Robert Maclennan, Baron Maclennan of Rogart
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Robert Adam Ross Maclennan, Baron Maclennan of Rogart PC (born June 26, 1936) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the last leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), serving during the negotiations that led to its merger with the Liberal Party in 1988. He then became joint interim leader of the new party, known as the Social and Liberal Democrats (SLD) before later becoming the Liberal Democrats.
Maclennan was educated at Balliol College, Oxford and Trinity College, Cambridge. He became Member of Parliament (MP) for the now-former constituency of Caithness and Sutherland in 1966, and serving until 1997; and for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross after boundary changes, from 1997 to 2001.
He was first elected as a member of the Labour Party and served as a junior minister in the Labour government of 1974-1979, but in 1981 defected to become a founder member of the SDP. He was one of the few SDP MPs to keep their seats in the 1983 general election. After his stint as SDP Leader in 1988, he served as a front bench spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, and as their president from 1994 until 1998. He is now the party's spokesman on Europe in the House of Lords.
External links
- [Lord Maclennan of Rogart] profile at the site of Liberal Democrats
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