This seminar will question how the British Conservative Party's campaign strategies have responded to changes in wider socio-political and technocultural trends, like Brexit and digital democracy, from 2006-19, under the leadership of David Cameron (2006-16) and Theresa May (2016-19). Using comparisons from Dr Ridge-Newman's earlier work that assesses party development in the 1950s and 1960s, when television was a newer medium, the presentation will analyse a number of different case studies that offer a longitudinal overview of party change in the digital age.

About the presenter:

Dr Anthony Ridge-Newman is a senior lecturer in media and communication (politics and political communication) within the School of Humanities at Liverpool Hope University, UK. He is also convenor of the Political Studies Association (PSA) Conservatism Studies Group and founding chair of the Tory Research Impact Network. His research and teaching in the field of political communication has been previously based at the universities of Glasgow, London, Roehampton and Oxford. He has published three books: 'Reporting the Road to Brexit' (2018); 'Tories and Television, 1951-1964' (2016); and 'Cameron's Conservatives and the Internet' (2014). Dr Ridge-Newman has worked extensively in the public sphere, including as a journalist and news editor; and in public relations. Regularly appearing in global media, Dr Ridge-Newman has been featured in national and international broadcasts and press with the likes of the BBC, Al Jazeera, Associated Press, TRT World News, Sydney Morning Herald, New Scientist and Newsweek.