Remembering David Judge (1950 - 2026). I first met David in 1999. He was such an incredible person, we could do with more Davids in academia. Here is something I wrote when I heard the news last week, published by @psa-parliaments.bsky.social: psaparliaments.org/2026/02/17/r...
Had a fabulous time at the @studyofparl.bsky.social Oxford Weekend!!
They say never meet your heroes but I did :p
Can't wait for next time, fellow Parliament nerds!
As our annual weekend draws to a close. We just wanted to say thank you to all our panellists, and chairs for their time over the last two days; to all of you who attended (virtually or in person); and also to our organisers. We hope you enjoyed the weekend & safe travels!
We end our annual weekend with a comparative discussion of backbench bill procedures across Westminster, the Senedd, the Commons in Canada and Holyrood, exploring different law‑making models, trade‑offs, & what reform might look like at Westminster and beyond.
studyofparliamentgroup.org/programme/
Our second panel addresses the relationship between the Civil Service and Parliament'
Former civil servants reflect on how they viewed Parliament's role, how it shaped their work, and how both institutions can collaborate more effectively.
studyofparliamentgroup.org/programme/
We are back for the second day and we're starting with a panel on 'The UK assisted dying bill'.
It will examine the UK Assisted Dying Bill’s journey through Westminster, exploring its procedural twists and what they reveal about how Parliament legislates.
studyofparliamentgroup.org/programme/
At our AGM this morning we said a huge thank you to Tom Healey (House of Commons) as he steps down from the SPG Executive Committee after serving as both Chair and Deputy Chair over the course of the last four years. We also welcomed Lucinda Maer (House of Commons) as our new Deputy Chair.
The second day of our annual weekend kicks off at 9am with our AGM. But last night we ended the day with our annual conference quiz. Huge thanks to Aileen and Claire for organising it once again!
Our final session of the day is the Wheeler Booth Memorial Lecture, delivered this year by Richard Lloyd OBE, Chair of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
Our third panel explores 'Belonging to Parliament'.
This roundtable will address who feels a sense of belonging, ease or discomfort in parliament and why, whether members, staff, witnesses or visitors.
studyofparliamentgroup.org/programme/
SPG day 1! Very sad not to be in Oxford to catch up with everyone in person as planned, but super glad I can still take part online (after some snow fun with the small people this morning)
In Oxford for annual conference of the @studyofparl.bsky.social - my 49th year of consecutive attendance
Very pleased to have presented on this panel, although disappointed that I couldn't be there in person because of the snow...
Our second panel addresses 'Parliaments and Public Policy'.
This panel brings experts together to explore Parliaments’ evolving role — beyond scrutiny and approval — in actively shaping policy, and asks how they could do this more effectively.
studyofparliamentgroup.org/programme/
We’re kicking off our annual weekend with a panel on Gender and Diversity Sensitive Parliaments and Politics.
This panel will consider how members with different backgrounds, expertise and identities experience parliament differently and with what impacts?
studyofparliamentgroup.org/programme/
Today is the day. We kick off at 12.45pm - so whether you are joining us in Oxford 🏫 or online 💻 - see you shortly 🙂.
We’re sorry not to seeing you in person Cristina. See you online later!
Tomorrow marks the start of our annual weekend and we are very much looking forward to welcoming members to Exeter College, Oxford.
For those members joining us remotely, the Zoom links are now in your inboxes.
The programme is available on our website: studyofparliamentgroup.org/programme/
Yesterday @pippacrerar.bsky.social reported in @theguardian.com that Keir Starmer is about to appoint another set of peers, including 25 Labour.
Later Aubrey Allegretti in @thetimes.com suggested there would be 33 new peers in total.
Three problems with this 🧵⤵️
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
The House of Lords and its treatment of legislation By the end of October 2025, Keir Starmer’s government had been subjected to 100 defeats in the House of Lords. This is a high number, but broadly consistent with the Johnson and Sunak governments (in the 2021–22 session there were 128 defeats; in 2022–23 there were 125). The ‘Salisbury convention’ indicates that the Lords will not vote down government manifesto bills in their entirety, and in practice such behaviour is very unusual on any bill (whether signalled in the manifesto or not). But a number of recent defeats have focused on key planks of government policy, as broadcast in the 2024 Labour manifesto. As reported in Monitor 90, this included defeats on the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill to block the complete removal of hereditary peers (limiting action instead to permanently ending the hereditary peer by-elections). It also applied to several key measures in the government’s Employment Rights Bill, including policies to create ‘day one’ rights to sick pay and protection against unfair dismissal, require employers to offer fixed hours to those on ‘zero hours’ contracts, and loosen restrictions on trade union balloting and political funds. All defeats on both bills were readily overturned when they returned to the House of Commons, but the Lords quite surprisingly insisted for a third time on the changes to the Employment Rights Bill. There were also defeats on key elements of the Renters’ Rights Bill, on which the Lords did not insist when the...
Did you know that this government has been defeated over 100 times in the House of Lords?
The new edition of our constitutional review suggests that it is surprising to see the Lords challenging manifesto commitments to the extent that it has.
Read more 👉 www.ucl.ac.uk/social-histo....
Join and help to lead the Constitution Unit!
@uclspp.bsky.social is looking for a Lecturer in British and Comparative Politics who will also join our senior team and contribute to our research and impact activities.
Applicants must have, or be near to finishing, a PhD.
Apply 👇
🚨 New research in the @politicalquarterly.bsky.social from Dr @louisevthompson.bsky.social @uompols.bsky.social shows the House of Commons still works like it’s the 1950s — shutting smaller parties out and leaving millions of voters unheard.
www.manchester.ac.uk/about/news/o...
@manchester.ac.uk
Chloe Mawson, appointed 66th Clerk of the Parliaments
Chloe Mawson has been appointed the 66th Clerk of the Parliaments and is the first woman to take up the post.
The Clerk of the Parliaments is head of the House of Lords Administration and Chief Procedural Adviser to the House.
ON THE BLOG: The Modernisation Committee: revisiting past experience
The committee's new chair, Alan Campbell, might usefully study the committee’s 1997–2010 predecessor
Tom Fleming & @hannahkelly.bsky.social summarise the key findings from a new article reviewing the previous committee's record
In Business Questions today, Jesse Norman said: 'since taking office last year, the present Prime Minister has increasingly misused his first engagements question'.
@ruxandrasrbn.bsky.social and Tom Fleming have crunched the numbers to find that Keir Starmer does use PMQs differently.
Read more 👇
🚨 Job Opportunity! 🚨 Applications are now open for a new 2.5-year postdoc at @edinburghpir.bsky.social to examine how parliaments gather, analyse and use different types of knowledge - see the full job listing here: elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
ON THE BLOG: Prime Minister's Question Period in the Canadian House of Commons: Lessons in parliamentary reform
@ruxandrasrbn.bsky.social explains how Canada's experiment with a Prime Minister's Question Period procedure between 2017 and 2025 worked and how it differed from the traditional model.
A recording of the lecture is now available on our website:
studyofparliamentgroup.org/michael-ryle...
A huge thank you to Professor Sir John Curtice for delivering last night’s Michael Ryle Lecture on the theme of “Can Britain’s Two Party System Survive?” 👏
For those unable to attend, a recording of the lecture will be available shortly after on this twitter feed and on our website (where you can also find recordings of past lectures).
studyofparliamentgroup.org/michael-ryle...
