Research
I am a specialist in British Politics, governance, leadership, and institutions. My particular focus is on political communication and voting behaviour(s) on which I have written and/or edited a number of books and journal articles. At present my Google Scholar citations are 731 with a h-index of 16 and a i10-index of 24.
My research interest in political communication examines how the language used by politicians informs the health of a liberal democratic society. I do this by applying classical theories of political oratory and rhetoric upon contemporary British political leaders and concepts. This enables me to produce original research across a number of sub-fields which include Parliamentary behaviour, Conservative Party politics, Labour Party politics and the study of political ideology.
Using my research as an intellectual basis, I have also submitted published evidence to House of Commons Select Committees on the quality of political discourse and how it might be improved to ensure democratic norms are protected. This demonstrates the political value of my published scholarship to communication and democratic discourse.
Moreover, I also sit on the Editorial Boards of two interdisciplinary international journals. The first is Global Discourse, and the second is the 'Humanities & Social Sciences Communications' journal. As an active member of both, I nominate reviewers and accept/decline research papers, as required. Internally, I am a member of the newly launched British Politics Research Group; a co-director (with David Jeffery and Bruce Gibson) of the Network for the Interface of Classics and Politics; and the departmental research cluster for Government, Parties and Elections (led by Luca Bernardi).
As part of a research team comprised of Timothy Heppell (Leeds), David Jeffery (Liverpool), Oliver Booth (Leeds), and Chris Butler (Antwerp, Belgium), I have participated in a major long-running research project on political leadership and ideological behaviour which has produced an extensive series of quantitative studies on explaining MPs voting behaviour in the UK House of Commons. Themes within the project include (but are not limited to) attitudes towards international aid; Brexit; leadership preference(s). These studies have appeared in leading national and international academic journals such as the Journal of Common Market Studies; Parliamentary Affairs; the British Journal of Politics and International Relations; Journal of Elections, Public Opinion, and Parties; British Politics, and Representation. As the political world continues to change over 2024, we are renewing our research and publication strategy to produce a further series of high quality, distinctive, and methodologically robust original academic outputs.
Alongside this project I have also published extensively on political communication in Contemporary British History, Politics and Religion, the Journal of Legislative Studies, Global Discourse. I have also produced academically informed 'think pieces' for Political Quarterly, The Fabian Review, Political Insight, and Renewal: Journal of Social Democracy, as well as online outlets such as The Conversation, the UK in a Changing Europe, and the ECPR blog 'The Loop'.
My current solo-research project is a substantive study of Boris Johnson's rhetorical style whilst he was Prime Minister. This will produce a monograph, and is under contract with Manchester University Press. The book is due for completion during 2024 for a 2025 release, and will be my third authored work. Previously, I have (co)-authored a study of leadership selection entitled Choosing Party Leaders: Britain's Labour and Conservative Party Compared (with Peter Dorey (Cardiff) and Andrew Denham (Nottingham)), and a further study (with Timothy Heppell (Leeds) and Dorey (Cardiff)) analysed political communication using the rhetorical theories from the ancient world. This produced a book entitled 'The Political Rhetoric and Oratory of Margaret Thatcher', which was published by Palgrave in 2016.
For Routledge I am also a co-editor (with David Jeffery) of a forthcoming substantive project aimed at producing a new 60+ chapter Handbook on 'The History of the Conservative Party' that is due for publication in 2026. The project involves historians, sociologists, and political experts of conservatism which will seek to provide a comprehensive history of the Party and its multifaceted evolution. The project will also be the basis of a series of events including an academic symposium at Liverpool, a multi-day conference of academics, politicians, and commentators in London, and also a series of knowledge exchange events over the term of the project.
Plus I am currently working on a special edition of Global Discourse that will examine the contemporary significance of political rhetoric, which is due to appear in 2025, following an academic symposium at Liverpool in January 2024.
In addition, I am also the contributing (co)-editor of a several academic studies that have appeared with Palgrave, Manchester University Press, Agenda Publishers, and Biteback. My most recent collaborative project (with David Jeffery) concerned statecraft and political leadership in a comprehensive academic study of Theresa May's time as leader of the Conservative Party, which was recently published by Palgrave. Prior to this I completed an academic study on Jeremy Corbyn's time and legacy as leader of the Labour Party with Agenda Publishers. In 2020 I completed a similar academic study (with Heppell, Leeds) on the legacy of Edward Heath entitled Policies and Politics Under Prime Minister Edward Heath and his significance on British conservatism and Conservative Party politics more broadly. Prior to these I have produced academic studies on the political legacy of Harold Wilson (with Kevin Hickson, Liverpool), Republican Orators (with Σοφία Hatzisavvidou, Bath), Democratic Orators (with David S. Moon, Bath; and Robert Lehrman, American University, Washington DC), Conservative Orators (with Richard Hayton, Leeds), and Labour Orators (with Hayton, Leeds).
As part of my continuing professional development, I have recently completed a study researching the impact of 'entertaining' visual learning as a pedological approach using the method of phenomenography within the broader field of interpretivism. This included an examination of institutional curriculum frameworks and their importance to solidifying improved learning standards and outcomes. This is for an MA-level teaching qualification in higher education practice which was awarded in June 2024.
With regards to media engagement, I have appeared on numerious national and local radio programmes such as BBC Breakfast, and contributed to written articles in national & international (US & European) press outlets. I am more than happy to provide media insights to news organisations on topics relevant to my research expertise. Please email me directly or contact the University media office if you would like me to book me for an appearance.
In September 2021, I presented a 'memorial paper' in memory of Dr Judi Atkins at the Second Annual Anglo-American Studies Roundtable in Prague which can be read here.
Click here to visit my ResearchGate page, and click here for my GoogleScholar.
Select Journal Articles
(2024, with David Jeffery & Timothy Heppell) 'Divisions within the British Parliamentary Labour Party under Keir Starmer: Results of a Cluster Analysis', British Politics. Full text..
(2024, with Oliver Booth, Chris Butler, David Jeffery) 'Selecting Sunak: Conservative MPs’ Nomination Preferences in the (second) British Conservative Party Leadership Election', Parliamentary Affairs. Full text.
(2024) ''The Wind of Change': A Rhetorical Political Analysis of Harold Macmillan's 1960 'decolonization' Speech', British Politics. Full text.
(2023) 'The End of the Rhetorical Line? The ‘Partygate’ Investigation into former UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson', Political Quarterly 94 (3), 475-80. Full text.
(2023, with David Jeffery, Timothy Heppell, and Chris Butler) 'Trusting Truss: Conservative MPs’ Voting Preferences in the (First) British Conservative Party Leadership Election of 2022', Representation. Full Text.
(2023, with Thomas McMeeking and Timothy Heppell) 'Prime Ministerial Power of Patronage: Ideology and Cabinet Selection under Margaret Thatcher 1979-1990', British Politics. Full Text.
(2022) 'The Degenerative Tendencies of Long-Serving Governments… 1963… 1996… 2009… the Conservatives in 2022?' Political Quarterly, 93 (2), 336-41. Full Text.
(2022, with David Jeffery and Timothy Heppell) 'The Conservative Party Leadership Election of 2019', Parliamentary Affairs, 75 (1), 113-34. Full Text.
(2021) 'A Problem of Communication: The Labour Leadership of Keir Starmer', Political Insight, 12 (4), 22-4. Full Text.
(2021, with Timothy Heppell & David Jeffery) 'Selecting Starmer:The Nomination Preferences of Labour Parliamentarians in the 2020 Labour Party Leadership Election', Representation. Full Text.
(2021, with Timothy Heppell and David Jeffery) 'Theresa May and the Conservative Party Leadership Confidence Motion of 2018: Analysing the voting behaviour of Conservative parliamentarians', British Politics, 16, 317-35. Full Text.
(2020, with Timothy Heppell) 'Legitimising Euroscepticism? The construction, delivery and significance of the Bruges Speech', Contemporary British History, 34 (2), 204-27. Full Text.
(2019) Boris Johnson and the Future of British Conservatism, Political Insight, 10 (3), 4-6. Full Text.
(2019) Improving Democratic Discourse in UK General Election and Referendum Campaigns, Political Quarterly, 90 (2), 310-13. Full Text.
(2018, with David Jeffery, Richard Hayton, Timothy Heppell) 'The Conservative Party leadership election of 2016: An analysis of the voting motivations of Conservative Parliamentarians', Parliamentary Affairs, 71 (2), 263-82. Full Text.
(2018, with Timothy Heppell and David Jeffery) 'The British Labour Party and the Leadership Election Mandate(s) of Jeremy Corbyn: Patterns of Opinion and Opposition within the Parliamentary Labour Party', Journal of Elections, Public Opinion, and Parties, 28 (3), 361-79. Full Text.
(2017, with Timothy Heppell and David Jeffery), 'The United Kingdom Government and the 0.7 Percent International Aid Target: Factors influencing attitudes amongst Conservative Parliamentarians', British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 19 (4), 895-909. Full Text.
(2017, with Stuart McAnulla) 'The Rhetoric of Alex Salmond and the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum', British Politics, 12, 473-91. Full Text.
(2017) 'Transforming Labour: The 'New' Labour Leadership of Jeremy Corbyn', Political Insight, 8 (2), 26-29. Full Text.
(2017, with Timothy Heppell and David Jeffery) 'The United Kingdom Referendum on European Union Membership: The Voting of Conservative Parliamentarians', Journal of Common Market Studies, 55 (4), 762-78. Full Text.
(2017, with Timothy Heppell) 'Rhetorical Style and Issue Emphasis within the Conference Speeches of UKIP’s Nigel Farage 2010-2014', British Politics, 12 (2), 231-49. Full Text.
(2016, with Timothy Heppell) 'Conservative ministers in the coalition government of 2010-15: evidence of bias in the ministerial selections of David Cameron?', Journal of Legislative Studies, 22 (3), 385-403. Full Text.
(2016, with Timothy Heppell and Michael Hill) ‘Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood Speech: A Rhetorical Political Analysis’, British Politics 11, 72-94. Full Text.
(2015, with Kevin Theakston) ‘Doing God in Number 10’: British prime ministers, religion and political rhetoric’, Politics and Religion, 8 (1), 155-77. Full Text.
(2015) 'Reforming Labour: The Labour Leadership of Jeremy Corbyn', Political Insight, 6 (3), 4-7. Full Text.
(2015) 'The rhetoric of neoliberalism in the politics of crisis', Global Discourse, 5 (1), 116-29. Full Text.
(2015) ‘The epideictic oratory of Barack Obama’, Global Discourse, 5 (4), 616-618. Full Text.
(2014) ‘Harold Wilson’s rhetoric: Revisiting the Wilsonian language of renewal’, Renewal Journal of Social Democracy, 22 (3-4), 128-34. Full Text.
(2013) 'Why did Boris Johnson win the 2012 Mayoral election?', Public Policy and Administration Research, 3 (9), 1-7. Full Text.
(2013) ‘Rhetoric and the Coalition: Governing in the National Interest?’ Representation, 49 (2), 207-18. Full Text.
(2013) ‘An Analysis of George Galloway’s Oratorical and Rhetorical Impact’, Politics, 33 (2), 81-90. Full Text.
(2012, with Jamie Halsall) 'Remoulding Welfare Britain: The Philosophy of the Big Society in Cameron's Britain', Public Policy and Administrative Research', 2 (7). Full Text.
(2011, with Timothy Heppell) ‘How Michael Foot won the Labour Party leadership’, Political Quarterly, 82 (1), 81-94. Full Text.
(2010, with Timothy Heppell) ‘Ideological alignments within the parliamentary Labour Party and the leadership election of 1976’, British Politics, 5 (1), 65-91. Full Text.
Select Books and Edited Collections
Authored Books
(forthcoming) Boris Johnson: Rhetoric of Crisis Management, Manchester University Press. Under contract, due for publication in 2024.
(2020, with Andrew Denham and Peter Dorey) Choosing Party Leaders Britain's Conservatives and Labour Compared, Manchester: Manchester University Press.
(2016, with Timothy Heppell and Peter Dorey) The Political Rhetoric and Oratory of Margaret Thatcher, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Edited Academic Handbook(s)
(forthcoming, with David Jeffery) Routledge Handbook of the History of the Conservative Party, Oxford. (Under contract).
Edited Collections
(2023, with David Jeffery) Statecraft: Policies and Politics under Prime Minister Theresa May, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
(2021) Corbynism in Perspective The Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn, Columbia University Press/Agenda Books.
(2020, with Timothy Heppell) Policies and Politics Under Prime Minister Edward Heath, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
(2017, with Σοφία Hatzisavvidou) Republican Orators from Eisenhower to Trump, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
(2016, with Kevin Hickson) Harold Wilson: The Unprincipled Prime Minister? Reappraising Harold Wilson London: Biteback.
(2016, with David S Moon and Robert Lehrman) Democratic Orators from JFK to Barack Obama, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
(2015, with Richard Hayton) Conservative orators From Baldwin to Cameron, Manchester: Manchester University Press. Commissioned through the ‘New Perspectives on the Right’ series.
(2015, with Richard Hayton), Labour orators from Bevan to Miliband Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Select Chapters
(forthcoming, with Timothy Heppell) 'The Legacy of Thatcherism: The Influence of Thatcherite Ideology upon Conservative Party Leadership Elections since 1990' in Norton, P. Beech, M. (eds) Margaret Thatcher: Her Life, Work and Legacy, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
(forthcoming) 'William "Willie" Whitelaw' in Mullen, A., Jeffery, D., Blaxland, S., Farr, M. (eds) Thatcher's Ministers, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
(forthcoming) 'Nicholas Ridley' in Mullen, A., Jeffery, D., Blaxland, S., Farr, M. (eds) Thatcher's Ministers, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
(2023, with John-Paul Salter) 'I'm not going to call a snap election' - Theresa May and the 2017 General Election' in Roe-Crines, A & Jeffery, D. (eds) Statecraft: Policies and Politics Under Prime Minister Theresa May, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
(2021) "Oh Jeremy Corbyn!" The Mission to Renew Labour' in Roe-Crines, A. (ed) Corbynism in Perspective, Newcastle: Agenda.
(2021) 'The Rhetorical Portrayal of Public Servants' in Sullivan, H & Dickinson, H. (eds), The Palgrave Handbook of the Public Servant, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
(2020) 'Who Governs? The General Election Defeats of 1974' in Roe-Crines, A & Heppell, T. (eds), Policies and Politics Under Prime Minister Edward Heath, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
(2020) 'Margaret Thatcher and the Rhetorical Road to Brexit' in Mullen, A., Farrall, S & Jeffery, D. (eds), Thatcherism in the 21st Century The Social and Cultural Legacy, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
(2017, with David Dolowitz) 'The Oratory of Donald Trump' in Crines, A. & Hatzisavvidou, S. (eds),Republican Orators from Eisenhower to Trump, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
(2017, with Stuart McAnulla) 'The Rhetorical Personas of George Galloway and Tommy Sheridan', Atkins, J. & Gaffney, J. (eds.) Voices of the UK Left Rhetoric: Ideology and the Performance of Politics, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
(2016) 'The Rhetoric of the EU Referendum Campaign', Jackson, D., Thompson, E., Wring, D (eds.) EU Referendum Analysis 2016: Media, Voters and the Campaign: Early reflections from leading UK academics', PSA/CCRICC/CSJCC Report.
(2016) 'Harold Wilson as Orator', Crines A. and Hickson, K (eds.), Harold Wilson: The Unprincipled Prime Minister? Reappraising Harold Wilson, London: Biteback.
(2016, with Robert Lehrman) ‘The oratory of Barack Obama’ in Crines, A., Moon, D., and Lehrman, R. (eds.), Democratic Orators from JFK to Barack Obama, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
(2015) ‘The oratory of Ed Miliband’ in Crines, A. and Hayton, R. (eds.), Labour orators from Bevan to Miliband, Manchester: Manchester University Press.
(2015, with Keith Laybourn) ‘The oratory of Aneurin Bevan’ in Crines, A. and Hayton, R. (eds.), Labour orators from Bevan to Miliband, Manchester: Manchester University Press.
(2014) ‘Spitting Image and Political British Comedy’, in Atkins, J., Finlayson, A., Martin, J., Turnbull, N. (eds.), Rhetoric in British Politics and Society, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Research collaborations
Dr Timothy Heppell
Ongoing projects on ideological divisions within British political parties
University of Leeds
Co-author
Dr David Jeffery
Ongoing projects on ideological divisions within British political parties
Co-author
Chris Butler
Selecting Sunak - Conservative Leadership
University of Antwerp, Belgium
Co-author
Oliver Booth
Selecting Sunak - Conservative Leadership
University of Leeds
Co-author
Dr John-Paul Salter
Theresa May, Statecraft, and the 2017 General Election
University College London
Co-author
Dr Andrew Denham
Choosing Party Leaders: Britain's Conservatives and Labour Compared
University of Nottingham
Co-author
Prof Peter Dorey
Choosing Party Leaders: Britain's Conservatives and Labour Compared
Cardiff University
Co-author
Prof Kevin Theakston
‘Doing God in Number 10’: British prime ministers, religion and political rhetoric
University of Leeds
Co-author
Prof David Dolowitz
The Oratory of Donald Trump
Co-author
Prof Robert Lehrman
The Oratory of Barack Obama
American University, Washington
Co-author
Dr Richard Hayton
Labour/Conservative Orator Projects
University of Leeds
Co-Editor
Dr Thomas McMeeking
Prime Ministerial Powers of Patronage: Ideology and Cabinet Selection under Margaret Thatcher 1979-1990
University of Leeds
Co-author
Dr David S Moon
Democratic Orators
University of Bath
Co-Editor
Dr Σοφία Hatzisavvidou
Republican Orators
University of Bath
Co-Editor
Dr Stuart McAnulla
The Rhetoric of Alex Salmond and the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum
University of Leeds
Co-author
Dr Kevin Hickson
Harold Wilson as the UK Prime Minister
Co-Editor