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AH Run-downs, summaries and general gubbins

Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit

Presidents of the German Republic (2016 - present)

2016 - present: Hans Luther (All-German People’s Party)
2016 (first round): Hilda Franken (Social Democrats); Klaus de la Perière (Liberal Democratic); Christian Eckart (Fatherland Front); Einar Graf zu Stoltheim (Reichist); Stalin Rantzau (Communist); Willy Jünger (Nazbol)
2016 (second round): Hilda Franken (Social Democrats); Christian Eckart (Fatherland Front); Stalin Rantzau (Communist – Spartacus Alliance)




All-German People’s Party (GVP): The party of Stability and Stressemann would like to officially remind the world that it isn’t actually an amoral and corrupt party of power. What’s that? Sorry, I’m just getting word that the SiPo has been spying on videophone calls for the past five years and that Hans isn’t even denying it. Well, that’s nice.

Social Democratic Party (SPD): I really wish I had more to say about them, but, honestly, they’re just so dull. It’s like they’re not even trying to win anymore. I mean, I think there was a sex cult or something involving a couple of high-ranking Sozis, but even that wasn’t all that interesting.

Catholic Centre (Z): Cardinal Ratzinger has announced that, Actually, you can’t be a good Catholic and support euthanasia. Poor Adi Raab's had to recuse himself to do some praying. Is it mean to say I hope he stays wherever he is?

Liberal Democratic Party (LDP): Oh, Klaus de la Perière was seen on the arm of UFA star Christian K.? Well, that’s nice – they’re two very good looking men and I hope they’re happy together, and I’m sure that putting pictures of the happy couple on every videoscreen in Germany have absolutely nothing to do with Klaus’s sister’s upcoming trial.

Fatherland Front (VF): Christian Eckart has announced that the VF believes that the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft is a degenerate, Jewish institution and intends to close it down. That surprised everyone, right? They’ve never said that before.

Reichist Party (R); ‘Economic fascism’ still isn’t racist, we promise. Hey, remember when they found out that Kronprinz Willi, everyone’s favourite cocaine-addicted racer driving member of the House of Hohenzollern, was dating a black woman, and they suddenly started calling the monarchy they used to love a “monstrous institution"?

Communist Party (KPD): I know we talk about this a lot but can we talk about how the leader of the KPD is named Stalin Rantzau? Apparently there are still people out there who think Old Joe was the greatest man of the 20th century. That’s so much fun. Anyways, currently they’re onboard with Luther’s proposed renegotiation of the terms of League membership, which is amazing, right, guys? Guys?

Nazbols: Even the actual Bolsheviks think these guys are weird. And, no, I don’t know how Willy keeps his seat in the Reichstag. Did you see the newsvids of him calling food pills, of all things, degenerate?
 
New Zealand House of Representatives, 1 May 2020

It's May Day. Which is fitting, given the distress signals coming from the Beehive.

Government (64 seats)
National (56 seats):
God, and we all thought Bill English looked tired before, when all he had to deal with was a civil war in caucus. Now Joyce is trying to defend why they kept the schools and hairdressers open as we hit case number 20,000, Coleman is insisting there is enough PPE for all those doctors who say there isn't, and the Director-General of Health is beating Bill in the preferred Prime Minister stakes. And worst of all, Australia is making fun of us.

But this will all blow over by November and the election will go just fine.

New Zealand First (8 seats): Swinging wildly between crowing about how they were right all along about shutting the borders, defending their decisions to approve two successive Budgets which cut health funding, and ignoring the polling which puts them on 1.5%. Which, as the Opposition is reminding us every waking moment, won't see them get back into Parliament.

Opposition (56 seats)
Labour (46 seats):
Jacinda's been dealt a good hand. She gets to scrutinise everything the Government does in the Pandemic Committee, can actually speak in full sentences so looks Very Prime Ministerial, is able to promise a recovery that looks like all things to all people, and is free of the consequences of being in a position where she has to make any decisions. This may come back to haunt her in November.

Green (8 seats): Going even further than Labour in calling for a "Green recovery" that includes electric trains (on lines that have been closed), public transport (on buses nobody in their right mind is using), a stonking great increase in health spending (that's happening anyway), and a network of 'skills incubators' (which even the Business Roundtable are supporting). Everybody brace yourselves for co-Deputy Prime Ministers by Christmas.

ACT (1 seat):
Bumping up against the 5% mark and thus polling higher than a party with 700% more seats than them. Between gun nuts, people who think being asked to cough into your elbow is Literally Stalinism, and the Vice-Chancellor of Wellington University, David Seymour may actually have enough of a voter base pull this off and dear God, imagine him in a position of power in a coalition.

Real New Zealand (1 seat):
Not only has Shane Jones has refused to condemn the people setting cell towers on fire in Northland, but he's drawn comparisons with Hone Heke. When pressed on whether this meant he agreed with the 5G protestors, he launched into another tirade about how Northlanders are being screwed by the Government.

Well, at least some of the old normal has stuck around.

Parties outside Parliament

Maori:
They've got new co-leaders, they've taken a hard swing to the left, and they're making a lot of noise about the size of the targeted response package for Maori.

They also supported the Government for nine of the last twelve years, so depending how voters in the Maori seats feel about that legacy their kingly two percent in the polls could translate to anywhere between zero and five seats.

TOP: Okay, let me get this straight. Gareth Morgan said Australia were acting too hastily when they closed their borders, criticised the government for acting too slowly when they closed our borders, and is now saying that the slowing in new daily cases means we might be able to loosen our restrictions because The Economy, Stupid. Yes? And he's accusing Bill English of being inconsistent?

At least he's still rich enough to pay for the cab to take all four of his likely voters to the polls.

New Conservative: Complaining that ACT are stealing all of their policies. I'd have agreed with them a couple months ago, but they're going quite populist-clerico-fashy and even Seymour wouldn't touch that dumpster fire with a barge pole.

Vision
:
The Tamakis have launched a petition to exempt churches from the lockdown, despite the Manukau cluster being directly traceable to one of their services. Another unsurprising outburst from the party standing for *checks notes* "principled leadership and greater care for our vulnerable communities".

Social Credit: There must have been a glitch in the Colmar Brunton polling. Like, maybe they counted one response five times. There is no other plausible explanation for 0.5% of voters saying they intend to vote for the party whose entire platform - on coronavirus, on the economy, on every single issue - is "reserve bank go brrrrr".
 
Election ‘48 Presidential Tickets/Party Rundowns

The ‘Big Three’:

Republican:

Ticket: Allen Dulles/Harold Stassen

So the Republican’s are doing well in there nearly 4 years of rather uncontested Liberal rule. They have Congress and the Senate and the President and they’ve been clearing up the corruption and fat that occurred under the Murray/Long regime. There popular amongst the (mainly WASP and Northern) upper classes and middle classes for clearing up America and bringing in Progressive Liberal reforms that don’t interfere with the American Way of life (i.e. Wallace’s Social Security plan and increased taxation but not too much, we’re not Communists). There becoming popular amongst certain minorities (mainly Italians and Jews) for not being a gaggle of bigots and supporting Anti-Discrimination bills (too a point, Southerners are still big about Jim Crow)and farmers due to Wallace’s generous farmer support plan (which was labelled as ‘dangerously Socialist in nature’ by Democrats so there doing good).

The big problem is the Working Class, Labour and African American vote. Many of the Conservative Working Class vote Democrat or National whilst the Socially Liberal one’s vote Labor. The other two are predominantly Labor too. The problem is that Labor are a gaggle of Trade Union Democratic Socialists and that puts the fear of god into the Progressive Liberal Business supporting Republicans. So this election is about securing the bases, killing the wheezing remains of the Democrats and prepare to fight the Green Menace (very smart of the Labor Party to steal the Progressive Green from the Republicans, very smart indeed).

Democratic:

Ticket:William O.Douglas/Lyndon B. Johnson

This really shouldn’t be the last gasp of the Democrats, but it is. The remaining Progressives who Murray/Long didn’t drive into the arms of Republicans or Labor have banded together for one last chance to prove the Democratic Party ain’t a Party of Angry Fascist Conspiracy theorists or Corrupt Southern Populists. Shame that’s what half the party seems to want that and there readying there knives to reclaim the party for themselves...which would likely cause it’s remaining non Dixiecrat support to crumble into fine dust.

So the Democrats are pushing hard, Johnson is flying across America in a helicopter and promising vague Progressive platitudes and preaching about a Great Society whilst William O.Douglas is saying the Democrats will support the working man no matter what and don’t worry we won’t send the National Guard out to beat you like 39. But really it’s too little too late and the pair know it, but at this point the train can’t be stopped and Douglas & Johnson are going to have as much fun as they can whilst riding it off the cliff.

Labor:

Ticket: Walter Reuther/Vivian Carter Mason

The golden boy of Labour is back and this time he’s going to give the others two parties both barrels. The slow motion collapse of the Democrats has caused the remaining Labour Unions that aren’t full of Nativists/Racists to flock to the Labor, they have more Senators and Representatives than ever before and polls are indicate that they may actually get the second highest amount of votes. At this rate Reuther may actually destroy the Democrats and President in ‘52.

Of course this being Labor things aren’t all going smoothly. Senator Du Bois keeps on openly stanning Soviet Leader Bukharin (though cabinet member Henry Wallace doing the same has diluted that slightly), certain folk aren’t happy with the VP slot being taken by an African American Woman (a large number wanted the slot to go to Glen Taylor or Paul Robeson...at a push) and recent events in France with the Popular Front victory in the civil War putting the fear of god into moderate Labor supporters. Thankfully Reuther has prepared, he’s abusing his Hollywood support, his brilliant manifesto (co-written by a collection of Industrial Democrats, Socialists, CoOperators and Hardcore Progressives) and he’s got endorsements and support from fellow Democratic Socialist parties like the CCF and British Labour Party. Reuther’s going to have second place in the bag.

The other’s:

National:

Ticket:Gerald Nye/Robert A.Heinlein

The National Party has certainly improved from the days where it was clearly a Fascist scam funded by Wall Street folk to piss off Hiram Johnson. Now it’s vaguely competent, appealing to the Middle Class Conservative/Working Class Populist vote and Heinlein’s experience working for EPIC will certainly help. Now what it needs are some core policies *checks notes* Isolationism and Social Credit...

Can’t wait for them to somehow get 5% of the vote.

American Syndicalist:

Ticket:Eugene Dennis/Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

A collection of Wobblies, Communists and authoritarian Socialists who are united in the common cause of thinking the Labor Party is the worst thing in world. There not doing well and in many states are banned (these are states with Labor Senators in so no surprise there)and Eugene Dennis saying how ‘America needs another revolution’ isn’t really bringing around the moderates.

Still popular with students so expect university polls seemingly predicting a close three horse race of Syndicalist/Labor/National which couldn’t be further from the truth.


Legion:

Ticket: Gerald L.K.Smith/Gerald Burton Winrod

The party for weirdos who think that National and Murray’s Democrats were too Left Wing for there tastes with a ticket made up out of National’s washed up star and a rabid anti-Semitic evangelist. Consisting of mainly rabid Segregationists, Anti-Semites, Fascists and the hardcore Christian Right these folks are spending much of the campaign accusing Dulles of being an agent for a Zionist Wall Street Cabal (because he proved that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion were a hoax), sending thugs out to terrorise Labor candidates and rallies and also campaigning on the belief that the proposed Medicare system is a Socialist plot to brainwash your children.

Whilst there not going to win and there plans likely to lead to arrests (again) there message does appeal to some rather violent and radical people and the National Party is considering pinching the Legion’s best minds in the future. So watch this space.
 
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Of course the main events of the election are over. On Saturday men went to the polls to elect their first Labour Parliament in twenty years. On Sunday, the nation's women stuck with a plurality Conservative House, with the Women's Parliamentary Party forming the main opposition. For the first time ever, elections have continued on Monday with an election for the nation's first ever Third House.

The Third House is for anyone who has a diagnosis of Incurable Gender Incongruance from one of the local health boards. The Office for National Statistics estimates the transgender population to be 292,500 and the number of constituencies was decided based on this. Of these, only 55,250 people have come forward to disclose an IGI diagnosis with the Ministry for Electoral Affairs. At the same time, only one in ten polling stations will remain open. For this reason, we're expecting very small numbers of voters in the four constituencies, a situation that will likely be exacerbated by this House's MPs serving as non-voting associate members of the House of Women, rather than full MPs.

All this has already caused calls for reform from the main parties - the Liberal Party and the Labour Party favour abolition of the house and allowing trans people to vote for the men's and women's parliaments, though they take different opinions on who should vote for which House. The Conservative Party has called for transgender people to be barred from voting in the men or women's parliaments so that the transgender parliament will be their only option. The Social Credit Party, WPP, and Transgender Parliamentary Party are, of course, asking for full integration of the parliaments but with varying ideas of how to ensure that women and trans people are represented.

LONDON AND SURREY
Transgender Parliamentary Party: Munroe Bergdorf 3,529 (37.7%)
Labour: Torr Robinson 3,221 (34.4%)
Liberal: Stephanie Hayden 1,292 (13.8%)
Women's Parliamentary Party: Christine Burns 777 (8.3%)
Social Credit: Otter Lieffe 543 (5.8%)

Monroe Bergdorf has been one of the key players in the new TPP, and her victory here probably shouldn't be a surprise. Though the one poll before the election showed a clear Labour lead. However, she failed to win a full majority and that will cost the TPP 1152 votes at the National List stage

Christine Burns is a long-standing member of the WPP and the only one standing for election this year who is not connected with the Sex-Skeptical turn the party has taken in recent years. Which is likely why she has not been able to do better in this election.

SOUTH ENGLAND
Transgender Parliamentary Party: Sabah Choudrey - 2663 (33.5%)
Labour: Sophie Cook - 2583 (32.5%)
Liberal: Paris Lees - 1701 (21.4%)
Social Credit: Tom Pashby - 835 (10.5%)
Ind: Sophie Cook - 87 (1.1%)
Women's Parliamentary Party: Miranda Yardley - 79 (1%)


One of the curiosities of this election is the lack of Conservative candidates, and it's difficult to say how the absence of the nation's usual ruling party has impacted the election. Certainly the Liberal Party was hoping for some breakthroughs in the absense of another major right wing party. A well known figure like Paris Lees coming third may lend weight to the faction in the party wanting to review their LGB&T policy.

Sabah Choudrey is also a reasonably big name in the trans community, particularly with their work with young people. They will be one of only three Muslim MPs. However, a close election here will cost the TPP 1311 votes at the National Stage. This is never significant in the Women's and Mens Parliaments but with turnout as it is here these margins will hurt the TPP.

This region has had the highest number of Sex-Skeptical protests outside of polling stations, which will have also impacted voting. Miranda Yardley made it clear earlier today that these actions were lawful and most trans voters agreed with her on this.

NORTH ENGLAND
Labour: Astrid Walker 4,239 (60.2%)

Transgender Parliamentary Party: Paul/Ethel Thurston 1493 (21.2%)
Liberal: Helen Belcher 542 (7.7%)
Social Credit: Chandler Wilson 366 (5.2%)
Conservative: Nikki Sinclaire 345 (4.9%)
Women's Parliamentary Party: Debbie Hayton 56 (0.8%)

North England contains a majority of the Labour safe seats in England, and these areas correspond with the highest trans populations, so a strong win here is perhaps unsurprising.

Social Credit's vote has held up even here, in a region where it was absolutely not expected. The party has a strange record with trans voters - the Kibbo Kifter wing is known for sometimes extreme transphobia, but the Green Shirt wing of the party has been key trans allies in other ways, spearheading policies like the end of mandatory sterilisation, and even suggesting a form of legal gender transferral certificate.

Astrid Walker won over 50% of the vote there, and this means that 718 excess votes for Labour at the National stage.

WEST ENGLAND, WALES, ULSTER SCOTLAND (WEWUS)
Labour: Heather Herbert 1,716 (23.8%)

Nationalist and Regionalist: Michael Stevens 1,672 (23.2%)
Liberal: James Morton 1,650 (22.9%)
Transgender Parliamentary Party: Anna Louise 1,355 (18.8%)
Social Credit: Ellen Murray 742 (10.3%)

The Natonalists and Regionalists have got together to nominate the organiser of Northern Ireland Trans Festival as a candidate, and it seems to have almost paid off! Sinn Fein made a last minute decision to stand down rather than run an abstentionist candidate.

Labour ending the night with an exceptionally close result, and that will cost them 1,869 votes at the National Level.

NATIONAL SEATS

The votes of all candidates who have not been elected have now been counted and three additional MPs will be elected by PR. Candidates can opt to transfer votes to another party if they wish to, as long as the deal is published before the election night, and the single candidate parties have taken advantage of this.

Liberal (Paris Lees, James Morton, Stephanie Hayden, Helen Belcher) 5185
Labour (Torr Robinson, Sophie Cook) 4,653 (-1151)
Transgender Parliamentary Party: (Paul/Ethel Thurston, Anna Louise) 2144 (-2463)
Nationalist and Regionalist (Michael Stevens) 1,672 Transferred to Transgender Parliamentary Party
Social Credit: (Tom Pashby, Ellen Murray, Otto Lieffe, Chandler Wilson) - 2486
Women's Parliamentary Party: (Christine Burns, Miranda Yardley, Debbie Hayton) 1257
Conservative: Nikki Sinclaire 345 Transferred to Women's Parliamentary Party
Ind: Sophie Cook - 87 Transferred to Transgender Parliamentary Party


Paris Lees elected

Labour (Torr Robinson, Sophie Cook) 4,653 (-1151)
Liberal (James Morton, Stephanie Hayden, Helen Belcher) 2592.5
Social Credit: (Tom Pashby, Ellen Murray, Otto Lieffe, Chandler Wilson) - 2486
Transgender Parliamentary Party: (Paul/Ethel Thurston, Anna Louise) 2144 (-2463)
Women's Parliamentary Party: (Christine Burns, Miranda Yardley, Debbie Hayton) 1257

Torr Robinson elected

Liberal (James Morton, Stephanie Hayden, Helen Belcher) 2592.5
Social Credit: (Tom Pashby, Ellen Murray, Otto Lieffe, Chandler Wilson) - 2486
Labour (Sophie Cook) 2,325.5 (-1151)
Transgender Parliamentary Party: (Paul/Ethel Thurston, Anna Louise) 2144 (-2463)
Women's Parliamentary Party: (Christine Burns, Miranda Yardley, Debbie Hayton) 1257

James Morton elected

So, the final tally of MPs is:

Labour: 3
Transgender Parliamentary Party: 2
Liberal: 2

In terms of gender balance, that is 3 trans women, 2 trans men, and 1 non binary person.

Labour has not quite won a majority, but the party has had a good night and has taken this as an opportunity to reaffirm their commitment to trans rights while being non-committal about whether they expect their new trans MPs to serve out a term. Much there will depend on the House of Women.

The Transgender Parliamentary Party will be taking this as an opportunity to get more organised, with their first leadership election likely soon and their two MPs likely to take a lead.

The Liberal Party has welcomed the result and their leader, Dr Joanne Rowling, has suggested that this should be taken as a vindication of the idea the women's rights and trans rights do not have to be at odds

Social Credit is talking up their above average performance and not that they were just 107 votes from electing an MP.

Christine Burns of the Women's Parliamentary Party has been highly critical of their campaign, while the party's leader, Elizabeth Truss, suggests that the election, and the level of turnout "shows how little support transgender activist ideology has within the trans community".

The Conservative Party has denied that they struggled to find candidates, and a spokesman has explained that the party is welcoming, inclusive, and has many transgender members. The spokesman was cisgender.
 
The Impeachment of Tony Blair

1997-2005: Tony Blair (Labour)
1997 (Majority) def. John Major (Conservative), Paddy Ashdown (Liberal Democrat), David Trimble (Ulster Unionist), Alex Salmond (Scottish National)
2001 (Majority) def. William Hague (Conservative), Charles Kennedy (Liberal Democrat), David Trimble (Ulster Unionist), John Swinney (Scottish National), Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist)

2005-2005: John Prescott (Labour majority)
2005-2005: Robin Cook (Labour majority)
2005-2005: Glenda Jackson (Labour majority)
2005-2009: Ken Clarke (Conservative)
2005 (Coalition with LibDems) def. Glenda Jackson (Labour), Charles Kennedy (Liberal Democrat), Alex Salmond (Scottish National), Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist), Gerry Adams (Sinn Fein)
2009-2010: Ken Clarke (Conservative minority, with Democratic Unionist confidence and supply)
2010-2016: Glenda Jackson (Labour)
2010 (Majority) def. Ken Clarke (Conservative), Charles Kennedy (Liberal Democrat), Peter Robinson (Democratic Unionist), Alex Salmond (Scottish National), Gerry Adams (Sinn Fein)
2015 (Coalition with LibDems) def. Edward Leigh (Conservative), Charles Kennedy (Liberal Democrat), Alex Salmond (Scottish National), Peter Robinson (Democratic Unionist), Gerry Adams (Sinn Fein)
2016 STV referendum; YES 54%, NO 46%

2016-0000: Katy Clark (Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition)
2020 postponed due to coronavirus pandemic

Ken Clarke wins the Tory leadership in 2001 - and whips the Conservative Party to oppose Parliamentary approval for the War in Iraq. This comes to nothing in the short term - most of the British public approves of the war, the vote was purely symbolic and Blair uses the Royal Prerogative to invade Iraq anyway. However, he does end up falling harder and faster when the realities of the war come to light, and ignoring the purely symbolic vote becomes editoralised after the fact as an act of executive tyranny.

Impeachment is raised up in the winter of 2004 - before spring begins in 2005, Blair is out on his ear. A brief Acting Premiership by Prescott is in place so a leadership election can take place, a singularly chaotic state of affairs as the New Labour order implodes amidst the crisis. And out of the ashes emerges Robin Cook, promising a snap election as his Cabinet completely changes shape from the one under Blair.

However, the hard work of campaigning accelerates Cooks underlying health conditions and he dies before the election can take place. Glenda Jackson, who won the Deputy Leadership election, becomes Acting PM, and sees the party into the most three-cornered election results since the 1920s. Clarke forms a coalition with the Lib Dems, and governs as you might expect a Europhile One Nation Tory paired with the progressive wing of the Lib Dems might - in a manner deeply frustrating to the Eurosceptic right. Things spiral out after the economic crisis of 2008 however - Clarke is rather slower to move than Gordon Brown IOTL, and the crisis deepens. The bitter austerity measures he proposes lead to the LibDems walking out, and Clarke totters on with a minority before being crushed by Glenda Jackson, reconfirmed as leader in the aftermath of 2005.

Jackson makes a good pairing with the new Obama Administration across the water - and while the Tories spiral into hard-right demagoguery, the LibDems keep their position as a strong third arm of the party system. They finally get their PR referendum as Labour loses its majority in 2015. Jackson, now pushing 80, stands aside, allowing a new leadership to take control - once again forming a natural partnership with the Sanders Administration as it struggles through the bitter latter years of the 2010s, against his own party, mirrored by Clark's own issues with the coalition and the rise of the far-right governments in Europe exemplified by the success of Marine Le Pen.
 
The Impeachment of Tony Blair

1997-2005: Tony Blair (Labour)
1997 (Majority) def. John Major (Conservative), Paddy Ashdown (Liberal Democrat), David Trimble (Ulster Unionist), Alex Salmond (Scottish National)
2001 (Majority) def. William Hague (Conservative), Charles Kennedy (Liberal Democrat), David Trimble (Ulster Unionist), John Swinney (Scottish National), Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist)

2005-2005: John Prescott (Labour majority)
2005-2005: Robin Cook (Labour majority)
2005-2005: Glenda Jackson (Labour majority)
2005-2009: Ken Clarke (Conservative)
2005 (Coalition with LibDems) def. Glenda Jackson (Labour), Charles Kennedy (Liberal Democrat), Alex Salmond (Scottish National), Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist), Gerry Adams (Sinn Fein)
2009-2010: Ken Clarke (Conservative minority, with Democratic Unionist confidence and supply)
2010-2016: Glenda Jackson (Labour)
2010 (Majority) def. Ken Clarke (Conservative), Charles Kennedy (Liberal Democrat), Peter Robinson (Democratic Unionist), Alex Salmond (Scottish National), Gerry Adams (Sinn Fein)
2015 (Coalition with LibDems) def. Edward Leigh (Conservative), Charles Kennedy (Liberal Democrat), Alex Salmond (Scottish National), Peter Robinson (Democratic Unionist), Gerry Adams (Sinn Fein)
2016 STV referendum; YES 54%, NO 46%

2016-0000: Katy Clark (Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition)
2020 postponed due to coronavirus pandemic

Ken Clarke wins the Tory leadership in 2001 - and whips the Conservative Party to oppose Parliamentary approval for the War in Iraq. This comes to nothing in the short term - most of the British public approves of the war, the vote was purely symbolic and Blair uses the Royal Prerogative to invade Iraq anyway. However, he does end up falling harder and faster when the realities of the war come to light, and ignoring the purely symbolic vote becomes editoralised after the fact as an act of executive tyranny.

Impeachment is raised up in the winter of 2004 - before spring begins in 2005, Blair is out on his ear. A brief Acting Premiership by Prescott is in place so a leadership election can take place, a singularly chaotic state of affairs as the New Labour order implodes amidst the crisis. And out of the ashes emerges Robin Cook, promising a snap election as his Cabinet completely changes shape from the one under Blair.

However, the hard work of campaigning accelerates Cooks underlying health conditions and he dies before the election can take place. Glenda Jackson, who won the Deputy Leadership election, becomes Acting PM, and sees the party into the most three-cornered election results since the 1920s. Clarke forms a coalition with the Lib Dems, and governs as you might expect a Europhile One Nation Tory paired with the progressive wing of the Lib Dems might - in a manner deeply frustrating to the Eurosceptic right. Things spiral out after the economic crisis of 2008 however - Clarke is rather slower to move than Gordon Brown IOTL, and the crisis deepens. The bitter austerity measures he proposes lead to the LibDems walking out, and Clarke totters on with a minority before being crushed by Glenda Jackson, reconfirmed as leader in the aftermath of 2005.

Jackson makes a good pairing with the new Obama Administration across the water - and while the Tories spiral into hard-right demagoguery, the LibDems keep their position as a strong third arm of the party system. They finally get their PR referendum as Labour loses its majority in 2015. Jackson, now pushing 80, stands aside, allowing a new leadership to take control - once again forming a natural partnership with the Sanders Administration as it struggles through the bitter latter years of the 2010s, against his own party, mirrored by Clark's own issues with the coalition and the rise of the far-right governments in Europe exemplified by the success of Marine Le Pen.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA *clears throat* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
 
De Facto Leaders of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics:

1922-1924: V.I.Lenin ('The Martyr of the Revolution')
1921:'Adoption of NEP (New Economic Planning)'
1924-1927: Grigori Sokolnikov ('The Brilliant Compromise')
1925: 'Assassination of Joseph Stalin'
1926: 'Re-adoption of aims of NEP'

1927: Lev Kamenev ('The Lost Possibility')†
1927: 'Centre Grouping Coup'
1927-1928: Lazar Kaganovich ('The Centre Can't Hold')†
1928: 'United Front Coup'
1928-1934: Alexei Rykov ('Business as Usual')
1929: 'Soviet-Democratic Chinese Alliance established'
1930: 'Left Opposition Attempted Coup, Beginning of Trotsky's Exile'
1931: 'Beginning of Bukharin Economic Reforms'

1934-1954: Nikolai Bukharin ('The Great Reformer')
1938: 'Establishment of Soviet-American Trading Pact'
1940-1943: 'The Soviet-Japanese War, Stalemate'
1942-1946: 'The Eurasian War, Soviet and Western Alliance Victory of Fascist Internationale, establishment of Socialist European Trading Alliance'
1948: 'Soviet-Turkish Conflict, Stalemate'
1954: 'Soviet Constitutional Crisis, Bukharin resigns'

1954-1956: Anastas Mikoyan ('The Last Old Bolshevik')
1955: 'Detonation of First Soviet Atomic Bomb'
1956: 'Orthodox Communist Coup, Mikoyan resigns'

1956-1960: Mikhail Suslov ('The Orthodox Radical')
1960: 'Soviet-Western Alliance War Scare, Suslov resigns'
1960-:Nikolai Podgorny ('The Last Leader')
1960-1961: 'Establishment of Collective Troika'

Pink-Right Opposition/NEP
Red-Centre
Dark Red-Left Opposition/Radical

Leadership Toikas of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics:
1961-1974: 'The Podgorny Troika' ('The Grand Committee')

1962: 'Soviet-Chinese Republic Pact disestablished'
1962-1965: 'Soviet-Chinese War, Soviet Victory, establishment of Chinese Soviet Republic'
1967: 'Second Soviet-Japanese War, Soviet Victory, establishment of Asian Socialist Trading Alliance'
1974: 'Resignation of Nikolai Podgorny, beginning of Radical/Conservative struggle'

1974-1978: 'The Gromyko Troika' ('The Stubborn Old Bastards')
1975: ‘American-Soviet Nuclear deescalation talks occur, talks fail’
1977: ‘Soviet Oil Crisis, Worldwide Oil Crisis’
1978: 'Attempted purge of Radicals, failure leads to resignation Andrei Gromyko'

1978-1986: 'The Ligachyov Troika' ('The Young Radicals')
1980: 'Beginning of the Second NEP, establishment of New Democratic Committee'
1982: 'Soviet-American Nuclear Deesculation Talks, Soviet Stockpile reduced by 50%'
1983: 'Second Soviet-Turkish War, Soviet Victory, establishment of Turkish Soviet Republic'
1985: ‘Soviet-American Trading Pact, establishment of Soviet-American Trading Partnership’

1986-1999: 'The Ryzhkov Troika' ('Bringing Socialism into the 21st Century')
1988: 'Establishment of New Economic Reform Committee’
1990: ‘Joins European Economic Community, Liberalisation of Soviet Banking System’
1992: ‘Democracy Forum, Attempts to bring about Soviet Democracy begin’
1998: ‘Plans for first Soviet Democratic election to occur, only Communist approved Socialist parties allowed’

1999-: 'The Rutskoy Troika' ('New Socialism for a New Century')
1999: ‘First Soviet Democracy Election, New Socialist Alliance wins over CPSU’

Pink-Conservative
Red-Moderate
Dark Red-Radical
Blue-‘Democratic’ Communist/Eurocommunist
 
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All the 1920s stuff is great, love to hear more about the series of coups. As an unreconstructed Bukharin-stan I'm particularly taken with his Great Reformer moniker.

I'd started on something like this myself a few months ago with the early death of Stalin leading to a more democratic USSR but couldn't make it work to my satisfaction, this is far better.
 
All the 1920s stuff is great, love to hear more about the series of coups. As an unreconstructed Bukharin-stan I'm particularly taken with his Great Reformer moniker.
The coups were caused by power struggles and sidelining of certain folks in factions. The Centre Grouping Coup was caused by Kaganovich believing that Kamenev was being too appeasing to the Right and Left oppositions over the Centre (mainly him and Molotov). At first his success is due to him soothing some representatives from Left and Right factions but his prickly nature and attempt to purge his enemies causes Right and Left to join together in ousting Kagnanovich with help from Molotov (who’s annoyed that Kagnanovich would consolidate all the power for himself).

The Left Opposition Coup is finally an attempt by Trotsky and some of his accolades to establish power for themselves after a tense few years of backroom backstabbing. Rykov decides to exile Trotsky and his pals as a way to establish that the Right Opposition is a responsible Government (and also because the USSR is beginning to establish trade relations and it would be a bad look for them).

The Suslov Coup much later is an attempt by the Left to reestablish control after bubbling underneath the surface since the early 50s as the Bukharin regime starts to run out of steam a bit. However there adherence to ‘World Revolution’ doesn’t work out as well in a world with nuclear bombs.

Also the ‘Coups’ are essentially backdoor deals combined with some military arm twisting and Secret police purging certain enemies. Think the aftermath of Stalin’s death writ large and more use of the secret police/military.

Burkharin is one of those figures I always find interesting. Whilst I think a Burkharinian regime would still be authoritarian I think it would probably be better than Stalin at least (also probably less reactionary too, so Homosexuality remains legal etc. which is something we don’t see mentioned a lot in Alternate Soviet history’s).
I'd started on something like this myself a few months ago with the early death of Stalin leading to a more democratic USSR but couldn't make it work to my satisfaction, this is far better.
Why thank you, if you ever want to start on something like that again I would be happy with helping.
 
Highest-Selling Political Party Newspapers in the United Kingdom, 2020
  1. Daily Worker (Labour (all factions)) (450,000)
  2. The Libertarian (Common Wealth (Radical)) (196,700)
  3. Tribune Magazine (Labour (Centralist & Communitarian Left)) (47,200)
  4. The Crusader (Britons' Legion (all factions)) (34,500)
  5. Liberalism Today (Common Wealth (New Liberals)) (27,600)
  6. Labour Leader (Labour (Centralist Right)) (22,300)
  7. Social Justice (Labour (Communitarian Right)) (19,900)
  8. Capitalist Worker (National Coupon (Workers')) (17,800)
  9. The Scotsman (Scottish League (all factions)) (14,600)
  10. The British Gazette (National Coupon (Conservatives)) (13,200)
The United Kingdom's political scene remains complex, even if the outward surface is still, but there are still some measures that can be used to gauge long-range trends, such as political party newspaper subscription. One must always remember that in the UK, as in most of Continental Europe, parties tend to be far more "tight" ideologically, similar to American house caucuses. Thus, having things like a common party newspaper, party youth organisations, or party social clubs makes more sense than in the US, since members tend to agree on things more.

It is still worth keeping in mind, however, that this does not make subscribers to British political newspapers political zealots. The Daily Worker is a case in point. Its high circulation, focused editorial stance, and previous history have been used to paint the Labour Party as Communist ideologues controlling the minds of their voters. There is, however, a simpler explanation. While the Worker may have began life as the Communist Party's newspaper, this particular Communist party affiliated into Labour in the 1930s, and the newspaper became the main party news source by the Fifties. Not only is the content in the current paper not particularly far off from a standard social-democratic party line, this content is often not even read. To boost the party coffers during the Eighties, the NEC changed subscription upon membership from opt-in to opt-out. This means many editions of the Daily Worker that drop through members' letterboxes are left unread and used for the various purposes old newspaper goes to--in much of the North of England, an Owen Jones editorial is as much part of the fish 'n chips experience as salt and vinegar.

The majority of those die-hard Labour members who actually read the Worker will also get another magazine dependent on their faction within the party. Of these three, Tribune is both the oldest and the most successful. Part of its success is its ability to serve as a journal for the entire Left, with arch-centralists such as Tony Woodley and Seamus Milne contributing alongside leading communitarians like Maurice Glasman and Magid Mah. However, the advantages of a long history and a loyal following are just as important for why it stays ahead of its competitors. While Tribune has been running since 1937, its Labour Right rivals were both founded far later--the current version of the Leader was first published in the late Eighties and only gained a following once Margaret Hodge proved the viability of their platform as, well, the Labour leader. Social Justice is even younger as a magazine, only formed by Tony Travers as a reaction to the Labour Leader's increasingly partisan centralism. Most critics agree that the older magazine's quality has increased under Danny Finkelstein's editorship, allowing them to narrowly stay on top in terms of numbers.

Of course, some party newspapers are purchased by those outside the party they are affiliated with--The Libertarian is a case in point. While it remains a major source of party news for Common Wealth and its editorials are largely controlled by said party's left-wing, many from across the political spectrum read its reporting. The editorship of Paul Foot left the paper with a legacy of sharp and wide-ranging investigative journalism, and the plaudits it has received for uncovering the recent Copeland bribery scandal have pushed the paper's star higher than ever. Similarly, The Crusader has achieved mass success due to not focusing heavily on its political line. Indeed, with the death of many elderly Right Club donors over the years, the paper itself has ended up in the role of the party breadwinner, as a trashy tabloid similar to our New York Daily with merely a slight fascistic tone to its editorials. More politically focused party papers are more useful for gauging political trends in the public--for example, the continued unpopularity of The Scotsman shows us that despite the shock result of the Ross and Cromarty by-election, Scottish nationalism remains a niche position. Contrariwise, the continued growth in Liberalism Today's circulation indicates a growing appetite for a liberalisation of the British economy that has merely yet to fully manifest in terms of votes.

The best example of both the above trend and how newspaper circulation can be used in prediction is the surge in readers for the Worker's Party's broadsheet. With their name change and modernised strategy in the Eighties, the old NDLP have proven that they can no longer be discounted as a joke, and the increasing prominence of Halfon and McVey within the National Coupon has been paralleled by a rise in circulation for the Capitalist Worker. Similarly, the declining numbers for the British Gazette speak of a Conservative party that is increasingly floundering and being overtaken by its coupon members. While the political centre-right has never been fertile ground for newspapers, the Gazette has been performing poorly even by the standards of such--it is estimated that without Major Duncan-Smith's serialised memoirs, circulation would drop to below that of Attack, the journal of the Continuity Social Credit Party. The vision of the Workers' Party, emphasising social mobility and aspiration through economic liberalisation and the chance of a better life, is simply far more attractive than the Conservatives, who still have not moved on from the loss of India sixty years ago and are increasingly crippled by the decline of Anglicanism. The recent defection of Paul Goodman from the Gazette to start his own paper, The Homestead, indicates that many Conservatives are looking for a new direction to give them control over the Coupon again...

--extract taken from The Reader's Digest Presents: Teach Yourself Geopolitical Analysis
 
”Liberalism Today” is just way too gauche (no pun intended) of a name. For the liberal pillar you really want something that implies a general-interest paper, something for everyone who’s not an ideologically-blinkered sheep. Well, not blinkered by any ideology but liberalism, that is.
The Inquirer?
 
Saw this in an article about a French airline and had to post it here:

France, until the middle of the 20th century, ruled over an empire that included large areas of Africa (including Algeria, Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Chad), the Middle East (including Syria and Lebanon), the Americas (Québec, Louisiana, Haiti and parts of Brazil), and the Indian Ocean islands(such as Madagascar and the Seychelles). All of these today are independent nations

(emphasis added, of course)

One wonders how far back you have to go to get an independent Louisiana and 'parts of Brazil'?
 
Political Party Rundown of The German Democratic Republic, 2020:

The Government:
The Left Party (Die Linkspartei):
If you told someone about twelve years that the Left Party would become the main party of Government most people would have laughed in your face. Originally a rebranding (purge of Marxist-Leninism) of the SED as the Party of Democratic Socialism over the past twenty years the party has slowly been gaining ground from the SDP (formerly the party of choice for your causal Left Wing Voter) helped by it’s message of Democratic Socialism, Left Wing Populism and it’s constant habit of discarding anything related to the old regime (most of whom fucked off to the German Communist Party).

Now it’s in Government it has managed to sally the fears of the Right Wing that Katja Kipping will be the rebirth of Honecker, instead she spends most of her time trying to Democratise Industries, increasing worker rights, allowing Trade Unions more power and under supervision of the Greens, trying to make the GDR the first Net Zero Emissions nation by 2030. That and legalising Same Sex Marriage, Increased Immigration Rights, Gender Equality act and attempts to implement Self ID which the DVP are using as proof that Kipping is a secret Communists and the new Honecker because the one thing they hate more than Socialists and that’s LGBT+ folk.

It probably all sounds real good and it is, just ignore the ballooning deficit, the CDU lead West Germany of Hedwig von Beverfoerde staring daggers at the DDR, the coalition being not all sunshine and rainbows as they try to present themselves and the increase in Right Extremism and street fights between Anti-Fascists and Fascists and you would be right. And many Western Left Wing Parties do because it makes Kipping easier to stan.

The Greens (Grüne Partei): The Greens in the DDR are slightly different from the West German Greens. For starters they haven’t advocated for the legalisation of Pedophilia, replacing Nuclear with Coal or had there leader caught in a murder suicide at any point. Mainly made up of the more Left Wing of the Alliance 90’ folks, The Greens main focuses are; Civil Rights, The Creation of a Green DDR, Gender Democracy, increasing Ecological industries and bringing about basic Social Democratic reforms to Government.

As a result Katrin Göring-Eckardt is fine to be a coalition buddy with Kipping and the two get on alright it seems. Which is better than Eckardt’s relationship with there supposed sister Party the West German Greens who are horrified that they have got into a coalition with the Left Party (given how the choice was no Government or an awkward Red-Green coalition, they went with the coalition). The joint Green Party conference in Berlin is now infamous for name calling, punch ups and West Germans calling the DDR Greens a disgrace to the Green movement...which has confused every single other Green Movement who think Eckardt is the new Jesus or something and given how the DDR Greens follow most of the West German Greens policies.

The Opposition:
Christian Democratic Union (Christlich-Demokratische Union):
The last few years haven’t been kind to the CDU, what with most of there heavy hitters just upping stakes to DA or (god forbid) DVP. There still the dominant party of opposition and the Right but that’s not particularly hard to do given how the other two are either having an identity crisis or Fascists in name only. Under the new leadership of Ingo Senftleben the group has decided swerve awkwardly Right to try and take the wind out the DVP which is pissing off much of the awkward coalition; the Neoliberals don’t like the DVP’s protectionist/Anti-Globalisation message, the Christian Democrats find there there Fascist leaning slowly disturbing and the Centrists still keep on harping on about there ‘Grand Coalition’ idea which everyone is ignoring because it worked so well last time.

Social Democratic Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei): Most in Party are regretting that whole ‘Grand Coalition’ with the CDU because in the end it pissed off just about everyone. The Social Liberals in the Party didn’t like the Conservatives, the Social Democrats disagreed with the Neoliberal leanings of various CDU members and really the only ones who were happy were the Third Way fanatics (so Rolf Schwanitz has been having good sleep I guess). Still they made bed and they’ve laid in it, and now hopefully under Manuela Schwesig they will finally *check notes* at least be a Coalition partner.

Democratic Alliance (Demokratische Allianz): Are you a Centrist? Do you believe in Democracy, Civil Rights and generally believe that people deserve a general sense of freedom as well as Capitalism? Well do I have the party for you.

This gaggle of Democratic activists, Civil Rights Protesters, Social liberals and Eco-Capitalists was originally formed out of the members of the Alliance 90 group who didn’t join The Greens, PDS or (in some cases) the CDU. Now after several years of being whipped into shape from a bunch of beardy intellectuals into an actual party by Angela Merkal there now beginning to fill the void that the CDU has left from it’s awkward shift Right. Now under leadership of Matthias Rößler the party is planning to try and overtake at least the SDP and hopefully *fingers crossed* the CDU...well the last one probably won't happen.

Free Democratic Party (Freie Demokratische Partei): Probably the only East German party that gets on with it's West German counterpart, this party that preaches Classic Liberal values which is still a thing I guess. The Party does okay, mainly being a party for all the folks who don't want to vote the CDU for Social Reasons but don't want to vote the SDP or DA (despite being a rather Liberal party the DA is rather more Socially Liberal/Mixed Economy on Economic issues) for economic reasons. The only time the FDP and the Left Party have seen eye to eye was the legalisation of same-sex marriage so that's nice I guess.

German Peoples Party (Deutsche Volks Partei): *Angry Right Wing Populist Shouting from Frauke Petry about Immigrants, The Gays, Communists and the Pinko Liberal Menace...and promoting the works of Gerhard Frey*

Outside of Volksammer:
German Communist Party (Deutsche Kommunistische Partei):
An odd coalition of Passionate Marxists, Maoists, a few lost Titoists and Honecker stans lead by Sahra Wagenknecht who manages make sure this odd coalition doesn't crash and burn and still win some elections. The Left Party have sometimes campaigned with them but the DKP is kept with a barge pole because of there habit of going on about how the DDR was better when the 'Capitalists' weren't in control...

National Democratic Socialist Party (Nationaldemokratische Sozialistische Partei): "We're not Nazi's, Hitler betrayed the National Socialist cause anyway, so did class traitor Gehard Frey with his poxy Capitialist party that has hoovered up our votes and diverted the people away from the true force of the Right. Still at least we have the balance of power in the Saxony state Parliament...cause we have three seats"

People’s Union (Volksunion): Do you know what the DDR needs? Direct Democracy...and Third Way policies...take us back SDP please, we're sorry for pushing you into a Grand Coalition...please...Carsten Schneider is getting on our nerves.
 
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