Staff profile

I am a historian of modern Britain, with particular interests in politics and political culture. My work explores the impact of war on politics and society, and I have published on themes including Militarism, civil-military relations, and Liberalism in Britain during and after the Great War.  

There are two main strands to my current research. One project, funded in its early stages by an AHRC Research Fellowship and a Research Grant from the British Academy, challenges traditional assumptions about the ‘civilian’ nature of modern British political culture through a study of military involvement in parliamentary and popular politics during the twentieth century. This work focuses in particular on the activities of ex-servicemen as MPs and parliamentary candidates, and on the ways in which the experience of war has influenced debates about citizenship, political representation, and parliamentary authority in modern Britain.

I am also the Co-Investigator on the Leverhulme-funded project ‘The SOE, Covert Action, and the British Cultural Imaginary’, which examines the complex ways in which Britain’s Special Operations Executive has shaped public and cultural perceptions of covert action since the Second World War.

• 2017: Excellence in Learning and Teaching Award:

Authored book

• Militarism and the British Left, 1902-1914
  
  Johnson, M. (2013). Militarism and the British Left, 1902-1914. Palgrave Macmillan.

Chapter in book

• Too important to be left to the Generals: The Politics of the Western Front
  
  Johnson, M. (2026). Too important to be left to the Generals: The Politics of the Western Front. In N. Lloyd (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Western Front. Cambridge University Press.
• ‘A Fighting Man to Fight for You’: The Armed Forces, Ex-Servicemen, and British Electoral Politics in the Aftermath of Two World Wars
  
  Johnson, M. (2020). ‘A Fighting Man to Fight for You’: The Armed Forces, Ex-Servicemen, and British Electoral Politics in the Aftermath of Two World Wars. In D. Thackeray & R. Toye (Eds.), Electoral Pledges in Britain since 1918: The Politics of Promises (pp. 71-93). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46663-3
• Civilian and Military Power (Great Britain and Ireland)
  
  Johnson, M. (2019). Civilian and Military Power (Great Britain and Ireland). In U. Daniel, P. Gatrell, O. Janz, H. Jones, J. Keene, A. Kramer, & B. Nasson (Eds.), 1914-1918-online: International Encyclopedia of the First World War. Freie Universität Berlin. https://doi.org/10.15463/ie1418.11341.
• Peace and Retrenchment? The Edwardian Liberal Party, the Limits of Pacifism, and the Politics of National Defence
  
  Johnson, M. (2017). Peace and Retrenchment? The Edwardian Liberal Party, the Limits of Pacifism, and the Politics of National Defence. In A. Gestrich & H. Pogge von Strandmann (Eds.), Bid for world power? New research on the outbreak of the First World War. (pp. 201-220). Oxford University Press.
• Militarism in Britain? The Boy Scouts and the War Office before the First World War
  
  Johnson, M. (2014). Militarism in Britain? The Boy Scouts and the War Office before the First World War. In S. J. James (Ed.), Books for Boys. Literacy, Nation and the First World War. Institute of Advanced Study.
• Governments, Parliaments and Parties (Great Britain and Ireland)
  
  Johnson, M. (2014). Governments, Parliaments and Parties (Great Britain and Ireland). In U. Daniel, P. Gatrell, O. Janz, H. Jones, J. Keene, A. Kramer, & B. Nasson (Eds.), 1914-1918-online: International Encyclopedia of the First World War. Freie Universität Berlin. https://doi.org/10.15463/ie1418.10324

Journal Article

• "Send a Soldier to Parliament": Ex-servicemen, Masculinity, and the Legacies of the Great War in Liberal Electoral and Parliamentary Politics
  
  Johnson, M. (2023). "Send a Soldier to Parliament": Ex-servicemen, Masculinity, and the Legacies of the Great War in Liberal Electoral and Parliamentary Politics. Journal of British Studies, 62(3), 739-766. https://doi.org/10.1017/jbr.2022.233
• Lloyd George, the Liberal Crisis, and the Unionist Party during the First World War
  
  Johnson, M. (2023). Lloyd George, the Liberal Crisis, and the Unionist Party during the First World War. Journal of Liberal History, 119, 18-29.
• Leading from the Front: The ‘Service Members’ in Parliament, the Armed Forces, and British Politics during the Great War
  
  Johnson, M. (2015). Leading from the Front: The ‘Service Members’ in Parliament, the Armed Forces, and British Politics during the Great War. English Historical Review, 130(544), 613-645. https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cev118
• ‘The Great War and the collapse of the Liberal Party’
  
  Johnson, M. (2014). ‘The Great War and the collapse of the Liberal Party’. British Politics Review, vol. 9, no. 1.
• The Liberal Party and the Navy League in Britain before the Great War
  
  Johnson, M. (2011). The Liberal Party and the Navy League in Britain before the Great War. Twentieth Century British History, 22(2), 137-163. https://doi.org/10.1093/tcbh/hwq055
• The Liberal War Committee and the Liberal Advocacy of Conscription in Britain, 1914-1916
  
  Johnson, M. (2008). The Liberal War Committee and the Liberal Advocacy of Conscription in Britain, 1914-1916. Historical Journal, 51(02), 399-420. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0018246x08006766

Newspaper/Magazine Article

• More than spectators? Britain’s Liberal government and the decision to go to war in 1914
  
  Johnson, M. (2014). More than spectators? Britain’s Liberal government and the decision to go to war in 1914. The Conversation.

Other (Digital/Visual Media)

• Asquith, Lloyd George, and the struggle for the premiership in December 1916
  
  Johnson, M. (in press). Asquith, Lloyd George, and the struggle for the premiership in December 1916 [History of Government blog].
• Media Coverage of the Centenary of the Great War
  
  Johnson, M. (2014). Media Coverage of the Centenary of the Great War [Royal Historical Society, ’History in the News’ blog].