Liberals merge completely with the Conservative Party. 1970 The Liberal Party win 6 seats in the 1970 general election. 1974 The Liberal Party win 14 seats in the February 1974 general election and hold the balance of power. The Liberal Party win 13 seats in the October 1974 general election. 1975 Margaret Thatcher becomes leader of the Conservative Party and the party adopts the Classical liberal philosophy which became known as Thatcherism. 1979 The Conservative Party win a landslide victory in the 1979 general election with 339 seats and the Liberal Party win 11 seats. 1981 A faction in the Labour Party break away and form Social Democratic Party (SDP). 1983 An electoral and political alliance between the Liberal Party and SDP is formed. The Liberal Party win 17 seats and the SDP win 6 seats in the 1983 general election. The Conservatives win another landslide victory with 397 seats. 1987 The Conservatives win another victory with 376 seats and the Liberal–SDP alliance win 22 seats in the 1987 general election. 1988 The Liberal Party merge with SDP into the Liberal Democrats. The anti-merger Liberal Party and continuing SDP are formed. 1992 The Conservatives win another victory with 336 seats and new Liberal Democrats win 20 seats in the 1992 general election. 1997 The Conservative win 165 seats and the Liberal Democrats win 46 seats in the 1997 general election. 2001 The Conservatives win 166 seats and the Liberal Democrats win 52 seats in the 2001 general election. 2002 A splinter group of the Conservative Party, the Pro-Euro Conservative Party merges into the Liberal Democrats. 2005 The Conservatives win 198 seats and the Liberal Democrats win 62 seats in the 2005 general election. 2010 The Conservatives win the 2010 general election with 306 seats and the Liberal Democrats win 57 seats, however with no overall control the two parties form a coalition government. 2015 The Conservatives win the 2015 general election with 330 seats and the coalition is ended; the Liberal Democrats are nearly wiped out and win only 8 seats. 2017 The Conservatives win another victory with 317 seats and the Liberal Democrats win 12 seats in the 2017 general election. 2019 The Conservatives win the 2019 general election with 365 seats and the Liberal Democrats win 11 seats. Timeline of Liberal parties in Northern Ireland 1956 The Ulster Liberal Association is formed, and is soon renamed as the