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Lists of Heads of Government and Heads of State
- Thread starter Mumby
- Start date
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- Teignmouth, Devon
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- She/Her
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- NYC (né Falkirk)
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Inspired by @Stateless's efforts at collating a Miscellany of the best PMs we never had according to Google results, and @Bolt451 calling me out when I said a list of them would be interesting.
1957-1957: Rab Butler (Conservative majority)
1957-1960: Aneurin Bevan† (Labour majority)
1960-1962: Hugh Gaitskell (Labour majority)
1962-1966: Rab Butler (Conservative majority)
1966-1970: Michael Foot (Labour majority)
1970-1978: Enoch Powell (Conservative majority)
1978-1978: Denis Healey (Labour majority)
1978-1983: Tony Benn (Labour majority)
1983-1987: Roy Jenkins (Liberal leading Alliance Coalition majority)
1987-1990: Michael Heseltine† (Conservative majority)
1990-1991: Norman Tebbit (Conservative majority)
1991-1993: John Smith† (Labour minority)
1993-1994: Neil Kinnock (Labour minority)
1994-1999: Shirley Williams (Democratic leading Alliance Coalition minority)
1999-2002: Kenneth Clarke (Alliance Conservative leading Alliance Coalition majority)
2002-2006: Paddy Ashdown (Liberal leading Alliance Coalition minority)
2006-2009: William Hague (Conservative minority)
2009-2013: Nick Clegg (Alliance Coalition minority)
2013-2014: Michael Gove (Conservative minority)
2014-2017: Ed Miliband (Labour minority)
2017- : John Redwood (Conservative majority)
Essentially Bevan beats Gaitskell in a 1954 leadership election, 1955 sees Foot hang on, and Butler rises to the top job following Suez but then calls on election and on one of the lowest turnouts ever Labour eeks out a tiny majority. So tiny in fact that major legislation struggles as the wings of the Labour Party battle it out for dominance, doesn't stop the left from trying to strangle ITV in the cradle of course. The stress of essentially governing with supply and confidence from another party causes Bevan to keel over in 1960, with Gaitskell taking over after a bitter leadership election. Gaitskell then suffers the same problem as Bevan, and is able to enact little before 1962 when Mr. Gaitler is replaced by Mr. Butskell as Prime Minister - but few people noticed.
Gaitskell himself does not survive long out of office, and in another bitter leadership struggle the left's unity candidate, Michael Foot, wins out. To his credit, Foot did what he could to keep the various wings of the party from all out war and for his efforts the Labour Party won a tiny majority in 1966. The government remained committed to Keynesian economics, were affronted by any attempts by the right of the party to corral the sway of radical shop stewards, never mentioned the acronym EEC in polite company, at Foot's behest resisted any attempts to reform the laws, and for short term political gain with the more socially conservative elements within the party stymied social liberalisation attempts. To the new leader of the opposition, sitting with a pint of gin as the fires licked up around him, most of this was fine. He bizarrely and to everyone's surprise found himself elected Prime Minister in 1970. This had less to do with the Conservative campaign and more to do with the boom the Liberals were seeing under Jo Grimond - an alliance with the Celtic nationalist parties (but none in Northern Ireland, no thank you) and a couple of high profile defections from Labour (Justice Secretary Jenkins being the most senior) saw them reach their best result since the 1930s, and may have served to cost Labour more seats in urban areas than they themselves won.
That Enoch Powell managed to be Prime Minister for nearly a decade was a surprise to many, given that the man seemed to piss off almost everyone who actually encountered him. Europe remained a dirty word, and his Conservatives were even less likely to proceed with socially liberal legislation than the previous Labour government, efforts were made to rein in the trade unions however... with limited success. By the time 1974 rolled around, his commitment to Britain (spelled E-N-G-L-A-N-D most of the time) alienated many viewers in Scotland, Wales, and in Northern Ireland - where Ulster nationalism saw a surge in support under Powell's tenure in Downing Street. With a reduced majority, and on only an embarrassingly low share of the popular vote, the Conservatives limped on with a significantly reduced majority. So small was the majority now that many of Powell's plans for his second term, namely increased privatisations, monetarism, and a Commonwealth repatriation scheme, failed to get passed due to backbench rebellions. The Liberal led alliance of smaller parties continued to grow, the Labour splinter Democratic Labour, the Ulster Liberal Party, and the Ecology Party joining their so-called 'progressive alliance' during this era.
Following the 1970 general election, Foot was replaced as Labour leader by James Callaghan, on the premise he would be a unity candidate between the right and left wings of the party. As ever when Labour were in opposition their internal problems were never as on display as they were in government, and even after they failed to make a breakthrough in 1974 the transition to the leadership of Callaghan's preferred successor was with little acrimony. As it turned out, the left were playing a more Machiavellian game; the sharp turn against the Powell government and the flooring of the Conservative vote in Scotland served to send Labour back into government in 1978. Healey's tenure as Prime Minister would be short lived, in the October conference he would be challenged for the leadership by left-winger Tony Benn. Under the new electoral college rules (given as a sop to the left while in opposition), Benn won the votes of the party members and affiliates, but Healey won the vote amongst MPs. Thus Tony Benn became leader of the Labour Party. Withing a week the core of the new Social Democratic Party (the so-called Hateful Eight) had fled the party, with them and later defectors the Benn government lost its majority. Many saw it as being a matter of weeks before a general election was called.
Somehow, Benn managed to go the distance. Largely thanks to the efforts of the Labour Whips Office, who were able to sneak through legislation on a case by case basis by exploiting rifts in the alliance of third parties or on a quid pro quo basis. His tenure would see Scottish and Welsh assemblies set up, effort made at reforming the Lords, and an agreement with the Republic of Ireland on power sharing in Northern Ireland. The latter saw support for the Ulster independence movement draw level with support for continued union with Britain. By 1983, the people of Britain were ready for more change... and for this they looked not to Benn's Labour nor Keith Joseph's Tories.
For the 1983 election, foreign commentators could be forgiven for thinking the Alliance was a single party. In fact, it was an electoral alliance of seven parties. The largest was the Liberal Party, now led by former Labour cabinet member Roy Jenkins. Next was the Democratic Party, itself composed of Labour defectors and arising from the merger of the Social Democratic Party and the earlier splinter Democratic Labour Party. Grimond's previous alliance with the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru, and latterly Mebyon Kernow carried forward into the grander alliance. In Northern Ireland the cross-community 'soft' face of unionism, the Ulster Liberal Party carried the banner for the Alliance. The smallest of the party's was the environmental Ecology Party. Dissatisfaction with the two main parties and the feeling the UK had never moved forward since the dark days of the Suez crisis turned Roy Jenkins into the first Liberal Prime Minister since David Lloyd George.
The Jenkins government would be one of the most significant the country had known since the premiership of Clement Attlee. Homosexuality was finally made legal after decades of being in limbo. So too was the death penalty finally abolished, though no executions had been carried out since the 1950s. Privatisations were carried out of failing state owned industries, and an industrial relations charter was passed to bring an end to the wildcat strikes that had been so problematic during the previous decade. Electoral reform was finally a reality, but not the longstanding Liberal preference of the single-transferable vote. Instead, the Prime Minister devised his own system of 80% of the seats elected from constituencies by the alternative vote and the remaining 20% elected via closed party-list (the absolute woi). The UK also joined the EEC, taking with them the Republic of Ireland, over the objections of both the SNP and the Ecology Party. The latter of whom left the Alliance as a result, but their two MPs were not enough to cost Jenkins his majority.
Per the terms of the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act the tenure of the 1983 parliament was due to end in 1987, Jenkins was pitted against Neil Kinnock of the Labour Party and Michael Heseltine of the Conservatives. To his massive surprise, Jenkins was looking for digs in London the day after the election. It is now thought joining the EEC may have swung enough voters away from the Alliance to allow the Conservatives to gain power after nearly a decade in the wilderness. This was in spite of Heseltine himself being in favour of continued membership. Scholarship is divided on whether or not Jenkins' devised electoral system may have shot the Alliance in the foot, with the Conservatives being over-represented on the constituency seats. Their decade in the wilderness had not done much for the unity of the Conservative Party, like Labour before them they found themselves split between two wings (mainly over the issue of Europe) and even entering government under a 'modernising' leader could not too much to encourage harmony.
Comparisons with Labour government of 1957-1962 took on a darker turn when Michael Heseltine was felled by a heart attack in 1990. Norman Tebbit emerged from the disarray that followed as leader, but had little time to do much before an election was due in 1990. Increasing unemployment caused by the economic policies of the Jenkins and Heseltine government caused many former Labour voters to return to the party, and their combined constituency and list seats were enough to deliver them a small, but working, majority. The SNP finally breaking from the Alliance may also have helped Labour. The Smith government became committed to not rocking the boat too much, but succeeded in introducing a national minimum wage and introducing devolved assemblies on the Scottish and Welsh models to the English regions (Cornwall being included in the South West Assembly saw support for Mebyon Kernow reach its zenith). It was a common joke amongst the Alliance that neither Heseltine nor Smith had done anything to change their own programme of government, and coined the phrase sobriquet Mr. Heselmith in reference to this. It was quickly dropped when John Smith dropped dead of a heart attack in 1993.
Smith was replaced as leader by his predecessor Neil Kinnock. Kinnock had only stood as a unity candidate when it was rumoured Benn was planning on standing for leadership again. So much was the fear of a return to power by Benn that no one dared stand against Kinnock lest they split the anti-Benn vote. Like Tebbit before him, Kinnock had not much time to enact major legislation before the nearest three-way split of the vote since the 1920s saw the Alliance limp back into government under popular broadcaster Shirley Williams. They were dependent on their former allies in the Ecology and Scottish Nationalist parties to see through legislation, but once the abstentionist Irish and Ulster nationalist parties were discounted this became enough to see legislation through. The 1998 election saw matters complicate for the Alliance government, the proposal of a single European currency saw the Ecology Party and the SNP withdraw support from the government while they were committed to it. An oliver branch was extended by the pro-European leader of the Conservative Party, and plans for a coalition were quickly drawn up. Incensed that their leader would dare make a decision without consulting them, five-sixths of the MPs of the Conservative Party resigned the whip in protest. Kenneth Clarke resigned as leader of the Conservatives, but pledged to still support the Alliance government. Those MPs that had not resigned the whip joined him, forming the Alliance Conservatives group.
Popular with the all the parties in Parliament except the one he formerly led, Kenneth Clarke became Prime Minister following Williams' retirement. He would oversee the UKs entry into the Ecuzone, and London would soon become the leading financial centre of the new currency. Though the Alliance coalition were still the largest party following the 2002 election, all the Alliance Conservative MPs lost their seats, including Clarke. He retired from public life soon after, mainly he said to escape the unending Ramsay MacDonald jokes at his expense. In the panic that followed Paddy Ashdown, leader of the Liberal Party, wound up at Buckingham Palace kissing hands. Ashdown's time in office was marked by the most concerted effort by a British government to bring to an end the violence in Northern Ireland, where Ashdown had largely been brought up, since that of Tony Benn in the late 1970s. Between himself and Irish Taoiseach Brian Cowen they were able to get Ulster Democratic Party leader Robert Bradford, Irish Independence Party leader Bernadette McAliskey, and Ulster Unionist Party leader Edgar Graham. Ashdown was said to have joked at the first meeting of the five alone that there were no British at the table, which nearly broke down negotiations. After years of negotiation the Northern Ireland Constitution was finally agreed, making the province a Dominon of both the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, with an upper house composed of co-opted members from the Irish Seanad and the British House of Lords. The long sidelined Rev. Ian Paisley became the first person since Lord Guinness to hold a seat in the upper houses of both sovereign nations in the British Isles; and though they still abstained and never used the titles the UK saw a few Irish nationalist Lords were created when seats in the upper house of the Republic were full. Ashdown would later become Governor-General of Northern Ireland. The remaining organised terrorist organisations, as opposed to the simple streetgangs not organised beyond a local level that had followed the bankruptcy of the IRA in the early 90s, were swiftly and ruthlessly dealt with by British and Irish security forces.
While Ashdown finally brought peace to Northern Ireland, he grew to be seen as an absentee landlord in the UK. This was an unfair view, but one both the Conservative and Labour parties made great use of. After the 2006 election the Conservatives emerged as the largest party under William Hague, but they were short of a majority and dependent on the Scottish Nationalists to pass legislation. The collapse in the US Savings & Loans market would precipitate a global economic downturn, and with Scotland feeling the pinch from the collapsing oil price the SNP withdrew support. Following the first snap election in almost two (arguable five) decades, the SNP would renew their relationship with the Alliance.
Led by Nick Clegg, who had become the darling of the chattering classes soon after his election and was listed only as Alliance on ballot papers, not for any affiliate party, the four remaining parties of the Alliance (the Ulster Liberal Party were still technically a member, but had never gained a seat in the House of Commons) introduced austerity measures to attempt to remedy the problems caused by the global financial meltdown. This proved to be unpopular with the public at large, and Clegg's honeymoon was over as quickly as the mania over him had begun. His two lasting legacies in government remain legislation for gay marriage, the legalisation of cannabis (largely in a hope that the extra tax revenue would help balance the budget), and the beginnings of the cashless society (in spite of the hilarity the phrase caused from all quarters of the media). As much as people grew to dislike his government, they could not help but feel sorry for Clegg himself. People Say Sorry to Nick Clegg became an unlikely internet sensation. Even when Plaid Cymru and Mebyon Kernow finally abandoned the Alliance in the months before the parliamentary term was due to expire neither the Conservatives nor Labour had the heart to call for a vote of no confidence.
2013 would see the most bipolar result in a UK general election since the 1970s. The Conservatives emerged as the largest party, but only by a single seat above Labour. The Alliance were reduced to a dozen seats, their worst result in a generation and mainly saved by popular constituency MPs. In Cornwall, Mebyon Kernow won every seat; in Scotland, the SNP won a majority for the first time; and in Wales, Plaid Cymru broke into double digits for the first time ever. Michael Gove became Prime Minister for the Conservatives, but on an abysmally small majority. It was widely assumed that a new election would be held before long. No one could have anticipated how short the wait would be. Negotiations between Liberal leader Liz Kendall and Democratic leader Anna Soubry over finally merging the two largest parties of the Alliance soon broke down. Instead, Soubry would lead her three Democratic MPs into the Labour Party. They would take the whip but remain a separate entity along the lines of the Co-operative Party - Soubry and the two other MPs would become the first Labour and Democratic Members of Parliament.
The addition of three MPs meant a vote of no confidence would be called against the Gove government. Gove, not wanting to be the first Prime Minister in nearly a century to lose a confidence vote, resigned. With the supply and confidence from the Liberals, Ed Miliband would become Prime Minister. His attempts to tackle the worsening economic situation were better received than Clegg's, but the Ecuzone crisis brought forth long lingering resentment at the single currency and single market to the forefront. This culminated in Eurosceptic backbencher John Redwood being elected leader of the Conservative Party. With the economy on a drip feed, the Labour Party went into the 2017 general election with few hopes. Even so, the resulting majority for the Conservatives still took many by surprise. As part of their policy of government Redwood has called for a referendum on leaving the single currency, the so-called 'Brexit' is seen as political grandstanding worsening the ecuzone crisis. Everyone knows the UK would never actually vote to leave the European currency.
1957-1957: Rab Butler (Conservative majority)
1957-1960: Aneurin Bevan† (Labour majority)
1960-1962: Hugh Gaitskell (Labour majority)
1962-1966: Rab Butler (Conservative majority)
1966-1970: Michael Foot (Labour majority)
1970-1978: Enoch Powell (Conservative majority)
1978-1978: Denis Healey (Labour majority)
1978-1983: Tony Benn (Labour majority)
1983-1987: Roy Jenkins (Liberal leading Alliance Coalition majority)
1987-1990: Michael Heseltine† (Conservative majority)
1990-1991: Norman Tebbit (Conservative majority)
1991-1993: John Smith† (Labour minority)
1993-1994: Neil Kinnock (Labour minority)
1994-1999: Shirley Williams (Democratic leading Alliance Coalition minority)
1999-2002: Kenneth Clarke (Alliance Conservative leading Alliance Coalition majority)
2002-2006: Paddy Ashdown (Liberal leading Alliance Coalition minority)
2006-2009: William Hague (Conservative minority)
2009-2013: Nick Clegg (Alliance Coalition minority)
2013-2014: Michael Gove (Conservative minority)
2014-2017: Ed Miliband (Labour minority)
2017- : John Redwood (Conservative majority)
Essentially Bevan beats Gaitskell in a 1954 leadership election, 1955 sees Foot hang on, and Butler rises to the top job following Suez but then calls on election and on one of the lowest turnouts ever Labour eeks out a tiny majority. So tiny in fact that major legislation struggles as the wings of the Labour Party battle it out for dominance, doesn't stop the left from trying to strangle ITV in the cradle of course. The stress of essentially governing with supply and confidence from another party causes Bevan to keel over in 1960, with Gaitskell taking over after a bitter leadership election. Gaitskell then suffers the same problem as Bevan, and is able to enact little before 1962 when Mr. Gaitler is replaced by Mr. Butskell as Prime Minister - but few people noticed.
Gaitskell himself does not survive long out of office, and in another bitter leadership struggle the left's unity candidate, Michael Foot, wins out. To his credit, Foot did what he could to keep the various wings of the party from all out war and for his efforts the Labour Party won a tiny majority in 1966. The government remained committed to Keynesian economics, were affronted by any attempts by the right of the party to corral the sway of radical shop stewards, never mentioned the acronym EEC in polite company, at Foot's behest resisted any attempts to reform the laws, and for short term political gain with the more socially conservative elements within the party stymied social liberalisation attempts. To the new leader of the opposition, sitting with a pint of gin as the fires licked up around him, most of this was fine. He bizarrely and to everyone's surprise found himself elected Prime Minister in 1970. This had less to do with the Conservative campaign and more to do with the boom the Liberals were seeing under Jo Grimond - an alliance with the Celtic nationalist parties (but none in Northern Ireland, no thank you) and a couple of high profile defections from Labour (Justice Secretary Jenkins being the most senior) saw them reach their best result since the 1930s, and may have served to cost Labour more seats in urban areas than they themselves won.
That Enoch Powell managed to be Prime Minister for nearly a decade was a surprise to many, given that the man seemed to piss off almost everyone who actually encountered him. Europe remained a dirty word, and his Conservatives were even less likely to proceed with socially liberal legislation than the previous Labour government, efforts were made to rein in the trade unions however... with limited success. By the time 1974 rolled around, his commitment to Britain (spelled E-N-G-L-A-N-D most of the time) alienated many viewers in Scotland, Wales, and in Northern Ireland - where Ulster nationalism saw a surge in support under Powell's tenure in Downing Street. With a reduced majority, and on only an embarrassingly low share of the popular vote, the Conservatives limped on with a significantly reduced majority. So small was the majority now that many of Powell's plans for his second term, namely increased privatisations, monetarism, and a Commonwealth repatriation scheme, failed to get passed due to backbench rebellions. The Liberal led alliance of smaller parties continued to grow, the Labour splinter Democratic Labour, the Ulster Liberal Party, and the Ecology Party joining their so-called 'progressive alliance' during this era.
Following the 1970 general election, Foot was replaced as Labour leader by James Callaghan, on the premise he would be a unity candidate between the right and left wings of the party. As ever when Labour were in opposition their internal problems were never as on display as they were in government, and even after they failed to make a breakthrough in 1974 the transition to the leadership of Callaghan's preferred successor was with little acrimony. As it turned out, the left were playing a more Machiavellian game; the sharp turn against the Powell government and the flooring of the Conservative vote in Scotland served to send Labour back into government in 1978. Healey's tenure as Prime Minister would be short lived, in the October conference he would be challenged for the leadership by left-winger Tony Benn. Under the new electoral college rules (given as a sop to the left while in opposition), Benn won the votes of the party members and affiliates, but Healey won the vote amongst MPs. Thus Tony Benn became leader of the Labour Party. Withing a week the core of the new Social Democratic Party (the so-called Hateful Eight) had fled the party, with them and later defectors the Benn government lost its majority. Many saw it as being a matter of weeks before a general election was called.
Somehow, Benn managed to go the distance. Largely thanks to the efforts of the Labour Whips Office, who were able to sneak through legislation on a case by case basis by exploiting rifts in the alliance of third parties or on a quid pro quo basis. His tenure would see Scottish and Welsh assemblies set up, effort made at reforming the Lords, and an agreement with the Republic of Ireland on power sharing in Northern Ireland. The latter saw support for the Ulster independence movement draw level with support for continued union with Britain. By 1983, the people of Britain were ready for more change... and for this they looked not to Benn's Labour nor Keith Joseph's Tories.
For the 1983 election, foreign commentators could be forgiven for thinking the Alliance was a single party. In fact, it was an electoral alliance of seven parties. The largest was the Liberal Party, now led by former Labour cabinet member Roy Jenkins. Next was the Democratic Party, itself composed of Labour defectors and arising from the merger of the Social Democratic Party and the earlier splinter Democratic Labour Party. Grimond's previous alliance with the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru, and latterly Mebyon Kernow carried forward into the grander alliance. In Northern Ireland the cross-community 'soft' face of unionism, the Ulster Liberal Party carried the banner for the Alliance. The smallest of the party's was the environmental Ecology Party. Dissatisfaction with the two main parties and the feeling the UK had never moved forward since the dark days of the Suez crisis turned Roy Jenkins into the first Liberal Prime Minister since David Lloyd George.
The Jenkins government would be one of the most significant the country had known since the premiership of Clement Attlee. Homosexuality was finally made legal after decades of being in limbo. So too was the death penalty finally abolished, though no executions had been carried out since the 1950s. Privatisations were carried out of failing state owned industries, and an industrial relations charter was passed to bring an end to the wildcat strikes that had been so problematic during the previous decade. Electoral reform was finally a reality, but not the longstanding Liberal preference of the single-transferable vote. Instead, the Prime Minister devised his own system of 80% of the seats elected from constituencies by the alternative vote and the remaining 20% elected via closed party-list (the absolute woi). The UK also joined the EEC, taking with them the Republic of Ireland, over the objections of both the SNP and the Ecology Party. The latter of whom left the Alliance as a result, but their two MPs were not enough to cost Jenkins his majority.
Per the terms of the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act the tenure of the 1983 parliament was due to end in 1987, Jenkins was pitted against Neil Kinnock of the Labour Party and Michael Heseltine of the Conservatives. To his massive surprise, Jenkins was looking for digs in London the day after the election. It is now thought joining the EEC may have swung enough voters away from the Alliance to allow the Conservatives to gain power after nearly a decade in the wilderness. This was in spite of Heseltine himself being in favour of continued membership. Scholarship is divided on whether or not Jenkins' devised electoral system may have shot the Alliance in the foot, with the Conservatives being over-represented on the constituency seats. Their decade in the wilderness had not done much for the unity of the Conservative Party, like Labour before them they found themselves split between two wings (mainly over the issue of Europe) and even entering government under a 'modernising' leader could not too much to encourage harmony.
Comparisons with Labour government of 1957-1962 took on a darker turn when Michael Heseltine was felled by a heart attack in 1990. Norman Tebbit emerged from the disarray that followed as leader, but had little time to do much before an election was due in 1990. Increasing unemployment caused by the economic policies of the Jenkins and Heseltine government caused many former Labour voters to return to the party, and their combined constituency and list seats were enough to deliver them a small, but working, majority. The SNP finally breaking from the Alliance may also have helped Labour. The Smith government became committed to not rocking the boat too much, but succeeded in introducing a national minimum wage and introducing devolved assemblies on the Scottish and Welsh models to the English regions (Cornwall being included in the South West Assembly saw support for Mebyon Kernow reach its zenith). It was a common joke amongst the Alliance that neither Heseltine nor Smith had done anything to change their own programme of government, and coined the phrase sobriquet Mr. Heselmith in reference to this. It was quickly dropped when John Smith dropped dead of a heart attack in 1993.
Smith was replaced as leader by his predecessor Neil Kinnock. Kinnock had only stood as a unity candidate when it was rumoured Benn was planning on standing for leadership again. So much was the fear of a return to power by Benn that no one dared stand against Kinnock lest they split the anti-Benn vote. Like Tebbit before him, Kinnock had not much time to enact major legislation before the nearest three-way split of the vote since the 1920s saw the Alliance limp back into government under popular broadcaster Shirley Williams. They were dependent on their former allies in the Ecology and Scottish Nationalist parties to see through legislation, but once the abstentionist Irish and Ulster nationalist parties were discounted this became enough to see legislation through. The 1998 election saw matters complicate for the Alliance government, the proposal of a single European currency saw the Ecology Party and the SNP withdraw support from the government while they were committed to it. An oliver branch was extended by the pro-European leader of the Conservative Party, and plans for a coalition were quickly drawn up. Incensed that their leader would dare make a decision without consulting them, five-sixths of the MPs of the Conservative Party resigned the whip in protest. Kenneth Clarke resigned as leader of the Conservatives, but pledged to still support the Alliance government. Those MPs that had not resigned the whip joined him, forming the Alliance Conservatives group.
Popular with the all the parties in Parliament except the one he formerly led, Kenneth Clarke became Prime Minister following Williams' retirement. He would oversee the UKs entry into the Ecuzone, and London would soon become the leading financial centre of the new currency. Though the Alliance coalition were still the largest party following the 2002 election, all the Alliance Conservative MPs lost their seats, including Clarke. He retired from public life soon after, mainly he said to escape the unending Ramsay MacDonald jokes at his expense. In the panic that followed Paddy Ashdown, leader of the Liberal Party, wound up at Buckingham Palace kissing hands. Ashdown's time in office was marked by the most concerted effort by a British government to bring to an end the violence in Northern Ireland, where Ashdown had largely been brought up, since that of Tony Benn in the late 1970s. Between himself and Irish Taoiseach Brian Cowen they were able to get Ulster Democratic Party leader Robert Bradford, Irish Independence Party leader Bernadette McAliskey, and Ulster Unionist Party leader Edgar Graham. Ashdown was said to have joked at the first meeting of the five alone that there were no British at the table, which nearly broke down negotiations. After years of negotiation the Northern Ireland Constitution was finally agreed, making the province a Dominon of both the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, with an upper house composed of co-opted members from the Irish Seanad and the British House of Lords. The long sidelined Rev. Ian Paisley became the first person since Lord Guinness to hold a seat in the upper houses of both sovereign nations in the British Isles; and though they still abstained and never used the titles the UK saw a few Irish nationalist Lords were created when seats in the upper house of the Republic were full. Ashdown would later become Governor-General of Northern Ireland. The remaining organised terrorist organisations, as opposed to the simple streetgangs not organised beyond a local level that had followed the bankruptcy of the IRA in the early 90s, were swiftly and ruthlessly dealt with by British and Irish security forces.
While Ashdown finally brought peace to Northern Ireland, he grew to be seen as an absentee landlord in the UK. This was an unfair view, but one both the Conservative and Labour parties made great use of. After the 2006 election the Conservatives emerged as the largest party under William Hague, but they were short of a majority and dependent on the Scottish Nationalists to pass legislation. The collapse in the US Savings & Loans market would precipitate a global economic downturn, and with Scotland feeling the pinch from the collapsing oil price the SNP withdrew support. Following the first snap election in almost two (arguable five) decades, the SNP would renew their relationship with the Alliance.
Led by Nick Clegg, who had become the darling of the chattering classes soon after his election and was listed only as Alliance on ballot papers, not for any affiliate party, the four remaining parties of the Alliance (the Ulster Liberal Party were still technically a member, but had never gained a seat in the House of Commons) introduced austerity measures to attempt to remedy the problems caused by the global financial meltdown. This proved to be unpopular with the public at large, and Clegg's honeymoon was over as quickly as the mania over him had begun. His two lasting legacies in government remain legislation for gay marriage, the legalisation of cannabis (largely in a hope that the extra tax revenue would help balance the budget), and the beginnings of the cashless society (in spite of the hilarity the phrase caused from all quarters of the media). As much as people grew to dislike his government, they could not help but feel sorry for Clegg himself. People Say Sorry to Nick Clegg became an unlikely internet sensation. Even when Plaid Cymru and Mebyon Kernow finally abandoned the Alliance in the months before the parliamentary term was due to expire neither the Conservatives nor Labour had the heart to call for a vote of no confidence.
2013 would see the most bipolar result in a UK general election since the 1970s. The Conservatives emerged as the largest party, but only by a single seat above Labour. The Alliance were reduced to a dozen seats, their worst result in a generation and mainly saved by popular constituency MPs. In Cornwall, Mebyon Kernow won every seat; in Scotland, the SNP won a majority for the first time; and in Wales, Plaid Cymru broke into double digits for the first time ever. Michael Gove became Prime Minister for the Conservatives, but on an abysmally small majority. It was widely assumed that a new election would be held before long. No one could have anticipated how short the wait would be. Negotiations between Liberal leader Liz Kendall and Democratic leader Anna Soubry over finally merging the two largest parties of the Alliance soon broke down. Instead, Soubry would lead her three Democratic MPs into the Labour Party. They would take the whip but remain a separate entity along the lines of the Co-operative Party - Soubry and the two other MPs would become the first Labour and Democratic Members of Parliament.
The addition of three MPs meant a vote of no confidence would be called against the Gove government. Gove, not wanting to be the first Prime Minister in nearly a century to lose a confidence vote, resigned. With the supply and confidence from the Liberals, Ed Miliband would become Prime Minister. His attempts to tackle the worsening economic situation were better received than Clegg's, but the Ecuzone crisis brought forth long lingering resentment at the single currency and single market to the forefront. This culminated in Eurosceptic backbencher John Redwood being elected leader of the Conservative Party. With the economy on a drip feed, the Labour Party went into the 2017 general election with few hopes. Even so, the resulting majority for the Conservatives still took many by surprise. As part of their policy of government Redwood has called for a referendum on leaving the single currency, the so-called 'Brexit' is seen as political grandstanding worsening the ecuzone crisis. Everyone knows the UK would never actually vote to leave the European currency.
- Location
- Teignmouth, Devon
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Winston Churchill (King's Party)
1938-1963
1938-1963
1938: Winston Churchill (King's Party)
R1: Winston Churchill (King's Party) 29.6% Arthur Greenwood (Labour) 29.1% David Lloyd George (Independent Liberal) 16.1% Lord Moyne (Conservative) 16.4% Archibald Sinclair (Liberal) 8.8%
R2: Winston Churchill (King's Party) 58.3% Arthur Greenwood (Labour) 41.7%
1945: Winston Churchill (King's Party) R1: Winston Churchill (King's Party) 42.2% Baron Addison (Labour) 26.6% Lord Beaverbrook (Conservative) 24.8% Herbert Samuel (Liberal) 6.4%
R2: Winston Churchill (King's Party) 57.9% Baron Addison (Labour) 42.1%
1951: Winston Churchill (King's Party) R1: Winston Churchill (King's Party) 53.1% Nye Bevan (Labour) 35% Viscount Thurso Archibald Sinclair (Liberal) 11.9%
1957: Winston Churchill (King's Party)
R1: Winston Churchill (King's Party) 56.5% Chuter Ede (Labour) 31.1% Lord Rea (Liberal) 14.1%
Winston Churchill attempted to get elected to support the King in his abdication crisis but rapidly became embroiled in World War II, acting as an essential rally for morale. While the post had little formal authority he was in the centre of all negotiations and was the most prominent figure in the country.His wife, Violet Churchill, is credited with creative the Churchill dynasty. She moved the family into Buckingham Palace, ensured that Palace oversight was given to Lords appointments, and manuevered her family into positions of power. In later life her intervention was essential in getting Winston Churchill's face on the back of every stamp and on every coin.
Mark Churchill (King's Party)
1963-1981
1963-1981
1963: Mark Churchill (King's Party)
R1: Mark Churchill (King's Party) 48% Anthony Crossland (Labour) 37.3% Jo Grimmond (Liberal) 16.4%
R2: Mark Churchill (King's Party) 52.6% Anthony Crossland (Labour) 47.4%
1969: Mark Churchill (King's Party)R1: Mark Churchill (King's Party) 39.2% Jeremy Thorpe (Liberal) 31.9% Baron George-Brown (Labour) 29.9%
R2: Mark Churchill (King's Party) 79.9% Jeremy Thorpe (Liberal) 20.1%
1975: Mark Churchill (King's Party) R1: Mark Churchill (King's Party) 29.3% Enoch Powell 25.9% Anthony Crossland (Labour) 25.4% Keith Joseph (Conservative) 10.3% Jo Grimmond (Liberal) 10.1%
R2: Mark Churchill (King's Party) 62.1% Enoch Powell 37.9%
A soldier and diplomat, Mark Churchill used the family name to win an election which at the time the Conservatives were happy to leave to his party. Mark is mostly remembered for his role ending colonialism, his chairmanship of the Commonwealth, and in later year's an opposition to the European Federation. He is most famous for being assasinated in London by a radical Irish nationalist.
Sheridan Churchill (King's Party)
1981-2011
1981: Sheridan Churchill (King's Party) 1981-2011
R1: Sheridan Churchill (King's Party) 95.2% John Lennon 4.8%
1987: Sheridan Churchill (King's Party)R1: Sheridan Churchill (King's Party) 61.6% The Viscount Stansgate Lord Anthony Benn (Labour) 20.2% Paul Foot (Reform) 9.8% Rupert Murdoch (Conservative) 5.2% John Tyndall (High Tory Party of Britain 3.2%
1993: Sheridan Churchill (King's Party)R1: Sheridan Churchill (King's Party) 44.3% Charles Windsor (Conservative) 24.9% Neil Kinnock (Labour) 24.3% Nina Temple (Reform) 4.7% John Tyndall (HTPB) 1.8%
R2: Sheridan Churchill (King's Party) 63.9% Charles Windsor (Conservative) 36.1%
1999: Sheridan Churchill (King's Party) R1: Charles Windsor (Conservative) 36.2% Sheridan Churchill (King's Party) 35.1% Mo Mowlam (Labour) 19.9% Bronwen Jones (Reform) 5.6% Andrew Brons (HTPB) 3.2%
R2: Sheridan Churchill (King's Party) 52.1% Charles Windsor (Conservative) 47.9%
2005: Sheridan Churchill (King's Party) R1: Sheridan Churchill (King's Party) 38.8% Lord Attlee (Labour) 21.9% Nick Griffin (HTPB) 14.4% Anthony Blair (Conservative) 12.4% Clio Goldsmith (Reform) 11.4% Clive Sinclair: 0.3%
R2: Sheridan Churchill (King's Party) 65.6% Lord Attlee (Labour) 34.4%
Elected in the wake of the horrific murder of his father, Sheridan had very little difficulty slotting into the role of president. The son of Sheridan Churchill and the heiress to the Guinness family, Sheridan had grown up around Buckingham Palace, and slotted in easily to the role of leader as a young and charismatic dilomat and patron of the arts. In the nineties, the sheen had come off somewhat and the Churchill family suffered their only serious challenge, from the previous incumbent family in Buckinghaam Palace. Perhaps fortunately, Winston, Sheridan's son, fell in love with the only daughter of Charles Windsor, leading to his withdrawal from politics in 2005, just months before he was scheduled to make another attempt at the presidency.
The Duke of Windsor, Sir Winston Churchill (King's Party)
2011-Present
2011-Present
2011: Winston Windsor-Churchill (King's Party)
R1: Winston Windsor-Churchill (King's Party) 47.1% Stephen Kinnock (Labour) 28.8% Jemima Goldsmith (Reform) 20.9% Andrew Windsor: 3.1% Arthur Uther Pendragon: 0.1%
R2: Winston Windsor-Churchill (King's Party) 59.4% Stephen Kinnock (Labour) 40.6%
2017: Winston Windsor-Churchill (King's Party) R1: Winston Windsor-Churchill (King's Party) 56.2% Hilary Benn (Labour) 22.5% Zac Goldsmith (Reform) 20.9% Prince Zylinski: 0.4%
The second President Winston is the first to take the throne while his father is still alive and has rebuilt the popularity of the Presidency as a young and charismatic leader with military experience, a beautiful wife, and a string of beautiful children. His younger brother, John Churchill, the Conservative Minister for Space, Oceanography, and the Antarctic, recently celebrated his marriage to Mao Tianyi, China's "Red Princess". The ceremony was permitted to take place in Buckingham Palace and demonstrated perfectly the open and multi-cultural nature of modern British society.- Location
- Derbyshire
Winston Churchill the accidental President becoming a stand-in monarch, and eventually seeing a reunion of the competing claims to the throne?
That's utterly mental.
That's utterly mental.
- Location
- Teignmouth, Devon
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I've often thought, if we had a presidency, we might get bogged down in the same issues as the monarchy: obsession with the family of the leader, allowing personal events to trump political considerations, an executive branch that exercises substantial soft power while being seen as apolitical, etc. In this world no doubt the Maos, Kennedys, Churchills and the rest still enjoy a laugh at the bizarre hypocrisy of North Korea - a state that claims to be egalitarian while allowing rule by one family.
I don't wanna be that guy, but I think it would come down to the circumstances of any abolition of the monarchy, and perhaps the very character the first office-holder gives the office.
- Location
- Municipal Commune of Bourne
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Presidents of the United States in Black Pudding
1941-1945: Thomas E. Dewey (Republican)
1940 (with Dewey Short) def. James Farley (Democrat)
1945-1953: Harry F. Byrd (Democrat)
1944 (with Paul V. McNutt) def. Thomas E. Dewey (Republican)
1948 (with Paul V. McNutt) def. Earl Warren (Republican)
1953-1955: Paul V. McNutt (Democrat)
1952 (with Richard Russell Jr.) def. Robert A. Taft (Republican)
1955-1957: Richard Russell Jr. (Democrat)
1957-1965: Nelson Rockefeller (Republican)
1956 (with John W. Bricker) def. Richard Russell Jr. (Democrat), Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. (Independent 'Civil Rights' Democrat)
1960 (with Joe Foss) def. Lyndon B. Johnson (Democrat)
In 1940, with Britain's armistice with Germany, the US election is less dominated by foreign policy but the rather late nature of FDR's official departure from the race leads to a very narrow victory for Dewey. In the first year of his presidency, he has to deal with the war with Japan. The bloody struggle in the Home Islands in 1944 leads to a Republican defeat. President Byrd establishes the final victory over Japan and kicks off the Cold War with Germany. Byrd domestically is very much just staying the course, comfortable with the balance struck between FDR's New Deal and Dewey's rollback of the state, and unwilling to shake the boat on questions of civil rights. The Democrats win a third time under McNutt who starts to make noises about civil rights reform but dies before he can really do anything and power is in the hands of an outright segregationist. Russell is primaried but still wins the nomination and a Liberal split leads to the first Republican victory in sixteen years. Rockefeller implements civil rights and desegregation, and kicks off the Space Race with Germany.
1941-1945: Thomas E. Dewey (Republican)
1940 (with Dewey Short) def. James Farley (Democrat)
1945-1953: Harry F. Byrd (Democrat)
1944 (with Paul V. McNutt) def. Thomas E. Dewey (Republican)
1948 (with Paul V. McNutt) def. Earl Warren (Republican)
1953-1955: Paul V. McNutt (Democrat)
1952 (with Richard Russell Jr.) def. Robert A. Taft (Republican)
1955-1957: Richard Russell Jr. (Democrat)
1957-1965: Nelson Rockefeller (Republican)
1956 (with John W. Bricker) def. Richard Russell Jr. (Democrat), Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. (Independent 'Civil Rights' Democrat)
1960 (with Joe Foss) def. Lyndon B. Johnson (Democrat)
In 1940, with Britain's armistice with Germany, the US election is less dominated by foreign policy but the rather late nature of FDR's official departure from the race leads to a very narrow victory for Dewey. In the first year of his presidency, he has to deal with the war with Japan. The bloody struggle in the Home Islands in 1944 leads to a Republican defeat. President Byrd establishes the final victory over Japan and kicks off the Cold War with Germany. Byrd domestically is very much just staying the course, comfortable with the balance struck between FDR's New Deal and Dewey's rollback of the state, and unwilling to shake the boat on questions of civil rights. The Democrats win a third time under McNutt who starts to make noises about civil rights reform but dies before he can really do anything and power is in the hands of an outright segregationist. Russell is primaried but still wins the nomination and a Liberal split leads to the first Republican victory in sixteen years. Rockefeller implements civil rights and desegregation, and kicks off the Space Race with Germany.
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In WIAF, I went with a radical option as far as French politics are concerned: Charles de Gaulle is KIA at Verdun instead of captured as in OTL, and remains a historical footnote. I considered that he figures prominently enough in both OTL and most commercial Francophone AH that one could imagine France without him for a change, and I also wanted to avoid pilfering any ideas from the Fantasque Time Line. This doesn't make a big difference for the next 24 years, but in 1940 the role of leader of the Free French is instead taken up by Georges Mandel ("the one they were waiting for", according to a book written by a former history professor of mine at Sciences-Po).
Even without De Gaulle, there's a consensus among the Free French leadership that the foundation of a new republic, with a new constitution, is both a political and a symbolic necessity, and the result is mostly similar to OTL's Fourth Republic. Mandel stays in charge for a couple of years, but then the stress and exhaustion of the war catch up with him and he stands down for health reasons.
The four main parties of the early Fourth Republic are:
PCF (Parti Communiste Français, led by a Jacques Doriot who didn't turn to fascism)
PCU (Parti Communiste Unifié, the Moscow-approved one, led by Maurice Thorez and at loggerheads with Doriot's)
SFIO (Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière, roughly similar to OTL)
MRP (Mouvement Républicain Populaire, also roughly similar to OTL)
I see the PCU's influence gradually wane as its electoral base goes over to the PCF, though it retains a core of die-hard supporters and remains a thorn in the PCF's side. I'm not sure, however, at what point an international movement similar to OTL's Eurocommunism could emerge, and whether Doriot will still be politically active when it does. It could be up to Pierre Georges, as Doriot's successor, to make it happen.
The MRP begins as a Christian Democratic and "Mandelist" party, but gradually assumes the role of mainstream conservative party, rather like the CDU in Germany. The non-Christian Democratic right wing remains without an audible parliamentary voice for a few years, then coalesces into the UPF (Union Patriotique Française); at first a minor party, it begins to fill the role of right-wing populist opposition in the late 1950s and gains a steadily increasing share of the vote from the 1970s, as the economic slowdown results in rising working-class unemployment and voters become dissatisfied with the technocratic status quo.
The list of presidents of the Fourth Republic is both very long and fairly irrelevant, since most of them are interchangeable figureheads, and the real power resides with the high administration and especially the Commissariat Général au Plan headed by Etienne Hirsch (see The Man In The Pyramid).
Even without De Gaulle, there's a consensus among the Free French leadership that the foundation of a new republic, with a new constitution, is both a political and a symbolic necessity, and the result is mostly similar to OTL's Fourth Republic. Mandel stays in charge for a couple of years, but then the stress and exhaustion of the war catch up with him and he stands down for health reasons.
The four main parties of the early Fourth Republic are:
PCF (Parti Communiste Français, led by a Jacques Doriot who didn't turn to fascism)
PCU (Parti Communiste Unifié, the Moscow-approved one, led by Maurice Thorez and at loggerheads with Doriot's)
SFIO (Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière, roughly similar to OTL)
MRP (Mouvement Républicain Populaire, also roughly similar to OTL)
I see the PCU's influence gradually wane as its electoral base goes over to the PCF, though it retains a core of die-hard supporters and remains a thorn in the PCF's side. I'm not sure, however, at what point an international movement similar to OTL's Eurocommunism could emerge, and whether Doriot will still be politically active when it does. It could be up to Pierre Georges, as Doriot's successor, to make it happen.
The MRP begins as a Christian Democratic and "Mandelist" party, but gradually assumes the role of mainstream conservative party, rather like the CDU in Germany. The non-Christian Democratic right wing remains without an audible parliamentary voice for a few years, then coalesces into the UPF (Union Patriotique Française); at first a minor party, it begins to fill the role of right-wing populist opposition in the late 1950s and gains a steadily increasing share of the vote from the 1970s, as the economic slowdown results in rising working-class unemployment and voters become dissatisfied with the technocratic status quo.
The list of presidents of the Fourth Republic is both very long and fairly irrelevant, since most of them are interchangeable figureheads, and the real power resides with the high administration and especially the Commissariat Général au Plan headed by Etienne Hirsch (see The Man In The Pyramid).
- Location
- Albany, NY
- Pronouns
- She/Her
So, do you have a list of those administrators?
- Location
- Albany, NY
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The Strange Death of American Liberalism
1965-1968: Lyndon B. Johnson / Hubert H. Humphrey (Democratic)
1964: Barry M. Goldwater / William E. Miller (Republican)
1968-1969: Lyndon B. Johnson / vacant (Democratic)
1969-1977: Nelson A. Rockefeller / George A. Smathers (Liberal Coupon--- Republican / Democratic)
1968: Richard M. Nixon / John G. Tower (Republican)
1972: George C. Wallace / William W. Scranton (Republican), George S. McGovern / Ralph Nader (Citizens)
1977-1981: Adlai E. Stevenson III / Frank F. Church (Democratic)
1976: Ronald W. Reagan / Robert J. Dole (Republican)
1981-1985: Howard H. Baker, Jr. / Lloyd M. Bentsen (Republican)
1980: Adlai E. Stevenson III / Frank F. Church (Democratic)
1985-1989: Edward M. Kennedy / Walter F. Mondale (Democratic)
1984: Howard H. Baker, Jr. / Guy A. Vander Jagt (Republican), George C. Wallace / various (Write-In)
1989-1997: Patrick J. Buchanan / Ronald E. Paul (Republican)
1988: Edward M. Kennedy / Walter F. Mondale (Democratic)
1992: Walter F. Mondale / Albert A. Gore, Jr. (Democratic)
1997-2001: Ronald E. Paul / Zell B. Miller (Republican)
1996: E. Gerald Brown / Robert P. Casey (Democratic)
2000: W. Mitt Romney / Dennis J. Kuscinich (Democratic)
2001-2005: Michael R. Bloomberg / William B. Richardson III (Democratic)
2000: Robert K. Dornan / C. Trent Lott (Republican)
Shortly after Bobby Kennedy's assassination Hube Humphrey is killed in a small plane crash leaving the Democratic race leaderless and the party in chaos. Lyndon Johnson in one last desperate throw of the dice offers the party to the great chief of Liberal Republicanism, the Governor of New York, who takes it. The Grand coalition of Rockefeller Republicans and New Dealers is strong enough to fight the tide, even as George Wallace in a panic dives out of the race and into the Republican Party. For the next eight years Rockefeller will steer the ship of state, and the Democratic Party though issues of race, war, and and social strife. His 1969 Peace Agreement saw much of the Democratic left and the country at large embrace him though the Peace Movement would break and howl in rage in 1971, 1973 and 1974 when brief air campaigns were used to respond to NVA violations of the agreement, leading to the 1972 Democratic Party split that saw George McGovern use party loyalty and the hippies to try and turn the tide.
With the economy struggling, the American people trying very hard to forget the RVN and the era of Grand Expectations and the Weed fueled optimism of a generation of sociopaths falling into a slump, Adlai E. Stevenson was pushed by the party bosses to run and beat Ronald Reagan assuring the second twenty-year stretch of Democratic Party victories in the 20th Century. Notable for his attempt to launch a Newer Deal to fight Stagflation and the passing of the Equal Rights Amendment, he was never the less viewed as a bit of a flop and in 1980 a 'consensus' Republican Ticket of moderate and acceptable Conservatives came in, did decently enough though the sluggish economy sent them out the door and Ted Kennedy came in in 1984. Promising to "Finish the work" of the great Liberals that came before him he dived right into things with the Newer Nation campaign. But as his efforts to centralize and reform Healthcare, Education, and Housing in America started to drag on, the Boomer Generation, sick of high taxes and developing an interest in saving money for coke lost interest, and the whole thing came crashing down in the 1986 Midterms. Talk in 1987 of War with Apartheid South Africa to force that regimes evacuation of Angola and Namibia was too much and while the effort never moved beyond carrier strikes, war crowds, bloated government and isolationism were enough to see the Governor of Maryland unseat Ted Kennedy and begin developing a program of "True, American Conservatism" aimed to put "America First Again". Eight Years later his Vice President would run on the campaign of "Continuing to Make America Great Again". It was during Buchanan's administration that the Federal Right to Work and Sanctity of Life Amendments were passed. Under Paul, after a "Conclusive Agreement" was signed with the Soviet Union and German reunification was permitted, NATO and the Warsaw Pact were disbanded, ending the Cold War in 1999.
The Democratic Party, at first sought to fight back with the same beliefs in the role of government and society that had developed over the decades. But as the "Western Wall" met the now Republican "Solid South" and even in the traditionally liberal North East dissent against federal programs and intervention was growing, the party began to slip first towards "Smart Liberalism" and eventually, towards ideas of technocratic governance and away from broad based reforms, a strategy that would eventually pay off in 2000 as they reentered the White House for the first time in 16 years.
1965-1968: Lyndon B. Johnson / Hubert H. Humphrey (Democratic)
1964: Barry M. Goldwater / William E. Miller (Republican)
1968-1969: Lyndon B. Johnson / vacant (Democratic)
1969-1977: Nelson A. Rockefeller / George A. Smathers (Liberal Coupon--- Republican / Democratic)
1968: Richard M. Nixon / John G. Tower (Republican)
1972: George C. Wallace / William W. Scranton (Republican), George S. McGovern / Ralph Nader (Citizens)
1977-1981: Adlai E. Stevenson III / Frank F. Church (Democratic)
1976: Ronald W. Reagan / Robert J. Dole (Republican)
1981-1985: Howard H. Baker, Jr. / Lloyd M. Bentsen (Republican)
1980: Adlai E. Stevenson III / Frank F. Church (Democratic)
1985-1989: Edward M. Kennedy / Walter F. Mondale (Democratic)
1984: Howard H. Baker, Jr. / Guy A. Vander Jagt (Republican), George C. Wallace / various (Write-In)
1989-1997: Patrick J. Buchanan / Ronald E. Paul (Republican)
1988: Edward M. Kennedy / Walter F. Mondale (Democratic)
1992: Walter F. Mondale / Albert A. Gore, Jr. (Democratic)
1997-2001: Ronald E. Paul / Zell B. Miller (Republican)
1996: E. Gerald Brown / Robert P. Casey (Democratic)
2000: W. Mitt Romney / Dennis J. Kuscinich (Democratic)
2001-2005: Michael R. Bloomberg / William B. Richardson III (Democratic)
2000: Robert K. Dornan / C. Trent Lott (Republican)
Shortly after Bobby Kennedy's assassination Hube Humphrey is killed in a small plane crash leaving the Democratic race leaderless and the party in chaos. Lyndon Johnson in one last desperate throw of the dice offers the party to the great chief of Liberal Republicanism, the Governor of New York, who takes it. The Grand coalition of Rockefeller Republicans and New Dealers is strong enough to fight the tide, even as George Wallace in a panic dives out of the race and into the Republican Party. For the next eight years Rockefeller will steer the ship of state, and the Democratic Party though issues of race, war, and and social strife. His 1969 Peace Agreement saw much of the Democratic left and the country at large embrace him though the Peace Movement would break and howl in rage in 1971, 1973 and 1974 when brief air campaigns were used to respond to NVA violations of the agreement, leading to the 1972 Democratic Party split that saw George McGovern use party loyalty and the hippies to try and turn the tide.
With the economy struggling, the American people trying very hard to forget the RVN and the era of Grand Expectations and the Weed fueled optimism of a generation of sociopaths falling into a slump, Adlai E. Stevenson was pushed by the party bosses to run and beat Ronald Reagan assuring the second twenty-year stretch of Democratic Party victories in the 20th Century. Notable for his attempt to launch a Newer Deal to fight Stagflation and the passing of the Equal Rights Amendment, he was never the less viewed as a bit of a flop and in 1980 a 'consensus' Republican Ticket of moderate and acceptable Conservatives came in, did decently enough though the sluggish economy sent them out the door and Ted Kennedy came in in 1984. Promising to "Finish the work" of the great Liberals that came before him he dived right into things with the Newer Nation campaign. But as his efforts to centralize and reform Healthcare, Education, and Housing in America started to drag on, the Boomer Generation, sick of high taxes and developing an interest in saving money for coke lost interest, and the whole thing came crashing down in the 1986 Midterms. Talk in 1987 of War with Apartheid South Africa to force that regimes evacuation of Angola and Namibia was too much and while the effort never moved beyond carrier strikes, war crowds, bloated government and isolationism were enough to see the Governor of Maryland unseat Ted Kennedy and begin developing a program of "True, American Conservatism" aimed to put "America First Again". Eight Years later his Vice President would run on the campaign of "Continuing to Make America Great Again". It was during Buchanan's administration that the Federal Right to Work and Sanctity of Life Amendments were passed. Under Paul, after a "Conclusive Agreement" was signed with the Soviet Union and German reunification was permitted, NATO and the Warsaw Pact were disbanded, ending the Cold War in 1999.
The Democratic Party, at first sought to fight back with the same beliefs in the role of government and society that had developed over the decades. But as the "Western Wall" met the now Republican "Solid South" and even in the traditionally liberal North East dissent against federal programs and intervention was growing, the party began to slip first towards "Smart Liberalism" and eventually, towards ideas of technocratic governance and away from broad based reforms, a strategy that would eventually pay off in 2000 as they reentered the White House for the first time in 16 years.
For the CGP? It's a short one:
Jean Monnet (1946-1952)
Etienne Hirsch (1952-1970)
Emile Noël (1970-1977)
Edmond Malinvaud (1977-?)
Aside from Monnet who was essentially self-taught (he started out as a cognac salesman), the others are pure products of the French meritocracy. All brought to the job a degree of contempt for politicians and boundless faith in technocratic solutions. Somewhere down the line, the CGP's unchecked power results in a populist backlash, but I haven't figured out the details.
- Location
- Municipal Commune of Bourne
- Pronouns
- He/Him
ive had an idea that will make japhy angery
Damnatio Memoriae
1929-1933: Herbert Hoover (Republican)
1928 (with Charles Curtis) def. Al Smith (Democrat)
1933-1937: John Nance Garner (Democrat)
1932 (with Franklin D. Roosevelt) def. Herbert Hoover (Republican)
1937-1938: John Nance Garner (National Union)
1936 (with Styles Bridges) def. Virgil Effinger (Patriot), Milo Reno (Farmer-Labor)
1938-1939: Cordell Hull (National Union)
1939-1941: Douglas MacArthur (Military)
1941-1942: Upton Sinclair (United Front)
1940 (with Seth Davenport) def. William Dudley Pelley (Patriot)
1942-1945: Seth Davenport (United Front)
basically its a theoretical look forward of the tv series damnation where ive made choices which i think are suitably cinematic and it all gets a bit game of thrones with the twists
FDR is shot in 1932 and Garner presides over four years of mediocrity. The Farmers' Holiday and labour strikes spread out from Iowa, and the Black Legion surges in response. With the Black Legion seizing de facto control in the South and in the Great Lakes and the Farmers' Holiday Association establishing a strange agrarian-syndicalism in the West, the Republicans and Democrats come together to try and steady the ship.
This doesn't quite work as Black Legion chief Virgil Effinger claims the election was rigged and launches a coup that sees Washington nigh on razed. Secretary of State Hull, who at that point was in Mexico becomes de facto President but is poorly situated to contain the Black Legion's Revolution. He is quietly removed from office by MacArthur who rallies the troops but is forced to retreat westward and forge alliances with the socialists and syndicalists who have set up shop there.
1940 comes around and some speculate that MacArthur intends to continue in post, but he instead acquieses to a presidential election and puts his support behind Upton Sinclair who has put California's industry to work in sending armaments to fight the Legion in the east. But in 1942, the Japanese launch a surprise attack upon the United States and Sinclair is killed in the attack on California. Japan and the Black Legion form an unholy alliance and Vice President Seth Davenport is forced to retreat to the agrarian heartland, back to Iowa where it all began...
Damnatio Memoriae
1929-1933: Herbert Hoover (Republican)
1928 (with Charles Curtis) def. Al Smith (Democrat)
1933-1937: John Nance Garner (Democrat)
1932 (with Franklin D. Roosevelt) def. Herbert Hoover (Republican)
1937-1938: John Nance Garner (National Union)
1936 (with Styles Bridges) def. Virgil Effinger (Patriot), Milo Reno (Farmer-Labor)
1938-1939: Cordell Hull (National Union)
1939-1941: Douglas MacArthur (Military)
1941-1942: Upton Sinclair (United Front)
1940 (with Seth Davenport) def. William Dudley Pelley (Patriot)
1942-1945: Seth Davenport (United Front)
basically its a theoretical look forward of the tv series damnation where ive made choices which i think are suitably cinematic and it all gets a bit game of thrones with the twists
FDR is shot in 1932 and Garner presides over four years of mediocrity. The Farmers' Holiday and labour strikes spread out from Iowa, and the Black Legion surges in response. With the Black Legion seizing de facto control in the South and in the Great Lakes and the Farmers' Holiday Association establishing a strange agrarian-syndicalism in the West, the Republicans and Democrats come together to try and steady the ship.
This doesn't quite work as Black Legion chief Virgil Effinger claims the election was rigged and launches a coup that sees Washington nigh on razed. Secretary of State Hull, who at that point was in Mexico becomes de facto President but is poorly situated to contain the Black Legion's Revolution. He is quietly removed from office by MacArthur who rallies the troops but is forced to retreat westward and forge alliances with the socialists and syndicalists who have set up shop there.
1940 comes around and some speculate that MacArthur intends to continue in post, but he instead acquieses to a presidential election and puts his support behind Upton Sinclair who has put California's industry to work in sending armaments to fight the Legion in the east. But in 1942, the Japanese launch a surprise attack upon the United States and Sinclair is killed in the attack on California. Japan and the Black Legion form an unholy alliance and Vice President Seth Davenport is forced to retreat to the agrarian heartland, back to Iowa where it all began...
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- Location
- Municipal Commune of Bourne
- Pronouns
- He/Him
This is an idea I've had for a while and I think the way it works out requires a different format to what I usually do.
The Last Demand
1922-1923: Bonar Law (Conservative and Unionist majority)
1922 def. J.R. Clynes (Labour), H.H. Asquith (Liberal), David Lloyd George (National Liberal)
1923-1923: Stanley Baldwin (Conservative and Unionist majority)
1923-1924: Ramsay MacDonald (Labour, with Liberal confidence and supply)
1923 def. Stanley Baldwin (Conservative and Unionist), H.H. Asquith (Liberal)
1924-1925: Stanley Baldwin (Conservative, with Liberal and Constitutionalist confidence and supply)
1924 def. Ramsay MacDonald (Labour), H.H. Asquith (Liberal), N/A (Constitutionalist)
1925-1926: Ramsay MacDonald (Labour minority, with Liberal confidence and supply)
1925 def. Stanley Baldwin (Conservative and Unionist), H.H. Asquith (Liberal), Winston Churchill (Liberal-Constitutionalist)
1926-1928: Winston Churchill (Liberal-Constitutionalist leading coalition with Conservative and Unionists and Liberals)
1926 def. Austen Chamberlain (Conservative and Unionist), Ramsay MacDonald (Labour), H.H. Asquith (Liberal)
1927 def. Austen Chamberlain (Conservative and Unionist), Arthur Henderson (Labour), Herbert Samuel (Liberal)
1928-1929: Arthur Henderson (Labour minority)
1928 def. Austen Chamberlain (Conservative and Unionist), Herbert Samuel (Liberal), Winston Churchill (Constitutionalist)
1929-1930: Arthur Henderson (Labour minority, with Free Liberal confidence and supply)
1929 def. Winston Churchill (Constitutional League), David Lloyd George (Free Liberal)
1930-1931: Arthur Henderson (Labour majority)
1930 def. Winston Churchill (Constitutional League), David Lloyd George (Free Liberal)
The Last Demand
1922-1923: Bonar Law (Conservative and Unionist majority)
1922 def. J.R. Clynes (Labour), H.H. Asquith (Liberal), David Lloyd George (National Liberal)
1923-1923: Stanley Baldwin (Conservative and Unionist majority)
1923-1924: Ramsay MacDonald (Labour, with Liberal confidence and supply)
1923 def. Stanley Baldwin (Conservative and Unionist), H.H. Asquith (Liberal)
1924-1925: Stanley Baldwin (Conservative, with Liberal and Constitutionalist confidence and supply)
1924 def. Ramsay MacDonald (Labour), H.H. Asquith (Liberal), N/A (Constitutionalist)
1925-1926: Ramsay MacDonald (Labour minority, with Liberal confidence and supply)
1925 def. Stanley Baldwin (Conservative and Unionist), H.H. Asquith (Liberal), Winston Churchill (Liberal-Constitutionalist)
1926-1928: Winston Churchill (Liberal-Constitutionalist leading coalition with Conservative and Unionists and Liberals)
1926 def. Austen Chamberlain (Conservative and Unionist), Ramsay MacDonald (Labour), H.H. Asquith (Liberal)
1927 def. Austen Chamberlain (Conservative and Unionist), Arthur Henderson (Labour), Herbert Samuel (Liberal)
1928-1929: Arthur Henderson (Labour minority)
1928 def. Austen Chamberlain (Conservative and Unionist), Herbert Samuel (Liberal), Winston Churchill (Constitutionalist)
1929-1930: Arthur Henderson (Labour minority, with Free Liberal confidence and supply)
1929 def. Winston Churchill (Constitutional League), David Lloyd George (Free Liberal)
1930-1931: Arthur Henderson (Labour majority)
1930 def. Winston Churchill (Constitutional League), David Lloyd George (Free Liberal)
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What led the government to fall in 1925?
- Location
- Municipal Commune of Bourne
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Disagreements between the Conservatives and Liberals over the direction over the direction of economic policy, with the Tories moving toward establishing state monopolies in utilities and the Liberals wanting to leave it to the free market. The coalition is fragile enough that the government falls.
- Location
- Municipal Commune of Bourne
- Pronouns
- He/Him
i noticed that we had three elections in three years and wondered 'what if the final demand of the chartists actually got implemented'
- Location
- Municipal Commune of Bourne
- Pronouns
- He/Him
my guess is that the expense of annual elections leads to a hard two party system which is virtually impenetrable to any other political force