Keir Starmer, in his first eighteen months, has had three. Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss had one each. Boris Johnson contrived to have nine, while Theresa May made do with just three, as did David Cameron. Gordon Brown had four, as did Tony Blair. John Major managed with only two, while Margaret Thatcher had five.
Quiz below. Solution here: psaparliaments.org/2026/04/22/e...
Meg has contributed immensely to the study of parliaments in the UK and internationally, and has been a fantastic mentor to PSA Parliaments members and a friend of the group.
Good luck to the new Constitution Unit team — we look forward to following your work on parliaments and democracy!
That’s a wrap for our #PSA26 panels - thank you to all our fantastic presenters! 😊
See you all soon!💫
And don’t forget to follow us on Linkedin!
🧐 If you are curious about…
- Parliamentary divorce
- Whether it’s likely that a town clerk’s divorce *really* was sneaked through in a bill
You can read Charlie’s fascinating research here: greenbag.org/archive/gree... (Access through Westlaw/Lexis)
That’s a wrap for our #PSA26 panels - thank you to all our fantastic presenters! 😊
See you all soon!💫
And don’t forget to follow us on Linkedin!
🗣️ And wrapping up our final panel, we have Phillip Gilfus of @uniofreading.bsky.social examining the impact of electoral systems and re-election incentives on parliamentary behaviour 🗳️
#PSA26
💫 @nathanielsablan.bsky.social of @sheffielduni.bsky.social is presenting on the concept of complementarity in the @houseoflords.parliament.uk select committee system 🗳️
#PSA26
🗣️ @drjamesstrong.bsky.social of @qmul.bsky.social is up next presenting a paper on parliamentary democracy in wartime, drawing on Winston Churchill’s writings 📚
#PSA26
💫 And now for our final panel on “Internal Mechanisms”…
😊 Up first is @parlcharlie.bsky.social telling us about some fascinating Hansard legislative lore about a bill sneakily dissolving a town clerk’s marriage!
#PSA26
🎉 Exciting news! 🎉
💫 We now have a LinkedIn page!
💻 Follow us to get updates on conferences, events, our blog and much more!
🔗 www.linkedin.com/company/psa-...
😊 Feel free to start tagging us in any LinkedIn posts @psaparliaments
🍁 Fantastic to have @jonathanmalloy.bsky.social of @carleton.ca to wrap up our panel on “Representation and Legitimacy” with his work on the “independent” Canadian Senate 🇨🇦
#PSA26
🎤 Next up we have John Moorcraft from Swansea University who is talking about his research shadowing parliamentarians in their constituencies 👥
💫 Daniel Machado from @manchester.ac.uk is presenting on parliamentary resistance to gender and sexuality policy-making in Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies 🇧🇷
#PSA26
✨ Kristian Hauken presenting as part of our panel on “Representation and Legitimacy” with research on men’s issues representation in the UK Parliament 🗳️
💫 @khemvirg.bsky.social is wrapping up our panel on “Engagement and Knowledge” by giving us a tour of Latin American parliaments in the context of democratic backsliding 🇨🇱🇲🇽🇨🇴🇵🇪
✨Andrea Cullen of @sydney.edu.au is now presenting on petitions in the Australian Federal Parliament 🇦🇺
💫 @janekirkpatrick.bsky.social of @uwebristolofficial.bsky.social has just concluded a fascinating presentation as part of our next panel, “Engagement and Knowledge”, looking at civil society and the scrutiny of climate change 🌱
🎉 Our first #PSA26 panel, “What is Parliament?”, was a fantastic start to our programme! Thank you @stephenholdenbates.bsky.social, @alyssamartin.bsky.social, James Strong, Shirin Rai and @pandapoliticus.bsky.social 😊
Wishing our friends at @psa-parliaments.bsky.social a successful #PSA26 conference 🧑🏫
We are looking forward to the @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social annual conference next week! 🙌🏻 #PSA26
We are looking forward to the @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social annual conference next week! 🙌🏻 #PSA26
This article reminded me of this @psa-parliaments.bsky.social blog that we had in draft form for some years and which I eventually found behind the sofa:
psaparliaments.org/2026/03/25/e...
Very pleased to see our article on backbench roles in the HoC published in @hansardsociety.bsky.social Parliamentary Affairs.
@carolinebha.bsky.social @socialpolicy.bsky.social & I group MPs by activity across 26 measures, identifying 7 roles.
It's free to read!
academic.oup.com/pa/advance-a...
The Backbench Business Committee 15 years on: has it given backbench MPs a stronger voice in the House of Commons? from yours truly with @louisevthompson.bsky.social for the @hansardsociety.bsky.social : www.hansardsociety.org.uk/blog/backben...
How will the 2026 Senedd election change Welsh politics?
On Thursday join @jessblair.bsky.social, @lauramcallister30.bsky.social and @paulsilk.bsky.social to discuss the Senedd's possible makeup, new voting system and expansion.
Sign up for this free, online event 👉 www.ucl.ac.uk/social-histo....
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...
📈Four UQs is a very rare record number of UQs in a single day, if we look at numbers since 1997 (particularly since the revival of UQs after 2010). The last time this happened was on 25 Oct 2021.
Three UQs in one day occurred most recently on 5 Jan, and this has happened eight times this session.
This was a great discussion of how the House of Commons could manage multi-party politics, and it is now available as a video!
Bonus: @louisevthompson.bsky.social’s cat in the background! 🐈
📝The Commons Procedure Committee is conducting an inquiry on Written Parliamentary Questions. Read evidence from colleagues at the link below ⬇️
@stephenholdenbates.bsky.social @carolinebha.bsky.social & Stephen McKay - WPQs use over time
@ruxandrasrbn.bsky.social - WPQs procedures comparatively
