Welcome to…
Contemporary History
The History of Parliament’s Oral History project is working with the British Library to create a sound archive of British politics since 1945. Since 2011 we have interviewed nearly 250 former parliamentarians about their lives and experiences: nearly 1000 hours of recording covering all aspects of politicians’ lives and time at Westminster.
Due to the ongoing disruption at the British Library our interviews are not available through the BL currently – please see above or contact us if you’d like to hear any of them.
We aim to include in our archive politicians of all parties and backgrounds, who reached all levels in the Commons – from cabinet members such as Michael Heseltine or Clare Short, party leaders like Menzies Campbell or long-time backbenchers like Tam Dalyell. Our long interviews (our record is 24 hours) include a wealth of behind-the-scenes detail including why, and how, politicians entered politics; how they organised their careers, casework and the constituency, and what really went on in the chamber, bars and smoking room!
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Crossing the Floor: Tales from the Oral History Project
Following some recent, high-profile, political defections, Alfie Steer and Dr Emma Peplow have delved into the History of Parliament’s Oral History archive to explore historical…
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‘A negative achievement’: Behind the scenes of the House of Lords Act 1999
Ahead of major pieces of legislation designed to reform the composition of the House of Lords, and our recent event ‘Reforming the House of Lords’…
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‘Made of Stone’ (or not): Statues in Parliament Square
For the past few months our Head of Contemporary History, Dr Emma Peplow, has been on Matt Chorley’s Radio 5live show every Thursday afternoon discussing…
Tales from the Green Benches: an Oral History of Parliament
Hosted by Dr Emma Peplow, Head of Contemporary History at the History of Parliament Trust, and Dr Alex Lock, historian and curator at the British Library, this podcast spotlights some of the brilliant interviews from MPs who sat between the 1950s and early 2000s within our 200+ strong archive, using never before heard clips and highlighting the unique insights that oral history interviews provide.
The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs
Edited by Emma Peplow & Priscila Pivatto
Featuring extracts from the History of Parliament Trust’s collection of interviews with former MPs who sat from the 1950s until the 2000s, The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs gives a voice to those MPs’ stories. It explores why they became interested in politics, how they found their seat and fought election campaigns, what it felt like to speak in the chamber and how their class or gender dictated their experiences at Westminster.
Meet the Team
Dr Emma Peplow
I am Head of Contemporary History at the Trust, having joined the History in 2012. Before that, I was Research Associate at the Marylebone Cricket Club museum, creating an oral history archive on cricket clubs in the UK and Sri Lanka. I have a PhD in International History from the LSE. I have published and spoken widely on our archive. I am currently overseeing our brilliant volunteers and writing articles on women’s experiences in the Commons and on the practice of elite interviewing. I also recently recorded a podcast with our fantastic interviewer Dr Alex Lock.
Volunteer
The History is keen to attract people with an interest in and knowledge of British postwar political history to act as interviewers. If you would like to become part of the team then please get in touch!
