An updated version of this piece can be found on the PolicyBristol blog. What have we learned in the eight days since Britain voted to leave the EU by a margin of 3.8 percentage points? The country has jettisoned the foreign policy followed by all governments since 1961 yet the […]
Brexit requires radical change in the UK political system Read More »
In the wake of the EU referendum result the UK faces a crisis unparalleled in peacetime. The financial crash of 2008 was bad enough, but at least our political system was not then in melt-down. Today, half a century of carefully crafted foreign policy has crumbled to dust. Each of
The EU referendum crisis is this generation of MPs’ ‘Narvik’ moment Read More »
The Labour Party is presently considering its future policy on the renewal of the UK’s Trident nuclear weapons system. If anyone is interested, I have submitted my thoughts on this to the party’s International Policy Commission. In that submission I explore the history of Labour Party policy on nuclear weapons and
Replacing Trident: some lessons of history for Labour Read More »
Are you interested in undertaking PhD research in the field of modern British history and, particularly, in the modern history of philanthropy in Britain? If so you may be interested in a studentship at the University of Bristol to write a modern history of the Society of Merchant Venturers, a
Fully funded PhD studentship to research modern British history Read More »
Nobody watching the news last night (2 Sept 2015) and seeing the conjunction of a drowned Syrian toddler being carried tenderly from the sea and Mr Cameron robustly holding the line on migration can have failed to see that Britain’s current policy on migration has run out of road. This repudiation
When in a hole, stop digging Read More »
I have updated my Research Resources for Contemporary British Historians and all the links are now working. I hope it is useful.
Contemporary British History research resources updated Read More »
What do the Labour Party’s elections for leader and deputy leader tell us about ideological divisions within the party? Certainly the process has turned out to be much more newsworthy and more politically divisive than anybody expected. With my University of Bristol colleague Mark Wickham-Jones I have been analysing developments and
The Factionalisation of Labour’s Parliamentary Party Read More »
Does geography play any part within a political party’s internal elections? As they build their Parliamentary careers, do potential party leaders develop a support base among other MPs representing the same region? In an LSE blog post with Ron Johnston, David Manley, Charles Pattie, Hugh Pemberton and Mark Wickham-Jones we map where
‘Friends and neighbours’ effects in the 2010 Labour leadership contest Read More »
I’ve added a new page to the site: a guide to research resources that will be of interest to historians of contemporary Britain. It used to reside elsewhere, in a slightly different form, and a few of the links may need updating – but I aim to get them all
Research resources for the contemporary British historian Read More »