Well, indeed. You may well ask.
All right, for the avoidance of doubt and for the
The word liberal, in British politics, has the opposite meaning to its usage in the USA where of course it means socialist, as in Uncle Sam Knows Best so shaddup with your liberty crap and hand over your money, then get back in your box and await my orders. Nancy Pelosi is a leading American liberal.
Some British socialists call themselves Liberals. This is quite different from British liberal although similar to the American liberal.
British conservatives are liberals who would disagree with American liberals, who in Britain would be called Liberals but never liberals.
In Britain, liberal means one who defends individual liberty against Big Brother. This is not to be confused with Liberal which denotes a socialist who has reached voting age without having developed the nads required to accept either the appellation socialist or the responsibilities of principled government (and is happiest in opposition except for the short-term use of flunkeys, the red carpets, etc.) and has therefore opted for unprincipled populist vacillation according to short-term electoral expediency.
In summary, a British liberal cannot be a Liberal because he is a conservative and a British Liberal cannot be a liberal because he is not a conservative.
In Britain, whenever you hear a liberal call a Liberal 'a liberal', you can be sure it is meant ironically. Unless the speaker is David Cameron.
Clear?
Jolly good.
Actually, this is only half the story...
(Footnote: most of the above would be disputed by most British Liberals although probably not much by most British liberals.)
When you add in the Australian Liberals and indeed liberals it is clear the word has become utterly redundant.
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