Webstory

Category: parliament

  • The last gasp of political Protestantism, 1963-4

    I’m delighted to be able to say that my article on this, jointly written with John Maiden of the Open University, has now been published. The full reference is: Parliament, the Church of England and the Last Gasp of Political Protestantism, 1963–4 Parliamentary History 32; 2 (2013), 361-77 DOI: 10.1111/1750-0206.12020 If your library subscribes to…

  • Mrs Thatcher’s religion

    As Mrs Thatcher passed away last week, I wonder how long it will be before we can reach a sensible assessment of her career. When teaching students born in John Major’s Britain, I used to struggle to bring alive to them quite how divisive a figure she was, and how much visceral emotion about her…

  • Is it time to disestablish the Church of England ?

    For much of the last century, every adjustment in the relationship between the state and the established Church of England has been resisted on the basis that it ‘raises the question of disestablishment’. There have of course been tinkerings and modifications: on the process of Crown appointments; attempts at removing the bishops from the House…

  • Religion, politics and law in contemporary Britain: a web archive

    [This is an expanded version of a post first published in the UK Web Archive blog.] It has been over two years in the making, but I am delighted to be able to say that my own special collection in the UK Web Archive is now online. UKWA (for which I am engagement and liaison…

  • Reforming the House of Lords: a review

    I’ve been very pleased to see my review of a recent history of the movement to reform the House of Lords appear over at Reviews in History. If you were to read the whole thing, you would see that I thought the book, by Peter Dorey and Alexandra Kelso, at once interesting, useful and convincing.…