British Get Middle-Ground Party

LONDON — The 110-year-old Liberal Party and the infant Social Democrats merged today to become Britain’s third largest political party--the Social and Liberal Democrats--that will challenge both the left and the right.

They will challenge Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s ruling Conservative Party on the right and Neil Kinnock’s socialist Labor Party on the left. The new political party was formally launched after a divisive, name-calling debate between pro- and anti-merger forces at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Center under the slogan: “The New Choice--The Best Future.”