Jon Parry

Professor of Modern British History, Cambridge, just retired. 19th-century Britain. Short History of Liberalism for @agendapub April 2025. Part-time Sarkee.

[Jon Parry @JonParryHis]

V pleased to find these copies today! A short survey of British Liberalism from 1830 to now. Aims to show its coherence as a creed amongst political changes and contingencies. Emphasises a political not economic agenda - defending political activity, opposing vested interests

[Tim Shipman @ShippersUnbound]

This is the best piece on Starmer you will read today, perhaps this year

[Aris Roussinos @arisroussinos]

Redmondite Burnham vs rebel-sympathetic Farage

[Jon Parry @JonParryHis]

I suppose everyone knows that Britain occupied Kharg island between 1838 and 1842….

Just checking….

[Will Calverley 🇬🇧 @WillCalverleyUK]

Very interesting polls for the 2026 Local Elections! 👀

[Jon Parry @JonParryHis]

@richardmarcj I agree with your critique, but there’s nothing ‘liberal’ about the opposing point of view - which is why no liberal government attacked the Lords in the way you suggest they should have done. As Chamberlain famously said, ‘why break a butterfly on a wheel?’

[Jon Parry @JonParryHis]

@LedgerLomasM @DrFrancisYoung In 1878 the governor of Bermuda professed to be terrified of a Russian attack. It allowed him to demand more money from the War Office for fortifications

[Jon Parry @JonParryHis]

It’s stirring to see two of my best ever research students go to war with each other…. What puzzles me about pieces like John Bew’s is how as a historian he thinks that a national renewal of this sort can actually be brought about. I hope the piece mentions allies somewhere?

[MichaelLedgerLomas @LedgerLomasM]

@OvePM @NewStatesman He used to be quite New Labourish - your excerpts, which don't seem very magisterial to me, indicate quite a rightwards turn.

[Ben Riley-Smith @benrileysmith]

A masterful and brutal column from @patrickkmaguire, a chronicler of the Starmer project who today sounds its death knell. Here are the closing lines.

[Jon Parry @JonParryHis]

@Richard08156270 @william_whyte Congratulations William! An excellent appointment - well done to all involved…

[Jon Parry @JonParryHis]

A helpful update!

[Jon Parry @JonParryHis]

Great Northern’s excuses for failing to run a proper service get ever more bizarre

[Paul Saffer @PaulSaffer1]

The Football Governance Act has done something that ministers from Rab Butler onwards dismissed as unthinkable - legislative regulation of soccer. Here is how we got here ....
https://t.co/ok4dpXxPED

[Boydell & Brewer @boydellbrewer]

Out now: Institutions, Individuals and Modern British History edited by Jonathan Parry examines the place of Britain’s political and cultural institutions, and the impact of individuals in their formation and evolution. @JonParryHis https://t.co/S2Q88adp6J

[Jon Parry @JonParryHis]

@LedgerLomasM They look more loke a vaudeville company

[Jon Parry @JonParryHis]

@ShipleyWrites @JAHeale He was also a really good minister for the Crown dependencies. It’s very sad that he’s been replaced by yet another KC

[William Whyte @william_whyte]

Just arrived! A Festschrift for David Cannadine edited by @JonParryHis — with pieces by Miles Taylor, ⁦@PaulBRamsbottom⁩ Sandy Nairne, Helen McCarthy, Charles Saumerez Smith, and many others including me on Noel Annan

[Madeline Grant @Madz_Grant]

Whenever Starmer tries to appear normal, he ends up sounding like a mixture of David Brent and the acid bath murderer https://t.co/93osPYOOlE

[Jon Parry @JonParryHis]

@LedgerLomasM https://t.co/MfkFw4MdEf

[Jon Parry @JonParryHis]

@GeraintLThomas @william_whyte ‘Every Cambridge institution has gone wrong as soon as it loses sight of those three goals: discuss’