Category Archives: oral history

Women MPs in the 1990s

Posted on March 27, 2018 by

This month’s blog for the Women and Parliament series as part of our activities in celebration of the centenary of the Representation the People Act 1918, which allowed some women to vote in the UK for the first time, comes … Continue reading →

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Now available online: full interviews with former MPs from our oral history project

Posted on December 13, 2017 by

Since 2011, in partnership with the British Library, we have been interviewing as many former MPs as we can about their lives and careers in parliament. 155 of our completed interviews have now been deposited at the British Library. Our … Continue reading →

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Voices from our oral history project: Sir Teddy Taylor

Posted on October 18, 2017 by

Last month we were sad to hear the news of campaigning backbencher Sir Teddy Taylor’s death. In this blog we look back on his life with extracts from our oral history project  interview with him in January 2012… Sir Teddy … Continue reading →

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When every vote counted: what minority government in the 1970s meant for MPs

Posted on September 13, 2017 by

With Parliament back and Theresa May’s government trying to pass controversial legislation, Emmeline Ledgerwood, one of our oral history project volunteers and PhD student at the British Library/University of Leicester, blogs on the periods of minority government during the 1970s, … Continue reading →

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50th anniversary of the Sexual Offences Act, 1967

Posted on July 26, 2017 by

On 12 July we brought together parliamentarians, activists and historians to mark 50 years since the passing of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act, which partially decriminalised homosexuality in England and Wales. Here we report back from the event… We were … Continue reading →

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First steps in the chamber: making a maiden speech

Posted on July 19, 2017 by

For the one hundred or so new MPs who were elected in June, many have already achieved one of the major milestones of their Commons’ careers: the maiden speech. Here we share some of our oral history project interviewees’ memories … Continue reading →

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Election 2017: Snap elections, memories of 1974

Posted on April 27, 2017 by

Last week Theresa May shocked the political establishment by calling a snap election. In the first in our 2017 election campaign series, we take a look back at the two elections of 1974 through the memories of our oral history … Continue reading →

Posted in 20th century history, Election 2017, oral history, Politics, Post-1945 history, social history | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment