Remembering Conrad Russell

In his book, An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Liberalism, (1999) Conrad Russell, who died on October 14th, 2004, argued that the Liberal party was the longest unbroken political tradition in the country, from its origins in the seventeenth century to the present day. He illustrated the continuity of this tradition with reference to himself. His great grandfather, Lord John Russell, had been the last Whig prime minister, and the first prime minister of the Liberal Party. Conrad himself had been the last peer to take the Liberal whip in the House of Lords, and the first to sit in that house as a Liberal Democrat.