Oliver Booth

Profile

My undergraduate dissertation studied the application of free trade principles to the UK after withdrawal from the EU, with a particular focus on the model used by Singapore. I critiqued the gravity model of trade which has been used by economists and institutions such as the Bank of England in economic forecasts relating to Brexit. My Masters dissertation examined what the rise of Boris Johnson meant for the trajectory of the Conservative Party. I constructed a database of Conservative MPs which was coded to allow bivariate and multivariate analysis of voting behaviour in the 2019 leadership election and investigated the drivers behind support for Johnson. I used the statecraft framework to analyse Johnson’s leadership of the party and threats to his premiership.

My PhD research looks at the Conservative Party under the leadership of Cameron, May, and Johnson. My thesis adopts three main themes: leadership, which I explore using innovative comparative methods to explore leadership selection and the Greenstein model to assess leadership performance; ideology, where I study the extent of ideological renewal from 2005 to 2022; and institutions, where I track the behaviour and compositon of factions within the Conservative Party using quantitative analysis. The PhD is situated within wider discussions of the Conservative Party, British politics, and comparative methods.

Teaching

I am teaching on two modules in Semester 2:

• British Politics PIED1100
• Comparative Politics PIED1110

Other activities

I am the PGR ambassador for the Centre for Democratic Politics based at Leeds.

Research interests

My research interests include:

• British politics
• Comparative politics
• Political economy

Qualifications

• BA Business Economics
• MA International Political Economy