Talk:George Thomson, Baron Thomson of Monifieth

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Membership of the SDP

In political affilations it lists Lord Thomson as being in the SDP from 1981 until 1988 (when the party merged with the Liberal Party to become the Liberal Democrats. It also says in the lead section of the article that "In the 1980s, he joined the Social Democratic Party. Following the SDP's merger with the Liberal Party, he became a Liberal Democrat". On the face of it this sounds plausible, but it is contradicted by his Royal Society of Edinburgh obituary which states he sat on the crossbenches until 1988, only joining the Lib Dems when he ceased to be chair of the IBA -see George Morgan Thomson. I would have thought this could well be correct as the holder of such an independent office would usually suspend any party affiliation during the period they held office. Thus I am not sure he was ever a member of the SDP. Can someone find a source that would confirm this one way or another? Dunarc (talk) 20:52, 12 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]