Steel, Sir David Martin Scott

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Steel, Sir David Martin Scott (1938– ) British politician, leader of the Liberal Party (1976–88). Steel entered Parliament in 1965, and sponsored the bill that became the 1967 Abortion Act. In 1981, he took the Liberal Party into an electoral alliance with the newly-formed Social Democratic Party (SDP). In 1988, the two parties merged to form the Liberal Democrats, and Steel stood down in favour of Paddy Ashdown. He served (1999–2003) as Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament.

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