Philip Norton, Baron Norton of Louth, (born 5 March 1951), is an English

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

peer. He has been described as "the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

's greatest living expert on

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

" and "a world authority on constitutional issues."

Education

The son of George Ernest Norton, Philip Norton was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School in Louth, where he now sits as a governor and Warden of the School. He graduated from the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

with the degree of

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

and later as a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

, and, after winning a Thouron Award, from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

with a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

Career

Norton is a professor of government in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

, and was head of the department from 2002 to 2007. Norton's early work is notable for having spearheaded the academic discussion on dissidence in the House of Commons with the publication of his first book in 1975. He was made a professor at the university in 1986, making him the UK's youngest professor of politics at the time at the age of 36. Since 1992 he has been the director of the Centre for Legislative Studies. Since 1988, Norton has been responsible for the university's "Westminster-Hull Internship Programme" (WHIP), a placement scheme which pairs students with some of the UK's top politicians. Norton is the founder and editor of '' The Journal of Legislative Studies'', most recently editing its 25th anniversary publication: ''The Impact of Legislatures: A Quarter-Century of The Journal of Legislative Studies''. He has also been the chair of the Conservative Academic Group since 2000. Lord Norton has also previously served as president of the British Politics Group in the US, and the Politics Association. Lord Norton chaired the Standards Committee of the City of Hull from 1999 to 2003. In 2016, he was made an Honorary Freeman of the City of Kingston-Upon-Hull. He was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

with the title Baron Norton of Louth, of Louth in the County of

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

on 1 August 1998. In 2000 he chaired a commission for

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

William Hague William Jefferson Hague, Baron Hague of Richmond (born 26 March 1961) is a British politician and life peer who was Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1997 to 2001 and Deputy Leader from 2005 to 2010. He was th ...

to design ideas for the strengthening of the institution of Parliament, and from 2001 to 2004 he served as the first Conservative chairman of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

Constitution Committee. Since 2013, Lord Norton has chaired the Higher Education Commission. In 2007, ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' named him the 59th most influential person on the

right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...

of British politics. Norton has contributed to Lords of the Blog, a collaborative

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

by members of the House of Lords for the purposes of public engagement. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' has described him as "a new star of the blogosphere." He has been a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

since 1995 and the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society (RHS), founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the H ...

since 2018. Lord Norton also has a personal blog in which he often cites some of the many evolving responsibilities he undertakes in political and academic circles. For example, Norton has served as co-chair of the Committee on Higher Education since 2012. He is convenor and co-founder of the Campaign for an Effective Second Chamber: a group which reinforces the utility of the

as a democratic institution. The campaign argues in favour of the experience and expertise of peers in delivering legislative amendments, scrutiny and effective debate, with recognition that such functions are, at present, fulfilled. The campaign disputes the creation of an elected House of Lords, due to the absence of basic accountability such a format would enable. Since 2020, Norton has served as the chair of The History of Parliament Trust and since 2019 has served as president of the Study of Parliament group. Lord Norton founded and organises the biennial Workshop of Parliamentary Scholars and Parliamentarians, which draws scholars and parliamentarians from around the world. Lord Norton has a quiz on the Lords of the Blog and also often has caption competitions on his personal blog. The Norton View attracts readership from around the world. Norton is an Ambassador for Akt, a charity that supports LGBTQ+ individuals aged 16–25 who are rendered homeless.

Arms

Norton was granted a coat of arms in 1998 upon his ennoblement.

Titles

* Philip Norton, Baron Norton of Louth * Professor The Lord Norton of Louth *

of the

, FRSA 1995 *

Academy of Social Sciences The Academy of Social Sciences (AcSS) is a representative body for social sciences in the United Kingdom. The academy promotes social science through its sponsorship of the Campaign for Social Science, its links with Government on a variety of m ...

, FAcSS 2001 *

of the

, FRHistS 2018

Honorary academic degrees

* Hon LLD, Lincoln University, 2011 * Honorary Senior Fellow, Regent's University, 2019

Bibliography

*''Dissension in the House of Commons: Intra-party Dissent in the House of Commons' Division Lobbies, 1945–1974'', Macmillan, 1975, *''Conservative Dissidents: Dissent within the Parliamentary Conservative Party, 1970–1974'', Temple Smith, 1978, *''Dissension in the House of Commons 1974–1979'', Oxford University Press, 1980, *''The Commons in Perspective'', Longman, 1981, *''The Constitution in Flux'', Martin Robertson, 1982, *''The Political Science of British Politics'', (with Jack Hayward) Wheatsheaf Books, 1986, *''Politics UK'', (with Bill Jones) Taylor & Francis (Routledge), 1991 (1st ed.), 2018 (8th ed. with Bill Jones & Oliver Daddow), *''The British Polity'', Longman, 2000 (1st ed.), 2010 (5th ed.), *''Parliament in British Politics'', Palgrave Macmillan, 2005 (1st ed.), 2013 (2nd ed.) *''The Voice of the Backbenchers: The 1922 Committee: The first 90 years, 1923–2013'', Conservative History Group, 2013, *''Reform of the House of Lords'', Manchester University Press, 2017, *''Governing Britain: Parliament, ministers and our ambiguous constitution'', Manchester University Press, 2020,

Education

Career

Arms

Titles

Honorary academic degrees

Bibliography

References

External links