Nuffield election studies

Oxford historian R.B. McCallum conceived of the first Nuffield election study in 1945. McCallum was outraged by the way that John Maynard Keynes had popularised several myths about the 1918 general election after the First World War, and he resolved to write a study of the 1945 general election that would ensure this never happened again.

Co-written by McCallum and Alison Readman, The British General Election of 1945 was revolutionary in its approach. It included a statistical appendix on election 'swing', by the young David Butler. Butler contributed a similar appendix to the 1950 general election volume written by Herbert Nicholas before Butler took over the series for the 1951 volume.

With successive co-authors Richard Rose, Anthony King, Michael Pinto-Duschinsky and Dennis Kavanagh, Butler oversaw the evolution of the Nuffield election studies into an innovative blend of 'first draft history' and pioneering social science. One senior civil servant observed that the series was 'part of the constitution'. The series has also grown more collaborative over the decades, embedding contributions by leading psephologists such as Michael Steed and John Curtice.

Butler retired from the series after the 2005 volume, but it continues to this day, edited by Dennis Kavanagh and Philip Cowley.

British general elections

• R.B. McCallum and Alison Readman, The British General Election of 1945 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1947).
• Herbert Nicholas, The British General Election of 1950 (London: Macmillan, 1951).
• D.E. Butler, The British General Election of 1951 (London: Macmillan, 1952).
• D.E. Butler, The British General Election of 1955 (London: Macmillan, 1955).
• D.E. Butler and Richard Rose, The British General Election of 1959 (London: Macmillan, 1960).
• D.E. Butler and Anthony King, The British General Election of 1964 (London: Macmillan,1965).
• D.E. Butler and Anthony King, The British General Election of 1966 (London: Macmillan,1966).
• David Butler and Michael Pinto-Duschinsky, The British General Election of 1970 (London: Macmillan, 1971).
• David Butler and Dennis Kavanagh, The British General Election of February, 1974 (London: Macmillan, 1974).
• David Butler and Dennis Kavanagh, The British General Election of October, 1974 (London: Macmillan, 1975).
• David Butler and Dennis Kavanagh, The British General Election of 1979 (London: Macmillan, 1979).
• David Butler and Dennis Kavanagh, The British General Election of 1983 (London: Macmillan, 1984).
• David Butler and Dennis Kavanagh, The British General Election of 1987 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 1988).
• David Butler and Dennis Kavanagh, The British General Election of 1992 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 1992).
• David Butler and Dennis Kavanagh, The British General Election of 1997 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 1997).
• David Butler and Dennis Kavanagh, The British General Election of 2001 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2001).
• David Butler and Dennis Kavanagh, The British General Election of 2005 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).
• Dennis Kavanagh and Philip Cowley, The British General Election of 2010 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010).
• Dennis Kavanagh and Philip Cowley, The British General Election of 2015 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015).
• Dennis Kavanagh and Philip Cowley, The British General Election of 2017 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).

1975 EEC referendum

• David Butler and Uwe W. Kitzinger, The 1975 Referendum (London: Macmillan, 1976).

European elections

• David Butler and David Marquand, British Politics and European Elections (London:
  Longman, 1981).
• David Butler and Paul Jowett, Party Strategies in Britain: A Study of the 1984 European Elections (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 1985).
• David Butler and Martin Westlake, British Politics and European Elections, 1994
  (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 1995).
• David Butler and Martin Westlake, British Politics and European Elections, 1999
  (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2000).
• David Butler and Martin Westlake, British Politics and European Elections, 2004
  (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).