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3 weeks ago | 
politicshome.com | Adam Payne |Philip Cowley
The professor will see you now: The limits of prime ministerial power
Illustration by Tracy Worrall
As memories of Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher fade, so perceptions of the limitations of prime ministerial power increase
A study published recently in the journal Scientific Reports argued that time could be flowing in reverse, without any of us knowing it.
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2 months ago | 
politicshome.com | Zoe Crowther |Philip Cowley
4 min read
In an occasional series, Professor Philip Cowley offers a political science lesson for The House’s readers. This week: voter preferences
Fellow lecturer to me, after a Question Time-style event: “What did you think of that?”
Me: “It was all right, but didn’t that dreadful woman remind you why you don’t vote Lib Dem?”
Him: “That’s my wife.”
It may have been years ago, but the embarrassment still lingers.
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2 months ago | 
politicshome.com | Sophie Church |Philip Cowley
4 min read
In an occasional series, Professor Philip Cowley offers a political science lesson for The House’s readers. This week: canvassing
Professor David Denver, who died in August last year, began his book Elections and Voting Behaviour in Britain with the words: “Elections are fun”.
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Mar 14, 2025 | 
politicshome.com | Sophie Church |Philip Cowley
4 min read
In an occasional series, Professor Philip Cowley offers a political science lesson for The House’s readers. This week: trust
The latest data on trust in professions makes salutary reading for the political class. In the most recent Ipsos poll, for example, just 18 per cent of people said they trusted politicians to tell the truth. Of the 26 professions about which the survey asked, politicians come bottom.
Actually, that is a sleight of hand.
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Feb 26, 2025 | 
politicshome.com | Matilda Martin |Philip Cowley
4 min read
In an occasional series, Professor Philip Cowley offers a political science lesson for The House’s readers. This week: bats
Do you remember the ‘Vote Labour and the bats get it’ part of the election campaign? I missed it, which is curious, because bats are a big deal at Cowley Towers.
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Feb 9, 2025 | 
politicshome.com | Tali Fraser |Philip Cowley
4 min read
In an occasional series, Professor Philip Cowley offers a political science lesson for The House’s readers. This week: majority envy
“We’ve got a massive majority.”
At least that’s what I heard the Prime Minister say at PMQs on 22 January – although for some reason Hansard records it as “we have massive [sic] majority”. But how massive?
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Jan 30, 2025 | 
politicshome.com | Matilda Martin |Philip Cowley
4 min read
In an occasional series, Professor Philip Cowley offers a political science lesson for The House’s readers. This week: democratic realism
We know a lot about what voters think of MPs. Much of it is not very positive. But what do MPs think of voters?
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Jan 20, 2025 | 
politicshome.com | Matilda Martin |Philip Cowley
4 min read
In an occasional series, professor Philip Cowley offers a political science lesson for The House’s readers. This week: votes at 16
Two decades ago, in his book on voter turnout, Mark Franklin argued that 18 was about the worst possible age to first give people the vote. It’s a transitional time in many lives, between school and the responsibilities of adulthood.
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Dec 2, 2024 | 
theconversation.com | Philip Cowley
Whenever there is a high-profile free vote – like that over assisted dying – you will see claims that it cuts across party lines: that the issues involved are “non-party”, “cross-party”, or “not issues of party politics”. This is all partly true, although it also reflects an anti-party sentiment that has long existed. At the beginning of the 20th century, writer Sidney Low noted that the easiest way to get a round of applause at a public meeting was to claim that something was non-partisan.
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Nov 28, 2024 | 
politicshome.com | Chaminda Jayanetti |Philip Cowley
4 min read
In an occasional series, Professor Philip Cowley offers a political science lesson for The House’s readers. This week: whatever
Almost exactly 100 years ago, in October 1924, the spinal specialist Clement Jeffrey gave a lecture at Mortimer Hall on the subject of “nerves”. He advised his audience to avoid talking about politics before going to bed.
