Richard Grayson (academic)
Encyclopedia
Professor Richard Sean Grayson (born 18 April 1969 in Hemel Hempstead
) is Professor of Twentieth Century History at Goldsmiths, University of London. He was educated at Lime Walk Primary School, Hemel Hempstead (Comprehensive) School, the University of East Anglia
(1st Class BA Honours in English and American History), and The Queen’s College, Oxford (Doctor of Philosophy in Modern History).
’s term of office as foreign secretary, the inter-war Liberal Party
, Leo Amery and appeasement
, the Channel Tunnel
project, and Mods and Rockers
in the 1960s.
and Duncan Brack and including contributions from Chris Huhne
, Matthew Taylor, Nick Clegg
and Steve Webb
. In 2002 he co-wrote a pamphlet with Nick Clegg
on secondary education systems, based on research in the Netherlands
, Denmark
and Sweden
. The pamphlet recommended the policy which became the ‘pupil premium’ included in the 2010 coalition agreement. With Jonathan Rutherford he co-edited After the Crash: Reinventing the Left in Britain which included chapters from Jon Cruddas
, Caroline Lucas
and Steve Webb
. He has published an article on public policy in Newark, New Jersey, examining the work of Mayor Cory Booker
, a friend from his time studying at Oxford. He has commentated on politics for both the Independent
and the Guardian
(see ‘Political Commentary’ section below) and appeared on Any Questions
and was the only member of the panel to reach the venue on time when Any Questions? was cancelled for the first time in its history in April 2011
He has been involved in the Liberal Democrats
at several levels of the party. He the party’s National Youth and Student Officer in 1991-2, Director of the Centre for Reform (now called CentreForum
) in 1998-9, and was Director of Policy of the Liberal Democrats in 1999-2004. That role also included spending two years as Charles Kennedy
’s speechwriter. He was the party’s parliamentary candidate for Hemel Hempstead constituency
in the 2005 and 2010 general elections, gaining 4.4% and 6% increases in the vote to move into second place. In 2008 he was listed as 48th on the Daily Telegraph’s list of the 50 most influential Liberal Democrats and in 2009 was placed in 39th. He was Vice-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Federal
Policy Committee in 2008-10 and has been a critic of the coalition
between the Conservative Party
and the Liberal Democrats. In particular, he has argued that ‘The Liberal Democrat leadership believed in "savage cuts" long before they entered government’, that they have ‘no electoral mandate’ for parts of the 2010 Budget and that ‘Liberal Democrats may soon realise that a centre-left party is being led from the centre-right.’ This argument was cited in several newspapers, and has been developed in longer pieces for Compass and the New Statesman
.
In December 2010 he urged Liberal Democrat members to seize the opportunity of Ed Miliband's leadership by engaging in dialogue with Labour. Following that, he was invited by Ed Miliband to contribute to Labour's policy review and he accepted the invitation. He has, however, remained an active member of the Liberal Democrats, for example, as a member of the party's Facing the Future policy review, which reported in July 2011.
He blogs for the Huffington Post having written on subjects from politics and history to his support for Queens Park Rangers F.C.
Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead is a town in Hertfordshire in the East of England, to the north west of London and part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2001 Census was 81,143 ....
) is Professor of Twentieth Century History at Goldsmiths, University of London. He was educated at Lime Walk Primary School, Hemel Hempstead (Comprehensive) School, the University of East Anglia
University of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia is a public research university based in Norwich, United Kingdom. It was established in 1963, and is a founder-member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities.-History:...
(1st Class BA Honours in English and American History), and The Queen’s College, Oxford (Doctor of Philosophy in Modern History).
Academic research
His historical research is currently concentrated on Ireland and the First World War, with his most recent book being Belfast Boys: How Unionists and Nationalists Fought and Died Together in the First World War (Continuum, 2009). It has been widely well reviewed. Previous work includes books on Austen ChamberlainAusten Chamberlain
Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain, KG was a British statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and half-brother of Neville Chamberlain.- Early life and career :...
’s term of office as foreign secretary, the inter-war Liberal Party
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
, Leo Amery and appeasement
Appeasement
The term appeasement is commonly understood to refer to a diplomatic policy aimed at avoiding war by making concessions to another power. Historian Paul Kennedy defines it as "the policy of settling international quarrels by admitting and satisfying grievances through rational negotiation and...
, the Channel Tunnel
Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in the United Kingdom with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is deep...
project, and Mods and Rockers
Mods and Rockers
The Mods and Rockers were two conflicting British youth subcultures of the early-mid 1960s. Mods and rockers fighting in 1964 sparked a moral panic about British youths, and the two groups were seen as folk devils. The rockers were motorcyclists, wearing clothes such as black leather jackets. The...
in the 1960s.
Political activities
His work on public policy includes an edited volume on social liberalism co-edited with David HowarthDavid Howarth
David Ross Howarth is a British Liberal Democrat politician who was Member of Parliament for Cambridge from 2005 to 2010.- Education and academic career :...
and Duncan Brack and including contributions from Chris Huhne
Chris Huhne
Christopher Murray Paul-Huhne, generally known as Chris Huhne is a British politician and cabinet minister, who is the current Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for the Eastleigh constituency in Hampshire...
, Matthew Taylor, Nick Clegg
Nick Clegg
Nicholas William Peter "Nick" Clegg is a British Liberal Democrat politician who is currently the Deputy Prime Minister, Lord President of the Council and Minister for Constitutional and Political Reform in the coalition government of which David Cameron is the Prime Minister...
and Steve Webb
Steve Webb
Steven John Webb, better known as Steve Webb , is an English Liberal Democrat politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Thornbury & Yate and the Minister of State for Pensions.-Background:...
. In 2002 he co-wrote a pamphlet with Nick Clegg
Nick Clegg
Nicholas William Peter "Nick" Clegg is a British Liberal Democrat politician who is currently the Deputy Prime Minister, Lord President of the Council and Minister for Constitutional and Political Reform in the coalition government of which David Cameron is the Prime Minister...
on secondary education systems, based on research in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. The pamphlet recommended the policy which became the ‘pupil premium’ included in the 2010 coalition agreement. With Jonathan Rutherford he co-edited After the Crash: Reinventing the Left in Britain which included chapters from Jon Cruddas
Jon Cruddas
Jonathan Cruddas is a British Labour Party politician who is the Member of Parliament for Dagenham and Rainham. He was first elected in 2001 to the seat of Dagenham....
, Caroline Lucas
Caroline Lucas
Caroline Patricia Lucas is a British politician. Lucas is the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, and the Green Party's first and only Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom...
and Steve Webb
Steve Webb
Steven John Webb, better known as Steve Webb , is an English Liberal Democrat politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Thornbury & Yate and the Minister of State for Pensions.-Background:...
. He has published an article on public policy in Newark, New Jersey, examining the work of Mayor Cory Booker
Cory Booker
Cory Anthony Booker is the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Booker is a former Newark City Councilman...
, a friend from his time studying at Oxford. He has commentated on politics for both the Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
and the Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
(see ‘Political Commentary’ section below) and appeared on Any Questions
Any Questions?
Any Questions? is a topical debate radio programme in the United Kingdom.-Format:It is broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on Friday evenings and repeated on Saturday afternoons, when it is followed by a phone-in response programme, Any Answers?, previously a postal response slot...
and was the only member of the panel to reach the venue on time when Any Questions? was cancelled for the first time in its history in April 2011
He has been involved in the Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
at several levels of the party. He the party’s National Youth and Student Officer in 1991-2, Director of the Centre for Reform (now called CentreForum
CentreForum
CentreForum is an independent, liberal think-tank that seeks to develop evidence-based, long-term policy solutions to the problems facing Britain. It is based in Westminster, London, and was formerly known as Centre for Reform....
) in 1998-9, and was Director of Policy of the Liberal Democrats in 1999-2004. That role also included spending two years as Charles Kennedy
Charles Kennedy
Charles Peter Kennedy is a British Liberal Democrat politician, who led the Liberal Democrats from 9 August 1999 until 7 January 2006 and is currently a Member of Parliament for the Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency....
’s speechwriter. He was the party’s parliamentary candidate for Hemel Hempstead constituency
Hemel Hempstead (UK Parliament constituency)
Hemel Hempstead is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...
in the 2005 and 2010 general elections, gaining 4.4% and 6% increases in the vote to move into second place. In 2008 he was listed as 48th on the Daily Telegraph’s list of the 50 most influential Liberal Democrats and in 2009 was placed in 39th. He was Vice-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Federal
Policy Committee in 2008-10 and has been a critic of the coalition
Coalition government
A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several political parties cooperate. The usual reason given for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament...
between the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
and the Liberal Democrats. In particular, he has argued that ‘The Liberal Democrat leadership believed in "savage cuts" long before they entered government’, that they have ‘no electoral mandate’ for parts of the 2010 Budget and that ‘Liberal Democrats may soon realise that a centre-left party is being led from the centre-right.’ This argument was cited in several newspapers, and has been developed in longer pieces for Compass and the New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
.
In December 2010 he urged Liberal Democrat members to seize the opportunity of Ed Miliband's leadership by engaging in dialogue with Labour. Following that, he was invited by Ed Miliband to contribute to Labour's policy review and he accepted the invitation. He has, however, remained an active member of the Liberal Democrats, for example, as a member of the party's Facing the Future policy review, which reported in July 2011.
He blogs for the Huffington Post having written on subjects from politics and history to his support for Queens Park Rangers F.C.
Queens Park Rangers F.C.
Queens Park Rangers Football Club is an English professional football club, based in White City, Hammersmith and Fulham, west London. As the 2010-11 Football League Championship champions, they now play in the top tier of English football the Premier League, for the first time in 15 years...
Main publications
- British Politics: A Beginner's Guide (Oxford: One World, 2010)
- (Co-editor with Jonathan Rutherford), After the Crash: Reinventing the Left in Britain (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 2010).
- Belfast Boys: How Unionists and Nationalists Fought and Died Together in the First World War (London: Continuum, 2009).
- (Co-editor, with Duncan Brack and David Howarth), Reinventing the State: Social Liberalism for the 21st Century (London: Politicos, 2007).
- 'Leo Amery's Imperialist Alternative to Appeasement in the 1930s', Twentieth Century British History, 17, 4 (2006), pp. 489–515.
- (Co-author with Nick Clegg), Learning from Europe : Lessons in Education, (London : Centre for European Reform, 2002).
- Liberals, International Relations and Appeasement: The Liberal Party, 1919–39, (London: Frank Cass, 2001).
- 'Mods, Rockers, and Juvenile Delinquency in 1964: The Government Response', Contemporary British History, 12, 1 (1998), pp. 19–47.
- Austen Chamberlain and the Commitment to Europe: British Foreign Policy, 1924–29, (London: Frank Cass, 1997).
- 'The British Government and the Channel Tunnel, 1919–39', Journal of Contemporary History, 31, 1 (Jan. 1996), pp. 125–144.
Political commentary
- Clegg and Cameron's Illiberal 'Big Liberal Society', Guardian Comment is Free, 20 July 2010
- 'The Struggle for the Soul of Liberalism', New Statesman, 12 July 2010, pp. 30–33
- 'The Liberal Democrat Journey to a Lib-Con Coalition - and Where Next?'(London: Compass, 2010)
- The Lib Dem leadership’s self-flagellating appetite for cuts’, Guardian Comment is Free, 22 June 2010
- ‘Lib Dems must dare to be different over prisoners’ voting rights’, Guardian Comment is Free 9 June 2010
- ‘Lab and Lib: a dream team’ with Neal Lawson, Guardian Comment is Free 9 May 2010
- ‘Leader still needs to show that he is the man for No 10’, Independent, 19 September 2005
- ‘The Liberal Democrats Still Face a Long Journey’, 14 May 2005, Independent, 14 May 2005
- ‘Don’t become too safe in your views Mr Kennedy’, Independent, 25 September 2004.