Vernon Bogdanor

Vernon Bogdanor
CBE FRSA FBA
Bogdanor speaking on his book The New British Constitution in Blackwell's bookshop, Oxford.
Born Vernon Bernard Bogdanor
(1943-07-16) 16 July 1943
Staines, Middlesex, England
Nationality British
Alma mater The Queen's College, Oxford
Spouse(s)
Judith Evelyn Beckett
(m. 1972; div. 2000)
Scientific career
Institutions University of Oxford
King's College London
Gresham College
New College of the Humanities
Notable students David Cameron

Vernon Bernard Bogdanor CBE FRSA FBA (/ˈbɒɡdənɔːr/; born 16 July 1943)[1] is Research Professor at the Institute for Contemporary British History at King's College London and Professor of Politics at the New College of the Humanities. He is also Emeritus Professor of Politics and Government at the University of Oxford and Emeritus Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford.

He is one of Britain's foremost constitutional experts and has written extensively on political and constitutional issues. He supports both the British monarchy[2] and the adoption of proportional representation.

Early life

Born in Staines, Bogdanor is the son of Rosa (née Weinger) and Harry Bogdanor.[3] Bogdanor married Judith Evelyn Beckett in 1972; the marriage was dissolved in 2000.[3]

Career

Educated at Bishopshalt School, Vernon Bogdanor gained a first-class honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from The Queen's College, Oxford in 1964. Since 1966, he has been Senior Tutor (1979–85 and 1996–97), Vice-Principal, and (in 2002–2003) Acting Principal at Brasenose College, Oxford. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Fellow of the British Academy and an Honorary Fellow of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies.[3]

Bogdanor was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1998 Birthday Honours for services to constitutional history.[4] In 2009, he was appointed a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur by the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, for his work on the law and history of Britain and France; the honour was presented to Bogdanor by the French Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Maurice Gourdault-Montagne.[5]

He has been a member of Council of the Hansard Society for Parliamentary Government, Specialist Adviser to the House of Lords Select Committee on the European Communities, Member of the Court of Essex University, adviser (as a member of the Council of Europe and American Bar Association delegations) to the governments of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel and Slovakia on constitutional and electoral reform, member of the Academic Panel of Local Authority Associations, member of the Hansard Society Commission on the Legislative Process, member of the UK Government delegation on Democratic Institutions in Central and Eastern Europe and Conference on the Protection of Minorities, Consultant to Independent Television News (ITN) on the General Election, member of the Economic and Social Research Council's committee administering the 'Whitehall' programme, special adviser to the House of Commons Select Committee on the Public Services, member of the Swedish Constitutional Reform Project, member of the Advisory Group to the High Commissioner on National Minorities, adviser to the President of Trinidad on the Constitution of Trinidad, and member of the Economic and Social Research Council's committee administering the devolution programme.

Bogdanor is a frequent contributor to television, radio and newspapers. Between 2004 and 2008 he gave public lectures as Professor of Law at Gresham College, London. He continues to give public lectures at the College, now as Visiting Professor of Political History. He has published numerous books and articles. Recently, he edited The British Constitution in the 20th Century (published by Oxford University Press to mark the centenary of the British Academy) and authored The New British Constitution (2009) which analyses constitutional changes under the Labour government since 1997.

Bogdanor is a member of the Henry Jackson Society.

Comments

David Cameron

Professor Bogdanor's most famous former student is David Cameron, who became Conservative Party leader and served as Prime Minister from 2010 to 2016. Bogdanor described Cameron as "one of the ablest" students he has taught, whose political views were "moderate and sensible Conservative".[6] He has, however, expressed reservations about some of Cameron's policies, notably his proposal for a British "Bill of Rights", about which Bogdanor said, "I believe it's ill thought-out and confused.... He [Cameron] may have forgotten some of the things I've taught him. I'd be happy to give him a few more tutorials on civil liberties."[7]

Damian Green

Bogdanor referred to the arrest, search and questioning of the Conservative MP Damian Green, for aiding and abetting misconduct in public office by police from Special Branch, as "a storm in a teacup…". "The important principle is that MPs – apart from when they're speaking in the chamber and dealing with constituents' correspondence – are subject to the same laws as the rest of us."[8]

Publications

Books

Among books written or edited by Vernon Bogdanor are the following:

  • The Age of Affluence, 1951–1964 (1970, edited, with Robert Skidelsky)
  • Democracy and Elections: Electoral Systems and Their Political Consequences (1983; edited, with David Butler)
  • Multi-Party Politics and the Constitution (1983)
  • What is Proportional Representation? (1984)
  • The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Political Institutions (1987)
  • Constitutions in Democratic Politics (1988; edited)
  • The Monarchy and the Constitution (1997)
  • Power and the People: Guide to Constitutional Reform (1997)
  • Devolution in the United Kingdom (2001)
  • Joined-Up Government (2005; edited)
  • The New British Constitution (2009)
  • The Coalition and the Constitution (2011)

Articles

  • "Power and participation." Oxford Review of Education 5, No. 2 (1979): 157–168.
  • "Direct elections, representative democracy and European integration." Electoral Studies 8, No. 3 (1989): 205–216.
  • "Founding elections and regime change." Electoral Studies 9, No. 4 (1990): 288–294.
  • "The European Community and Sovereignty." Parliamentary affairs 44, No. 4 (1991): 481–492. (with Geoffrey Woodcock)
  • "Overcoming the twentieth century: democracy and nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe." The Political Quarterly 66, No. 1 (1995): 84–97.
  • "Ministerial accountability." Parliamentary Affairs 50, No. 1 (1997): 71–83.
  • "Devolution: decentralisation or disintegration?." The Political Quarterly 70, No. 2 (1999): 185–194.
  • "Reform of the House of Lords: A sceptical view." The Political Quarterly 70, No. 4 (1999): 375–381.
  • "Civil service reform: a critique." The Political Quarterly 72, No. 3 (2001): 291–299.
  • "The Tories need a genuine liberal". The Spectator. 15 October 2005.
  • "The West Lothian Question." Parliamentary Affairs (2009)
  • "Mayors: Good for Britain – in the end." Prospect. 19 March 2012.
  • "Why English votes for English laws is a kneejerk absurdity". The Guardian. 24 September 2014.
  • "Time to ditch 'first-past-the-post'". Prospect. 22 January 2015.
  • "Who pays for our politics?". Prospect. 26 March 2015.
  • "Britain needs a new constitution". Prospect. 21 May 2015.
  • "A second Brexit referendum? It’s looking more likely by the day". The Guardian. 03 August 2017.

Notable former students

Bogdanor's most notable former student is David Cameron. Others include Kate Allen, Camilla Cavendish, Diane Coyle, Guy Spier, Toby Young, and Dido Harding.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Index entry". FreeBMD. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  2. ↑ Bogdanor, Vernon (6 December 2000). "The Guardian has got it wrong". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 "Federalism and the future of Europe" Conference Report (Basel, 2001), p.48
  4. ↑ "No. 55155". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 June 1998. p. 8.
  5. ↑ "Appointments". Times Higher Education. 5 November 2009.
  6. ↑ "The David Cameron story". BBC News. 6 December 2005. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  7. ↑ Woodward, Will; Travis, Alan (27 June 2006). "Cameron's call to repeal legislation would not end deportation battles, say ministers". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  8. ↑ "Row over Green 'grooming' claims"". BBC News. 1 December 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
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