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Lists of Heads of Government and Heads of State

The Second Glorious Revolution
After the death of King Frederick I, it was thought that his fiercest rival - in good, Hanoverian tradition, his eldest son and heir - might be a change for the better for Great Britain. George III was seen as a thoughtful man, with an interest in agriculture, as well as being a proper Anglican who had been raised in Great Britain - the first British monarch to do so on both fronts in the better part of a century. Nevertheless, his father’s spendthrift rule and his constant loggerheads with Parliament had left a moribund government in London, thoroughly resented by nearly all comers, even by its own participants, and George III was little interested in governing; he left the government to his favorites from Parliament, now only rarely elected and, as had been since the fall of the First Commonwealth, as corrupt as one could imagine.

In 1789, just over a hundred years after the first Glorious Revolution, after a desperate, bitter dispute between the King’s ministry and Parliament over the country’s massive debt crisis left over from King Frederick’s rule, London burst out into revolt...
thomas cochrane as napoleon

my knees
 
Secretars for State Security o the Scots Demcoratic Republict

Jack White† (1937-1946) [1]
James Dunlop MacDougall (1946-1950) [2]
Billy Fullerton (1950-1955) [3]
Robert Boothby (1955-1967) [4]
George Kennedy Young (1967-1972) [5]
Willie Ross (1972-1978) [6]
Frederick Boothby (1978-1981) [7]
Mick McGahey (1981-1987) [8]
Teddy Taylor (1987-1994) [9]
Alastair Campbell (1994-2007) [10]
Donald Findlay (2007-2012) [11]
Graham Maclean (2012-2016) [12]

[1] Coming to Scotland during the Civil War following a history in the Gordon Highlanders, the Irish Citizens Army, and the Ulster People's Army, Jack White was appointed the first Secretary for State Security by David Kirkwood after his service during the Civil War as head of the Extraordinary Security Commission of the Popular Front. He would serve in that capacity throughout the Second Great War, principally concerned with the presence of enemy agents in Scotland. The Emergency served as a useful pretext to arrest supposed enemies of the state and send them to labour camps in the Highalnds. He would survive the purge that followed the occupation of Shetland by the United Kingdom, but would die shortly following the cessation of hostilities. It is now known he played an integral part in keeping the Central Committee committed to neutrality, being equally detested with both the imperialist Central Powers and the Stalinist Soviet Union.

[2] A longtime supporter of John Maclean, lingering admiration for his old friend from the leading lights of the SDR kept MacDougall in a variety of Central Committee roles throughout the 1930s and 1940s. He was shuffled into the State Security Committee during a period of relative calm, but his failure to deal adequately with an anti-SDR uprising in Aberdeen would prove to be his undoing and he was quickly removed from his post.

[3] With no one willing to take the hot potato of State Security while tanks were still on the streets of Aberdeen, and the Red Clydesiders that still held the reigns of power unwilling to appoint anyone from outside the west of Scotland, gang leader turned militia hero Billy Fullerton eagerly seized the reigns. An agent of State Security since its inception, he developed a deserved reputation for a streak of brutality in dealing with the Catholics in his home city. The persecution that begun under White and increased under MacDougall was stepped up again under Fullerton, drawing condemnation from those few members of Central Committee brave enough to stand up to him. It was during a particular heated discussion when Fullerton called one of his colleagues a "bourgeois pouf" that a change was heralded in State Security and across the SDR. Billy Fullerton was found dead slumped over the wheel of his car with two bullet holes in his head the next morning. By that afternoon the man he had called a "bourgeois pouf" had been installed to replace him. Now a known war criminal, Fullerton also oversaw the building of the Anti-Imperialist Protection Wall along the border with England.

[4] Boothby never wanted to lead State Security, but the sudden vacancy in the role left the Central Committee in need of filling it quickly. His ascension would prove portentous as within a year Willie Gallacher would be replaced as Chief Secretary by John MacCormick at the behest of the Central Committee in a backroom coup. This marked the passing of the last of the Red Clydesiders from major power in the SDR, marked also by the passing of many government offices from Glasgow back to Edinburgh where they had originally been located in the Free State-era. The outright persecution of Catholics by State Security was reduced under Boothby but did not go away entirely; there were more agents in Glasgow who still counted their loyalties to the Brighton Derry Boys than to State Security or even the SDR. Boothby would outlast MacCormick who died in 1961, leading to his replacement by Tommy Douglas - who proceeded to move much of the apparatus back to Glasgow. Douglas's rapprochement with the Irish Republic brought praise from international commentators, but it was unknown then that the acceptance by the SDR of Protestant refugees from the north east of Ireland would precipitate a mass liquidation of the remaining labour camps in the Highlands by State Security. The Minister for State Security and the Chief Secretary would lock horns for years, before a contrived case of "gross degeneracy" would force Boothby's demotion to the Central Committee to a minor position counting herring for the Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food Committee.

[5] George Kennedy Young, like his predecessor, did not see eye-to-eye with the more open form of socialism promoted by Chief Secretary Douglas. Unlike Boothby he was much more clandestine about it, never outright opposing Douglas but undermining him at every turn. Allowing intelligency to go unnoticed if the consequences could serve to discredit to Head of State. When one of the few other remaining socialist nations in the world, the United Arab Socialist Republics, collapsed into violence and secession Young formed an alliance with Central Committee member Billy Wolfe to bring down Douglas - claiming that his commitment to the Non-Aligned Movement, instead of working towards cooperation only between socialist nations, caused the collapse of the UASR. With Wolfe now Chief Secretary, Young was free to dispatch squads of State Security agents as "International Volunteers" around the globe. However, when he felt Wolfe was consolidating too much power Young overplayed his hand. A force of 1,000 State Security agents seized control of Edinburgh airport and other key locations across both that city and Glasgow. Though having no great love for Wolfe, Young's depute had the Minister for State Security arrested by agents loyal to him. Those occupying Edinburgh and Glasgow were ordered to stand down, citing that Young had been acting on behalf of the United Kingdom all along. Young was met in a disused garage in a Corstorphine back-street by his fellow members of the Central Committee, where amidst the stale smell of petrol and the fresh smell of blood and sweat he would sign a freshly typed resignation letter. Young would spend the rest of his days in a prison in the central belt, his depute would replace him as the Minister for State Security.

[6] As depute under Young, Willie Ross believed he disliked Billy Wolfe. Now with the top job in State Security, he quickly grew to despise him. And the feeling was mutual. However, both were committed to furthering the cause of securing Scotland's continued independence and socialism through the discovery of oil under the North Sea. If they could get the rest of the claimants to agree the maritime boundaries for claims. Ross still served as Minister for State Security when the George Brown scandal rocked the English government, and a quick attempt at a cover-up gave Wolfe the leverage he needed to negotiate his desired maritime boundaries in the North Sea. Ross, taken by complete surprise at the revelation that an English Labour MP was an agent of State Security, and with his predecessors either deceased or imprisoned he could not press them for information. Believing that the Chief Secretary new of the Brown situation but did not share Ross made moves to ensure he was the only point of contact between Wolfe and State Security - turning it into his own private fiefdom. However, their already bad relationship deteriorated even further. At a Central Committee meeting in 1978 Wolfe's first matter for new business was to tell Ross to "bugger off". He was escorted to a waiting car and was last seen perched on a pillbox on the Anglo-Scottish border, lamenting "I nivver get ony fun roond here!"

[7] Frederick Boothby, cousin of Robert, was the perfect choice of Minister of State Security for Billy Wolfe. A former "International Volunteer" and long-rumoured assassin of Billy Fullerton, he was more than happy to help remove one of the men that had orchestrated his brothers fall from grace a decade earlier. His three years at the Committee would prove uneventful, and retirement was suggested after he struggled to stay awake through a full Central Committee meeting every day in a single week.

[8] In contrast to Frederick Boothby, Mick McGahey was the exact opposite sort of SDR politician than Wolfe. Rising up through the ranks of worker to shop steward to union official to United Labour Party politician to sub-committee to committee to central committee, he saw himself as exemplifying the beacon of hope socialism offered to humanity. He rose to the position of State Security at the behest of the so-called Batch of Fower, four leading politicians who had come to prominence by 1980 calling themselves the heirs to the Red Clydesiders that built the SDR - Jimmy Airlie, Sammy Barr, Sammy Gilmore, and Jimmy Reid - who wanted someone from the unions like themselves appointed to State Security. Sensing a changing of the guard, Wolfe privately announced his intending retirement to the Central Committee. This launched what was maybe the first proper campaign between multiple people for the position of head of state of the SDR - albeit between two men of the same party and with an electorate of less than ten. To the surprise of everyone, David Steel would beat Jimmy Reid to succeed Wolfe as Chief Secretary of the SDR. McGahey would serve out his time at State Security in relative quiet, though a lasting legacy of his tenure was the first smoking ban in the SDR - the Central Committee introduced one for their meeting room to prevent the room turning blue by the end of the meeting from McGahey's chain smoking.

[9] Almost as a reaction to David Steel's brand of socialism, criticised for straying too far from the letter of the SDR constitution, the Gang of Fower and an alliance of other hardliners engineered the ascension of doctrinaire Marxist Teddy Taylor to the Committee for State Security. Taylor would lock horns especially with Steel over the extension of the olive branch to the United Kingdom, though Steel claimed the relationship he had built with Conservative Prime Minister David Owen was "nothing more than neighbourly". Even the Gang of Fower abandoned Taylor when he proposed the offices and buildings of the SDR government should not serve alcohol. He was kept in the job mainly for his clandestine control of an SBC television programme starring Mark McManus as a State Security operative. By the mid-1990s the time of hardline socialism and communism had faded in the SDR, and Taylor retired. He spent his remaining days writing his memoirs, but made a memorable appearance in the media in 2016, aged 79, when he claimed for the new Transport Agreement with the UK Secretary Barrowman "should be shot".

[10] The entire purpose of State Security, seemingly a relic of worse times under Steel and his eventual successor Dennis Canavan, was changed with the rise of Campbell to the position of Secretary. The focus shifted from protecting the SDR as a state from its enemies to protecting the SDR government from its detractors. To this end the number of agents standing on street corners and rain coats went down and the number of public facing agents, like Andrew Marr, increased. Campbell, the Glasgow born son of a Gaelic-speaking veterinarian, quickly soon became known as the Spell Doctor of the SDR government. By the time he left after thirteen years in the position following a falling out with new Chief Secretary Jim Sillars, the office of State Security was arguably one of the largest media conglomerates in Europe, with interests ranging from television, radio and newspapers to football clubs (it was rumoured no referee dared make a call against Rangers Football Club while Campbell was at State Security).

[11] Donald Findlay, like Sillars a traditional socialist, continued the new media spell of State Security established by his predecessor, with whom he also shared a love of Rangers. In the midst of changing times in the SDR, his appearance on a popular sketch show telling a number of off-colour jokes about nuns forced his resignation. It was decided that his successor should be someone with a bit more media polish.

[12] Graham Maclean, born to an unknown mother in Edinburgh and adopted by the state, was educated at Maclean College (formerly Fettes) in Edinburgh then St Andrews University. He would take the name of the former as his surname, state adopted children being encouraged to choose their own at their Youth Ceremony, experienced by all children in Scotland where they would dedicate themselves to the ideals of the state. Maclean was chosen to keep the head of State Security as a background figure unlike the media personality Findlay was turning the role into; though he was not without media savvy if needed, having spent years undercover in England as a journalist for The Times. With the crash of the oil price and the changes in Scottish Society Maclean had hoped to position himself as a future Chief Secretary. The coming of the first proper democratic elections in the SDR brought with it other changes, and he soon found himself barricaded in the State Security building in Edinburgh, his staff hurriedly shredding documents and microwaving CDs. When the mob broke down the doors to stop the shredding, the media conglomerate masquerading as a secret police force could do nothing to stop it. Maclean made one last appeal to the crowd to disperse, and what State Security does is in the best interests of the citizens of the Scots Demcoratic Republict according to any expert. The response was a cacophony of obscenities and screaming that seemed to indicate people were sick of his "experts."
 
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rough analogue

Leaders of the Labour Party

2010-2015: Ed Miliband
2015-2018: Jeremy Corbyn
2018-2019: Tom Watson
2019-2030: Wes Streeting
2030-2032: Rushanara Ali

Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

2010-2015: David Cameron (Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition)
2015-2016: David Cameron (Conservative majority)
2016-2017: Theresa May (Conservative majority)
2017-2019: Theresa May (Conservative minority with Democratic Unionist confidence and supply)
2019-2022: Theresa May (Conservative minority with Democratic Unionist confidence and supply)
2022-2027: Wes Streeting (Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition)
2027-2030: Wes Streeting (Labour majority)
2030-2031: Rushanara Ali (Labour majority)
2031-2032: Rushanara Ali (Labour minority with Fianna Fail confidence and supply)
 
Presidents and Vice Presidents of the United States of America

1845-1849: Henry Clay (Whig-KY) / Theodore Frelinghuysen (Whig-NJ)
def. 1844 James K. Polk (Democratic-TN) / George M. Dallas (Democratic-PA)
1849-1857: James Buchanan (Democratic-PA) / William R. King (Democratic-AL)
def. 1848 John McLean (Whig-OH) / Millard Fillmore (Whig-NY), John P. Hale (Liberty-NH) / Leicester King (Liberty-OH)
def. 1852 Daniel Webster (Whig-MA) / John J. Crittenden (Whig-KY), Horace Mann (Liberty-MA) / Joshua Reed Giddings (Liberty-OH)

1857-1861: Joseph Lane (Democratic-IN) / Linn Boyd (Democratic-KY)
def. 1856 George W. Julian (Liberty-IN) / Nathaniel P. Banks (Liberty-MA), Andrew J. Donelson (Native American-TN) / Lewis C. Levin (Native American-PA)
1861-1869: Salmon P. Chase (Liberal-OH) / Edward Bates (Liberal-MO)
def. 1860 Joseph Lane (Democratic-IN) / Jefferson Davis (Democratic-MS), Stephen Douglas (Popular Sovereignty Democratic-IL) / Selucius Garfielde (Popular Sovereignty Democratic-KY)

Note: The results of the 1860 election were disputed. Several areas did not vote due to widespread fighting and lawlessness. When Congress certified the Chase / Bates ticket as the victors, the “Laneite” faction of the Democratic Party withdrew and, as a rump “loyal Congress,” certified Lane / Davis. This constitutional crisis touched off the American Civil War.

1864 no organized opposition

Note: The Liberal ticket ran virtually unopposed in areas under Liberal control (most of the North), while Lane / Davis ran unopposed in Democratic areas (most of the South). “Popular Sovereignty” or “Douglas” Democrats convened and endorsed the Chase / Bates ticket, while rump Laneite organizations in the North either cast votes for Lane / Davis or other scattered candidates.

1869-1871: Oliver P. Morton (Liberal-IN) † / George Henry Williams (Liberal-AC)
def. 1868 David Davis (Sovereignty-IL) / George Bancroft (Sovereignty-MA)
1871-1873: George Henry Williams (Liberal-AC) / vacant

Presidents and Vice Presidents of the Republic of America:

1873-1877: George Henry Williams (Liberal-AC) / Edwin Stanton (Liberal-OH)
def. 1872 Joel Parker (Sovereignty-NJ) / Benjamin F. Butler (Sovereignty-MA)
1877-0000: Isaac Parker (Liberal-MS) / Roscoe Conkling (Liberal-NY)
def. 1876 Samuel J. Tilden (Sovereignty-NY) / William Robert Taylor (Sovereignty-WI)
def. 1880 Thomas Ewing, Jr. (Sovereignty-OH) / Barzillai J. Chambers (Sovereignty-TX), none (Abstentionist Ticket)


Here's some of the US history I'm considering for On Her Own Wings. Henry Clay doesn't publish the "Alabama Letters" that drove away his anti-annexationist supporters in the Northeast and narrowly defeats Polk in 1844. He refuses to expand westwards. Texas squabbles with Mexico over the Nueces Strip. Fremont's rebels in California are crushed by the Mexican army. In reaction to the lack of support from back east, Oregon's settlers set up their own republic.

When Clay declines to run for re-election, Buchanan wins in a landslide, with a wounded Fremont stumping for him across the country. He is faced with a fait accompli in Oregon and cuts a deal with Britain recognizing the new Republic (an agreement aided by the sidelining of the bellicose Lord Palmerston). Meanwhile, the Mexican government of Jose Joaquin de Hererra - more stable and popular now that it's successfully wrested quite a bit of territory from the Texians - is willing to talk terms. Mexico recognizes Texian accession to the United States in return for the Nueces Strip, and sells the very northernmost slice of Alta California (including the San Francisco Bay) to America for an exorbitant sum. The continent's borders are settled, and Buchanan is hailed as a great diplomat.

With no further territory below the 36° 30' parallel for America to snatch, the Missouri Compromise comes under serious strain. An equivalent of the Kansas-Nebraska Act is passed a few years ahead of schedule and settlement on the Great Plains becomes bloody indeed. The Whigs wither in the face of intense sectional conflict, while the Democrats radicalize. Doughface Joseph Lane, scourge of the Comanches and one of America's few living war heroes, is elected President and promptly tries to use federal troops to enforce TTL's equivalent of the Lecompton Constitution.

By the time 1860 rolls around, parts of the country are already in de facto civil war as states dominated by the new Liberal Party refuse to provide Lane with troops and even try to hinder the soldiers marching west to enforce slave constitutions. Stephen Douglas challenges Lane for the nomination but the radicals' grip is too tight and he's forced to run a separate Northern Democrat ticket. The Dems use the violence and chaos in western states as an excuse to reject Chase's election as illegitimate, and the Civil War unfolds as a genuine civil war rather than a war of secession - with two opposing sides claiming to be the rightful federal government.

The bloody conflict ends with Lane's capture and execution, and a Radical Liberal Congress imposing military government on the South in defiance of President Chase's desire for reconciliation. The Democratic Party is irrevocably associated with treachery, and War Democrats form the "Sovereignty Party" to continue Douglas's legacy and criticize the excesses of the Radical bloc. They are too feeble to oppose the new Constitution drafted in the aftermath of President Morton's assassination, and most of their representatives meekly sign up for the new, centralized American Republic.

A few years later, however, with the thuggish Isaac Parker - fresh from his job as federally imposed dictator of Mississippi - in the White House and the Trusts lurking in the background, Liberal rule has grown intolerable, and the Sovereigntists have begun to attract a coalition of disenfranchised Westerners and laborers (along with not a few ex-Laneite racists).

Not all opponents of the regime feel comfortable with a party so associated with the losers of the war, however. Prairie radicals and black homesteaders in the west have joined the Anarchists, inspired by the writings of Lysander Spooner and Frederick Douglass and by the successes of Etienne Cabet's utopian experiment in Eastern Oregon. They reject the Presidential system, but the surprise victory of their testimonial Electoral College candidates in Kansas is a show of their rising strength.
 
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An Unqualified Candidate

1933-1941: John N. Garner (Democrat)
1932 (vacant) def. Herbert Hoover (Republican)
1936 (with Alben W. Barkley) def. William Borah (Republican), Burton K. Wheeler (Union-Farmer-Labor)

1941-1944: Wendell Willkie (Democrat)
1940 (with Henry A. Wallace) def. Robert A. Taft (Republican), Norman Thomas (United Labor)
1944-1945: Henry A. Wallace (Democrat)
1945-1949: Douglas MacArthur (Republican)
1944 (with Thomas E. Dewey) def. Henry A. Wallace (United Labor), James A. Farley (Democrat)
1949-1953: John Dillinger (United Labor)
1948 (with Glen H. Taylor) def. Richard Russell Jr. (Democrat), Douglas MacArthur (Republican)

A spin-off of an old list of mine, the idea of which was to strangle the FBI in its cradle by killing Roosevelt and saving his original pick for Attorney General, Thomas J. Walsh. The War on Crime doesn't really pan out until Willkie gets in. The bank robbers who became famous IOTL meet different fates obviously, Baby Face Nelson falling in a hail of gunfire in Reno, Alvin Karpis retiring to Cuba, and John Dillinger was successfully captured. He is 'persuaded' to put his skills to use by becoming a commando in the pay of the US Army and is flown out to France following D-Day and adds to his fame by waging a guerrilla war behind enemy lines.

Another feature of this world is that Long's Union thing does rather better in this world without FDR in the White House. It is affiliated by the Socialists, and when Willkie dies and Wallace is by-passed in a very hasty and torrid convention, he crosses over and launches a very sudden and aggressive campaign. The Democrats are tired after all this time and with a technocratic candidate are reduced to a Southern holdout. But Wallace is just too weird. Douglas MacArthur successfully converts wartime laurels into political capital.

MacArthur soon proves a poor choice for President, successfully repulsing America's allies after the war and reinaugurating isolationism, he also fails to capitalise on America's bounding economy. By 1949, people are wondering if they made the right choice and the cost of the Anti-Communist wars abroad and the brutal tactics that MacArthur employs to put down protests at home are a potent mixture. This is the moment, when the suave, handsome war hero steps into the breach.

The Democrats and Republican have both lost the bulk of their progressive wings and Dillinger's presidential campaign gathers momentum. Reminders of his crimes are followed by reminders of his presidential pardon, his reformed ways and all the good he did in smashing the fash overseas. When Americans look at their stuttering economy, the wealth of the military-industrial complex and the blood from all those red-smashing wars, they plump for the oddest choice in the field. America has its first apparently socialist President, and certainly its first who is a former bankrobber.
 
The Strange Death and Awkward Rebirth of the Weimar Republic

Presidents of the German Reich
1925-1934: Paul von Hindenburg (Independent Conservative)

1925 First Round: Karl Jarres (DVP-DVNP), Otto Braun (SPD), Wilhelm Marx (Zentrum), Ernst Thälmann (KPD)
1925 Second Round: Paul von Hindenburg (Independent DVP-DVNP-BVP, Monarchists), Wilhelm Marx (Zentrum-
SPD), Ernst Thälmann (KPD)
1932 First Round: Paul von Hindenburg (Independent supported by Zentrum, DDP, DVP, Monarchists), Otto Braun (SPD), Hermann Göring (NSDAP), Ernst Thälmann (KPD), Alfred Hugenberg (DVNP, Stahlhelm)
1932 Second Round: Paul von Hindenburg (Independent supported by SPD, Zentrum, DDP, DVNP, DVP, Monarchists), Adolf Hitler (NSDAP, Stahlhelm), Ernst Thälmann (KPD)

1934-1935: Alfred Hugenberg (DVNP with support from KGRNS, Stalhelm, and the Reichswehr)
1934 First Round: Joseph Wirth (Zentrum)
1935-1941: Alfred Hugenberg (DSU)
1941-1948: Kurt von Schleicher (DSU) as Reichsstatthalter

1941 Referendum: Approved
1948-1948: Ludwig Beck (Wehrmacht)
1948-1949: Walter Krueger (USA) as Allied Occupation Authority Chairman
1949-1955: Otto Grotewohl (SPD/VfSPD with support from KPD)

1949 First Round: Hjalmar Schacht (FDP-DDP), Otto Grotewohl (SPD-KPD), Konrad Adenauer (Zentrum)
1949 Second Round: Otto Grotewohl (SPD-KPD), Konrad Adenauer (Zentrum-DDP), Hjalmar Schacht (FDP)

1955-1962: Kurt Schumacher (DlSPD with support from DDP, Zentrum)
1955 First Round: Otto Grotewohl (KPD-VfSPD), Kurt Schumacher (DlSPD), Lutz von Krosigk (FDP), Franz Oppenhoff (Zentrum-DDP)
1955 Second Round: Kurt Schumacher (DlSPD-DDP-Zentrum), Otto Grotewohl (KPD-VfSPD), Albert Kesselring (FDP)


Chancellors of the German Reich
1930-1932: Heinrich Brüning (Zentrum with supply and confidence from SPD, DDP)

1930: Otto Wels (SPD), Adolf Hitler (NSDAP), Ernst Thälmann (KPD), Ludwig Kaas (Zentrum), Alfred Hugenberg (DNVP)
1932-1932: Franz von Papen (Independent with Presidential support, supply and confidence from DVNP)
1932-1934: Kurt von Schleicher (Reichswehr with Presidential Support, supply and confidence from DVNP, DVP, KGRNS extra-political aid from Stahlhelm, Sturmabteilung)

1933: Otto Wels (SPD), Gregor Strasser (KGRNS) Adolf Hitler (NSDAP), Ernst Thälmann (KPD), Ludwig Kaas (Zentrum), Alfred Hugenberg (DNVP)
1934-1941: Kurt von Schleicher (DSU)
1941-1948: Otto Strasser (DSU)
1948-1949: Gottfried Graf von Bismarck-Schönhausen (Independent with support of the Wehrmacht, later Allied Occupation Authority)
1949-1951: Franz Oppenhoff (Zentrum-DDP-FDP Coalition)

1949: Friedrich Ebert, Jr. (SPD), Franz Oppenhoff (Zentrum), Heinz Neumann (KPD), Theodor Heuss (DDP), Gottfried von Bismarck-Schönhausen (FDP)
1951-1953: Kurt Schumacher (SPD minority with KPD supply and confidence)
1952: Kurt Schumacher (SPD), Lutz von Krosigk (FDP), Andreas Hermes (Zentrum), Heinz Neumann (KPD), Theodor Heuss (DDP)
1953-1953: Heinz Neumann (KPD-SPD Coalition)
1953-1954: Erich Ollenhauer (SPD-KPD Coalition)
1954-1955: Erich Ollenhauer (VfSPD-KPD Coalition)
1955-1957: Herbert Frahm (DlSPD minority with supply and confidence from Zentrum, DDP)

1955: Herbert Fraham (DlSPD), Margarete Buber-Neumann (VfSPD-KPD), Herbert von Bose (FDP), Andreas Hermes (Zentrum), Reinhold Maier (DDP)
1957-1960: Herbert Frahm (SPD majority with supply and confidence from DDP)
1957: Herbert Frahm (SPD), Walter Ulbricht (Vf coupon/KPD), Hans Globke (Zentrum), Reinhold Maier (DDP), Lutz von Krosigk (FDP)
1960-1962: Robert Scholl (DDP minority with supply and confidence from Zentrum)
1960: Herbert Frahm (SPD), Hans Globke (Zentrum), Robert Scholl (DDP), Walter Ulbricht (KPD)

In 1932 Adolf Hitler and the inner circle of the Nazi senior leadership were all unsure of how to confront the issue of the German Presidential election that they had forced. Kurt von Schliecher, the master manipulator of the last days of the Reich had sought Nazi support to extend Hindenbergs term without an election, as he and Heinrich Bruening toyed with the idea of putting the Grandson of the last Kaiser back on a new throne after the President's death. Some like Goebbels wanted Hitler to run for the office against the old Field Marshal. Others like Gregor Strasser thought the whole process should be skipped. Still others suggested that running Goering for the job was an acceptable option. Hitler in the end, after weeks of wavering sent the War Hero forward to do the job. The results were... flawed. Hindenberg, disinterested in running wavered himself, opening up the race before he jumped in with the intent solely of defeating the Nazi upstarts. In the end he did, baked by the parties he hated and in the first round, opposed by the Nationalists, the only party he truly liked. Goering's first round performance was well enough that he bowed out to be replaced by Hitler. The Nationalist-Stalhelm alliance broke as Hugenberg endorsed Hindenberg and the street fighting veterans organization swung to Hitler... who not only lost but in doing so just about ensured the shattering of the party as Gregor Strasser departed with much of the mid-level leadership, and huge numbers of the rank and file who supported him and his program of Volkish socialism all the Jew-baiting, Mass murdering fun of the old party but with hatetred also aimed right at big business, junkers and landlords.

The split in the Nazi Party at hand, von Schleicher decided that the time had come to remove the highly unpopular Bruening, and replaced him with a political non-entity in the form of Franz von Papen, also removing the old General Groener who had been his patron since the Great War from the Defense Ministry to be replaced with himself. Papen lasted half a year in office, attempting to rule with no real Parliamentary support and having to heavily lean on the emergency powers of the aging, and more and more confused president. Von Schliecher offered carrots and sticks a plenty in the behind the scenes effort to build a parlimentary majority, von Papen had been plucked from a well deserved obscurity to try and woo members of the Catholic Zentrum (Centre) Party which he had been a member of but failed in the task. Eventually the General, his ego increasing as the press learned more of this former sneaking figure, decided that he would do better on his own and ousted Papen.

Von Schleicher didn't need to depend on Presidential powers completely, in a way showing off the value of his work: The Nationalists (DVNP), and the decaying former liberals of the German People's Party (DVP) were joined by the Strasserite Combat League of Revolutionary National Socialists, the infamous Black Front (KGRNS). With the support of these parties, the Army, the Stahlhelm and soon enough the SA stormtrooper organization which broke with Hitler as the Nazis shattered, the Socialists and Communists were banned and shoved underground. Street fighting was massive but in October of 1933 Adolf Hitler committed suicide at his private retreat in the Bavarian Alps, marking the doom of the NSDAP. 1934 would see Hindenberg die with von Schleicher, comfortable in his role as Chancellor offered the support of the movement to Hugenberg of the Nationalists, who, facing only the Catholics was easily swept into office. The following year, von Schleicher saw the patchwork coalition of his government reorganized into what would for over a decade be the only legal political party in the Reich the German Social Union. Darkness fell on Germany, but this evil was accepted by many in Western Europe. "The Steel Chancellor" kept the USSR contained, rebuilt the Army, rebuilt German pride and many in France and the UK were fine with that after decades of Chaos, the General didn't even cause much in the way of diplomatic chaos: in 1938 he and Mussolini agreed on the installation of a new regime in Austria, turning that nation into a puppet state between the two Fascists. In a way he would do the same with the USSR, trading Estonia, Latvia and streches of Eastern Poland for a free hand in Central and Western Poland and Lithuania. It was only in the Spring 1939 between that von Schliecher-Stalin Pacts shocking announcement and the news a week later that Wehrmacht Tanks and Waffen-SA divisions had attacked Poland that the Western leadership began to turn at last. The Lightning war devowered Poland in less then six weeks. Just as quickly it seemed, the German Armed forces were marching into the Rhineland demilitarized zone, just daring the Western Allies to attack. They did not.

In Germany the camps filled with more prisoners, in Poland massacres kept apace. Stalin attacked Finland, on the far side of the world Japan used gas on China. Eventually in the UK and France and the US governments started fighting back. In 1941 Hugenberg was sent off to retirement and Von Schliecher became President with the younger Strasser made the new Chancellor. Power shifted between the two offices as a result. 1943 saw the Pacific and Asia erupt in war against Japan. With the major armies of France and Britain on the Far side of the world Mussolini went to war with Yugoslavia and in Germany von Schliecher became determined to bring back Alsace to the Reich. That Spring the attack on Belgium, Holland and France turned the Pacific War into a global affair. In 1948 the end came with the last German defensive lines East of the Rhine broken and Mussolini dead. The German Army pulled the plug on the regime and saw occupation and peace as a better option then mass slaughter.

Post War German Politics, continued apace under the occupation with many of the old parties crawling back from the abyss. Germany was forced to accept major border redrawing with the revived Poland, with Koenigsburg all that remained of old East Prussia. On the left questions of a Popular Front, as the new governments in Romania, Bulgaria and Greece defined politics eventually seeing the SPD split for many years between Popular Front and "German" wings. Eventually the conflict would end when Schumacher won the Presidency with a mix of mass popular support and a Grand Coalition with the Centre and Right, something he supported after spending years under arrest in the Concentration Camps with many major liberals and conservatives. On the Other side of the Spectrum that Free German Party attempted to create a space for itself on the Right but would be harried by the many DSU former members in it's ranks. The German Democrats, long a third tier party behind the FDP and Zentrum would see a surge of popularity in the late 1960s that would eventually see the Liberals sent to the Chancellorship go to Robert Scholl and his calls for Peace as the last Polish Junta fell and The Atlantic Alliance moved towards a new "Cold War" with the Soviets while also refusing to see Germany fall under the sway of Berian Marxism.
 
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The Blessed Sunlight
Actual PoD: No natural born citizen requirement.
Aim: Rise of utopian socialism, and later on a multi-national USA. Might have overegged the latter, tho.


First Party System (1789-1830) - "Hamilton vs. Jefferson"
The era that got party politics starting.
Federalist: Party of big business and big government. The two go together well.
Republican: Party of agrarianism and small government. Liberty or death!

01: George Washington (Independent) 1789-1797
1789: unopposed
1792: unopposed

02: Jonathan Trumbull (Federalist) 1797-1798*
1796: def. Albert Gallatin (Republican)
John Jay (Federalist) 1798-1799 [acting]
03: John Jay (Federalist) 1799-1803
1798: def. Thomas Jefferson (Republican)
04: Pierce Butler (Republican) 1803-1811
1802: def. Charles C. Pinckney (Federalist)
1806: def. John Adams (Federalist)

05: John Brooks (Federalist) 1811-1819
1810: def. John Breckinridge (Republican)
1814: def. John Breckinridge (Republican)

06: Samuel Breck (Federalist) 1819-1823
1818: def. George Madison (Republican)
07: Joseph Kent (Republican) 1823-1830*
1822: def. Samuel Breck (Federalist)
1826: def. Harrison Gray Otis (Federalist)

Samuel L. Southard (Republican) 1830-1831 [acting]

Second Party System (1830-1850) - "Clay vs. Calhoun vs. Owen"
As the economy suffers from a particularly long slump, people ask "is there an alternative?"
Federalists: Party of big business, which are getting very concerned about slavery. Tries to be "national-harmony" and above the fray.
Republicans: Increasingly the party of John Calhoun, who drags the party to support Nullificationism to defend slavery.
Labor: Emerging out of the utopian socialist communities, this humble minor party opposed the "corrupted system".

08: Samuel L. Southard (Republican) 1831-1835
1830: def. Joseph Story (Federalist) and Robert Owen ("Socialist Committee")
09: John Sergeant (Federalist) 1835-1843
1834: def. Samuel L. Southard (Republican) and Robert Owen ("Socialist Committee")
1838: def. William Henry Harrison (Republican) and Thomas Skidmore (Labor)

10: John C. Calhoun (Republican) 1843-1847
1842: def. Edward Everett (Federalist) and Josiah Warren (Labor)
11: James Buchanan (Federalist) 1847-1851
1846: def. Nathaniel Hawthorne (Labor) and John C. Calhoun (Republican)

Third Party System (1850-1890) - "The Civil War and Afterwards."
Two fragile coalitions dominate the game, and splinters galore.
Labor: Now dominant, it has struggled to keep its mostly-successful coalition of radical intellectuals, labor unions and disgruntled Southern farmers together. At best.
National: On the out in this system, this new party has crafted a conservatism to oppose Labor's radicalism, one respectable and untainted by the War. At best.

Federalist: After Buchanan, well, we and the Republicans essentially die out as we split between Nullificationists and "Nationalists".
"Nullifer" Republican: Cass is not a Republican, he stands for concession to the Northern menace! Back President Calhoun!
"
Constitutional" Republican: Calhoun is not a Republican, he stands for destroying our dear Union! Back Senator Cass!
American: Think Labor and the Nats are too friendly to Catholics? Well, Lewis Charles Levin's your man, and he'll sort that out!
"
True" American: Think Levin can't be trusted with the Presidency, for whatever reasons? Nathaniel Banks is the one true American in 1860!
Socialist Labor: Johnson is a betrayal of all that Labor has stood for. He stands for abandoning Pierce's values! Vote SLP!
States' Rights: Fish is a betrayal of all that the Nats has stood for. He stands for abandoning... *coughs*Calhoun's*coughs* values! Vote SRP!

Farmers' Socialist: Kearney is a corrupt urban machine man who doesn't care about rural people's concerns! Vote for Seth Yocum!

12: Franklin Pierce (Labor) 1851-1855*
1850: def. James Buchanan (Federalist), John C. Calhoun ("Nullifier" Republican) and Lewis Cass ("Constitutional" Republican)
1854: def. Stephen A. Douglas (National), Willie P. Mangum (American) and John Davis (Federalist)

Robert D. Owen (Labor) 1855-1857 [acting]
13: Robert D. Owen (Labor) 1857-1861
1856: def. John Bell (National) and Jacob Broom (American)
14: Adin Ballou (Labor) 1861-1869
1860: def. Gustav Koerner (National), Lewis Charles Levin (American) and Nathaniel P. Banks ("True" American)
1864: def. Henry A. Wise (National) and Thomas Holliday Hicks (American)

15: Andrew Johnson (Labor) 1869-1873
1868: def. Alexander Stephens (National) and John H. Noyes (Socialist Labor)
16: Hamilton Fish (National) 1873-1881
1872: def. Andrew Johnson (Labor) and Wilhelm Weitling (Socialist Labor)
1876: def. Richard Owen (Labor) and Joseph Lane (States' Rights)

17: Denis Kearney (Labor) 1881-1889
1880: def. Samuel Tilden (National)
1884: def. William Rosecrans (National) and Seth H. Yocum (Farmers' Socialist)

18: Terence Powderly (Labor) 1889*
1888: def. John B. Gordon (National)
Daniel De Leon (Labor) 1889-1891 [acting]

Fourth Party System (1890-1931) - "The Progressive-Imperialist Era"
Unlimited glory abroad, while at home politics continue to be shifting and ever-fragile...
Labor: In the end, the coalition broke. Still, they won with President Disney, didn't they? [known as "Red" Labor in the 1906 split]
National: Basking in dominating politics, they still struggle with defections, especially to...
Reform: William Randolph Hearst's pet party. A favourite of AH writers who like to think "what if it survived?"
Constitution: Most commonly known as the "Pitchfork Party" after its nominee, this is a hard-right white-supremacist party.
People's: Half "Berger's from the socialist bit, which we don't like", half "we want good old rural Labor back".

"White" Labor/White: Vardaman consistently insisted it meant "white" as in "honorable, gentlemanly". Nobody bought that.

19: Robert Roosevelt (National) 1891-1899
1890: def. Daniel De Leon (Labor) and Ben Tillman (Constitution/"Pitchfork")
1894: def. Laurence Gronlund (Labor) and Ben Tillman (Constitution/"Pitchfork")

20: William P. Dillingham (National) 1899-1907
1898: def. Robert Love Taylor (Labor)
1902: def. Victor L. Berger (Labor) and Harry Skinner (People's)

21: William Randolph Hearst (Independent/Reform) 1907-1911
1906: def. James K. Vardaman ("White" Labor), Emil Baensch (National) and Meyer London ("Red" Labor)
22: Elias Disney (Labor) 1911-1919
1910: def. James K. Vardaman* (White), William Randolph Hearst (Reform) and Nicholas Murray Butler (National)
1914: def. Charles E. Townsend (National) and Woodrow Wilson (White)

23: Nicholas Longworth (National) 1919-1927
1918: def. Ole J. Kvale (Labor) and William W. Kitchin (White)
1922: def. Whitmell Martin (Labor)

24: Joseph R. Knowland (National) 1927-1931
1926: def. Johan Erickson (Labor)

Fifth Party System (1930-1960) - "The New Society Era"
A time of great societal change and also a world war.
Labor: With the Nats holding the bag for the Depression, Labor made the most of what it could. By the end, things are fracturing again...
National: This entire thirty year span was one of rebuilding after the disaster of President Knowland. By the end, they're fairly healthy.

Silver: William Hope "Coin" Harvey's idea of returning to free silver was dismissed by Lynn Frazier, so he announced his run, which was surprisingly popular.
States' Rights: We're back, and we're just as racist as ever! This time, it's Zioncheck's desegregation of the Army and Saltonstall's Civil Rights Act! *spits*

25: Lynn Frazier (Labor) 1931-1947*
1930: def. Joseph R. Knowland (National)
1934: def. Robert S. Clark (National) and William Hope Harvey (Silver)
1938: def. Henry S. Breckinridge (National)
1942: def. Millard Tydings (National)
1946: def. C. Anders Christopherson (National)

Marion Zioncheck (Labor) 1947-1949 [acting]
26: Marion Zioncheck (Labor) 1949-1951**
1948: def. Harald Stassen (National) and A. Willis Robertson (States' Rights)
O. Johan Rogge (Labor) 1951-1953 [acting]
27: Leverett Saltonstall (National) 1953-1961
1952: def. O. Johan Rogge (Labor), Herman Talmadge (States' Rights) and Dennis D. Eisenhauer (write-in)
1956: def. Elmer Benson (Labor) and John Sparkman (States' Rights)


Sixth Party System (1960-1994) - "The Flower Power Era"
Politics are getting very "New"-y right about now, but their lasting power is doubtful.
Labor: Experiencing some major shifts as its energised volunteers are getting more... liberal while the South drifts away from them.
National: Despite being led by liberals for the most part, the downballot shift is undeniable, the party is slowly but surely going to the right.
Democratic Center: Set up as a "party between the two extremes", it ended up getting hijacked for Carter's independent run and folded soon after.

28: Estes Kefauver (Labor) 1961-1964*
1960: def. Thomas Kuchel (National)
Walter Reuther (Labor) 1964-1965 [acting]
29: Walter Reuther (Labor) 1965-1969
1964: def. Andreas Schoeppel (National)
30: Seán Ó Cinnéide (National) 1969-1973*
1968: def. Henry S. Reuss (Labor)
1972: def. Spiro Anagnostopoulos (Labor)

Harald Stassen (National) 1973-1975 [acting]
31: Harald Stassen (National) 1975-1979
1974: def. César Chávez (Labor) and Jimmy Carter (Democratic Center)
32: Rudy Perpić (Labor) 1979-1987
1978: def. Richard L. Raudenbusch (National)
1982: def. Johann Heinz (National)

33: Michail Dukakis (Labor) 1987-1991
1986: def. Franciszek Murkowski (National)
34: Pavlos Tsongas (National) 1991-1994*
1990: def. Michail Dukakis (Labor)
Richard Cheney (National) 1994-1995 [acting]

Seventh Party System (1994-present) - "Cheney vs. Who?"
An era of political malaise in which the most interesting candidate after Wexelstein was a third-party one.
Labor: After much debate between the "EcoLeft", the labor unions and "New Labor", things are now stagnating in terms of beliefs. What does it even stand for?
National: After Cheney took over, the slow drift to the right became a wave as Wexelstein successfully got the last of the liberal Nationals to defect.
GreenLeft: A splitter party to protest Brian Schweitzer's very centrist views, it ended up handing the election to the Nats, and quietly merged back into Labor.

35: Richard Cheney (National) 1995-1999
1994: def. Paul Wexelstein (Labor)
36: Seosamh Ó Fionnagán (Labor) 1999-2007
1998: def. Jonathan J. Bush (National)
2002: def. Siui Ó Coileáin (National)

37: Ivan Kasić (National) 2007-2015
2006: def. Brian Schweitzer (Labor) and Howie Hawkins (GreenLeft)
2010: def. Ige Yutaka (Labor)

38: Johannes MacLeòid (Labor) 2015-present
2014: def. Felito Cruz (National)
2018: def. Jonathan S. Bush (National)


For 2022, there's a lot of names flying around for Labor, like Governor Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz of New York, Senator Riccardo Santorum of Pennsylvania, Governor Pål Thissen of Minnesota, amongst others [like a possible return of Ige from 2010]. But for the Nationals? Well, it depends on if the "moderate-radical" tide of Congresspeople elected in the 2010s can actually make a difference. If they can, we could be looking at Governor Stefani Germanotta taking the nomination. Otherwise, it's probably going to Senator Marco Rubio or if he runs again after losing the 2018 primaries, businessman Jeff Jorgensen. A lot can happen in the next four years to change all of that. One thing for sure, it's sure to be either Labor or National, a president from the Party of Owen and Frazier, or the Party of Roosevelt and Saltonstall.
 
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36: Seosamh Ó Fionnagán (Labor) 1999-2007

The cheeky son from Scranton.

Governor Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz of New York

He has been labelled a nanny-stater even by notorious control-freak and former mayor Rubens Blaumberg for forcing Albany to pass a law prohibiting the use of forks when eating pizza and getting his AG to aggressively prosecute customers for it.
 
An Unlikely Circumstance

Kings of the French Kingdom

1943-1967: Henry VI (Orleans)

Prime Ministers of French Kingdom

1943-1943: Charles de Gaulle / Henri Giraud (Nonpartisan leading Liberation Government)
1943-1944: Charles de Gaulle (Nonpartisan leading Liberation Government)
1944-1946: Charles de Gaulle (Nonpartisan leading Provisional Government)
1946-1946: Felix Gouin (Socialist leading Provisional Government)
1946-1954: Georges Bidault (Christian People's Movement)
1946 (Coalition with SFIO, Moderates and RGR) def. Maurice Thorez (Communist), Guy Mollet (Socialist), Michel Clemenceau (Moderates), Jean-Paul David (Rally of the Republican Lefts)
1951 (Third Force Coalition with SFIO, CNI and RGR) def. Maurice Thorez (Communist), Jacques Foccart (Rally for the Restoration of the Republic)

1954-1955: Maurice Thorez (Communist leading minority coalition with Socialists)
1955-1955: Waldeck Rochet (Communist minority)
1955-1957: Charles de Gaulle (Nonpartisan)
1956 (National Alliance with CNI, RRR, MCP and RGR) def. Waldeck Rochet (Communist), Guy Mollet (Socialist)
1957-1958: Charles de Gaulle (Rally for the Restoration of the Republic leading coalition with National Centre of Independents, Socialists and Rally of the Republican Lefts)
1958-1958: Roger Frey (Rally for the Restoration of the Republic leading coalition with Socialists and Rally of the Republican Lefts)
1958-1964: Emmanuel d'Astier de La Vigerie (Communist)
1958 (Coalition for the Preservation of Democracy with MCP and UFF) def. Roger Frey (Coalition for the Republic - Rally for the Restoration of the Republic, Rally of the Republican Lefts), vacant (National Centre of Independents), Guy Mollet (Socialist)
1962 (Democratic Coalition with MCP and UFF) def. Georges Pompidou (Republican Coalition), Guy Mollet (Socialist), Pierre Mendes France (Radical)

1964-1964: Pierre Poujade (Union and French Fraternity leading Democratic Coalition with Communists and Christian Peoples' Movement)
1964-1967: Georges Pompidou (Republican Coalition)
1964 (Constitutional Reform Coalition with Socialists and Radicals) def. Waldeck Rochet (Communist), Pierre Poujade (Union and French Fraternity), Jean Lecanuet (Christian Peoples' Movement)
 
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So did Pompidou manage to bring about the 4th Republic then?

Also 'Rally for the Restoration of the Republic' is an epic name
 
So did Pompidou manage to bring about the 4th Republic then?

Also 'Rally for the Restoration of the Republic' is an epic name

He did, managing to benefit from the 'Democratic Coalition' which was literally held toegther by d'Astier's personality detonating upon his retirement and the realisation by the Communists 'wait a minute, we've gone and done molotov-ribbentrop again noooooooooo'. The terminal decline of the MCP allows the Republican Coalition to become the party of the sensible right and with the Socialista and Radicals have a comfortable majority over the bitterly divided opposition. After hammering out their proposed constitution for the 4th Republic, they put it to the French people and it succeeds, though not exactly in a landslide.
 
What if UKIP has managed to win the Eastleigh By-Election? Or the Malaise goes on and on. @moth

David Cameron (Conservative Liberal Democrat Coalition): 2010 – 2015

No one expected UKIP to win the Eastleigh by-election, and in fact they wouldn’t have without two singular occurrences. Firstly the Conservatives announced that they would not be contesting the election. Initially they claimed that it was because the party had little chance of success in Eastleigh, but it was later discovered that pressure had been applied by CCHQ, who had decided to give the Lib Dems a clear run in the interest of Coalition harmony. Secondly and more seriously, a mere week before polling day, a civil suit for indecent assault was filed against the beleaguered Lib Dem MP for Portsmouth South, Mike Hancock. After trying to bluster through it, in his usual way, Hancock had the whip removed pending a formal investigation, causing the Lib Dem’s numbers to tank.

Consequently, when the nation woke on the first of March, it discovered it had it’s first UKIP MP, with Diane James having secured a 500 vote majority.

Clegg resigned shortly after the defeat, and was replaced by Vince Cable, who agreed to continue the coalition – though he also promised to be a lot tougher with Cameron, than his predecessor had been, supposedly saying at their first meeting, “I’m not interested in a Rose Garden". He was succeeded at Business, Innovation and Skills by Michael Gove, while Nick Clegg took over the Department of Education.

Ed Miliband (Labour Minority with SNP and Lib Dem Confidence and Supply): 2015 2016
Several things happened in quick succession following the Eastleigh victory. Firstly Nigel Farage found himself called before the UKIP NEC and ousted in favour of Mrs James on the simple grounds that UKIP wanted a winner running the show. Shortly after that several high profile Eurosecptic MP’s including Douglas Carswell, Mark Reckless, Liam Fox, Theresa Villers, Nadine Dorries, Bill Cash and Philip Davies,defected though only Carswell decides to stand in a by-election. Money and associations began to flow towards UKIP as it became clear that this was a party that could win.

By the time the 2015 election came around, the Tories were in trouble. UKIP and Labour had both increased their vote and councillor count in the 2014 local election, while the Lib Dems had held steady, partly due to Vince Cable establishing clear blue water between the Coalition partners, with an increasing number of rebellions from Lib Dems in parliament. The general election itself had been brutal. Cameron even agreed to another debate in an effort to regain the polling lead that was slipping away from him every day. Unfortunately for him, Diane James – appearing to all and sundry like the country’s headmistress – had run rings around him every time he tried to bring up his policy successes, pointing out he could have done so much more if not for the Lib Dems, and arguing that if the country wanted a real Conservative government, they knew who to vote for. Unable to even attack Lib Dem policies, on the grounds he had voted for them, Cameron was a sitting duck.

But Miliband was still Miliband. The attacks by the right wing press had worked, and while the Tory vote had splintered thank to a stronger UKIP, it was clear that the public were still not all that enamoured with the Labour leader. He managed to secure the largest number of seats – just – and just as the Sun had feared formed a confidence and supply deal with Salmond and Cable – the Lib Dems having survived being slaughtered thanks to the Conservatives and UKIP splitting the right wing vote – in exchange for increased powers to the Scottish parliament, and a Speakers conference on country wide devolution.

Ed Miliband (Labour Majority): 2016 – 2020

A year after the 2015 election, and with the economy starting to look up, Prime Minister Miliband called another election in order to shore up his position. A combination of Miliband coming into his own as Prime Minister (with an independent social media campaign emphasising his positive qualities) and the Conservatives under Boris Johnson, - who had resigned as Mayor after being re-elected to Parliament in 2015 – tearing themselves to pieces as they tried to out UKIP, UKIP, Miliband was able to claim a small majority of twenty seats and return to the business of government.

Despite no longer having to answer to the Lib Dems or the SNP, Miliband stuck by his promises. He increased powers to both the Welsh Assembly and the Scottish Parliament, as well as putting in place plans for regional devolution, under elected Governors – the press raised some objections about the idea of using such an American term, but Miliband was quick to point out, that every other possible title, sounded stupid. Unless of course people really wanted to vote for a Theign. David Lammy was dispatched to retake City Hall from the Tories, becoming London’s first black mayor.

Taking on the energy companies and the construction companies, Miliband also made plans to build 100,000 new homes by 2025. All in all, Miliband was a competent and efficient, if not especially beloved Prime Minister. How many of the success of his tenure can be put down to the fact that he had no real Opposition, is for history to decide.

Miliband stepped down in 2020, after ten years as leader and five a Prime Minister to give his successor time to bed in before the next election.

Dan Jarvis (Labour Majority): 2020 – 2021

A member of the “Yorkshire Mafia” that was said to surround Miliband – which included Chancellor Ed Balls and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, - the Foreign Secretary Dan Jarvis was the winner of the 2020 Labour leadership contest. While on paper, his good looks, apparent charm and military record made him a perfect choice, it quickly became clear that while Jarvis was a good Foreign Secretary, and perfectly capable of looking good on camera, he didn’t really have any ideas of his own. In short, while he could walk the walk, he couldn’t talk the talk. This became clear in his first major interview after becoming PM, when after being asked an unplanned question about what policies of his predecessor he hadn’t liked he went “Umm” for a whole minute, before checking notes on his phone and restating his governments housing policy.

Jarvis spent his year in office tidying up the last of the Miliband Project but didn’t make any fundamental changes. It became increasingly clear that he was simply running out the clock, and the only real question was how big the Tory majority would be.

Rory Stewart (Conservative Majority): 2021 -????

The answer was big enough. Previously Shadow Defence Secretary under Michael Gove, Stewart had couped him shortly after Jarvis’ election. A solider, governor of an Iraqi province, writer, and lecturer, Stewart was referred to in the press as “The Tories answer to Dan Jarvis”, the main difference of course was Stewart could both walk the walk and talk the talk. With Labour exhausted and, UKIP engaged in a civil war between the Eurosceptic elements represented by leader Theresa Villiers and the more Libertarian aspects represented by Douglas Carswell, Stewart was able to net the Conservatives their first majority since John Major.

So far, he has not been able to do much, but what he has done has been impressive. Stewart has embraced Miliband’s devolution policy seeing it as a chance to take authority away from the Westminster and restore it to the people who know what their regions need the most, something that will proper in his border region seat. With the collapse of ISIS, the Prime Minister has also started to make noises about what the rebuilding of the Middle East could involve, bringing his own experience of the region to bear

However troubled times may be ahead. With the EU making noises about an ever-closer union, it may fall to the Stewart, a committed supporter of the EU, to finally answer the question of what the UK’s and the EU’s joint future looks like. He will also have to watch his right flank, as UKIP – now lead by Dan Hannan – are once again seeing their popularity rise, slowly but surely.
 
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1990-1995: John Major (Conservative)
1992 (Majority) def. Tony Benn (Labour), Paddy Ashdown (Liberal Democrat)
1995-1997: John Redwood (Conservative majority)
1997-2004: Paddy Ashdown (Liberal Democrat)
1997 (Progressive Alliance with Labour) def. Tony Benn (Labour), John Redwood (Conservative)
2002 (Progressive Alliance with Labour) def. Frank Dobson (Labour), Christopher Chope (Conservative-Referendum Alliance), John Swinney (Scottish National)

2004-2014: David Alton (Christian Democratic)
2005 (Coalition with Conservatives and Referendum) def. Frank Dobson (Labour), Charles Kennedy (Liberals '05), Christopher Chope (Conservative-Referendum Alliance), Alex Salmond (Scottish National)
2007 (Minority with Liberals '05 confidence and supply) def. Alan Milburn (Labour), Charles Kennedy (Liberals '05), Nigel Farage (National Democratic), Michael Meacher (Campaign for Socialism), Alex Salmond (Scottish National)
2009 (Coalition with Labour) def. Alan Milburn (Labour), Nigel Farage (National Democratic), Michael Meacher (Campaign for Socialism), Menzies Campbell (Liberals '05)
 
1990-1995: John Major (Conservative)
1992 (Majority) def. Tony Benn (Labour), Paddy Ashdown (Liberal Democrat)
1995-1997: John Redwood (Conservative majority)
1997-2004: Paddy Ashdown (Liberal Democrat)
1997 (Progressive Alliance with Labour) def. Tony Benn (Labour), John Redwood (Conservative)
2002 (Progressive Alliance with Labour) def. Frank Dobson (Labour), Christopher Chope (Conservative-Referendum Alliance), John Swinney (Scottish National)

2004-2014: David Alton (Christian Democratic)
2005 (Coalition with Conservatives and Referendum) def. Frank Dobson (Labour), Charles Kennedy (Liberals '05), Christopher Chope (Conservative-Referendum Alliance), Alex Salmond (Scottish National)
2007 (Minority with Liberals '05 confidence and supply) def. Alan Milburn (Labour), Charles Kennedy (Liberals '05), Nigel Farage (National Democratic), Michael Meacher (Campaign for Socialism), Alex Salmond (Scottish National)
2009 (Coalition with Labour) def. Alan Milburn (Labour), Nigel Farage (National Democratic), Michael Meacher (Campaign for Socialism), Menzies Campbell (Liberals '05)
Bob you need to give us footnotes.

How does a Christian Democratic party happen?
 
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