Chris Monaghan is a Principal Lecturer in Law at the University of Worcester. He is the author of Accountability, Impeachment and the Constitution: The Case for a Modernised Process in the United Kingdom (Routledge), editor of the Routledge Studies in Law, Rights and Justice book series, and co-editor of Routledge Frontiers in Accountability Studies book series. He is the outgoing Communications Officer of PSA Parliaments.

Please tell us a little bit about how you entered academia and your academic career

Being somewhat obsessed by history as a child and teenager I decided to study history at university. Three years later I graduated and like many history graduates I decided to switch to law with the intention of becoming a solicitor.

I enrolled at my local university on the law conversion course (Graduate Diploma in Law) and progressed onto the Legal Practice Course, which I did part-time in London.

It was whilst studying on the Legal Practice Course that I was encouraged to apply for some part-time university teaching.

I was very lucky and a few months later I was lecturing third year LLB students Commercial Law at Anglia Ruskin University. After the initial nerves I found that I loved teaching and consequently took the decision to set aside my ambition of being a solicitor and secured a permanent lectureship in London. Eventually, I found myself at the University of Worcester, where I have been working since 2016.

Which five books/articles (written by someone else) have been most important to you in your academic career?

This is a difficult one to answer. I think the answer would be:

1. David Butler, Vernon Bogdanor, and Robert Summers (eds), The Law, Politics, and the Constitution: Essays in Honour of Geoffrey Marshall (Oxford University Press 1999). As a new law student I found this book in the law library and read it cover-to-cover. As soon as I started part-time teaching it was the first book that I bought.
2. Stephen Sedley, Lions Under the Throne: Essays on the History of English Public Law (Cambridge University Press 2015). This shows how a book can be written to raise serious issues, but also to give a broad sweep of the constitutional history of the United Kingdom.
3. Penny Darbyshire, Sitting in Judgment: The Working Lives of Judges (Hart Publishing 2011). Darbyshire shows how you can take a perceived preconception of judges and turn this on its head by conducting extensive empirical research and giving a voice to a large number of judges. This book has been instrumental in how I teach students about the judiciary and my own academic writing on the role of judges and the constitution.
4. Alan Paterson, Final Judgment: The Last Law Lords and the Supreme Court (Hart Publishing 2013). This showed me how you could write an account of the law and the role of judges. Paterson’s approach influenced how I carried out work for the British Library’s National Life Stories project and my own research into the Bancoult litigation.
5. Alexander Horne, Gavin Drewry and Dawn Oliver, Parliament and the Law (Hart Publishing 2013). This is a great book (with subsequent new editions) and the subject of my first substantial book review.

Which people have been most influential and important to you in your academic career?

There are quite a few people who fit this category. I have been lucky to have had the support of many colleagues and other academics. In particular my former PhD supervisor, Robert Blackburn has been very influential. Over the past decade Robert has supported my career, supervised my PhD and has offered invaluable feedback on a whole host of post PhD projects and initiatives. Finally, Matthew Flinders has been a source of encouragement over the past few years and has really challenged me to develop as an academic. It has been fun and refreshing to work with Matt.

Which of your own pieces of research are you most proud of?

This has to be my PhD thesis which became a monograph: Accountability, Impeachment and the Constitution: The Case for a Modernised Process in the United Kingdom which was published by Routledge in 2022.

What has been your greatest achievement in academia?

Without doubt completing my PhD (which I did on a part-time basis).

What has been your greatest disappointment in academia?

I think in academia you have countless knock backs and disappointments. To be honest most things just fade into the background, even if at the time it was disappointing not to get a paper published in journal X ,or accepted to present at conference Y.  I would add though, how appreciative I am for when disappointing news is delivered, to have constrictive feedback as this helps going forward.

What is the first or most important thing you tell your students about parliaments?

You need to know the detail and keep abreast of developments. I teach Public Law, so Parliament is very much a regular character in my teaching and I encourage students to ask questions and challenge preconceptions. The expenses scandal and sleaze has not helped the image of MPs, so it is really about making students move beyond the popular image of politicians.

Where were you born, where did you grow up, and where do you live now?

I was born and brought up in Bedfordshire. I now life in Worcestershire.

What was your first job?

Selling fabric and material at a high-street retailer.

What was the toughest job you ever had?

Working on a building site. Very early mornings. But worked with some great people and fun to knock things down.

What  would your ideal job be, if not an academic?

Gardener – working outside for the National Trust or something similar. It is a bit different than working indoors all day.

What are your hobbies?

These are gardening, reading, and socialising.

What are your favourite novels?

I went through a stage of reading everything by Graham Greene.

I’m currently reading Heart of a Dog.

What is your favourite music?

For quality and scope it has to be the Beatles.

What is your favourite artwork?

I am fan of the satirist James Sayers.

What is your favourite building?

The Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich. It was a privilege to work there (whilst I was at the University of Greenwich) and to coming to work and see which film or tv series was being filmed that day.

What are your favourite tv shows?

Veep, Stranger Things, West Wing and currently watching The Afterparty.

What is your favourite holiday destination?

It depends. I love city breaks: Berlin was very nice. But maybe the Maldives as this was so different than my usual holidays.

What is your favourite sport?

Tennis to watch. Badminton to play.

What is your favourite food?

My favourite meal has to be a curry (ideally from the Indian restaurant in the village where I previously lived).

Hybrid proceedings in Parliament: yes please or no thanks?

No thanks.

Appointed or elected upper chamber?

An elected upper chamber in an ideal world – but without losing the expertise.

Restoration or Renewal?

Renewal – like most things the problem will get worse the longer that you do nothing. But perhaps we could look at housing for MPs and greater public access to the Palace.

Cat or Dog?

Cats –  they are fantastic.

Trains, planes or automobiles?

Planes. There is something special about flying.

Fish and chips or Curry?

Curry all the way.

Scones: Cornish or Devonshire method?

Cornish. Either way is great though, especially when visiting the West Country.

And, finally, two questions asked by Ira and Bernadette, who are both 4: Would you prefer to ride a dragon or a unicorn, and why?

A dragon would be pretty cool. Perhaps the one from Zog and not the one from Room on the Broom.