Staff Profile:Professor Philip Murphy

Responsibilities:

Undergraduate Teaching
I teach a special subject entitled 'End of Empire: A Comparative Study of British Decolonization 1945-1964' and a 'topic' on intelligence called 'Hidden History: The Intelligence Community and British Politics, 1911-1985' and a 'period' entitled, 'Imperial Britain, 1815-1982', which considers recent British history in the light of her global Empire, and an MA option, 'The Post-Colonial State in Tropical Africa, 1957-97'.

Postgraduate Supervision
I would be happy to supervise research students with interests in the areas outlined in my research statement.

Areas of Interest:

Research groups / Centres:

Research Statement
My research interests are in the area of twentieth-century British and Commonwealth History. Most of my research to date has been on aspects of post-war British decolonization. I have produced a study of the Conservative party and British withdrawal from Africa, and a biography of Alan Lennox-Boyd who served as Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1954-59, and I edited the Central Africa volume in the series British Documents on the End of Empire, which covers the period 1945-65. I am currently writing a book about the Royal Family and the end of the British Empire for Oxford University Press. I have a broader interest in Conservative party and right wing politics in Britain, and in British Imperial policy since the nineteenth century. I am also interested in post-war African politics. My research also extends to the field of Intelligence History. I am particularly interested in the activities of MI5 (the Security Service) in the colonial Empire. I also maintain a general interest in the activities of the British, Commonwealth and US intelligence communities in the twentieth century.   In January 2008, I will be taking over as the joint editor of the journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History.

Publications:

 

Party Politics and Decolonization: The Conservative Party and British Colonial Policy in Tropical Africa 1951-1964 (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1995), xii + 259pp.

Alan Lennox-Boyd: A Biography (London, I. B. Tauris, 1999), xi + 276pp.

British Documents on the End of Empire: Central Africa (London, Stationery Office, 2005), Part I, cxxviii + 448 pp, ISBN 0112905862; Part II, xl + 602 pp, ISBN 0112905870.

Articles

'Intelligence and Decolonization: The Life and Death of the Federal Intelligence and Security Bureau, 1954-63', The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Vol. 29, No. 2 (May 2001), pp. 101-130.

'Creating a Commonwealth Intelligence Culture: The View From Central Africa, 1945-1965', Intelligence and National Security, Vol 17, No. 3 (Autumn 2002), pp.131-162.

'The African Queen? Republicanism and Defensive Decolonization in British Tropical Africa, 1958-64' Twentieth Century British History, Vol. 14, No. 3 (2003), pp. 243-263.

'Censorship, declassification and the end of empire in Central Africa', African Research and Documentation, vol. 42 (2003), pp. 3-26.

Articles on Oliver Lyttelton and Alan Lennox-Boyd for the New Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004)

'By invitation only: Lord Mountbatten, Prince Philip and the attempt to create a Commonwealth Bilderberg Group, 1964-1966', The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Vol. 33, No. 2 (May 2005), pp. 245-265.

'"Government by blackmail": The origins of the Central African Federation reconsidered' in Martin Lynn (ed), Retreat or Revival: The British Empire in the 1950s (Palgrave, 2005), pp. 53-76.

'"The Old Pals' Protection Society?" The Colonial Office and the British Press on the Eve of Decolonisation' (with Joanna Lewis) in Chandrika Kaul (ed), Media and the British Empire (Palgrave, 2006), pp. 55-69.

'Breaking the bad news: plans for announcement to the Commonwealth of the death of Elizabeth II, 1952-69', The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Vol. 34, No. 1 (March 2006), pp. 139-154.

'"An intricate and distasteful subject': British planning for the use of force against the European settlers of Central Africa, 1952-1965', English Historical Review CXXI, 492 (2006), pp 746-777