User:Peteaustin85/DrRichardGrayson

Dr Richard Sean Grayson (born 18 April 1969 in Hemel Hempstead) is Head of Politics at Goldsmiths, University of London. He was educated at Lime Walk Primary School, Hemel Hempstead (Comprehensive) School, the University of East Anglia (1st Class BA Honours in English and American History), and The Queen’s College, Oxford (Doctor of Philosophy in Modern History.

His historical research is currently concentrated on Ireland and the First World War, with his most recent book being Belfast Boys: How Unionists and Nationalists Fought and Died Together in the First World War (Continuum, 2009). It has been widely well reviewed. Previous work includes books on Austen Chamberlain’s term of office as foreign secretary, the inter-war Liberal Party, Leo Amery and appeasement, the Channel Tunnel project, and Mods and Rockers in the 1960s.

His work on public policy includes an edited volume on social liberalism co-edited with David Howarth and Duncan Brack and including contributions from Chris Huhne, Matthew Taylor, Nick Clegg and Steve Webb. In 2002 he co-wrote a pamphlet with Nick Clegg on secondary education systems, based on research in the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. The pamphlet recommended the policy which became the ‘pupil premium’ included in the 2010 coalition agreement. With Jonathan Rutherford he co-edited After the Crash: Reinventing the Left in Britain which included chapters from Jon Cruddas, Caroline Lucas and Steve Webb. He has commentated on politics for both the Independent and the Guardian (see ‘Political Commentary’ section below) and appeared on Any Questions.

He has been involved in the Liberal Democrats at several levels of the party. He the party’s National Youth and Student Officer in 1991-2, Director of the Centre for Reform (now called CentreForum) in 1998-9, and was Director of Policy of the Liberal Democrats in 1999-2004. That role also included spending two years as Charles Kennedy’s speechwriter. He was the party’s parliamentary candidate for Hemel Hempstead constituency in the 2005 and 2010 general elections, gaining a 4.4% and 6% increases in the vote to move into second place. In 2008 he was listed as 48th on the Daily Telegraph’s list of the 50 most influential Liberal Democrats and in 2009 was placed in 39th. He is currently Vice-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Federal Policy Committee and has been a critic of the coalition between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats. In particular, he has argued that ‘The Liberal Democrat leadership believed in "savage cuts" long before they entered government’, that they have ‘no electoral mandate’ for parts of the 2010 Budget and that ‘Liberal Democrats may soon realise that a centre-left party is being led from the centre-right.’  This argument was cited in several newspapers.

Main Publications

 * (Co-editor with Jonathan Rutherford), After the Crash: Reinventing the Left in Britain (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 2010).
 * Belfast Boys: How Unionists and Nationalists Fought and Died Together in the First World War (London: Continuum, 2009).
 * (Co-editor, with Duncan Brack and David Howarth), Reinventing the State: Social Liberalism for the 21st Century (London: Politicos, 2007).
 * 'Leo Amery's Imperialist Alternative to Appeasement in the 1930s', Twentieth Century British History, 17, 4 (2006), pp. 489-515.
 * (Co-author with Nick Clegg), Learning from Europe : Lessons in Education, (London : Centre for European Reform, 2002).
 * Liberals, International Relations and Appeasement: The Liberal Party, 1919-39, (London: Frank Cass, 2001).
 * 'Mods, Rockers, and Juvenile Delinquency in 1964: The Government Response', Contemporary British History, 12, 1 (1998), pp. 19-47.
 * Austen Chamberlain and the Commitment to Europe: British Foreign Policy, 1924-29, (London: Frank Cass, 1997).
 * 'The British Government and the Channel Tunnel, 1919-39', Journal of Contemporary History, 31, 1 (Jan. 1996), pp. 125-144.

Political Commentary

 * The Lib Dem leadership’s self-flagellating appetite for cuts’, Guardian Comment is Free, 22 June 2010
 * ‘Lib Dems must dare to be different over prisoners’ voting rights’, Guardian Comment is Free 9 June 2010
 * ‘Lab and Lib: a dream team’ with Neal Lawson, Guardian Comment is Free 9 May 2010
 * ‘Leader still needs to show that he is the man for No 10’, Independent, 19th September 2005
 * ‘The Liberal Democrats Still Face a Long Journey’, 14 May 2005, Independent, 14 May 2005
 * ‘Don’t become too safe in your views Mr Kennedy’, Independent, 25th September 2004.