Dr Richard Hayton

Profile

I joined POLIS as a Lecturer in Politics in January 2013, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2015.

From 2014 to 2017 I served on the Executive Committee of the Political Studies Association as an elected Trustee. Between 2011 and 2016 I was the Convenor of the Political Studies Association Conservatism Studies Specialist Group.

I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), and founding editor of the New Perspectives on the Right book series hosted by Manchester University Press. I am an Editor of the British Journal of Politics and International Relations (BJPIR) and member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the journal Global Discourse.

Since September 2022 I have been Co-Director of the Centre for Democratic Politics in POLIS. 

Responsibilities

• Co-Director, Centre for Democratic Politics
• Editor, British Journal of Politics and International Relations

Research interests

My research interests are focused on British party politics, ideologies and leadership, and a number of related themes.

I have published extensively on Conservative politics, for example my recent papers on Conservative Party statecraft in Parliamentary Affairs and Political Quarterly. In times past, I edited special issues of the journals Parliamentary Affairs on the politics of Coalition, and British Politics on the fate of Conservative Modernisation, and wrote a book on the party in opposition. 

I have a keen interest in the politics of national identity in the UK, particularly Englishness, and issues related to European integration, immigration and devolution. This has inevitably led to work on Brexit, for example this paper in International Political Science Review on Brexit and party change, or this piece of rhetorical political analysis. The politics of the Anglosphere has been the focus of a recent project with Ben Wellings on post-Brexit UK-Australia relations.  

I secured a grant from the White Rose Collaboration Fund to foster links between scholars and others interested in the politics of the North of England, leading to a series of events and publications. Between 2017 and 2021 I supervised a 1+3 ESRC-funded PhD student working in this area.

Qualifications

• PhD
• MA (with Distinction)
• BA (Hons)
• Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PCHE)

Professional memberships

• FHEA

Student education

My teaching duties relate to my specialism in British politics, particularly in relation to party politics and the politics of national identity in the UK.

I have supervisory experience at both MA by Research and PhD level, and would be keen to supervise promising research students in the following areas (broadly defined): British politics and public policy; party politics and political leadership in the UK; political ideologies (especially conservatism); Euroscepticism and the politics of Brexit; national identity (especially issues related to Englishness and Britishness); Parliament, the constitution and constitutional reform.

Previous PhD students:

• Oliver Booth (2021-2024) Conservative Party leadership and factionalism
• Ryan Swift (2018-2021) The politics of the North (1+3 ESRC award).
• Jack Newman (2015-18) Welfare reform and the Coalition government (POLIS Research Scholarship. Degree awarded without corrections. External examiner, Prof David Marsh).
• Alex Prior (2015-18) Parliament and Public Engagement (University Studentship. Degree awarded without corrections. External examiner, Prof Emma Crewe).
• Dr William Allchorn (2013-16) The political response to the far right in the UK. (Funded by a POLIS Research Scholarship. Degree awarded with minor corrections. External examiner, Prof Peter Dorey).
• Dr Elizabeth McEnhill (2011-15) From Opposition to Coalition: The Conservative Party and the Politics of Welfare Reform, 2005-15. (Funded by a University Studentship. Degree awarded with minor corrections. External examiner, Prof Tim Bale).

Current postgraduate researchers

• Ryan Swift
• Dr Oliver Booth