Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Thanks Ben - I'm glad you liked it. Unfortunately I submitted the final version just before your CEH piece appeared - otherwise I'd have drawn out the social market connection more strongly 100
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026The article builds on my earlier piece on the 1970s Liberal revival, and examines how Ashdown tried to reshape British Liberalism for a post-Fordist, post-Thatcherite era. Many thanks to the editors and reviewers for all their help. academic.oup.com/ehr/article/...academic.oup.com‘Take Power—Vote Liberal’: Jeremy Thorpe, the 1974 Liberal Revival, and the Politics of 1970s Britain*Abstract. The Liberal Party’s 1972–4 revival under Jeremy Thorpe placed it at the heart of political debate in 1970s Britain—a period marked by inflation, 010
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026New article! I've written about Paddy Ashdown, 'third way' politics, and the Liberal Democrats' relationship with New Labour in @jbritishstudies.bsky.social doi.org/10.1017/jbr....doi.orgPaddy Ashdown’s Third Way: The Liberal Democrats and the Politics of the 1990s | Journal of British Studies | Cambridge CorePaddy Ashdown’s Third Way: The Liberal Democrats and the Politics of the 1990s - Volume 65 3125
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 22/09/2026On one level, there's something admirable about refusing to accept the constraints created by Labour's red lines on immigration and Europe. On the other hand, it's very hard to see how this maximalist approach survives coalition negotiations 000
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Liberal Democrat policy is now best understood as a set of Trotskyist-style transitional demands, ostensibly reasonable but cumulatively very costly, which can only be delivered by taking the UK back into the single market. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...theguardian.comEd Davey promises £17bn income tax cut if Lib Dems are electedGrowth created by rejoining EU single market and customs union would fund change, Davey tells the party’s conference 161
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 16/09/2026There are also early-view articles by James Dennison on the Green Party (@jamesrdennison.bsky.social), Gulay Icoz on Tower Hamlets, and Tahir Abbas on foreign policy and the fall of Keir Starmer, with more to follow... @politicalquarterly.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/1467923x...onlinelibrary.wiley.com 000
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 16/09/2026It's great to see articles from the Political Quarterly special issue on the 2026 local and devolved elections start to come out, including this very timely piece by David Howarth on the Liberal Democrats at mid-term: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...onlinelibrary.wiley.comValues versus Tactics: The Liberal Democrat PredicamentThe Liberal Democrats emerged from the 2024 election with their largest parliamentary party since 1923. The 2026 elections saw further progress in English local government and Scottish parliamentary ... 100
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 31/08/2026I've been there a few times recently, but not (I think) on the 15th 010
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 28/07/2026It's a really great piece, and I think NCVO's role in the 80s future of work debate is fascinating - they also provided initial funding for the Basic Income Research Group 110
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 25/07/2026In that vein, maybe it's reassuring that three of the four main party leaders (Davey, Farage, and Burnham), plus the Chancellor and FS, have now been in front-line politics for well over 20 years. Badenoch is the outlier... 050
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 24/07/2026Burnham's populist focus on the everyday economy makes sense in coalitional terms, but it leaves a lot of space for the Lib Dems to articulate a different vision - and one that speaks to their own southern constituencies. It remains to be seen whether Davey can take that opportunity. 020
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 24/07/2026There's a liberal solution to the UK's current predicament, which starts by reversing the damage that Brexit and tight migration policies have done to the public finances. Thus far, there is no sign of Andy Burnham taking that path. 121
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 21/07/2026Jenkins claimed it was him, though that may have involved a dose of wishful thinking 010
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 21/07/2026According to Hennessy, Wilson wanted to put Healey at the FCO, but Callaghan was determined to take the job 110
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 20/07/2026Fair play to John Healey, who managed to time his 5.5-week break from government to coincide exactly with the World Cup 141468233
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 28/06/2026England's half of the World Cup bracket contains no EU member states. By my count, there are 9 in the other half 100
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 06/06/2026I think this is basically the plot of Ramsay Muir's 'Robinson the Great' (1929) - the leader of a tiny Liberal group becomes PM because no one else can form a government 030
Reposted by Peter SlomanChurchill Archives Centre @chuarchives.bsky.social · 02/06/2026We have a rare and exciting opportunity to join our team as Director of Churchill Archives Centre at Churchill College. Application deadline is 9am on 29th June 2026. Please share this with people you think would be interested.buff.lyDirector of the Churchill Archives Centre | Churchill College, CambridgeApplication deadline: 09:00 am BST on Monday 29th June 01927
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 28/05/2026Yes - I've been struck by the vlrtual disappearance of 'Mondeo Man'-type figures from political discourse in recent years. But even Blair's initial strategy focussed much more on C1/C2 voters than is usually remembered. 120
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 20/05/2026It's early days yet, but it looks like Burnham has decided to resolve this conundrum by adopting most of Starmer's positions. (Would he be saying the same things if he was fighting Withington?) 141
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 20/05/2026There was a big opportunity for consensus-building in 2024. Instead, everything has been wrapped in the Labour flag in an attempt to recreate old-style party government 110
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 19/05/2026First team to get knocked out of the play-offs twice... 010
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 14/05/2026I thought that at first, but given Simons' Labour Together background, I wonder if there might have been some kind of deal 130
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 14/05/2026I agree with you - though I think that, if the Tories had made William Hague PM in 2013, he would have been treated very differently ('elder statesman', etc.). 030
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 12/05/2026There's a damaging tendency in British politics to treat party crises, leadership changes, and other forms of instability as failures of politics, rather than part of the political process. (I know it's not only a British phenomenon, but our majoritarian political culture makes it worse.) 0152
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 12/05/2026Yes, I think that's probably right, though I would add 'effectively' to 'unreservedly'. It's possible to build from the centre leftwards if voters think you know what you're doing 000
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 12/05/2026I agree, though it's not clear how long this lasts when the Reform/Trump threat seems truly existential. Look at the left in Canada! 000
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 12/05/2026I think this is probably true, but the context for Milibandism (or predistribution) has also got much less propitious since 2015: the UK is out of the EU, energy costs are up, and corporation tax and the minimum wage are higher. 020
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 10/05/2026I'm puzzled why she didn't run for deputy leader. Would have been much better than Powell 010
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 09/05/2026The bizarre thing is that from c. 1992 to 2015 the Tories spent a lot of time thinking about how to fight the LDs. Now they are a bigger threat, and the Tories don't seem to be bothered 120
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 08/05/2026Indeed. But this government has made a big bet on public service investment that will take time to come through. Many commentators (typically fixated on the income tax pledge) seem to be determined to ignore that. 110
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 17/03/2026No, that's probably Andrew Britton. Ministers are named by titles, like the Financial Secretary at the top 110
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 27/02/2026That suggests there is time for a leftward pivot and a hung parliament (with Lib Dem support?) before it all goes up in smoke... 120
Reposted by Peter SlomanTim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 20/01/2026He's right - terrific stuff. 'You cannot “live within the lie” of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination.' 610430
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 20/01/2026It's a pleasure to contribute to Renewal's special issue on Labour in power (though unfortunately it's behind a paywall) 061
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 05/01/2026I wonder if part of the problem is that a labour market strategy developed in a pre-2015 context (EU membership, lower NMW, lower corporate tax rates) is being applied in a very different economic environment 100
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 05/01/2026I think this partly stems from the ways in which the Corbyn-era Labour Party cultivated a coalition of stakeholders with spending proposals and other policy initiatives. After 2020 much of the spending went, but the party had to keep its stakeholders on side. 000
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 09/12/2025The snag is that effective social democratic opposition tends to involve an urgent, moralistic politics of mobilisation. 010
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 25/11/2025This is a great opportunity to join the Churchill College community for a term and carry out research on our wonderful C20th history collections. Apply now for 2026/27! 040
Reposted by Peter SlomanBJPIR @bjpir.bsky.social · 12/11/2025📝 Don't miss this article from the current issue of #BJPIR - Volume 27, Issue 4 (November 2025) 'Why do parties (not) support Universal Basic Income? The case of the UK Liberal Democrats' by @pjsloman.bsky.social 🔗 buff.ly/roRneC3 @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social 022
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 12/11/2025The Baldwin option of an early election (after the budget, before tax rises take effect) deserves more consideration than it's getting. It would be mad, of course, but once Labour's credibility on tax pledges is lost, it will be very hard to regain. 010
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 02/11/2025Oh, absolutely. And I thought we'd lose the Series 4-0 or 4-1. Just frustrating that three of the four defeats were so close 100
Peter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 02/11/2025Just about, but not sure I can face extra innings! 100
