Faculty of Arts, Science and Technology
Paul is a historian of twentieth century and contemporary history, and his main teaching and research interests focus on understanding the impact of radical and extreme ideologies on wider societies.
Paul’s research currently focuses on the dynamics of neo-Nazi, and other, extreme right ideologies, in Britain and Europe in the post-war period. He is also interested in researching the longer history of radical ideologies and cultures in Britain too, especially those linked in some way to the extreme right.
Paul’s teaching engages with wider themes related to the history of fascism, genocide, totalitarian politics and revolutionary ideologies. Paul teaches modules on the Holocaust, as well as the history of Communism and fascism.
Paul regularly writes for the magazine Searchlight on issues related to contemporary extreme right politics. He is a co-editor of the Wiley-Blackwell journal Religion Compass: Modern Ideologies and Faith. Paul is also the Editor of the Bloomsbury book series A Modern History of Politics and Violence.
Paul is currently lead supervisor on two PhD projects: – The ideological dynamics, and impact, of Franco Freda – The Relationship between fascist and antifascist publications in Britain in the 1970s
Paul is interested in enquiries about projects examining the history of post-war fascism. In particular, the University of Northampton hosts a major archive of material collated by Searchlight magazine, and he welcomes any projects that can draw on this material.
Paul’s career as a researcher began with his PhD thesis, which explored the history of radical and revolutionary ideologues in Britain during the First World War. This became a book, Great War Modernisms and The New Age Magazine, published in 2012. Subsequently, he has focused on the history of the extreme right in Britain, especially since 1945. Paul’s interest here is to explore the ideological, and wider cultural, dynamics of this nebulous movement, and also the relationships between ideas and action found within such a marginalised political milieu.
Paul’s current research project is an examination of one of the central, animating figures of neo-Nazism in post-war Britain, for a forthcoming book provisionally titled Colin Jordan and Britain’s Neo-Nazi Social Movement: Hitler’s Echo. This study draws on much archival material now based at the university, originally collated by Searchlight magazine.
Paul’s developing expertise on the extreme right in Britain has also allowed him to engage with contemporary issues too, and he has worked alongside partner institutions, including Show Racism the Red Card, West Midlands Police and West Sussex Council. This consultancy work has included contributing analysis to two reports on the British far right, as well as developing a range of training packages for various target audiences. This work has been connected to delivery of the Prevent Agenda, and gravitates around empowering practitioners with a knowledge base to tackle issues generated by extreme right activities. Paul welcomes future enquiries into developing similar partnerships too.