by JB Seatrobe / 18 Sep 2009
JB Seatrobe reveals that the noted gardener, architect and creator of the Crystal Palace sat for the Liberals for a decade Sir Joseph Paxton, designer of the famous Crystal Palace, was, at the height of his fame, an MP for over a decade.
by Paul Linford / 21 Aug 2009
The ex-Leeds footballer Henry McLeish who scored an own goal over sub-letting his office was hardly the worst of political sinnersBy recent standards of political scandals, the former Scottish First Minister Henry McLeish can consider himself somewhat hard done by.
by JB Seatrobe / 21 Aug 2009
The great explorer displayed liberal tendencies when he sat in five of Elizabeth I's parliaments, JB Seatrobe reveals Sir Walter Raleigh was a contemporary of that other great Elizabethan seaman, explorer and sometime parliamentarian, Sir Francis Drake (see TP, July 2008).
by Linda Gilroy MP / 17 Jul 2009
The Labour MP on a favourite photograph of Michael Foot alongside his portrait I have a photograph of Michael Foot sitting for the prolific late Plymouth painter Robert Lenkiewicz.
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by Sarah Mackinlay / 17 Jul 2009
PEBs have come a long way since the days of faked fireside conversations and wooden performers lockingeyes with the camera.
by Paul Linford / 18 Jun 2009
Following defeat in the 1997 general election Robin Squire's life reached a new low when he was forced onto the dole queuePolitics is by nature an insecure profession.
by JB Seatrobe / 18 Jun 2009
The author of The Thirty-Nine Steps won the Scottish Universities seat with almost 88 per cent of the vote.
by Ben Duckworth / 21 May 2009
The swingometer has transformed election coverage and made stars of its presenters.
by Mark Fisher MP / 21 May 2009
Mark Fisher talks about his signed copy of the great man's only work of fiction Something that I prize very much is a novel called Savrola: A Tale of the Revolution in Laurania by Winston Churchill.
by JB Seatrobe / 23 Apr 2009
The subject of the popular song came from a family of parliamentarians and, J B Seatrobe reveals, he had two stints in the Commons, where he voted according to his conscience
by Anonymous / 23 Apr 2009
Andrew MacKinlay MP talks about his ‘liberated' Thatcher poster from 1979 I've collected election posters for many years.
23 Apr 2009
The 1979 election of Margaret Thatcher, from different perspectives
by Sarah MacKinlay and Ben Duckworth / 21 Aug 2009
Political dining can be a jolly, anecdote-laden affair.
by Sir Menzies Campbell / 21 Aug 2009
The Lib Dem MP on a commemorative banner that reminds him of the great kindness of one manDespite a passionate love of playing rugby as a youth, when I went to Glasgow University in 1959 I found myself more and more drawn to athletics.
by Paul Linford / 17 Jul 2009
Civil rights activist Bernadette Devlin-McAliskey remains the youngest ever woman elected to parliament but punched above her weight When people think of controversial political figures from the 1960s and 70s, names like Tony Benn and Enoch Powell usually spring to mind.
by JB Seatrobe / 17 Jul 2009
The photographic pioneer was also, J B Seatrobe reveals, an MP who found the volatility of politics baffling William Henry Fox Talbot was not just one of the key inventors of photography, but a true polymath of the 19th century.
by Ben Duckworth / 18 Jun 2009
Select committees have played a crucial role in calling the executive to account since 1979.
by Andrew Roberts / 18 Jun 2009
The historian's desk is crowded with mementoes that physically connect him with his books As an historian I find it tremendously helpful to surround myself with political and historical memorabilia as I write.
by Philip Cowley and Mark Stuart / 18 Jun 2009
It is 30 years since the Callaghan government was brought down by a confidence motion: an event so exciting partly because it is so rare.
by Paul Linford / 21 May 2009
Paul Linford remembers John Pardoe, a hero of the Lib Dems' beard and sandals tendency brought low by rumours of a missing bald patch The name John Pardoe will probably mean little to those born after 1970, nor those whose political affiliations are of the Labour or Conservative variety.
by JB Seatrobe / 21 May 2009
One of the heroes of the Peninsular War against Napoleon sat in Parliament for six years but, J B Seatrobe reveals, he never made a speech
by Paul Linford / 23 Apr 2009
by Professor Anthony King / 23 Apr 2009
Margaret Thatcher's 1979 manifesto gave no hint of the profound change she would enact. That, says Professor Anthony King, is because while she had a vision, she lacked detailed plans for how to achieve it
by James Silver / 23 Apr 2009
As he strode through the throng in Central Lobby on the 11 February 1975, Norman Tebbit's stomach must have been churning.
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