Jeffrey Archer, Conservative MP for Louth (1969-1974) has died. Jeffrey was a best-selling novelist, whose turbulent political career ended in scandal. In his interview for our Oral History Project, he described having political ambitions from a very early age.

Me on Barbara Cartland's political history. It really was quite the life.

We're very excited to be including Michael Howard, former leader of the Conservative Party, in our Oral History Project! Its been a busy few months for the project, including interviews with David Alton, Ian Blackford, Peter Bottomley and Patricia Hewitt, and we will be updating our progress here.

Robert Spankie, MP for Finsbury 1832-35, had an unusual pre-parliamentary career. @martinspychal.bsky.social explores his route from parliamentary reporter to serving as a controversial advocate-general of Bengal.

19th-century Westmorland MPs included the 'Father of the House' (between 1862 and his death in 1867), Hon. Henry Cecil Lowther. He had first been elected for the county in 1812.

🚨New article🚨 How best to repair the buildings of the Houses of Parliament has been a frequent topic of debate in recent years. But, as Dr Hannes Kleineke explores, Westminster Hall also required a lot of repair work in the Middle Ages. 👇

"This produced a very tedious and uninteresting debate, in which every Lord present took part..." One can feel the pain of this reporter, sitting through an interminable committee of the whole on the general sewers bill (1779).

David Olusoga's new series Finding Britain's Slave Traders airs tonight at 9pm. In anticipation, we are resharing an article from Dr Michael Taylor on the West India Interest, the pro-slavery lobby in Parliament, where many members had a vested interest in the continuation of slavery.

The Hay Wain has been back in Suffolk for the first time since it was painted, which is just wonderful. Prompted me to write about Constable and his depictions of Great Fire of 1834.

🚨New Substack🚨 Following last week's post about the Bayeux Tapestry, @jhdavey.bsky.social has combed through Hansard for some surprising moments when King Harold and the Battle of Hastings have been mentioned in Parliament.