Social Democratic Party (UK, 1988–1990)

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) formed in 1988 was a political party in the United Kingdom led by David Owen, which lasted for only two years. A successor party to the original Social Democratic Party (SDP), it was known informally as the 'continuing' SDP.

The party was formed after the first incarnation of the SDP, created in 1981 by the "Gang of Four" (Owen, Roy Jenkins, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams, all dissident former ministers from the Labour Party), voted to turn its electoral alliance with the Liberal Party into a full merger of the two parties. The new Social and Liberal Democrats (SLD) party thus gained all of the records and assets of the original SDP. However, three sitting SDP members of parliament — Owen, John Cartwright, and Rosie Barnes — did not join the SLD, opting instead to create a new 'continuing' Social Democratic Party. They were joined by a minority of former members of the original SDP. The new party was not alone in having members who rejected the merger with the Liberal Party to form the SLD: among Liberals, Michael Meadowcroft led a breakaway faction which created a new Liberal Party the following year.

The 'continuing' SDP was dissolved in 1990 in the aftermath of a by-election in Bootle, in which the party's candidate received fewer votes than Screaming Lord Sutch's Official Monster Raving Loony Party.