2nd by holding off Webber despite numerous overtaking attempts.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: A new rule for the 2014 season allowed the drivers to pick a car number to use for their entire career. Grosjean was awarded his first choice of number 8. He explained his choice of number on his Facebook page: "Simply I like this number, plus it has some signification to me. My wife was born on 8 December, we started dating in 2008 and besides, to my eyes my son is the 8th wonder of the world. That's why I picked up number 8." Among all the races in 2014, he was only able to score on two occasions and claim 8 points.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: In 2015, Lotus produced a much better car, which was powered by a Mercedes engine. Grosjean showed great potential in testing, but mechanical problems in Australia and a spin after contact with Sergio Pérez in Malaysia prevented Grosjean from scoring points. But after the first two troubled races, Grosjean recorded good performances in China and Bahrain, finishing 7th on both occasions. In Spain, Lotus struggled in practice and qualifying and Grosjean missed out on Q3 for the first time in the season. But in the race, his pace improved and he finished 8th, despite making contact with Pastor Maldonado in the opening laps and a mistake in the pits, both of which cost him some time. In Monaco, Grosjean was on for his fourth consecutive points finish, despite a grid penalty for a gearbox change, but he was hit by Max Verstappen while battling for position. Grosjean managed to rejoin, but lost time and finished 12th.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: In Canada, Lotus had one of the fastest cars and Grosjean qualified in an impressive 5th place. In the race, he was in the top 5 but made contact with the Marussia of Will Stevens, which punctured his tyre. Grosjean had to pit for new tyres, but managed to recover and finished in the points. In Austria, he was racing in the top 10, but he had a mechanical issue and could not finish the race. In Great Britain, he retired on lap 1 after contact with Daniel Ricciardo and teammate Maldonado. In Hungary, he struggled again and even had a penalty for an unsafe release in the pits. But near the end of the race, he made up a lot of positions due to other drivers having problems. In the end, he managed to repeat his best finish of the season of 7th, finishing ahead of Nico Rosberg's Mercedes. In Belgium, Lotus again had one of the fastest cars and Grosjean qualified in 4th, but started 9th, because of a penalty. In the race, he consistently gained positions, and a few laps before the finish, Grosjean was running 4th. Ahead of him was Vettel, who was on very old tyres, and Grosjean caught up with him with 5 laps to go. He was not able to overtake, but Vettel's right rear tyre exploded on the penultimate lap. Grosjean moved into the podium positions, to record his first such result since 2013. After the race, Grosjean said that he cried on the last lap.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: In Italy Grosjean once again made it into Q3, qualifying in 8th, but was involved in some contact in turn 1, which caused his retirement. In Singapore, he was forced to retire a few laps before the end because of a suspected gearbox issue. In Japan, Grosjean was in 6th place after the start but lost a position during the first stops to Nico Hülkenberg. Near the end of the race, he was under pressure from Maldonado, who had closed the gap to just over a second, but Grosjean managed to retain his 7th position to the finish and scored points for the first time since Belgium.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: On 29 September 2015, it was announced that Grosjean would race for the Haas F1 Team, who were joining the Formula One grid for the season. He was partnered by former Sauber driver and Ferrari test driver Esteban Gutiérrez. In the team's first race, the , Grosjean finished sixth to record Haas' first points and making them the first team since Toyota Racing to score points in their debut. He was eventually voted Formula One's first Driver of the Day. Grosjean scored again in the following by finishing in fifth position, winning Driver of the Day again.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: Following Jenson Button's retirement from full-time racing, the members of the GPDA elected Grosjean to replace Button as one of the directors of the GPDA in May 2017.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: Grosjean drove for Haas for the 2017 season where he partnered Kevin Magnussen. He had multiple retirements, such as in the 2017 Australian Grand Prix, where he retired due to a water leak. His second retirement came at the 2017 Russian Grand Prix, when he had a collision with Jolyon Palmer. His third and final retirement of the season was in the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix due to a wheel nut. He scored 28 points in total from 8 occasions and finished the season 13th.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: Haas retained Grosjean for the 2018 season where he again partnered Magnussen. At the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Grosjean crashed behind the safety car whilst running in 6th place. His engineer incorrectly blamed the cause of the crash on Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson, saying, "I think Ericsson hit us." At the Spanish Grand Prix, Grosjean was the cause of a crash on the opening lap. Whilst making his way through turn 3, he lost control of his Haas after running through dirty air. This caused him to spin across the track into the path of the cars behind him, causing a large amount of smoke in the process. He was then hit by Hülkenberg and Gasly, eliminating all three from the race. In the Austrian Grand Prix, Grosjean finished 4th, his best result in his career at Haas, and his first points finish in 2018. Grosjean was disqualified from the Italian Grand Prix after the floor of his car was found to be illegal, taking away a 6th-place finish; although the team appealed this, the decision was upheld. Grosjean finished the season 14th with 37 points.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: On 28 September 2018 it was confirmed that Haas would retain Grosjean for the 2019 season, again partnering Magnussen. Like his 2018 season, Grosjean's 2019 was plagued with reliability issues, poor luck and driver errors. Additionally, the Haas VF-19 suffered from poor pace throughout the season, often qualifying well but falling far behind during races.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: The first two races saw a double retirement for Grosjean. In Australia, a wheel was incorrectly fitted during a pit stop, causing it to come loose on track in an extremely similar incident to his race in Australia the year before. In Bahrain he was hit by Lance Stroll on the opening lap, causing terminal damage. An 11th-place finish in China followed, before a third retirement in four races in Azerbaijan due to a brake failure. Grosjean scored his first point of the season by finishing 10th in Spain, and followed this up with another 10th-place finish in Monaco.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: Grosjean finished 14th in Canada after a collision in front of him on the first lap sent debris into his car, causing him to lose positions. He then retired from the next race, his home race in France. Another retirement came two races later in Britain, after contact with teammate Magnussen on the first lap, ending the races of both drivers. Both were blamed and criticised for the incident, at a race in which Grosjean was testing the old spec of the VF-19 so that the team could understand their recent lack of pace. His best—and final—points finish of the season came in Germany, when he crossed the line in 9th place but was promoted to 7th after the Alfa Romeo drivers were penalised post-race for the use of driver aids.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: Another retirement came in Hungary due to a hydraulics issue. In Singapore, Grosjean tagged George Russell during an overtake attempt, damaging his front wing and causing the Williams driver to crash into a wall. Grosjean finished the race in 11th. Another retirement followed in Russia after a first-lap collision with Daniel Ricciardo and Antonio Giovinazzi sent him into the barriers. In Brazil, Grosjean was running in 7th place late in the race behind Pierre Gasly and ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr., before issues with his car dropped him back to 14th by the finish line (13th after a penalty for Nico Hülkenberg). Gasly and Sainz would go on to finish 2nd and 3rd in the race.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: Grosjean ended the season in 18th place in the championship with 8 points, his worst full-season in Formula One.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: On 19 September 2019, Haas announced that Grosjean would remain with the team for the 2020 season alongside Magnussen.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: At the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix, Grosjean suffered a serious crash on the first lap in which his Haas VF-20 hit a barrier at high speed, splitting the car in half, releasing the fuel and making the car burn. The force and angle of the impact caused the driver's compartment and the front half of the car to be wedged into the barrier, while the rear half was separated from the rest of the vehicle, igniting the car immediately upon impact.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: The impact was measured at . He was able to exit the car unaided, and was helped away from the crash scene by Alan van der Merwe and Ian Roberts, with minor burn injuries to his hands and ankles before being airlifted to a nearby military hospital. The crash caused a red flag for more than an hour to recover the chassis and repair the damaged barrier section. The halo-head protective device, introduced in Formula One in 2018, was credited with saving his life: it sheltered Grosjean's head and body from coming into contact with the barrier upon collision. Grosjean ultimately missed the last 2 races of the season, and was replaced by Pietro Fittipaldi.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: Grosjean's contract with Haas was not renewed after 2020. He underwent surgery for his injuries on 16 December.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: Grosjean was due to test drive the Mercedes AMG F1 W10 EQ Power+, which won the 2019 Formula One World Championship, for a full day of testing with the team at the 2021 French Grand Prix. The test was delayed due to pandemic related travel restrictions.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: For 2021 Grosjean competed on a joint deal between Dale Coyne Racing and Rick Ware Racing with backing from Honda. Grosjean was scheduled to only participate in the street and road course events in the 2021 season but he later announced after the Indianapolis 500 that he would run the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 to get experience racing on ovals for a potential full schedule in 2022. Because his only oval race would be on what IndyCar considers a short oval Haas F1 Team colleague Pietro Fittipaldi was signed to replace Grosjean for IndyCar's three races on superspeedways, the double header at Texas Motor Speedway and the 2021 Indianapolis 500.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: Grosjean quickly adapted to IndyCar racing and immediately showed pace. He recorded three podium finishes on the season; two second-place finishes at both rounds on the IMS Road Course and a third-place finish Laguna Seca. In addition he made the final round of qualifying at both rounds on the IMS Road Course and Detroit, Nashville, and Long Beach. The highpoint of Grosjean's season was at the first round at Indianapolis, where after sitting out for two weeks he returned and out qualified fellow rookie Scott McLaughlin , Josef Newgarden, Jack Harvey, Conor Daly, and Alex Palou to earn his first IndyCar pole position and first pole position since May 2011, when he was on pole in GP2 at Istanbul Park with DAMS. He went on to finish in second place behind winner Rinus VeeKay. Other highlights included making up ten positions at Laguna Seca, several passes of which he made at the famed "Corkscrew", the location of Alex Zanardi's iconic pass on Bryan Herta in 1996, and his first ever oval race at Gateway, where he recorded the most overtakes for the race despite finishing fourteenth. Grosjean also recorded top ten finishes at Barber, Road America, and Mid-Ohio.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: Grosjean's arrival to IndyCar coincided with the arrival of three-time Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin and seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson to the series, creating what some pundits dubbed the most intriguing rookie class to American Open Wheel Racing since the arrival of Nigel Mansell to CART in the early 1990s. Many pundits picked Grosjean to have the strongest season of the three due to his extensive open-wheel experience, picking him to be a potential candidate for IndyCar Rookie of the Year despite competing for a team with significantly fewer resources than McLaughlin's Team Penske or Johnson's Chip Ganassi Racing and not racing a full schedule. While Johnson would be the slowest to adapt to IndyCar racing and would run the fewest events of the three, McLaughlin and Grosjean were frequently measured against each other throughout the season. McLaughlin outperformed Grosjean four times during their rookie seasons; at St. Petersburg where he had made his IndyCar debut the previous year while Grosjean was racing there for the first time, at Grosjean's first-ever oval race at Gateway, and at Portland and Long Beach after Grosjean was caught up in an accident caused by other drivers on the opening laps. Grosjean's performances were so strong that despite his partial schedule he was nearly able to outscore McLaughlin for the Rookie of the Year award heading into the final race at Long Beach. Both Grosjean and McLaughlin downplayed any comparisons between the two, with Grosjean noting that comparing the two's rookie results in IndyCar did not take into account his nearly two decades of open-wheel racing compared to only one year of open-wheel racing experience for McLaughlin.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: Grosjean drove Andretti Autosport's No. 28 DHL Honda entry in the 2022 season, replacing the outgoing Ryan Hunter-Reay. Grosjean underwent his rookie orientation at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on October 5, 2021, and confirmed that he will be racing in the 2022 Indianapolis 500 along with the entire 2022 schedule. Grosjean picked up his first podium with Andretti Autosport at Long Beach, nearly taking the win from Josef Newgarden before an accident caused by Takuma Sato caused the race to finish under caution. He managed to advance to Q2 in his first Indianapolis 500 but ultimately crashed out of the race. Overall 2022 was a difficult season for Grosjean, as he struggled with bad luck and on track contact with teammates and other drivers.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: Grosjean married French journalist and television presenter Marion Jollès on 27 June 2012 in Chamonix. They have been together since 2008. On 29 July 2013, Marion gave birth to a son, Sacha. They have a second child named Simon who was born on 16 May 2015 and a daughter named Camille who was born on 31 December 2017. After Grosjean signed with Andretti Autosport and committed to racing full time in the IndyCar series he announced that he and his family would be moving to Miami due to the city's selection of French-language schools and the ability to get direct flights between Miami and Paris.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: Grosjean holds endorsements with various brands including Christian Roth (Via DITA Eyewear), Richard Mille, Bell Sports, and Seier Capital.


title: Romain Grosjean

text: He also has his own YouTube Channel called Romain Grosjean Official with 255K subscribers which he launched in November 2017.


title: Tracy Letts

text: Tracy S. Letts (born July 4, 1965) is an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. He started his career at the Steppenwolf Theatre before making his Broadway debut as a playwright for "" (2007), for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play. As an actor he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for the Broadway revival of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (2013).


title: Tracy Letts

text: As a playwright, Letts is known for having written for the Steppenwolf Theatre, Off-Broadway and Broadway theatre. His works include: "Killer Joe", "Bug", "Man from Nebraska", "", "Superior Donuts", "Linda Vista", and "The Minutes". Letts adapted three of his plays into films, "Bug" and "Killer Joe", both directed by William Friedkin, and "", directed by John Wells. His 2009 play "Superior Donuts" was adapted into a television series of the same name. As a stage actor, Letts has performed in various classic plays with the Steppenwolf Theatre since 1988. He made his acting Broadway debut as George in the revival of Edward Albee's play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", which earned him a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. He continued acting on the Broadway stage in "The Realistic Joneses", "All My Sons," and "The Minutes".


title: Tracy Letts

text: In film and television, he is known for his portrayal of Andrew Lockhart in seasons 3 and 4 of Showtime's "Homeland", and pyramid-scheme con-artist Nick on the HBO comedy "Divorce". In 2017, Letts starred in three critically acclaimed films: Azazel Jacobs' "The Lovers", Greta Gerwig's "Lady Bird", and Steven Spielberg's "The Post". The latter two films were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. "Lady Bird" earned Letts a nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. In 2019, he portrayed Henry Ford II in James Mangold's "Ford v Ferrari" and Mr. Dashwood in Gerwig's "Little Women", the two also receiving Best Picture nominations.


title: Tracy Letts

text: Letts was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to author Billie Letts (née Gipson) and college professor and actor Dennis Letts. He has two brothers, Shawn, a musician, and Dana. Letts was raised in Durant, Oklahoma and graduated from Durant High School in the early 1980s. He moved to Dallas, where he waited tables and worked in telemarketing while beginning his acting career. He appeared in Jerry Flemmons' "O Dammit!", which was part of a new playwrights' series sponsored by Southern Methodist University.


title: Tracy Letts

text: Letts moved to Chicago at the age of 20, working for the next 11 years at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Famous Door. He is still an active member of Steppenwolf. He was a founding member of Bang Bang Spontaneous Theatre, whose members included Greg Kotis, Michael Shannon, Paul Dillon, and Amy Pietz. In 1991, Letts wrote the play "Killer Joe". Two years later, the play premiered at the Next Lab Theater in Evanston, Illinois, followed by the 29th Street Rep in New York City. Since then, "Killer Joe" has been performed in a number of countries in 12 languages.


title: Tracy Letts

text: His mother, Billie Letts, has said of his work, "I try to be upbeat and funny. Everybody in Tracy's stories gets naked or dead." Letts's plays have depicted people struggling with moral and spiritual questions. He says he was inspired by the plays of Tennessee Williams and the novels of William Faulkner and Jim Thompson. Letts states that he considers sounds to be effective "storytelling tools" for theater.


title: Tracy Letts

text: During the late 1980s through the late 2000s, Letts acted in many of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company's productions, starring in Steve Martin's "Picasso at the Lapin Agile" (1994).


title: Tracy Letts

text: In 2012, Letts gained attention for his Broadway debut performance in the revival of Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" at the Booth Theatre. He received positive reviews and won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.


title: Tracy Letts

text: In 2019, Letts appeared in the Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's "All My Sons" with Annette Bening at Roundabout Theatre Company's American Airlines Theatre. The show officially opened on April 22, 2019 and closed on June 23, 2019.


title: Tracy Letts

text: Letts has written over ten plays. His most famous, "", premiered at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago on June 28, 2007. It had its Broadway debut at the Imperial Theatre on December 4, 2007; the production transferred to Broadway's Music Box Theatre on April 29, 2008. The Broadway show closed on June 28, 2009, after 648 performances and 18 previews. The show went on to receive seven Tony Award nominations, winning six, including Best Play. The play won Letts the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2008. Letts has also been a finalist for the Pulitzer drama prize for his plays "Man from Nebraska" and "The Minutes"; the Pulitzer committee described "The Minutes" as a "shocking drama set in a seemingly mundane city council meeting that acidly articulates a uniquely American toxicity that feels both historic and contemporary."


title: Tracy Letts

text: Early in his acting career, in the 1990s through the mid 2000s, Letts acted in TV shows including "Prison Break", "The District", "Strong Medicine", "Profiler", "Judging Amy", "The Drew Carey Show", "Seinfeld", "Early Edition", and "Home Improvement".


title: Tracy Letts

text: In 2013–14, Letts joined the cast of Showtime's "Homeland" as US Senator Andrew Lockhart. He was nominated with the rest of the cast for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble.


title: Tracy Letts

text: In 2018, Letts was cast in the second season of USA Network's anthology crime drama series "The Sinner", opposite Bill Pullman and Carrie Coon. He played Jack McKinney in HBO's 2022 series "".


title: Tracy Letts

text: Letts has starred in Adam McKay's 2015 ensemble piece, "The Big Short", 2016's "Wiener-Dog", "Christine", and "Elvis & Nixon"; and James Schamus's film adaptation of the Philip Roth novel, "Indignation", as well as the true-story crime thriller adaptation "Imperium".


title: Tracy Letts

text: In 2019, Letts portrayed Henry Ford II in James Mangold's sports drama film "Ford v Ferrari", and played Mr. Dashwood in "Little Women", a film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel of the same name.


title: Tracy Letts

text: Letts has written screenplays for three feature films based on his plays: "Bug" (directed by William Friedkin), "Killer Joe" (also directed by Friedkin); and "" (directed by John Wells). He also wrote the screenplay for the 2021 Netflix feature film "The Woman in the Window", starring Amy Adams, based on the eponymous psychological thriller by A.J. Finn.


title: Tracy Letts

text: Letts was once engaged to actress Sarah Paulson. He married actress Carrie Coon in September 2013. They have two children, born in 2018 and 2021. He has been sober since 1993.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The Liberal Democrats (commonly referred to as the Lib Dems) are a liberal political party in the United Kingdom. Since the 1992 general election, with the exception of the 2015 general election, they have been the third-largest UK political party by the number of votes cast. They have 14 Members of Parliament in the House of Commons, 83 members of the House of Lords, four Members of the Scottish Parliament and one member in the Welsh Senedd. The party has over 2,500 local council seats. The party holds a twice-per-year Liberal Democrat Conference, at which party policy is formulated, with all party members eligible to vote, under a one member, one vote system. The party served as the junior party in a coalition government with the Conservative Party between 2010 and 2015; with Scottish Labour in the Scottish Executive from 1999 to 2007, and with Welsh Labour in the Welsh Government from 2000 to 2003 and from 2016 to 2021.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: In 1981, an electoral alliance was established between the Liberal Party, a group which descended from the 18th-century Whigs, and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a splinter group from the Labour Party. In 1988, the parties merged as the Social and Liberal Democrats, adopting their present name just over a year later. Under the leadership of Paddy Ashdown and later Charles Kennedy, the party grew during the 1990s and 2000s, focusing its campaigns on specific seats and becoming the third-largest party in the House of Commons. Under Nick Clegg's leadership, the Liberal Democrats were junior partners in David Cameron's Conservative-led coalition government in which Clegg served as Deputy Prime Minister. Although it allowed them to implement some of their policies, the coalition badly damaged the party's electoral prospects and they lost 48 of their 56 MPs at the 2015 general election, which relegated them to fourth-largest party in the House of Commons. Under the leaderships of Tim Farron, Vince Cable and Jo Swinson, the party was refocused as a pro-Europeanist party opposing Brexit. Since 2015 the party has failed to recapture its pre-coalition successes and a poor performance in the 2019 general election saw Swinson lose her seat.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: A centrist to centre-left political party, the Liberal Democrats ideologically draw upon both liberalism and social democracy. Different factions have dominated the party at different times, each with its own ideological bent, some leaning towards the centre-left and others the centre. The party calls for constitutional reform, including a change from the first-past-the-post voting system to proportional representation. Emphasising stronger protections for civil liberties, the party promotes social-liberal approaches to issues like LGBT rights, drug liberalisation, education policy and criminal justice. It favours a market-based economy supplemented with social welfare spending. The party is internationalist and pro-European, and supported the People's Vote for the continued UK membership of the European Union and greater European integration, having previously called for adoption of the euro currency. The Lib Dems have promoted further environmental protections and opposed British military ventures like the Iraq War.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The Liberal Democrats are historically strongest in northern Scotland, south-west London, south-west England and mid-Wales. Membership is primarily made up of professionals that belong within the middle-class (without the reliance on trade unions or collective bargaining) and the party's composition has a higher proportion of university educated members than the other major political parties of the United Kingdom. The party is a federation of the English, Scottish and Welsh Liberal Democrats. The party is in a partnership with the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, while still organising there. Internationally, the party is a member of the Liberal International and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party, with its MEPs formerly affiliated to the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament, until the UK left the EU on 31 January 2020.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The Liberal Party had existed in different forms for over 300 years. During the 19th and early 20th century, it had been one of the United Kingdom's two dominant political parties, along with the Conservative Party. Following World War I, it was pushed into third place by the Labour Party and underwent a gradual decline throughout the rest of the 20th century. In the 1970s, the Liberal leader David Steel began contemplating how an alliance with other parties could return it to political power. In 1977, he formed a pact with Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan to back Callaghan's government in a motion of no confidence. This angered many Liberals and damaged them electorally. In the 1979 general election, the Liberals lost three seats in the House of Commons; the Conservatives, led by Margaret Thatcher, won the election.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: Within Labour, many centrists were uncomfortable with the growing influence of the hard left, who were calling for the UK to leave the European Economic Community and unilaterally disarm as a nuclear power. In January 1981, four senior Labour MPs—Bill Rodgers, Shirley Williams, Roy Jenkins, and David Owen, known as the "Gang of Four"—issued the Limehouse Declaration in which they announced their split from Labour. This led to the formal launch of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in March. One of its first decisions was to negotiate an electoral arrangement with the Liberals, facilitated between Jenkins, who was the first SDP leader, and Steel.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The new alliance initially did well in opinion polls. The SDP and Liberals agreed to contest alternating parliamentary by-elections; between 1981 and 1982, the SDP came close in Warrington and won Crosby and Glasgow Hillhead. At the 1983 general election, the Liberals gained five additional seats although the SDP lost many that they had previously inherited from Labour. After the 1983 election, Owen replaced Jenkins as head of the SDP. Several gains were made in subsequent by-elections: the SDP won in Portsmouth South and Greenwich and the Liberals in Brecon and Radnor and Ryedale.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: Both parties lost seats in the 1987 general election. In the wake of this, Steel called for the SDP and Liberals to merge into a single party. At the grassroots, various local constituency groups had already "de facto" merged. In the SDP, Jenkins, Rodgers, Williams, and the MP Charles Kennedy supported the idea; Owen and the MPs Rosie Barnes and John Cartwright opposed it. The SDP's membership was balloted on the idea: after it produced 57.4% in favour of the merger, Owen resigned as leader, to be replaced by Bob Maclennan. A Liberal conference in September found delegates providing a landslide majority for the merger. Formal negotiations launched that month and in December it produced a draft constitution for the new party. In 1988, Liberal and SDP meetings both produced majorities for the merger; finally, the memberships of both parties were balloted and both produced support for unification. Those in both parties opposed to unification split to form their own breakaway groups.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The Social and Liberal Democrats were formally launched on 3 March 1988. Steel and Maclennan initially became joint interim leaders. At the start, it claimed 19 MPs, 3,500 local councillors, and 100,000 members. In its first leadership election, Paddy Ashdown defeated Alan Beith. Ashdown saw the Liberal Democrats as a radical, reforming force, putting forward policies for introducing home rule for Scotland and Wales, proportional representation, transforming the House of Lords into an elected Senate, and advancing environmental protections. At the September 1988 conference it adopted the short form name "the Democrats" and in October 1989 changed its name to "Liberal Democrats". The bird of liberty was adopted as its logo. In 1989, its election results were poor: it lost 190 seats in the May 1989 local elections and secured only 6.4% of the vote in the 1989 European Parliament elections, beaten to third position by the Green Party of England and Wales. This was the worst election result for an established third party since the 1950s. Its prospects were buoyed after it won the 1990 Eastbourne by-election, followed by-election victories in Ribble Valley and Kincardine and Deeside. In the 1991 local elections it secured a net gain of 520 seats. In the 1992 general election, it secured 17.8% of the vote and 20 seats in the House of Commons: 9 of these were in Scotland and 5 in Southwest England.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: Between 1992 and 1997, the party underwent a period of consolidation, particularly on local councils. In the 1994 local elections, it came second, pushing the Conservatives into third place. In the 1994 European Parliament elections, it gained two Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). In 1993, the party was damaged by allegations of racism on the Liberal Democrat-controlled council in Tower Hamlets; it faced additional problems as its distinctive centrist niche was threatened by the rise of Tony Blair and New Labour, a project which pushed Labour to the centre. At the 1997 general election, it fielded 639 candidates, securing 46 MPs, the greatest number that the Liberals had had since 1929. These were concentrated in Southwest England, Southwest London, and areas of Scotland.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: Although Blair's Labour won a landslide victory in 1997 and did not require a coalition government, Blair was interested in cooperation with the Lib Dems. In July 1997 he invited Ashdown and other senior Lib Dems to join a Cabinet Committee on constitutional affairs. Privately, Blair offered the Liberal Democrats a coalition but later backed down amid fears that it would split his own Cabinet. The joint Committee launched the Independent Commission on the Voting System in December; its report, published in October 1998, proposed the change from the first past the post electoral system to an alternative vote top-up system. This was not the Lib Dems preferred option—they wanted full proportional representation—although Ashdown hailed it as "a historic step forward". Many Lib Dems were concerned by Ashdown's growing closeness with Labour; aware of this, he stepped down as party leader in 1999. Before he did so, the party took part in the 1999 elections for the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly. In both, the Lib Dems came fourth and became Labour's junior coalition partners.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The MP Simon Hughes was initially seen as Ashdown's most likely successor, but was defeated in the contest by Charles Kennedy. To reduce the impact of more leftist members who tended to dominate at conferences, Kennedy proposed that all members—rather than just conference delegates—should vote for the party's federal executive and federal policy committees. In 2001, Kennedy suspended the Joint Cabinet Committee with Labour. The media characterised him as "Inaction Man" and accused him of lacking a clear identity and political purpose; later criticism also focused on his alcoholism. In the 2001 general election, the party fielded 639 candidates and made a net gain of 6, bringing its total of seats to 52.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: Following the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States and the launch of the U.S.-led War on Terror, the Liberal Democrat MPs backed the government's decision to participate in the United States invasion of Afghanistan. The party was more critical of Blair's decision to participate in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003; Kennedy joined the large anti-war march in London. With the Conservatives backing the Labour government's decision to go to war, the Lib Dems were the only major party opposing it. In following years, Lib Dem MPs increasingly voted against the Labour government on a range of issues. Much of this Lib Dem opposition to the government came from their members in the House of Lords. In the 2003 local elections, the party secured about 30% of the vote, its highest ever result.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: In 2004, "" anthology was published. Written largely by centre-right economists in the party, it sparked discussions about Liberal Democrat philosophy and brought criticism from the party's social-liberal wing. In the 2005 general election, the Lib Dems secured 62 seats, the most the Liberals had had since 1923. Kennedy however faced growing calls within the party to resign after admitting that he had been treated for alcoholism; in January 2006 he stepped down under pressure even though his admission wasn't damaging to the Lib Dems' public support. In retrospect the move to oust Kennedy was seen as a "graceless" move and a turning point for the Lib Dems, who after 2010 would lose many of the left-leaning voters that Kennedy won over from Labour in 2005, "reeling in disgust from the decision to go into coalition" with the Conservatives (which Kennedy staunchly opposed).


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: In March 2006, Menzies Campbell succeeded Kennedy as party leader. Campbell was not popular with voters and faced a resurgent Conservative Party under new leader David Cameron; in the May 2007 local elections the party experienced a net loss of nearly 250 seats. In that year's Scottish Parliament election, the Scottish National Party (SNP) secured the largest vote and the Lib Dem/Labour coalition ended. Campbell was frustrated at the constant media focus on the fact that he was in his late sixties; in October he resigned and Vince Cable became acting leader.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: In December 2007, Nick Clegg narrowly beat Chris Huhne to take the party's leadership. Clegg's reshuffle of the leadership team was seen by many as a shift to the right; under Clegg, the party moved away from the social democratic focus it displayed previously. It rebranded itself as a party that would cut rather than raise taxes and dropped its hard pro-EU position. In the 2008 local elections it gained 34 seats, beating Labour in terms of vote share. The following year, the party was damaged by the expenses scandal as several Lib Dem MPs and peers were found to have misused their expenses; Campbell for example was revealed to have claimed nearly £10,000 in expenses for luxury home furnishings. In the build-up to the 2010 general election, Clegg took part in the UK's first televised party leaders debate; he was generally considered to have performed well, with pundits referring to an ensuing "Cleggmania".


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: In the election, the Lib Dems secured 23% of the vote and 57 seats; the Conservatives were the largest party but lacked a majority. The Conservatives and Lib Dems formed a coalition government, with Clegg becoming Deputy Prime Minister. Four other Lib Dems—Cable, Huhne, Danny Alexander, and David Laws—entered the coalition Cabinet. Of the 57 Liberal Democrat MPs, only two refused to support the Conservative Coalition agreement, with former party leader Charles Kennedy and Manchester Withington MP John Leech both rebelling against. Many Lib Dems opposed the move, with some favouring a coalition deal with Labour. As part of the coalition agreement, the Conservatives agreed to Lib Dem demands to introduce elected health boards, put forward a Fixed Term Parliament Bill, and end income tax for those earning less than £10,000 a year. The Conservatives also agreed to shelve their plans to replace the Human Rights Act 1998 with a proposed British Bill of Rights. The Conservatives refused to agree to Lib Dem demands for a referendum on proportional representation, instead offering a referendum on a switch from first-past-the-post to the Alternative Vote system. The coalition introduced an emergency budget to attack the fiscal deficit.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: After joining the coalition poll ratings for the party fell, particularly following the government's support for raising the cap on tuition fees with Liberal Democrat MPs voting 27 for, 21 against and 8 abstaining. The Liberal Democrats had made opposing tuition fees a major message of their campaign, with all of the party's MPs, including Nick Clegg, signing the Vote for Students pledge to oppose any increase in student tuition fees prior to the 2010 general election. Clegg later made a formal apology for breaking this promise in September 2012. Shortly after the 2015 general election, Liberal Democrat leadership contender Norman Lamb conceded that Clegg's broken pledge on university tuition had proven costly.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: In the May 2011 local elections and the elections for the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament, the Liberal Democrats suffered heavy defeats.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: Clegg admitted that the party had taken "big knocks" due to a perception that the coalition government had returned to the Thatcherism of the 1980s.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: As part of the deal that formed the coalition, it was agreed to hold a referendum on the Alternative Vote, in which the Conservatives would campaign for First Past the Post and the Liberal Democrats for Alternative Vote. The referendum, held on 5 May 2011, resulted in First Past the Post being chosen over Alternative Vote by approximately two-thirds of voters. In May 2011, Clegg revealed plans to make the House of Lords a mainly elected chamber, limiting the number of peers to 300, 80% of whom would be elected with a third of that 80% being elected every 5 years by single transferable vote. In August 2012, Clegg announced that attempts to reform the House of Lords would be abandoned due to opposition for the proposals by backbench Conservative MPs. Claiming the coalition agreement had been broken, Clegg stated that Liberal Democrat MPs would no longer support changes to the House of Commons boundaries for the 2015 general election. The Lib Dem Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Chris Huhne in 2011 announced plans for halving UK carbon emissions by 2025 as part of the "Green Deal" which was in the 2010 Liberal Democrat manifesto.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The Lib Dems lost over 300 councillors in the 2012 local elections, leaving them with fewer than 3,000 for the first time in the party's history. In June 2012 it was reported that membership of the party had fallen by around 20% since joining the coalition.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: In February 2013, the party won a by-election in Eastleigh, the Hampshire constituency that had previously been held by the former minister, Chris Huhne. The party's candidate, Mike Thornton, had been a local councillor for the party, and held the seat. In eighteen other by-elections held throughout the 2010–2015 Parliament, the party lost its deposit in 11; in the Rochester and Strood by-election held on 20 November 2014, it came fifth polling 349 votes or 0.9% of the total votes cast, the worst result in the history of the party.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: In the 2013 local elections, the Liberal Democrats lost over 100 seats council seats. In the 2014 local elections, they lost another 307 council seats and ten of their eleven seats in the European Parliament in the 2014 European elections.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: In the 2015 general election, the party lost 48 seats in the House of Commons, leaving them with only eight MPs. Prominent Liberal Democrat MPs who lost their seats included former leader Charles Kennedy, former deputy leaders Vince Cable and Simon Hughes, and several cabinet ministers. The Conservatives won an outright majority. Clegg then announced his resignation as party leader. The party lost over 400 council seats in the 2015 local elections, held the same day.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: Membership of the Liberal Democrats rose from 45,000 to 61,000 as the party prepared to hold its 2015 party leadership ballot. On 16 July 2015, Tim Farron was elected to the leadership of the party with 56.5% of the vote, beating opponent Norman Lamb. In the May 2016 local elections, the Liberal Democrats gained a small number of council seats, though they lost ground in the Welsh Assembly. The party campaigned for a Remain vote in the referendum on United Kingdom membership of the European Union in June 2016. After the Leave vote, the Liberal Democrats sought to mobilise the 48% who voted Remain, and the party's membership rose again, reaching 80,000 by September.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: In the 2017 general election, during which the party advocated continued membership of the European Single Market and a referendum on the Brexit withdrawal agreement, the Liberal Democrats' vote share dropped 0.5% to 7.4%, its lowest percentage ever, but produced a net gain of four seats. Farron then resigned; in July 2017 Vince Cable was elected leader unopposed. He called for a second referendum on the UK's relationship with the European Union. In December 2018, the MP for Eastbourne, Stephen Lloyd, resigned the Liberal Democrat Whip, saying that his party's position on Brexit was inconsistent with his pledge to his constituency that he would "respect the result" of the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. Although Lloyd remained a Liberal Democrat member, this took the number of sitting Liberal Democrat MPs down to 11.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The party gained 76 councillors in the 2018 local elections and 704 councillors in the 2019 local elections. In the 2019 European Parliament election the party ran with an anti-Brexit message seeking the support of those who wish the UK to remain in the EU, using the slogan "Bollocks to Brexit" which attracted considerable media attention. In that election, the party gained 20% of the popular vote and returned 16 MEPs. In May, Cable stood down as leader, triggering a leadership election.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: Between June and October 2019, the total number of MPs rose from 11 to 21, following eight defections from other parties, one by-election win, and Lloyd retaking the whip. The defections were mainly former MPs of Change UK, with Chuka Umunna and Sarah Wollaston joining directly from the party, whereas Heidi Allen, Luciana Berger, and Angela Smith joined after subsequently being part of The Independents. The remaining defectors were three of the 21 rebel Conservative MPs who had the whip withdrawn for voting against the government on a piece of legislation which would prevent a no-deal scenario on 31 October 2019: Antoinette Sandbach, Sam Gyimah, and Phillip Lee. The latter physically crossed the floor during the debate on the legislation, effectively removing the majority of the first Johnson government.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: Heading into the 2019 general election, the party polled well, with one poll showing the party with 20% (within 4% of Labour) as late as 28 October. Nonetheless, during the campaign period the party's fortunes dwindled, and leader Jo Swinson received negative reviews. In the election, the Liberal Democrats lost ten seats from the previous parliament and one from the previous election, returning 11 MPs. Of the nine new MPs who joined between June and October 2019, the eight who contested their seats in the 2019 general election all lost their seats. However, the party did gain 4.2% in the vote, rising to 11.6%. Swinson herself narrowly lost her East Dunbartonshire constituency to the Scottish National Party's Amy Callaghan, forcing her to resign as leader the next day in accordance with the Liberal Democrat Constitution which mandates that the leader must also serve as an MP. Deputy Leader Ed Davey and Party President Sal Brinton then jointly assumed the positions of acting co-leaders of the party. Brinton was at the end of the year (31 December 2019) replaced by Mark Pack as Party President and acting co-leader while Mike Dixon remains the party CEO.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: As of 2022, the party has 83 peers in the House of Lords. The Lib Dems' federal board set out a timetable in January 2020 which stated that a new party leader would be elected in July 2020. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom in the late winter and spring which saw many politicians infected, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the party's board initially pushed the leadership election back to May 2021. The decision was reversed in May 2020 to hold the leadership election in July 2020.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: On 27 August 2020, Ed Davey was elected as leader of the party, by a margin of almost 18,000 votes. On 13 September 2020, Daisy Cooper was announced as the party's new Deputy Leader.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: In September 2020, it was revealed by the party's new campaigning chief that the Liberal Democrats had starting planning a four-year drive to woo "soft conservatives". Cooper said the party could find a route forward by appealing to voters that had always thought of themselves as conservatives but who opposed the current direction of the Conservative Party under Boris Johnson.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: When Davey was asked by Andrew Marr about the party's stance on rejoining the EU, he said "We are not a rejoin party, but we are a very pro-European party." This caused anger to some Lib Dem members and a few days after Davey wrote a blog post clarifying his position. He stressed the Liberal Democrats were "committed to the UK being members of the European Union again" and insisted that members may have "misinterpreted" what he said on "The Andrew Marr Show" and that once he was able to clarify "people were completely relaxed".


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: Under Davey, the Liberal Democrats seized the traditional Conservative constituency of Chesham and Amersham in a by-election in which Sarah Green overturned a 16,000 majority in June 2021 and then repeated a similar feat in North Shropshire in December 2021 where Helen Morgan overturned a 23,000 majority. In the 2022 local elections, the Liberal Democrats gained councillors in all countries of Great Britain, with the largest gain of any party in England with 193 new councillors. One month later, the Liberal Democrats contested and won the Tiverton and Honiton by-election with its candidate Richard Foord, overturning a majority of over 24,000 and breaking the record for the biggest overturning of a majority in British by-election history.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The Liberal Democrats have an ideology that draws on both the liberal and social democratic traditions. The party is primarily social liberal, supporting redistribution but sceptical of increasing the power of the state, emphasising the link between equality and liberty. The party supports investment and progressive taxation, but also promotes civil liberties and a less centralised economy. This distinguishes the party from many liberal parties elsewhere in Europe that are instead dominated by classical liberalism. By comparison, the Liberal Democrats support a mixed economy and have sometimes opposed privatisation.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The party spans the centre and centre-left, and has emphasised each aspect at different times. The public have traditionally viewed the party as centre-left, though during the Cameron–Clegg coalition they were seen as centrist. On economic issues, the party has usually been positioned between the Conservatives and the Labour Party, though typically closer to the Labour Party. There is a degree of ideological diversity among members of the Liberal Democrats, with a wide range of opinions on most subjects.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: A key ideological influence on the Liberal Democrats is Leonard Hobhouse, and there is substantial overlap between the party's platform and the form of social democracy advocated by Anthony Crosland in "The Future of Socialism". The party's egalitarianism is based on the concept of equality of opportunity and have been sceptical of positive discrimination, including in their process for selecting political candidates. The party has frequently debated the introduction of all-women shortlists in selection, but not implemented them.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The Liberal Democrats support a range of constitutional reforms, including by advocating a decentralised federal structure for the United Kingdom, including devolving power to the regions of England. The party supported devolution to Scotland and Wales enacted by the Labour government under Tony Blair. The party has consistently supported electoral reform to produce more proportional results. On social issues, the party is liberal and progressive. It has consistently supported LGBT rights and drug reform. The party is internationalist and pro-European. They have consistently supported policies of European integration, including long-term advocacy of the United Kingdom adopting the euro, though they have opposed the establishing of a European army. Both before and after the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, the party has advocated for the United Kingdom's continued membership of the European Union. The party support liberal interventionism. They supported the war in Afghanistan, later opposing the 2003 invasion of Iraq due to its lack of support from the United Nations. The party has also faced internal division over the issue of nuclear weapons and the United Kingdom.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The party has a number of factions representing different strains of liberal thought. Although the social liberals, represented by the Social Liberal Forum (often abbreviated to the SLF), are the majority, factions that advocate for more economically liberal positions include Liberal Reform (often abbreviated to LR) and the "Orange Bookers", named after ""; "The Orange Book" is most often associated with former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, who contributed to it, along with former Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable and incumbent leader Ed Davey. Additionally, there is the centre-left Beveridge Group, inspired by William Beveridge. The Beveridge Group has been associated with both social liberals and social democrats within the party, including former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The Liberal Democrats support institutional reform in the United Kingdom, including the decentralisation of state power, reform of Parliament, and electoral reform. At its 1993 conference, the party put forward plans for the introduction of fixed term parliaments, something it would later secure in the coalition government of 2010–2015. Also in 1993, it proposed state funding for political parties. The Liberal Democrats have long included a commitment to proportional representation in their manifestos. According to the "New Statesman", this is the "one policy with which the Liberal Democrats are identified in the minds of the public." The Lib Dems calls for devolution or home rule for Scotland and Wales were enacted by Blair's Labour government in the late 1990s. The 1993 conference also called for the introduction of a bill of rights into the British constitution. Its 2001 manifesto included a commitment to lowering the voting age from 18 to 16. In 2013, an internal pressure group in the party called "Liberal Democrats for a republic" was formed.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: According to a 1999 survey, two-thirds of party members supported retaining the monarchy. In the 1990s, there was an anti-royalist contingent within the party; in 1993, the party conference announced support for removing the royal prerogative, and the 2000 conference backed calls for the monarch to be removed as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. At its 2003 conference, the party's Youth and Student League put forward a motion calling for the abolition of the monarchy and the introduction of an elected head of state. The 2000 party conference produced a call for the 1701 Act of Settlement to be reformed so as to allow the heir to the throne to marry a Roman Catholic, while the party's 2001 manifesto called for the disestablishment of the Church of England.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The 1999 membership survey found that most favoured free markets and individual responsibility; they were nevertheless split on whether or not they regarded private enterprise as the best way to solve economic problems. Most were against either further privatisation or further nationalisation, although they were overwhelmingly favourable to increasing taxation and government spending. The membership was also heavily against additional restrictions on trade unions.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: Liberal Democrat policy has generally been favourable to social welfare spending. During the 2000s, the party made pledges for major investment into health, education, and public services. In 1995, the party announced a plan to put £2 billion into education, including nursery places for under fives, while its 2005 manifesto included a commitment to use £1.5 billion to decrease class sizes in schools. In the 2000s, the party also pledged to abolish tuition fees for university students, and in the build-up to the 2010 general election, Clegg pledged that under a Lib Dem government this would be achieved over six years. In 2004, it pledged to add £25 a week to the state pension for people over the age of 75. In 2003, it outlined plans for devolving control of schools to local councils.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: In the mid-1990s and early 2000s, it stated that such increases in education spending would be funded through higher taxes. These included a 50% tax on those earning over £100,000 a year, and raising the basic rate of income tax by one penny in the pound. In 2003, the party's conference approved plans for a local income tax of 3.5 pence in the pound that would replace council tax; the party believed that this would result in 70% of the population paying less tax. In 2006, the party abandoned its plans for a 50% tax on the highest earners, and also put forward plans to cut income tax but balance the books by increasing tax on air travel and introducing a carbon tax.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: Under Clegg, the party emphasised lowering taxes rather than raising them; it stated that a 4 pence reduction in the basic rate tax could be permitted by finding £20 billion savings in Whitehall. This measure was opposed by the left of the party. Amid the 2008 recession, Clegg called for £20 billion cuts to state spending, to be funded by measures like reducing the number of people eligible for tax credits and scrapping road building schemes. In its 2010 manifesto, it pledged to end income taxes for those earning under £10,000 a year, something it introduced through the Cameron coalition government. Also in 2010, it stated that it would halve the national deficit over the course of four years. It had also specified that it would oppose any increases in VAT, although when in coalition announced an increase in VAT to 20%.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The Liberal Democrats supported the war in Afghanistan in 2001. The party was the only one of Britain's three major parties to oppose the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The party's leadership stressed that this was not because the party was intrinsically anti-war, but because the invasion did not have support from the United Nations. In the wake of the invasion, the party's 2005 manifesto included a pledge that the UK would never again support a military occupation deemed illegal under international law. Menzies Campbell demanded the suspension of all future arms exports to Israel during the 2006 Lebanon War and Operation Summer Rains.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The Liberal Democrats called for a full judicial inquiry into Britain's involvement in CIA black sites and extraordinary rendition since the 11 September attacks. They also called on the UK government to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia and condemned the Saudi-led coalition's attacks targeting civilians in Yemen. In February 2019, the International Court of Justice in The Hague issued an advisory opinion stating that the UK must transfer the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius as they were not legally separated from the latter in 1965. Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael stated: "The ICJ has very clearly instructed the UK to return the island chain to Mauritian control. The government's refusal to do so is arrogant and jeopardises our credibility on a world stage."


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: Whiteley et al. noted that "like the Liberals before them, [the Liberal Democrats] have taken a strong positive position on internationalism", including the need for international cooperation, aid for the developing world, and European integration. In this they have always been more internationalist and pro-Europeanist than either Labour or the Conservatives.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: From its foundation, the Liberal Democrats were committed to the UK's membership of the European Union. In 1993, it called for the UK to take a lead in seeking a timetable for the adoption of a pan-European currency, and also called for the formation of an autonomous European central bank. A 1999 survey of party members found they overwhelmingly backed European integration, and two thirds wanted the UK to adopt the euro currency. In its 1999 manifesto for the European Parliamentary elections, it called for completing the European single market, holding a referendum on the adoption of the euro currency, establishing an EU constitution, expanding the EU into Central and Eastern Europe, and encouraging an EU-wide clampdown on pollution and international crime. This attitude had been inherited from the Liberal Party which had originally proposing membership into the predecessor European Coal and Steel Community. However, the Liberal Democrats oppose the European federalism espoused by their counterparts.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: Despite its pro-European stance, the party has included Eurosceptics such as the MP Nick Harvey. The 1999 membership survey found that 37% wanted the UK to remain in the EU but to have the latter's powers reduced while 5% of members wanted the UK to leave the EU altogether. Cook argued that whereas the Lib Dems were once "the most pro-European of all British parties", by 2008 it had "a vocal Eurosceptic element" who were opposed to the British ratification of the EU's Lisbon Treaty without a referendum. Under Clegg, the party backed away from its hardline pro-EU position.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: In June 2016, following the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum in which 51.9% voted in favour of leaving the European Union, Tim Farron said that if Liberal Democrats were to be elected in the next parliamentary election, they would not follow through with triggering of the Treaty on European Union and leaving the EU ("Any Member State may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements") but would instead keep UK part of the EU. Following this promise, the Liberal Democrats claim that their membership has increased by 10,000 since the referendum; at one point, the growth in the party was the equivalent of one person joining per minute. Campaigning for a second referendum regarding the exact goals of Brexit negotiation was one of the party's flagship policies in the 2017 general election and the 2019 general election.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The Liberal Democrats have strongly advocated for environmental protection and have typically taken more radical stances on environmental issues than either Labour or the Conservatives. In 1993, the party put forward proposals for an EU tax on energy use and emissions. That year, it also proposed that GDP should be redefined to take into account pollution and the depletion of natural resources. At its 2009 conference, the party introduced a commitment for Lib Dem controlled councils to cut their carbon emissions by 10% in 2010. Other policies included:


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The Liberal Democrats place greater emphasis on human rights and individual freedoms than the Conservatives or Labour. Conversely, the political scientist John Meadowcroft expressed the view that "the Liberal Democrats are a supposedly liberal party that does not believe in liberty." Commenting on the 1999 membership survey, Whiteley et al. noted that the majority of members took "a distinctly right of centre view" on many, although not all, moral and legal issues.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: Its 1997 manifesto committed the party to lowering the age of consent for same-sex couples to 16, bringing it in line with that for mixed-sex couples. At its 2000 conference, party delegates backed calls for the government to provide legal recognition for same-sex relationships. In the 1999 membership survey, 57% believed that the government should discourage the growth of one-parent families. That same survey found just over half of the party membership expressing pro-choice views regarding abortion access.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: At its 1997 conference, the party's delegates voted in favour of establishing a Royal Commission to examine the possibility of decriminalising voluntary euthanasia.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: At its 1994 conference, party delegates voted to end criminal prosecutions for cannabis possession, although the party's 23 MPs voted against the measure. The 1999 membership survey suggested a tougher stance on many law and order issues, with over half wanting longer sentencing and no option of parole for those serving life sentences. The 2004 party congress approved a ban on smoking in public places.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: In March 2016, the Liberal Democrats became the first major political party in the UK to support the legalisation of cannabis. The party supports cannabis sale and possession to be legal for all UK adults aged 18-years-old and over, the set up of specialist licensed stores to sell cannabis, the legalisation of home cultivation of cannabis for personal use, small scale cannabis clubs to be licensed, and a new regulator to oversee the market.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The Liberal Democrats are a federal party of the parties of England, Scotland, and Wales. The English and Scottish parties are further split into regions. The parliamentary parties of the House of Commons, the House of Lords, the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd form semi-autonomous units within the party. The leaders in the House of Commons and the Scottish Parliament are the leaders of the federal party and the Scottish Party; the leaders in the other two chambers, and the officers of all parliamentary parties, are elected from their own number. Co-ordination of all party activities across all federated groups is undertaken through the Federal Board. Chaired by the party leader, its 30+ members includes representatives from each of the groups and democratically elected representatives.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: In the first quarter of 2008, the party received £1.1 million in donations and have total borrowings and unused credit facilities of £1.1 million (the "total debt" figure reported by the Electoral Commission includes, for example, unused overdraft facilities). This compares to Labour's £3.1 million in donations and £17.8 million of borrowing/credit facilities, and the Conservatives' £5.7 million in donations and £12.1 million of borrowing/credit facilities.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: Specified Associated Organisations (SAOs) review and input policies, representing groups including: ethnic minorities (LDCRE), women (WLD), the LGBT community (LGBT+ Liberal Democrats), youth and students (Young Liberals), engineers and scientists (ALDES), parliamentary candidates (PCA) and local councillors (ALDC). Others can become Associated Organisations (AOs) as campaigning or representative groups in the party, such as the Green Liberal Democrats (GLD), the Liberal Democrat European Group (LDEG) and the Liberal Democrat Disability Association. There are many other groups that are not formally affiliated to the party, including Social Liberal Forum (SLF) and Liberal Reform.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: Like the Conservatives, the Lib Dems organise in Northern Ireland. Although they do not contest elections in the province, they work with the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, described as its sister party and "de facto" agreeing to support the Alliance in elections. There is a separate local party operating in Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Liberal Democrats. It is also a sister party of the Liberal Party of Gibraltar and contests the South-West England constituency at European Parliamentary elections on a joint ticket with them taking place six on the party list.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The party is a member of Liberal International and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party. Their 16 MEPs sat in the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament until Britain left the European Union. The party colour is amber, but it is referred to as yellow in the party's style guide. The party anthem is the old Liberal's "The Land" while its slogan is "Build a Brighter Future". The party headquarters are at 8–10 Great George Street London SW1P 3AE.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: In the 2005 general election, the party was endorsed by "The Independent". Cook noted that in the build-up to the 2010 election, most mainstream press—which was aligned with either the Conservatives or Labour—was "voraciously hostile" to the Lib Dems. In that election, it nevertheless attracted the endorsement of "The Guardian" and "The Observer".


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: Whereas Labour gained funding through its links to trade unions and the Conservatives through big business, the Liberal Democrats have relied on funds raised by the subscriptions and donations provided by its members. The party had some major donors, such as Lord Jacobs, who gave it around £1 million over the course of twenty years until he resigned in 2008. In some years, it struggled to cover its costs; in 2008 for instance it made a loss of £670,000.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: In its early years, the caricature of Liberal Democrat members was that of "sandal-wearing, bearded eccentrics obsessed by the minutiae of electoral reform". Based on their 1999 survey of Liberal Democrat members, Whiteley noted that although party members shared many of the same attitudes as the party's voters, there were also "striking differences", namely in that members were "older, more middle-class and better educated" than the voters. Their survey found that party membership was 54% male; and was dominated by middle-class people, with working-class individuals comprising only 5% of members (in contrast to 30% of Labour and 19% of Conservative members at that time). The average age was 59, and 58% of members were aged 56 or over. A third were retired, and a third in full-time employment. A majority worked, or had previously worked, in the non-profit sector. 42% possessed a degree, which was higher than among Labour (30%) and Conservative (19%) members at that time. 65% of members considered themselves religious, with 70% of those being Anglican, 15% Methodist, and 11% Roman Catholic.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: As of 1999, 43% of members had previously belonged to the Liberal Party, 14% to the Social Democratic Party, and 42% had joined with no previous political affiliation. 21% of members had joined because of their social contacts, such as friends, family, and colleagues, who were already members. Around 40% of members stated that they joined because they agreed with the party's principles; a further 16% said they joined because of its policies. The majority of members were largely inactive in party activities, with only 22% of those polled indicating that they were willing to attend party meetings.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The senior ranks of the party had long been heavily male-dominated; after the 1997 general election, for instance, only three of its 46 MPs were women. Reinforcing its "male, middle-class image", after the 2010 election, 40% of Liberal Democrat MPs were privately educated. However, following the 2019 general election, seven of its then eleven MPs were female, and the Chesham and Amersham by-election, 2021 increased the share to eight out of twelve MPs.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: Membership fluctuated between 1988 and 2000 between a low of 69,000 in 2000 and a peak of 101,768 in 1994. Membership increased sharply after the confirmation on 18 April 2017 of the 8 June 2017 general election, surpassing 100,000 on 24 April 2017 and reached an all-time high in June 2019 following the 2019 European elections,<ref name="Liberal Democrats/Greg Foster"></ref> increasing further after their win in the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election which reduced the working majority of the Conservative government to just one seat.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: In 2019, the party had a minimum of 17,102 registered supporters which were not included in the membership figure of at least 120,000 members.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: A research briefing paper by the House of Commons Library published on 30 August 2022, stated that data submitted to the Electoral Commission suggested that the party membership at the end of 2021 stood at 73,544.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The 1997 British Election Study Survey found that the average Liberal Democrat voter was aged 47, with 52% between the ages of 18 and 45. 16% of Lib Dem voters at that time possessed a degree. 23% were working class or blue collar workers, a much higher percentage than was found among the party's membership. The survey found that Liberal Democrat voters shared many attitudes with the members; these voters overwhelmingly desired proportional representation and 63% backed EU membership. Where the voters differed from the members was on the issue of foreign aid; over half of members wanted to increase the UK's foreign aid budget, whereas only a third of Liberal Democrat voters agreed.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: Analysing voting patterns from the 1990s, Whiteley et al. argued that highly educated people were more likely than average to vote Liberal Democrat, that older people were less likely than average to vote Liberal Democrat, and that class, gender, or ethnicity had no impact on the tendency to vote for the party.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: From the Liberal Party, the Liberal Democrats inherited a strong base in Wales and Scotland. In 2010, Cook noted that the party's safe seats "do not fit a very homogeneous pattern", being scattered amidst rural, middle-class suburban, and inner city areas. A key feature of the party's electoral strategy has been foregrounding community politics. Examining the survey evidence, Whiteley et al. argued that the strength of grassroots party activism in a particular area had a big impact on the vote share that the Liberal Democrats received there.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: Throughout its history, the first past the post system has prevented the Liberal Democrats from receiving a share of parliamentary seats that reflects their share of the vote.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: In the 1992 general election, the Lib Dems succeeded the SDP–Liberal Alliance as the third most popular party, behind Labour and the Conservatives. Their popularity never rose to the levels attained by the Alliance, but in later years their seat count rose far above the Alliance's peak, a feat that has been credited to more intelligent targeting of vulnerable seats. The vote percentage for the Alliance in 1987 and the Lib Dems in 2005 is similar, yet the Lib Dems won 62 seats to the Alliance's 22. This was because in 1987, the Alliance vote was fairly evenly spread throughout the country, whereas in 2005 the Liberal Democrat vote was concentrated in particular areas, allowing them to win nearly three times as many parliamentary seats as in 1987 despite getting a slightly lower share of the overall vote.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The first-past-the-post electoral system used in UK general elections is not suited to parties whose vote is evenly divided across the country, resulting in those parties achieving a lower proportion of seats in the Commons than their proportion of the popular vote (see table and graph). The Lib Dems and their Liberal and SDP predecessors have suffered especially, particularly in the 1980s when their electoral support was greatest while the disparity between the votes and the number of MPs returned to parliament was significantly large. The increase in their number of seats in 1997, 2001 and 2005 was attributed to the weakness of the Conservatives and the success of their election strategist Chris Rennard. Lib Dems state that they want 'three-party politics' in the Commons; the most realistic chance of power with first past the post is for the party to be "the kingmakers" in a hung parliament. Party leaders often set out their terms for forming a coalition in such an event—Nick Clegg stated in 2008 that the policy for the 2010 general election was to reform elections, parties and Parliament in a "constitutional convention".


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: The party had control of 31 councils in 2008, having held 29 councils prior to the 2008 election. In the 2008 local elections they gained 25% of the vote, placing them ahead of Labour and increasing their control by 34 to more than 4,200 council seats—21% of the total number of seats. In council elections held in May 2011, the Liberal Democrats suffered heavy defeats in the Midlands and North of England. They also lost heavily in the Welsh assembly and Scottish Parliament. In local elections held in May 2012, the Lib Dems lost more than 300 councillors, leaving them with fewer than 3000 for the first time in the party's history. In the 2013 local elections, they lost more councillors. In the 2014 local elections they lost over 300 councillors and the control of two local governments.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: In the 2016 local elections, the number of Liberal Democrat councillors increased for the first time since they went into coalition in 2010. The party won 43 seats and increased its vote share by 4%. A number of former MPs who lost their seats in 2015 won council seats in 2016, including former Manchester Withington MP John Leech who won 53% of the vote in a traditionally safe Labour seat. Leech's win was the first gain for any party in Manchester other than Labour for the first time in six years, and provided the city's majority Labour administration with its first opposition for two years. Cheadle's former MP Mark Hunter also won a seat on Stockport Council.


title: Liberal Democrats (UK)

text: In the 2021 elections the BBC reported that in England's 143 councils up for election the party won 588 seats (an increase of seven) and won seven councils (an increase of one), holding Cheltenham, Eastleigh, Mole Valley, Three Rivers, Watford and Winchester and gaining St. Albans. In the London Assembly, two seats were won (an increase of one). As of 2022, the party has 2,562 councilors.