Contemporary History
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‘A negative achievement’: Behind the scenes of the House of Lords Act 1999
Ahead of major pieces of legislation designed to reform the composition of the House of Lords, and our recent event ‘Reforming the House of Lords’ discussing the history of this tricky issue, Dr Emma Peplow, Head of Contemporary History, draws…
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Call for Volunteers: History of Parliament Oral History Project
The History of Parliament Trust is looking for new volunteer interviewers to join its oral history project! Since 2011, the project has interviewed over 250 former members of parliament, creating, in collaboration with the British Library, a unique sound archive…
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Tales from the Green Benches: An Oral History of Parliament
This week, The History of Parliament Trust is excited to announce a new podcast series, ‘Tales from the Green Benches: An Oral History of Parliament’. Since 2012, the History of Parliament has been interviewing former members of the House of…
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Arthur Latham and the rise of the Labour Left
On this day, 1930, Arthur Latham was born. Labour MP for Paddington North (later Paddington) from 1969 to 1979, his career both inside and outside the Commons reflected the ebb and flow of the Labour Party’s ‘hard left’. Alfie Steer…
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‘A Manly Place’: Experiences of Women in Parliament after 1997
On 19 March 2024, the History of Parliament Trust hosted the second in a series of events drawing on their groundbreaking Oral History Project. This event, in partnership with and funded by Keele University, explored women’s experiences in parliament and…
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Down for the count: election night highs and lows
As the UK goes to the polls today, here Dr Emma Peplow shares memories from our oral history archive, exploring how former MPs felt on polling day and how they approached the night of the count… Today most of the…
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Mass-Observation and popular politics at the 1945 General Election
Ahead of next Tuesday’s Parliaments, Politics and People seminar, we hear from Rebecca Goldsmith, of Jesus College, Cambridge. On 30 April she will discuss Mass-Observation and popular politics at the 1945 general election. The seminar takes place on 30 April…
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HIV and Parliament: memories from our Oral History Project
For LGBT+ History Month, Dr Emma Peplow, Head of Contemporary History, uses the History of Parliament’s Oral History archive to reflect on the debates and experiences of HIV in Parliament during the 1980s. When the HIV/AIDs epidemic arrived in the UK…
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Visibility of Disability in the House of Commons: Food for Thought
As the UK marks Disability History Month, today’s guest blogger, Dr Ekaterina (Katya) Kolpinskaya explores the representation of disabilities in the House of Commons, and why Members of Parliament may be unwilling or unable to be more open about their disabilities.…
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75 Years of the National Health Service: A Political History of Health and Healthcare in Britain
In September, the History of Parliament celebrated our latest publication with St James’s House to commemorate 75 years of the NHS at Westminster Abbey. Paul Seaward, Director of the History of Parliament, discusses the contents of the book and how to…
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Identifying the Attlee Family Cars: Prime Ministers’ Props
To coincide with the third BBC Radio 4 series of Prime Ministers’ Props, our senior research fellow, Dr Martin Spychal, discusses the intriguing (and still partially inconclusive) research journey behind identifying the cars used on the campaign trail by Clement…
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Cooperation and the Co-operative Party
The Co-operative Party was founded in 1917, volunteer interviewer Peter Reilly reflects on his recent oral history interview with David Lepper, a former ‘Labour Coop’ MP and what it meant to be a member of the Co-operative Party. Recent interviews…