Anthony King

Anthony Stephen King (17 November 1934 – 12 January 2017) was a Canadian-British professor of government, psephologist and commentator. He taught at the Department of Government at the University of Essex for many years.

Early life King was born in Toronto on 17 November 1934, the son of Marjorie and Harold King. In 1956,

Career He initially taught at Magdalen College, Oxford, before transferring to Essex, from which he never officially retired. From 1969, he was Professor of Government at Essex, where he also led a Wednesday brainstorming class of selected bright students from the Department of Government. He also taught at Princeton and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, in the United States. and The Blunders of our Governments. New Labour Triumphs: Britain at the Polls 1997, Britain at the Polls 2001 and Britain at the Polls 2005. In 2010, he was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy. He also served as an associate at the Institute for Government, a non-partisan charity that aims to improve the effectiveness of central Government in the UK. During the latter part of his life, his research focused on: the changing British constitution; the British prime ministership; American politics and government and the history of democracy.

King was also a member of the Academia Europaea, a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and an honorary life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He died at home on 12 January 2017 at the age of 82, from complications of heart surgery.

Publications British Members of Parliament: A Self-portrait (1974) Does the United Kingdom Still Have a Constitution? (2001) The Founding Fathers v. the People: Paradoxes of American Democracy. (2012) The Blunders of Our Governments with Ivor Crewe. (2014) Who Governs Britain? (2015)