Michael Thrasher is a British academic, Professor of Politics in the School of Sociology, Politics & Law at the

University of Plymouth The University of Plymouth is a public research university based predominantly in Plymouth, England, where the main campus is located, but the university has campuses and affiliated colleges across South West England. With students, it is the ...

. He is also

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...

' election analyst. Thrasher was born in

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

in 1953. he received his BA in politics from the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

in 1974. He remained in Liverpool to study for his doctoral thesis, "The political theory of English local government, 1834-1972". He was awarded his Ph.D. in 1981. He began lecturing at Plymouth in 1977, becoming Professor of Politics in 1997. He is co-director of the ''

Local Government Chronicle The ''Local Government Chronicle'' (''LGC'') is a British weekly magazine for local government officers, and is published by Metropolis. The magazine was launched in 1855 by bookseller and publisher Charles Knight. It was then published by Em ...

'' Elections Centre. With his colleague Colin Rallings, Thrasher has written extensively on

electoral system An electoral or voting system is a set of rules used to determine the results of an election. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections may take place in business, nonprofit organizations and inf ...

s, results and

British politics The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy which, by legislation and Convention (norm), convention, operates as a Unitary state, unitary parliamentary democracy. A Hereditary monarchy, hereditary Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarch, ...

. He is co-director of the ''Local Government Chronicle'' Elections Centre. Thrasher appeared on

' 2017 election coverage, and has appeared on the channel's election night coverage as a psephologist for every election since 1992.

Books

* C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, ''The 2005 Local Elections Handbook'', (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 2005) * C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, ''The 2004 Local Elections Handbook'', (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 2004) * C. Rallings, D. Denver & M. Thrasher, ''The Media Guide to the New Scottish Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies'', (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 2004) * C. Rallings, M. Thrasher (& others), ''Public Opinion and the 2004 elections'', (London: The Electoral Commission, 2003) * C. Rallings, M. Thrasher, & G. Borisyuk, ''The cycle of local government elections in England'', (London: The Electoral Commission, 2003) * C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, ''Local Elections in Britain: A Statistical Digest'', (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 2003) * C. Rallings, M. Thrasher, et al. ''One Vote, One Value''. (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002) * Electoral Commission, Compiled by Colin Rallings & Michael Thrasher, ''Election 2001 - The Official Results'', (London: Politicos, 2001) * Rallings, C. and M. Thrasher. ''Patterns of Voting in Parliamentary Constituencies 1990-2000''. (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, University of Plymouth, 2001) * C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, ''Elections – the 21st century model: An evaluation of May 2000 local electoral pilots'' (London: Local Government Association, 2000) * C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, ''British Electoral Facts: 1832-1999'', (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000) * C. Rallings, M. Thrasher & G. Stoker, ''Proportional Representation in Local Government: Lessons from Europe'', (Joseph Rowntree Foundation: York Publishing Services, 2000) * C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, ''New Britain: New Elections'', (London: Vacher Dod, 1999) * C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, ''British Parliamentary Election Results 1983-1997'', (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999) * C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, ''Britain Votes 6'', (Aldershot: Ashgate 1998) * C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, ''Local Elections in Britain'', (London: Routledge, 1997) * C. Rallings, M. Thrasher & J. Downe, ''Enhancing Local Electoral Turnout : A guide to current practice and future reform'' (York Publishing Service, 1996) * C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, ''Local Voting and the New Parliamentary Constituencies'', (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1996) * C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, ''The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies'', (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995)

References

External links

Michael Thrasher
– staff page at Plymouth University Living people British political scientists Academics of the University of Plymouth 1953 births Date of birth missing (living people) People from Stoke-on-Trent Psephologists Alumni of the University of Liverpool {{polisci-bio-stub