One of the founding members of the Social Democratic Party, Bill Rogers, has paid a visit to Bristol West to campaign for the re-election of Stephen Williams.
Lord Rogers was one of the 'Gang of Four' with Roy Jenkins, Shirley Williams and David Owen, who founded the SDP in 1981. He fought his first campaign in Bristol West as a Labour candidate in a Parliamentary bi-election in 1957.
Stephen Williams was also a member of the SDP, which became part of the Liberal Democrats in 1988. Stephen says, "This is the most open election of my lifetime. When I first got involved in politics in the early 1980s the SDP was poised to 'break the mould', and if it wasn't for the Faulkland's War maybe we would have done. But now the Liberal Democrats have over 60 MPs, are riding high in the opinion polls and look set for big gains next Thursday. I feel that we really can change the political system for good now."
Lord Rogers said, "I came back to Bristol West in 2005 in order to support Stephen and was delighted to return five years later to help him get re-elected. I am tremendously excited about what might happen in this week's election."
