Born in Torbay and brought up in Brixham, he was educated at Churston Ferrers Grammar School where he developed his taste for history, which he went on to study at University College London where he was awarded the Derby studentship for the best first of 330 candidates.
For the university, he became a lecturer in modern history, rising to the position of reader in 2004.
[citation needed] His first book, The Crisis of Conservatism, focussed on the Edwardian period and appeared in 1995.
His second book, Ideologies of Conservatism (2002), disclosed the unexpected long-term continuities in Conservative political thinking.
He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999 but kept up his academic commitments for several years before taking early retirement.