Elections
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Polling in advance of the votes
As the 2024 General Election campaigns continue this week, news outlets have been filled with many different polls, suggesting a…
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Dissolving Parliament
Today, on 30 May 2024, Parliament will be formally dissolved following a ‘Dissolution proclamation’ from the King. This is the…
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Tory to Whig – or helping out the Family?
Historians J.B. Owen, J.H. Plumb, and Linda Colley have all alluded to the post-1714 drift of the Tories into the…
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‘The corruption of the best things becomes the worst.’ The Politics of Electoral Registration in Several Midland Boroughs in the Age of Reform, 1832-41
Ahead of next Tuesday’s Parliaments, Politics and People seminar, we hear from Sarah Boote Powell, of the University of Warwick.…
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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…
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Benjamin Franklin and the state of Britain in the time of Wilkes
A new series exploring Benjamin Franklin’s time in Europe launches on streaming services this month, but how did the American…
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Enter the Dragon: the education of Robert Harley
Robert Harley (1661-1724) was in his late 20s when he was first elected to Parliament as MP for Tregony in…
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‘Not voting at all’: the election of an imprisoned MP in 1769
2024 represents the 250th anniversary of John Wilkes’s re-election for Middlesex and election as Lord Mayor of London. It was…
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“Get a haircut”Celebrating the career of Lord Chancellor Cowper
10 May 2023 marked the 300th anniversary of the death of William Cowper, Earl Cowper, a rarity among political lawyers…
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‘True Blue’: the choice of political colours in the 18th century
In British politics, we are now used to the idea of certain parties (or causes) being associated with particular colours.…
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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,…
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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…