David Judge obituary

Other lives: Leading scholar of parliamentary politics and democratic representation

My husband, David Judge, emeritus professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, who has died aged 75 from oesophageal cancer, was a leading scholar of parliamentary politics and democratic representation.

Among his most influential contributions were The Parliamentary State (1993), which addressed fundamental questions about British politics and institutional authority, and The European Parliament (2003, with David Earnshaw), a major text examining the political dynamics of the European parliament and its role in debates about democracy and legitimacy.

Most recently he co-edited Reimaging Parliament (2024, with Cristina Leston-Bandeira), questioning what parliament should be in the 21st century. His consistent argument that “institutions matter” and that “parliamentary institutions particularly matter” shaped a generation of legislative studies. In total he published 13 books, as well as many articles.

David was born in Sheffield, to Bernard Judge, a local government officer supervising refuse collection, and Lily (nee Batch), a hospital administrator. He attended Westfield comprehensive in Sheffield and studied politics at Exeter University, graduating in 1972. His father had died in March of that year, and he returned home to support his mother. Later he studied for a PhD at Sheffield University, which was awarded in 1978.

He and I met at Exeter University and married in 1973, initially living in Thrybergh, near Rotherham. David was offered a lecturing job at Paisley College of Technology (now the University of the West of Scotland) so we moved to Scotland in 1974. He joined Strathclyde University in 1988. David also held visiting professorships at the University of Houston (as a Fulbright fellow, 1993-94) and the College of Europe in Bruges (2004-07).

For nearly three decades at Strathclyde until his retirement in 2013, David combined intellectual distinction with institutional leadership. He served multiple terms as head of department and later as head of the School of Government and Public Policy. During periods of restructuring, he argued consistently for the central place of politics within a technological university.

He also wrote an article, Would I Lie to You?: Boris Johnson and Lying in the House of Commons, in the Political Quarterly journal in 2022, and further research on the evasion of parliamentary scrutiny, Walking the Dark Side, published in Government and Parliament in 2021, which was cited by Lady Smith of Basildon in the House of Lords.

David once joked that one of his chief achievements in academia was “not getting sacked”, noting the “remarkable forbearance” of senior managers when, as head of department, he felt obliged to speak truth to power. He is remembered by colleagues not only as a distinguished scholar but also as unfailingly kind.

He was a loving, supportive father and husband, an avid Guardian reader and a proud Yorkshireman. Together we enjoyed many exciting holidays, most notably in Brazil and Australia. A recent highlight was celebrating our golden wedding anniversary at Gleneagles in 2023. Life was never boring.

He is survived by me, our children, Ben and Hannah, and his brother, Roy.