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Devolution has become a key 'global trend' over recent decades as many states have decentralised power to sub-state governments. The UK resisted this trend until the late 1990s when devolution was enacted by the then Labour Government, taking a highly asymmetrical form in which different territories have been granted different powers and institutional arrangements. Devolution allows the devolved governments to develop policies that are tailored to the needs of their areas, encouraging policy divergence, although this is countered by pressures to ensure that devolved approaches do not contradict those of the central state, promoting convergence. This review paper aims to assess the unfolding dynamics of devolution and policy divergence in the UK, spanning different policy areas such as economic development, health and social policy. The paper emphasises that devolution has altered the institutional landscape of public policy in the UK, generating some high-profile examples of policy divergence, whilst also providing evidence of policy convergence. In addition, the passage of time underlines the nature of UK devolution as an unfolding process. Its underlying asymmetries have become more pronounced as the tendency towards greater autonomy for Scotland and Wales clashes with a highly centralised mode of policymaking in Westminster, the consequences of which have spilt over into the devolved territories in the context of the post-2007 economic crisis through public expenditure cuts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In the long 19th century, women seized new opportunities offered by parliament and played a growing role in public politics long before well‐known campaigns for the right to vote. As parliamentary politics grew more restrictive and formalised, women utilised older forms of interaction with the state and occupied spaces that were not explicitly barred to them. By looking at women's appearances before royal commissions and select committees, or women's participation in petitioning, this essay argues that women successfully pressured parliament and won their place in the blue books of government long before their names appeared on the electoral registers or in the columns of Hansard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The political impact of 'social acceleration' has recently attracted much attention in sociology and political theory. The concept, however, has remained entirely unexplored in the discipline of history. Although numerous British historians have noted the prominent position of acceleration in the late-Victorian and Edwardian imagination, these observations have never expanded beyond the realm of rhetorical flourish. The present paper attempts to build a two-way interdisciplinary bridge between British political history and the theories of social acceleration that have been posited in the social sciences, arguing that both British political historians and acceleration theorists have much to gain from further dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article looks at one of the more obscure moments in British constitutional history, the rise of federal devolution in the United Kingdom in the early 20th century and, in particular, the context to the Conference on Devolution that sat between October 1919 and April 1920. The conference, as this article will briefly discuss, has been relegated to footnote status in the historiography on federal devolution and British politics. However, while the conference has not been the subject of detailed academic attention, the claim that devolution and constitutional reform in this period was a by-product of the crisis in Ireland pre-partition has gathered considerable traction among political historians. This article will redress both the paltry analysis of the Conference on Devolution within the academic literature and the Irish-centric historiography on federal devolution in the early 20th century. On the latter front, this article will demonstrate that the conference was the product of forces that extended beyond the Irish crisis, in particular parliamentary congestion. As for the conference itself, this article will use a wide range of archival sources to examine critically the conference's deliberations and in doing so will challenge prevailing assumptions regarding the supposedly one firm source of agreement during the conference: the powers that the devolved bodies should enjoy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article will discuss the defence arguments that were used to oppose the channel tunnel, the relationship between these arguments and Britain's island status, the perceptions of British insularity, together with how and possibly why these changed in the period 1882-1975. The opposition to the Channel Tunnel project, especially in the period 1880 to 1945, can provide historians with a valuable insight into the British relationship with the sea. In particular, the opposition to a channel tunnel provides a way of analysing concepts of island status within Britain and what being an island meant to the British sense of self and identity, as they were expressed in the media as well as in official papers. At the same time, the changing attitudes to a channel tunnel, notably in the inter-war period and the post-1945 era, also show how the British understanding of what being an island state gave them in terms of security and identity changed. Such a change was as a result of new or improving technologies, particularly the aircraft, and the resulting impact it had on conceptions of security that being an island provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the role of elder statesmen in mid-nineteenth century British party politics. Influence of elder statesmen in shaping the development of the British constitution; Role of elder statesmen in guiding the queen through a succession of political crises; Impact of the death of George IV on the royal prerogative to select and dismiss ministers.

Scholars have long documented changes in knowledge regimes and power relations characteristic of state-centric drives to pacify conflicts and govern populations. But the mechanisms through which social conflicts are 'made legible' in routine policy processes - as well as the reasons why some ongoing conflicts are pacified and others are persistent - have remained less clear. I explore these issues through an analysis of the shifting analytic terrain of national-level commissions of inquiry, an historically powerful form of government organization designed to combine publicly-engaged and 'objective' explanation with recommendations for concrete policies of governance. Drawing principally on 19th and early 20th Century British Royal Commissions, I show how investigations into three fields of social conflict - involving prisoners, the working class, and colonial populations - were characterized by cyclical drives to bureaucratize conflict. Yet strikingly, only two of the three substantive fields - prisons and labor - achieved relative bureaucratic closure. Evidence from commission reports is marshaled to explain why some types of conflict have been resistant to incorporation, while others are more readily absorbed into an apparatus of governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the history of the power of public opinion in Great Britain. Account of the dismissal of Lord Palmerston from the government in December 1851; Emphasis on the contemporary constitutional theory; Impact of public opinion and demonstrations of popular support on mid-Victorian politics.

Focuses on how the government of King George IV secure the punishment of his estranged wife for her allegedly adulterous behavior in Great Britain in 1820. Introduction of the bill of pains and penalties by the ministers; Deprivation of the queen of all royal titles and privileges; Withdrawal of the bill after the consideration of the house of lords.

Focuses on British politician Philip Francis' ambition and career in England and India, his failure to develop his career and his abortive bid for the vacant governor-generalship in India in 1806. Personal circumstances; Nomination to the Bengal council; Efforts to convince councilors of his suitability for the topmost appointment of governor-general.

Part II. Chronicles the history of the exclusions of several English parliamentary members from the second protectorate parliament. Jubilation of exiled royalists at the exclusion; Benefits of the exclusion on Cromwell; Extra-parliamentary protests against the exclusion.

Abstract: The nineteenth‐century archive of the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) has been overlooked by economic historians. Yet the archive reveals how the PWLB came to play a major part in the financing of new schools, water supplies and sewers in the 1870s. Ten thousand loan applications have been analysed to highlight the changing patterns of the PWLB's lending, while the 60 volumes of minutes indicate why the pattern changed. The analysis shows that in the 1870s there was a large rise in local infrastructure investment caused by the switch from permissive to compulsory public health and education legislation. At the same time, the PWLB became predominantly a low‐cost, rather than a market rate, lender. This change shows how MPs’ views developed as they became more sensitive to the impact of the local costs of parliamentary legislation. Overall, the activities of the PWLB illustrate the legislative and institutional changes that contributed significantly to the growth in the role and spending of the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Joseph Chamberlain, an industrial entrepreneur, proponent of the 'civic gospel,' and emerging British Radical Liberal leader of the 1870s, established Birmingham as one of the most influential models for municipal socialism in Europe and North America. Arguing gas and water ought to be in public hands and city officials ought to take a role in securing inhabitants' health, he set the stage for continued mayoral activism and municipal socialism in the late 19th and early 20th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article looks at successive attempts to create new spatial imaginaries around three estuary-based city regions in England: the London-Thames Gateway, the Atlantic Gateway/Mersey Belt (Manchester and Liverpool), and Hull and the Humber ports. We develop a framework of analysis for new planning and regeneration spaces that takes forward debates on relational and territorial geographies, spatial imaginaries and the creation of new regional identities as governance objects. Specifically, we adopt a long-term and comparative perspective that allows an examination of how successive efforts at regional building are both path-dependent and context-specific, as new approaches reflect emerging ideas about how best to construct successful regions in a changing global economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historians have tended to examine right-wing British responses to Adolf Hitler on the basis of a supposed admiration or political affinity for Nazism. This article argues that the dilemma which actually split diehard Conservatives was between challenging Germany before it was too late, and a conviction that Britain lacked the means to do so. Both positions were predicated on a belief that Britain needed to accelerate rearmament, and that Nazi Germany posed a direct threat to British power. Ideology is not irrelevant, but the public statements and actions of diehard MPs reveal that their primary motivation was to resist internal and external threats to Britain's position as a world power. This resulted in an unprecedented division in diehard ranks over Neville Chamberlain's foreign policy, though diehard unity on colonial appeasement recalled an older tradition of working together in defence of the empire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

British foreign policy from 1700 to 1790 serves as a way to consider the Tory and Whig visions of Britain's relationship with the wider world. This article uses foreign policy to ask and answer broader questions about British political culture in the eighteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The parallel political worlds of ultra-toryism were those of Westminster and the provinces. Hoping to defend the protestant constitution from what they regarded as ruinous attacks, between 1826 and 1832 many ultra-tories were unrelenting parliamentary opponents of constitutional change. However, far less is understood about their simultaneous involvement in the political world away from Westminster, apart from analysis of the duke of Newcastle's electoral activities and several county studies. This article examines the 1st earl of Falmouth's dogged ideological defence of the protestant constitution, as well as exposing his political pragmatism in Cornwall, thereby highlighting the lengths to which some ultras were prepared to go in pursuing their beliefs. Falmouth also exemplifies those ultras who, from March 1827 when Lord Liverpool resigned, became far more prominent in the struggle against 'Revolution by due course of law', beginning with their opposition to Canning becoming prime minister. Furthermore, a study of Falmouth's career between 1826 and 1832 at Westminster and in Cornwall, also highlights several of the ideological tensions within ultra-toryism at this time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses the rhetorical culture of the House of Commons in the era following the extension of the franchise in 1918, a period in which parliament saw a major influx of new Labour MPs, and also the entry for the first time of small number of women. The article discusses not only the norms and expectations surrounding parliamentary speech but also the ways in which some speaking styles and techniques became controversial. In particular, the Labour Party was accused by its opponents of practising 'rowdyism'. This allegation was part of a wider effort to undermine the party's constitutional credentials and to present it as unfit to govern. Thus, arguments about styles of arguing went the heart of broader debates over political legitimacy. To a considerable degree, Labour MPs were co-opted over time into existing codes of behaviour. But although Conservative efforts to associate their own oratorical style with political virtue did have some success, partisan factors alone are not sufficient to explain the shifts in rhetorical culture, which changed, in part, for reasons external to the institution itself. As power moved from the legislature to the executive, and as politics became increasingly professionalized, the speaking culture of the House of Commons was affected by a longstanding evolution from a discursive to a programmatic view of statecraft. Styles and techniques of parliamentary argument were thus influenced both by the changing nature of the state and by the shifting bargain between voters and the political classes in the era of universal suffrage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historians have traditionally viewed the Glorious Revolution as essentially a political event, but in recent decades the growing recognition of just how extensively it impacted on British society has led to various reappraisals of its significance. This article argues that the structure of post-1689 parliamentary activity encouraged both MPs and peers to take a greater interest in the concerns of their constituencies and constituents. In turn, this led to the promotion of private legislation, and these developments together provided the conditions for underpinning the infrastructural developments needed to encourage investment in industrial processes. Thus, the legacy of the Glorious Revolution in relation to parliamentary proceedings was of great importance to the establishment of the circumstances in which industrialisation could flourish, conditions which did not exist prior to 1689 but which subsequently enabled Britain to become the first industrial nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic growth and change in eighteenth-century Britain, both the expansion of pre-industrial commercial society and the industrial revolution itself, have been explored using a variety of approaches. This article highlights a relatively ignored aspect of the problem, arguing that the state, politics, and political economic ideology played a central role. In particular, the early eighteenth-century political victory of a version of political economy associated with the Whig party, which centred on manufacturing and consumption, was a prerequisite for the economic developments later in the century. The article begins by describing a political economy of manufacturing and its rival, a political economy of re-exporting associated with the Tory party. It then explains how and why a political economy of manufacturing became dominant, examining both political elites and ordinary voters and petitioners. The growth of manufacturing and consumption must be understood, therefore, as political as much as economic events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'A property owning democracy' has been at the centre of Conservative Party social policy since Noel Skelton coined the phrase in 1924. The idea has been underpinned by contrasting the independent, hygienic, suburban homeowner with the urban, managed, flat-dwelling, high-density council tenant. No Conservative-led government has left office with a homeownership rate lower than when it came to power and the right to buy has enabled this growth to be maintained. However, in 2005, homeownership started to decline and this drop has continued into the Coalition government's term of office with more households now exiting owner-occupation into the private landlord sector than entering owner-occupation from private renting. The 'reinvigorating' the right to buy is an attempt put a 'property owning democracy' back on track but, should it fail, the Conservative Party may turn to more radical policies such as sale on vacant possession of 'high value' local authority and housing association houses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the use of the term Britain to designate the United Kingdom. Topics mentioned include national identity, the characteristics generally attributed to Englishmen, and British nationalism. The author also discusses the political situation in Great Britain and the different reforms which occurred during the second half of the 20th century.

The article focuses on the political crisis faced by Great Britain since the second half of the 20th century. Topics mentioned include the report of the organization and politics of the Labour Party in the national press, the social and economic issues in the country, and the evolution of socialism in the country.

The article discusses the historical context for the British government's Big Society policy plan, which emphasizes local community and organizational involvement over state control, focusing on historic clashes over notions of the role of society. The author examines various conceptions of society in early British history, including discussions of property, support in time of need, and citizenship, and the influence of intellectuals Thomas Paine and Robert Owen is highlighted. The connection between notions of society and public policy is discussed, and special attention is paid to Great Britain's Poor Laws. Other topics include the thought of liberal thinkers Hilaire Belloc, Seebohm Rowntree, and Ernest Barker.

The article discusses Labour Party in Great Britain and its leader Jeremy Corbyn. Topics discussed include political leadership, political parties and elections in Great Britain. Other topics which includes Social Democratic Party (SDP), democracy in political parties and Great Britain's political history are also discussed.

Members of the house of lords had the right to enter their dissent from a decision reached by the House into the journal, the formal record of the Lords' proceedings, by signing their names against the record of the decision. Further, members could enter a protest, which normally consisted of a reason or a series of reasons for the dissent together with their signatures. The first such protest originated in 1641 and, though it is still possible to enter a protest, the last one was in 1998. Little official evidence has survived to illuminate the procedure of how protests were entered into the journal. This evidence (largely consisting of draft journals for 1660 to 1690 and protest books since 1831), along with other unofficial sources, is examined to determine how protests may have been organised and entered into the record of the House.This organisation may mean that the record of protests that has survived is incomplete and that some names of lords who originally protested were not entered into the final manuscript journal. This may have important implications for the historian of parliament. The surviving records of protesting may have distorted the understanding of the politics of individual lords and party affiliations within the house of lords. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the various practices adopted for the payment of Members of Parliament in the fifteenth century in Great Britain. The payment of the parliamentary representatives of the English boroughs for their services was considered a principle, which was not called into question until later in the fifteenth century. As a penalty for members failing to attend the Commons, their wages are forfeited. Issues concerning the use of common funds for the payments are also tackled. Other topics include levying and collection of money, regional idiosyncrasies, and codification of the parliamentary franchise.

Argues the influence of Catholics on the cabinet in Great Britain in the 1820s. Formation of the government of Lord Liverpool; Need for prior permission from the King to relieve a Catholic; Details of the testimony of Lord Liverpool.

Focuses on the history of the emergence and development of a system of national taxation in Great Britain. Implication of the economic and social upheaval caused by the Black Death for the relationship between the Lords and Commons; Opportunities given to the poorer classes; Formation of a political society.

Explores the nature of the crucial link between the municipal and parliamentary voter registration process and its stimulus to party organization of both council and constituency politics in Great Britain. Impact of the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835; Introduction of annual town council elections in 135 parliamentary boroughs; First council elections held on December 26, 1835.

Discusses the involvement of Winston Churchill in the Irish home rule campaign in Great Britain. Questions on the true concern of Churchill to the Irish home rule; Political developments which made Churchill support the Irish home rule; Political significance involved in the support of home rule.

Focuses on Norman Gash's biography of Sir Robert Peel, head of the Conservative party in Great Britain between 1834 to 1846. Comments of Gladstone on Peel's career; Problems of Peel as leader of the Conservative party; Analysis on Peel's political outlooks.

Provides a chronological survey of the main surviving manuscript and printed descriptions of the opening of Tudor parliaments in Great Britain. Omissions on the fifteenth-century rolls of parliament; Account of the opening of Henry VIII's first parliament in 1510; Book containing accounts of the opening of several parliaments between 1523 and 1559.

Chronicles the parliamentary session in Great Britain of January 1461. Footnotes discussed in Ralph A. Griffiths book 'The Reign of King Henry VI' and the 'Henry VI and the Politics of Kingship' by John Watts. List of Yorkist lords at the end of January 1461; Absent Lancastrians in the list.

Focuses on the county parliamentary elections in the fifteenth-century England. Electoral indentures instituted in 1406; Significant changes in the electoral process; Complaints about electoral interference from the crown.

Discusses the transition of the British House of Lords from its role as a sturdy and reliable support of monarchs and their governments to a mainly legislative role subordinate to the Commons. Impact of the enactment of the Reform Act of 1832 on the house of lords; Debates on the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts in 1828; Importance of public opinion to the transformation.

Chronicles the history of the election petition in the house of commons in Great Britain in 1734. Impact of the conflict between tory and whig parties on the political situation in the region; Modus operandi of an election petition; Features of the Yorkshire petition of 1734.

Chronicles the life and political career of Sir John Glynne, a member of the parliament of Great Britain. Highlights of his political career; Factors attributed to his political obscurity; Political ideas.

The article discusses the putatively minor political parties in Great Britain from the 1930s through July 1962, including the British Communist Party, the National Socialist Party, the Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB) and the Independent Labour Party (ILP). An overview the political persuasion of British political parties, including the left-wing Socialist Labour League, is provided. The role that anarchists play in British politics, including the Freedom Group of anarchists' collaboration with the ILP, is discussed. The support that minor parties of Great Britain garner in elections is also discussed. An overview of the role that pressure-groups play within British political parties is also provided.

An introduction is presented to a special issue that presents reprinted articles from 1930s issues of the journal on topics including the political status of Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin, a purported revolt against reason, and the relationship between church and state in Great Britain.

The article discusses Great Britain's Department of Economic Affairs (D.E.A.) and Economic Planning during the 1960s. The role that the D.E.A. plays in the British economic planning, including in regard to public expenditures and in relation to the control that the government has over the British economy, is discussed. An overview of the British government's efforts to enhance economic development, including its creation of the National Economic Development Council (N.E.D.C.), is provided. The D.E.A.'s relationship with British industries is also discussed.

The article discusses the British Parliament's relationship with the regional governments of Great Britain during the mid 1960s. An overview of the British Parliament's Economic Planning Board's relationship with the Regional Planning Councils, including in regard to the coordination of economic planning and economic development polices between the British and local governments, is provided. Legislative committees of Great Britain's regions, including the Scottish and Welsh Grand Committees, are discussed.