Category: Modern

Contemporary History, 20th century history, Factions, Harold Macmillan, Modern, Oral history

The Monday Club

Continuing our series on factions, Alfie Steer, historian of modern and contemporary Britain, discusses one of the more controversial party factions, the Monday Club, and reflects on the limitations our oral history archive has encountered with such topics. On Monday, 3 February 1961, the Prime Minister Harold Macmillan addressed the South African parliament. Now remembered as the ‘Winds of Change’ speech, Macmillan’s address both acknowledged the growing calls … Continue reading The Monday Club

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Contemporary History, 20th century history, Elections, Electoral Reform, Modern, Oral history, Women and Parliament

All-Women Shortlists: 30 Years On

During the 1993 Labour Party Conference, all-women shortlists were endorsed by the party. In the following general election in 1997, the number of women MPs doubled. In this blog, Alfie Steer explores our oral history archive and discusses the controversy of AWS and its impact on Parliament. This year marks thirty years since the Labour Party first introduced all-women’s shortlists (AWS) for parliamentary selections. Its … Continue reading All-Women Shortlists: 30 Years On

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Modern, 20th century history, Elections, Factions, Irish History, Parties

Sinn Féin: A 20th Century History of Party Splits

During the 20th century, Sinn Féin officially split three times and from these splits emerged some of the most central parties in Irish politics. In this second blog of a two-blog series, our Public Engagement Assistant, Kirsty O’Rourke, discusses the reasons behind the party splits. As discussed in an earlier blog, Sinn Féin (translated as we ourselves) garnered popularity following the 1916 Easter Rising and became … Continue reading Sinn Féin: A 20th Century History of Party Splits

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Modern, 20th century history, Elections, Factions, Irish History, Parties

The origins of Sinn Féin

In a series of two blogs, our Public Engagement Assistant, Kirsty O’Rourke, will discuss the 20th century history of Sinn Féin. In this first blog, Kirsty looks at the origins of the party and its founder, Arthur Griffith. Throughout the 20th century, the Sinn Féin party (translated as we ourselves) underwent multiple changes and divisions. Between its formal founding of 1905 (Sinn Féin was not … Continue reading The origins of Sinn Féin

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Contemporary History, 20th century history, Health and Medicine, Modern, Social history

75 Years of the NHS – reform, reorganisation and restructure

Fittingly, the NHS celebrated its 75th anniversary in the wake of a major reform. Such ‘once in a lifetime’ reorganisations have been a feature since its creation. In this guest blog, Dr Michael Lambert, an NHS historian and Research Fellow at Lancaster Medical School, discusses how successive politicians have used restructuring to try and overcome recurrent crises in the health service. The NHS which Labour’s … Continue reading 75 Years of the NHS – reform, reorganisation and restructure

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Contemporary History, Elections, Electoral Reform, Local History, Modern, Oral history

How MPs navigated changing constituency boundaries

The Boundary Commissions for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland submitted their 2023 Boundary Reviews in June, presenting their recommendations to the Speaker of the House of Commons on the reorganisation of UK parliamentary constituencies. Out of 650 existing constituencies in the UK, only 65 will remain unchanged. Dr Emmeline Ledgerwood, our Oral History Project Manager, reflects on the impact boundary changes have had on MPs … Continue reading How MPs navigated changing constituency boundaries

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Contemporary History, 20th century history, Health and Medicine, Modern, Social history

The National Health Service’s Anniversaries as a Political Tradition

To mark the National Health Service’s (NHS) seventy-fifth anniversary, guest blogger Dr Andrew Seaton discusses his new book, Our NHS: A History of Britain’s Best-Loved Institution (Yale University Press, 2023) and its links to parliamentary history through the lens of its anniversaries. In my new book, Our NHS: A History of Britain’s Best-Loved Institution, I try and answer two questions. First, why did the National … Continue reading The National Health Service’s Anniversaries as a Political Tradition

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Contemporary History, 20th century history, Elections, Health and Medicine, Modern, Oral history, Social history, Women and Parliament

75 Years of the NHS – on the campaign trail

Last month, the NHS celebrated its 75th anniversary. Since its formation, the NHS has played a key role in politics. Here, Dr Emma Peplow, Head of Oral History, explores how important the NHS was to voters and politicians on the campaign trail. This summer we celebrated the 75th anniversary of the NHS. Alongside the tributes to those who work so hard to keep it running, there … Continue reading 75 Years of the NHS – on the campaign trail

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Contemporary History, Conferences, Seminars and Events, Elections, Factions, Modern, Oral history, Women and Parliament

Parliamentarians on their past: Memories of the 1983 General Election

In June, the History of Parliament were delighted to welcome an audience to the first lecture of our contemporary history series ‘parliamentarians on their past’ that uses our oral history archive. Here our Oral History Intern, Alfie Steer, reflects on the lecture ‘Memories of the 1983 General Election’ and explores the background to the 1983 general election. To mark the fortieth anniversary of the 1983 … Continue reading Parliamentarians on their past: Memories of the 1983 General Election

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Victorian Commons, 18th Century history, 19th Century history, 20th century history, Conferences, Seminars and Events, Modern, Victorian

Roundtable on Henry J. Miller, A Nation of Petitioners: Petitions and Petitioning in the United Kingdom, 1780-1918 (Cambridge, 2023)

Ahead of next Tuesday’s Parliaments, Politics and People roundtable seminar, we hear from Dr Henry Miller of the University of Durham. On 27 June between 5.30 p.m. and 7.00 p.m., Henry will discuss his book A Nation of Petitioners with Prof. Katrina Navickas (University of Hertfordshire), Dr. Diego Palacios Cerezales (Complutense University of Madrid), Dr. Kathryn Rix (History of Parliament Trust) and Prof. Miles Taylor (Humboldt University … Continue reading Roundtable on Henry J. Miller, A Nation of Petitioners: Petitions and Petitioning in the United Kingdom, 1780-1918 (Cambridge, 2023)

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