Frank Trentmann & Stephen Parkinson

Frank Trentmann is professor of history at Birkbeck, University of London and initiated the historians’ letter. He is the award-winning author of Free Trade Nation and, most recently, Empire of Things. He became a dual citizen in 2018.

Stephen Parkinson is a Conservative peer and former Home Office Special adviser.

Sunday

Frank Trentmann & Stephen Parkinson

Has Britain’s official history been distorted? A debate

From our UK edition

Last month, more than a hundred historians wrote an open letter demanding changes to the history section of the Home Office’s citizenship and settlement test saying it presented a misleading view of British history. Here, Frank Trentmann – who initiated the letter – and Stephen Parkinson, a former Home Office special adviser, debate the matter. Trentmann writes