Robert Maclennan, Baron Maclennan of Rogart

Robert Adam Ross "Bob" Maclennan, Baron Maclennan of Rogart PC ( born June 26, 1936 in Glasgow ) is a British Liberal Democrat politician and life peer.

He was the last leader of the Social Democratic Party ( SDP) prior to the merger with the Liberal Party in 1988. He was then temporarily the leader of the new party, the name Social and Liberal Democrats (SLD ) before lead then the Liberal Democrats were.

Political career

Maclennan was educated at Glasgow Academy, Balliol College, Oxford, Trinity College, Cambridge and Columbia University in New York City.

In 1966 he was elected for the constituency of Caithness and Sutherland in the British House of Commons, he held this seat until 1997; and after a clean slate of constituencies for the constituency of Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross by 1997 to 2001.

He drew for Labour in Parliament and was junior minister during the Labour Government 1974-1979 but in 1981 he defected and was one of the founding members of the SDP. He was one of the few Social Democrats achieved a seat in the British general election, 1983. After his time as leader of the SDP in 1988, he was speaker of the Liberaldfemokraten and was its president from 1994 to 1998.

As a result, he was raised as Baron Maclennan of Rogart for Life Peer and moved into the House of Lords. He is spokesman for the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords.