Dr Marc Collinson teaches contemporary history and politics. An active political historian of post-war Britain, he is currently writing a study of Smethwick in electoral politics, c. 1955-1970. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

• PhD: Commonwealth Immigration, Policymaking, and the Labour party, c. 1960-1980
  2013–2019
• PGCertHE (part 1 & 2)
  2014–2018

Dr Collinson was appointed Teaching Associate in 2020 after several years as a part-time Tutor in the School. He teaches modern history and contemporary politics. 

Current modules:

• HPH-4007: 'Documents and Sources for Modern Historians' [Convenor; contributor]
• HGH-2138/3138: 'Europe, 1945-1992' [Convenor; Lecturer]
• HPS-2004: 'Twentieth Century Ideas and Movements' [Convenor; Lecturer]
• HPS-1002: 'Power, Freedom, and the State' [Convenor; Lecturer]
• HXH-1012: 'Britain: Blitz to Brexit' [Convenor; Lecturer]

Past modules include:

• HPS-1006: 'Essential Skills for Academic Success' [Co-convenor; Lecturer]
• HPH-4005: 'Themes and Issues in History' [Contributor]
• HPS-4004: 'Research Skills' [Contributor]
• HPS-1001: 'From Cradle to Grave' [Convenor; Lecturer]
• HCH-1050: 'Past Unwrapped' [Convenor; Lecturer]
• HWH-2133/3133: 'Global Wales' [Contributor; Seminar convenor]
• HXH-1012: Modern Politics in Action [Convenor; Lecturer]
• HCH-2050: 'Debating History' [Contributor; Seminar convenor]

A Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Dr Collinson is a published practioner-researcher (Innovative Practice in Higher Education, 2021) with an interest in employability, and has graded on the University's internal PGCertHE. 

Building on his PhD research, Dr Collinson's scholarly interests focus on how post-war socio-economic change interacted with perceptions of locality to affect political parties and Government. He is also interested in political leadership and policy history, together with the significance of agency, ideas, and myth in electoral politics. These interests are divided into three main themes:

Locality, change, and representative politics

This examines how political parties and political actors interpreted and interacted with localised processes, such as deindustrialisation and social change, in the construction and articulation of their political appeals to voters. The role of the Member of Parliament as an actor within this context remains a particular focus of this theme. Initial outputs have been published with Contemporary British History (2020); Midland History, Parliamentary History,Transactions of the HSLC & Transactions of the Halifax Antiquarian Society (all 2022). 

Forthcoming

The major output from this theme will be a monograph (under contract for the Routledge 'Studies in British History' series) re-examining the 1964 election contest at Smethwick.

Power and agency in institutional policymaking

The second focuses on understanding the role of political parties within the policymaking process within their historical contexts. This examines how the policymaking process developed within political parties, the relationship between parties and government through the agency of party leaders, ministers, and policy networks, and the role of ideas and their champions within a dissaggregated party structure. His PhD examined this process with regard to post war Commonwealth Immigration. In collaboration with Dr Anna Olsson-Rost (MMU) this approach has been applied to debates within the Labour party about the comprehensivisation of secondary education in post-war Britain. This has been published in the British Journal of Education Studies (2022).

National Government policy and local responses

This research theme considers how various communities and groups active at the local level understand, conceptualise, and react to national policy decisions and plans. So far, this project has focused on the UK Government's post-war construction of nuclear power stations in north Wales. It consideres the reponse of local actors, campaign groups (like the CPRW), and resident communities to these major state-backed interventions into local societies. Outputs have appeared in: Transactions of AAS (2018); Journal of Energy History (2021); The Local Historian (2022).

Forthcoming:

First, further work on nuclear policy and north Wales [in collaboration with Dr Mari Wiliam]. Second, a project on how the Local Government Act (1972) affected politics in Manchester [in collaboration with Dr Bertie Dockerill (UoM) and Prof. Peter Shapely].

...................................................................................................................

Dr Collinson has also published a half-centenary reflective article on the significance of P.F. Clarke's Lancashire and the New Liberalism in the Transactions of the HSLC. He has contributed entries to the Dictionary of Labour Biography (2020) and the Dictionary of Welsh Biography (2022).

2022

• E-pub ahead of printDeveloping the Labour Party’s comprehensive secondary education policy, 1950-1965: Party activists as public intellectuals and policy entrepreneurs
  Olsson-Rost, A. & Collinson, M., 12 Oct 2022, (E-pub ahead of print) In: British Journal of Educational Studies. p. 1-17
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
• PublishedInevitable results and political myths? Ilford North’s 1978 by-election
  Collinson, M., 2 Jun 2022, In: Parliamentary History. 41, 2, p. 323-341
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
• PublishedLiverpool’s renewed Liberalism: Britain’s third party in post-war Merseyside politics
  Collinson, M., Sep 2022, In: Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. 171, 1, p. 9-21
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
• PublishedThe Loughborough ‘Mansfield Hosiery’ Strike, 1972: Deindustrialisation, Post-war Migration, and Press Interpretation
  Collinson, M., Apr 2022, In: Midland HIstory. 47, 1, p. 77-95 19 p.
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
• Accepted/In press‘More than an industrial boon’: Press coverage of Trawsfynydd power station’s construction, 1955-1965
  Collinson, M., 31 Jul 2022, (Accepted/In press) In: The Local Historian. 52, 4, p. 359-363 5 p.
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

2021

• PublishedEmploying history: Enhancing ‘employability’ in BA history degrees with recorded video presentation assessments
  Collinson, M. & Wiliam, M., 2021, In: Innovative Practice in Higher Education. 4, 2, p. 239-262 8.
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
• PublishedJ. Moher, Walter Citrine: Forgotten Statesman of the Trades Union Congress, (2021): Review
  Collinson, M., 17 May 2021, Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire Newsletter, 77, p. 3-4 1 p.
  Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Book/Film/Article review
• PublishedLancashire and the New Liberalism: A half-century retrospective
  Collinson, M., Aug 2021, In: Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. 170, 1, p. 7-14
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Literature review › peer-review
• PublishedLocal perspectives of national energy projects: Reconstructing the impact of post war nuclear power stations in north Wales from archival sources
  Collinson, M., 30 Jun 2021, In: Journal of Energy History/Revue d’histoire de l’énergie . 6, p. 1-11 11 p.
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
• Accepted/In pressResponding to a Developing Industrial Tragedy: Douglas Houghton MP and Acre Mill, 1971-1974
  Collinson, M., 30 Nov 2022, In: Transactions of the Halifax Antiquarian Society. 30 (New Series)
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
• PublishedReview: Stephen Catterall and Keith Gildart, Keeping the Faith: A History of Northern Soul
  Collinson, M., 30 Aug 2021, In: Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. 170, p. 179-181
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

2020

• PublishedA ‘fertile ground for poisonous doctrines’? Understanding far-right electoral appeal in the south Pennine textile belt, c.1967-19791
  Collinson, M., 2 Apr 2020, In: Contemporary British History. 34, 2, p. 273-298 26 p.
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
• PublishedBarker, Sara Elizabeth (Dame)(1904-1973): Labour party official
  Collinson, M., 5 Feb 2020, Dictionary of Labour Biography. Gildart, K. & Howell, D. (eds.). London, Vol. XV. p. 4-14 10 p.
  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary
• PublishedReview of 'Otto Saumarez Smith, Boom Cities'
  Collinson, M., 1 Oct 2020, Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire Newsletter.
  Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Book/Film/Article review
• PublishedReview of Samantha Wolstencroft, The Progressive Alliance and the Rise of Labour, 1903-1922: Political Change in Industrial Britain (Cham, 2018).
  Collinson, M., 1 Aug 2020, In: Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. 169
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
• PublishedRogers, George Henry Roland (1906-1983): Labour MP and Spiritualist
  Professor Keith Gildart & Collinson, M., 5 Feb 2020, Dictionary of Labour Biography. Gildart, K. & Howell, D. (eds.). London, Vol. XV. p. 209-220 11 p.
  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary
• PublishedThe perils of integration policies: migration to Britain and Germany since 1949
  Papadogiannis, N. & Collinson, M., 16 Apr 2020, History and Policy.
  Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article

2019

• PublishedReview of Simon Peplow, Race and Riots in Thatcher's Britain
  Collinson, M., 2019, In: Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. 168, p. 166-167
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

2018

• Published'Nuclear Communities': Feasibility study report
  Collinson, M., 30 Apr 2018, 50 p.
  Research output: Book/Report › Other report
• PublishedA Great Possibility Artist? Harold Wilson’s redefinition of Labour immigration policy, 1963-1966’
  Collinson, M., 27 Mar 2018.
  Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
• PublishedNuclear power and historical Change: Wylfa
  Collinson, M., 30 Sep 2018, In: Transactions of the Anglesey Antiquarian Society and Field Club. 2018, p. 97-104
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Short survey
• PublishedReframing immigration policy before Powell: Changing ideas and the Labour party
  Collinson, M., 13 Feb 2018.
  Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
• PublishedTrouble at t’mill’: East African immigration, latent problems, and the Mansfield Hosiery Strike’
  Collinson, M., 30 Apr 2018.
  Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper

2017

• PublishedImmigrants or the Old Folks: The assumption of nationalized politics, the ‘Smethwick effect’, and the reality of demographic and local concerns during the Leyton by-election of 1965
  Collinson, M., 31 Mar 2017.
  Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
• PublishedPrinciple vs. Purchase: Deliberating immigration control within the British Labour party, 1962-1965'
  Collinson, M., 7 Dec 2017.
  Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper

2016

• Published'Carefully packed with liberal opinion'? Political tension, agenda politics, and developing an immigration policy in 1960s Britain’
  Collinson, M., 4 Apr 2016.
  Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
• PublishedProjecting the past: transitioning to audiovisual assessment in History
  Collinson, M. & Wiliam, M., 14 Sep 2016.
  Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
• PublishedRoy Jenkins, the tolerant tradition, and the campaign for racial equality
  Collinson, M., 22 Jul 2016.
  Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper

2022

• 'Reimagining political communities: encouraging interaction between local history and political history'

  The Does British Political History have a Future CfP argued that political history was ‘outdated, static’ and that ‘political historian’ was a rarely used description. As an academic subdiscipline, local history arguably suffers from comparable reputation problems. Yet, rarely asked questions remain. First, if ‘all politics local’, why have so few political historians engaged with local case studies? Second, why do so few local historians engage more clearly with twentieth century politics? After reflecting on these apparent problems, this paper will suggest that a deliberate and critical interaction between these two areas may actually aid the historical study of place, belonging, and political representation. Addressing issues of local governance and popular politics, together with ideas of community and collectiveness, this paper argues that these issues have laid at the heart of political concerns in recent decades.

  Originating from research considering local electoral contests affected by debates over migration and far-right politics, and how national energy policy affected local communities, economies, and politics, the paper will reflect on whether a renewed focus on the local might help in the conference’s outlined endeavour. It suggests that interactions between local reactions to larger socio-economic processes, like deindustrialisation, cultural change, and political fragmentation, can be better mapped and understood through localised case studies. Responding to concerns, raised by adherents to ‘new political history’, about an assumed ‘nationalisation of politics’ obfuscating localised political cultures and socio-economic factors, this paper advocates moving beyond merely incorporating the local, by making it a fundamental significant area of political activity. After all, In British politics, where the only election that decides national governance is when constituents vote for their Member of Parliament, how localities interpret global, national, and local issues is crucial to our understanding of British politics.

  12 Jul 2022

  Activity: Oral presentation (Speaker)
• Consultant Research Assistant: deprivation, riots, and Conservatism

  Research assistance work for Peter Shapely funded by College of Arts and Humanities and Business Seed Fund

  4 Jul 2022 – 8 Jul 2022

  Activity: Consultancy (Consultant)
• Patrick Gordon Walker: A ‘Commonwealth man’ in Smethwick politics?

  How politicians consider, define, and respond to issues shape their actions. This paper explores Smethwick’s long-term Labour MP Patrick Gordon Walker, a politician with a complicated legacy in post-war decolonisation. A former Commonwealth Relations Secretary, Gordon Walker had a complicated relationship with racial issues, including the banishment of Seretse Khama, opposition against the restrictive Commonwealth Immigration Bill in late 1961, with his failed re-election at Smethwick in 1964 often linked to this stance. This paper examines Gordon Walker’s social origins and political career to consider whether he was to blame for the disconnection between his candidacy and voters, or whether a ‘connect’ ever existed in the first place.

  11 Jun 2022

  Activity: Oral presentation (Speaker)
• Wales and the World: Cynefin, Colonialism and Global Interconnections

  Attended.

  6 Jun 2022 – 7 Jun 2022

  Activity: Participation in conference (Participant)
• Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire (External organisation)

  Publications Secretary, HSLC

  23 Mar 2022 →

  Activity: Membership of council (Director)

2021

• SOCIETY FOR EDUCATIONAL STUDIES ANNUAL COLLOQUIUM

  Co-authored paper (delivered by Dr Anna Olsson-Rost) - Associational public intellectuals and party education policy: The Fabian Society and the shaping of Labour's comprehensivisation policy, c.1960–1979

  24 Sep 2021

  Activity: Participation in conference (Participant)
• Patrick Gordon Walker: A ‘Commonwealth man’ in Smethwick politics?

  How politicians consider, define, and respond to issues shape their actions. This paper explores Smethwick’s long-term Labour MP Patrick Gordon Walker, a politician with a complicated legacy in post-war decolonisation. A former Commonwealth Relations Secretary, Gordon Walker had a complicated relationship with racial issues, including the banishment of Seretse Khama, opposition against the restrictive Commonwealth Immigration Bill in late 1961, with his failed re-election at Smethwick in 1964 often linked to this stance. This paper examines Gordon Walker’s social origins and political career to consider whether he was to blame for the disconnection between his candidacy and voters, or whether a ‘connect’ ever existed in the first place.

  18 Jun 2021

  Activity: Oral presentation (Speaker)

2020

• Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire (External organisation)

  Member of Grants and Prizes Committee

  30 Nov 2020

  Activity: Membership of committee (Member)
• PSA Politics and History Group Annual Conference

  All politics is local? The 1965 Leyton by-election as a negotiation between electors and the elected

  16 Oct 2020

  Activity: Participation in conference (Speaker)
• Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire (Journal)

  Book Reviews Editor of the Transactions

  1 Jul 2020

  Activity: Editorial activity (Editor)
• HistoryLab+ (External organisation)

  Early Career Researcher advocacy organisation (committee member).

  Jan 2020 →

  Activity: Membership of committee (Member)

2019

• Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire (External organisation)

  Member of Council

  30 Aug 2019 – 23 Mar 2022

  Activity: Membership of council (Member)
• Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire (Journal)

  Editorial board member

  30 Aug 2019

  Activity: Editorial activity (Editorial board member)
• Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire (Journal)

  Editorial Assistant

  30 Aug 2019 – 1 Jul 2020

  Activity: Editorial activity (Editor)

2018

• Nuclear Communities: North Wales, landscapes, and the impact of nuclear power: A feasibility study

  Discussion of initial results of a feasibility study funded by the conference organiser

  12 Feb 2018

  Activity: Invited talk (Speaker)

Postwar local government reform and Manchester politics

This builds on unarchived material collected in an earlier project in the School, seeking to publish an edition of these documents which evidence political change in post-war Manchester. Dr Collinson's team secured a research assistant through a University-funded, paid internship program to aid project development. 

Collaborators: Prof. Peter Shapely; Dr Bertie Dockerill

Partner: Bangor University Employability and Skills Service