Delighted that my latest solo-authored piece from my PhD on why governments take unpopular decisions is finally out in @RepJournal https://t.co/A7oxW3YHME I confirm that political decision-makers do misjudge public opinion, but in particular the salience of unpopular decisions

Pleased to share new research from @chrisbutlerpol on #GE2024 candidate selection. A record number of female MPs were elected, but progress toward a #GenderEqualParliament still too slow. A record jump in women elected is needed next time. 🔗

Even though higher political trust might enable governments to take more decisions that have less immediate benefits for citizens. You can read the full paper here:

We found that whilst all were aware of the phenomneon, not all were concerned about it. Indeed some acknowledged that UK governments could operate without political trust being high, meaning that efforts to address this were unlikely to be prioritised (2/3)

I'm not fond of this site and rarely login anymore, but in case any of my followers haven't followed me to the nice new blue place, I'm keen to share my latest research where we asked former Ministers and SpAds how they dealt with trust in gov't & politicians being so low (1/3)

If the judiciary can set fiscal policy, what even is the point?

Now here’s an idea!

Not to shit on anyone's expectation management operation, but I'm the only person who can see the results whilst the survey is open and I haven't checked them yet.

Whoops now. My excitement at seeing Janet Jackson perform tonight is slightly tempered by her repeating conspiracy theories about Kamala Harris supposedly not being black https://t.co/Gl5z9jhUYs. Nasty! That's the way love goes, I guess.

For all the talk of Jenrick placing himself on the right of the party, he has got quite broad-based support from one nation MPs in the centrist TRG and Bright Blue groups. Check out the dashboard here: https://t.co/IyJ3AD831t

When and why do governments want to learn about citizens’ preferences? In our new @EJPRjournal article @AnDurovic and I open the black box of government polling by exploring this question using new data from Germany (2013-2021). A 🧵 https://t.co/UnOdxv04qo

📢New BJPIR article out now! 'Inside the ‘secret garden’: Candidate selection at the 2019 UK general election' by @chrisbutlerpol, @martamiori & @ @robfordmancs ⬇️Available in #OpenAccess here: https://t.co/01nEbNbTom @PolStudiesAssoc

This is a very sensible piece which succinctly sets out the dilemma facing the Lib Dems for how to continue to grow

In Antwerpen waar mijn jongste zoon zijn masterscriptie Political Science schreef en verdedigde over… mijn mailbox 😇 Trotse moeder

Excellent POLPOP meeting in Antwerp Thx @m2p_be @KSoontjens Julie Sevenans Stefaan Walgrave @evelien_willems @chrisbutlerpol + the rest of the Antwerp team for hosting! It looks like we're standing in the rain but in reality we're standing in a fountain during a very hot day😎

Turns out politicians betting on politics does not constitute 'misconduct in public office' after all. As I said at the time, I was really quite sceptical. (I'm still a bit sceptical this breached the Gambling Act, that's still under investigation) https://t.co/JOVgwnyt3Z

There are many claims for the oldest pub in Britain. The most famous is the Trip to Jerusalem at Nottingham: reputedly opened 1189, but this was invented in 1909 by the landlord. In reality its a 17thC building that was used as a pub by 1751. So which is the oldest? ...a thread🧵

"Do you agree that pollsters sometimes misrepresent public opinion in a way that could be considered irresponsible?" We need to do better as an industry, especially when polling on attitudes towards political violence. Several issues with this 👇 1/5

Why, if Matt Goodwin agrees that a descendent of migrants like me is English, does he keep on emphasising that the Southport suspect is the 'child of Rwandan immigrants' if he was born in Wales? I put the question to him on Moral Maze. Listen here:

Congrats! And super interesting dissertation