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Lists of Heads of Government and Heads of State

The East Is Red-ish

Leaders of Lincolnshire County Council

1989-1993: Bill Wyrill (Conservative)
1989 (Majority) def. Labour, Social and Liberal Democrats, Independents, Social Democrats
1993-2001: Rob Parker (Labour)
1993 (Coalition with Liberal Democrats) def. Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Independents
1997 (Majority) def. Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Independents
2001-2005: Ian Croft (Conservative)
2001 (Majority) def. Labour, Liberal Democrats, Independents
2005-2009: Rob Parker (Labour)
2005 (Coalition with Liberal Democrats) def. Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Independents
2009-2013: Marianne Overton (Lincolnshire Independents)
2009 (Coalition with Liberal Democrats and Conservatives) def. Labour, Liberal Democrats, Conservatives, Independents
2013 (Coalition with UKIP and Conservatives) def. Labour, UKIP, Conservatives, Independents, Liberal Democrats
2017 (Coalition with Conservatives) def. Labour, Independents, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats

This is fairly obviously supposed to be a 'Lincolnshire Labour rolls a nat 20' scenario. Like the last one, it has the Conservatives deserted due to the corruption problems of OTL, but the beneficiaries are more split. Labour enjoys a rennaissance as do the Lib Dems, and in 2009 dissatisfaction with Labour's handling of the recession leads to a Lib Dem boom and a surge for the Lincolnshire Independents who form a fragile coalition with the Tories. In 2013, the Lib Dems crash, UKIP surges and Labour rebuilds, leading to another Linc Ind led coalition this time with UKIP and the Tories. In 2017, UKIP crash out, there is a small Lib Dem recovery and Labour stutters. The Lincolnshire Independents have emerged as the main party of the centre-right in a far less tribal political system.
 
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Interesting. I presume TTL "libertarian" doesn't shift from left to right as a descriptor.
 
A Progressive Canada for a Progressive People
Thomas Crerar (Progressive-Liberal coalition) 1921-1923
1921: def. Arthur Meighen (National Liberal and Conservative) and W. L. Mackenzie King (Liberal)
Arthur Meighen (Liberal-Conservative minority, then majority) 1923-1929
1923: def. Thomas Crerar (Progressive) and W. L. Mackenzie King (Liberal)
1926: def. Robert Forke (Progressive) and George Perry Graham (Liberal)
J. S. Woodsworth (Labour-Progressive coalition majority, then Farmer-Labour majority) 1929-1934
1929: def. Arthur Meighen (Liberal-Conservative) and George Perry Graham (Liberal)
Arthur Meighen (Liberal-Conservative majority) 1934-1938*
1934: def. J. S. Woodsworth (Farmer-Labour) and Arthur Cardin (Liberal)
1937: def. Ernest Winch (Farmer-Labour) and Arthur Cardin (Liberal)
Mitchell Hepburn (Liberal-Conservative majority, then National Government majority) 1938-1946
1939: def. Ernest Winch (Farmer-Labour) and Brooke Claxton (Liberal)
Charles Dunning (Farmer-Labour majority) 1946-
1946: def. Mitchell Hepburn (National) and Brooke Claxton (Liberal)
 
NEW SEROWE STATION COUNCIL

New Serowe Station [1] is a modified O'Neil cylinder orbiting Saturn. Often called the "Jewel of the Saturnians" (and in some circles, the "Scandal Capital of the Saturnians"), it is the largest and most populous settlement [2] beyond the Jovians. Saturn is home to the majority of Sol's ice mining infrastructure, absolutely critical to the survival of space stations and other settlements throughout the system, especially from the Belt outward. Over time, the importance of ice mining led to the growth of a sizable population in Saturn's orbit and on the surface of its moons, composed of mining personnel, ice haulers, the resultant service sector, and more. New Serowe and the Saturnians are also an important link between the inner system and the He-3 mining infrastructure near Uranus and Neptune. In addition to miners, haulers, and the bored Alliance Navy picket, New Serowe is home to many of the type of people who believe that the Jovians are just too settled and mainstream, but are unwilling to commit to a single person hab in the Kuiper Belt. New Serowe presents a happy medium.

The station is divided into six "wards" that run the length of the station: Arroyo, Khama, Lone Pine, Lampang Mai, Reddy, and Vega [3]. Each ward in turn has its own communities, and its own ward council [4]. However, New Serowe as a whole is governed by its own station council, which in practice operates as a fusion between a national parliament and oversized, overburdened city council. While special interests and niche groups have always found a home on the station, politics has become even more chaotic, corrupt, scandalous, and divided in recent years, driven by an expanding population, infrastructure continuing to develop both in orbit of Saturn and further afield, and growing discontent with the two major parties, amongst other factors.

2147: Nicholas Matenge (United Wards)
def. Maria Garcia (Labor), Aarav Bautista (Green), Vipada Leekpai (Farmer's Alliance), Jiang Chen (Federation), Goodier Singh (Lone Pine Independents)

Nicholas Matenge's tenure as Council President is regarded as the "end of normalcy" in New Serowe politics. Matenge led the United Wards for eight years. His first electoral victory came in 2142 and returned UW to government in a Coalition with the Farmer's Alliance; he then led them to an outright majority in 2146. While his first term was relatively uneventful, with the only major accomplishment of note being the lowering of New Serowe's docking fees, his second term as Council President was rocky. The docking fees debate returned, as the Labor and Green contingents in the Council maintained the lowered fees resulted in an unacceptable cut in services. UW also proved to be on the unpopular side of a disagreement over monthly water allotment rollovers, with Labor, the Farmers' Alliance, and the LPI successfully forcing a ballot measure through the Council after a number of UW defections. The final nail in the coffin came over the 2145 Lampang Mai light rail scandal [5], where the the government was found to be improperly using public funds and eminent domain to develop a light rail expansion through private farmland. While the following ethics investigation cleared Matenge of any wrongdoing, the scandal brought down his deputy and several other government officials, including the director of the station planning department. Matenge pledged to finish out his term, but did not stand for reelection in 2150. The latter half of Matenge's term also saw the formation of Democratic Solidarity, a small number of councilors on the Labor left who split from the party over internal disagreements and what was told to local press to be "insufficient opposition to the mismanagement of United Wards."

2151: Sara Kongpaisarn (Green-Labor Coalition)
def. David Otukile (Labor), Khalil Jennings (United Wards), Juan Tejada (Farmer's Alliance), Baruti Gonzalez (Democratic Solidarity), Fenyang Chung (Federation), Kagiso Chaisurivirat (Lone Pine Independents), Kopano Modise (Liberation) [6]

The collapse of United Wards left a void that several groups capitalized on. Though it seemed Labor was the most well-positioned to ascend into a governmental majority, ultimately it was the Greens [7], led by Sara Kongpaisarn, who won the most seats in the 2150 election. This was due to a variety of factors, among them the Labor-DS split allowing Green to win several districts. The Greens did not win an outright majority, and so entered a coalition with Labor, which won the second-most seats. Kongpaisarn's term as Council President saw a hotly protested raise in the station's docking fees [8], increased regulation and taxation of New Serowe's Las Trampas "sin district" [9] in the dockside end of Khama Ward, the start of construction of a new dedicated farming ring, a bill appropriating funds for a the creation of a new "lake district" in Reddy Ward, and a general increase in public spending. The large number of public projects and expansion of services allowed some other services to begin to slip through the cracks. Notably, the waste disposal and recycling systems in Vega and Lone Pine Wards began to experience errors and build-up. The errors, at first, were deemed to be non-critical and not a threat to the station, and so the issue was deemed low priority; soon however, this was revealed to be a grievously inaccurate assessment as maintenance efforts proved ineffective. The administration tried to cover-up the extent of the foul-up and bury the initial issue assessment, but as the waste and recycling matter grew worse, the assessment came to light and became a scandal. Though the issue was found to stretch back to faulty maintenance reaching back at least a decade, several parties, amongst them United Wards and the LPI painted it as petty political revenge against Wards generally unfavorable to the Greens and Labor. Labor managed to distance itself by throwing the Greens under the bus, and while the issue didn't bring down the government, the 2154 election was punishing to the Greens. The electorate was still unfavorable to United Wards with the light rail scandal still in recent memory, and Labor won the largest number of seats on the promise to "clean up station government and improve services."

2155-2158: Fatimah Doakes (Labor-Democratic Solidarity Coalition)
def. Khalili Jennings (United Wards), Priti Medrano (Democratic Solidarity), Eduardo Stackhouse (Green), Travers Strickland (Farmers' Alliance), Fenyang Chung (Federation), Marina MacReady (Lone Pine Independents), Kopano Modise (Liberation)
2158: Fatimah Doakes (Labor minority)

The conditions that allowed for Labor to win 30+ were also favorable to Democratic Solidarity, who held six seats on the Council. Labor formed a coalition government with the party for lack of an alternative, as the relationship with the Greens was strained, and no other party either large enough or ideologically compatible. Initially, the government was strong, undertaking the necessary extensive repairs to fix the waste disposal system and recyclers in Vega and Lone Pine Wards, making inroads with the communities there. This was in part financed by an additional cR50 hike in docking fees, over the strenuous objections of United Wards and other parties, including the Greens (though the latter perhaps partly out of bitterness). The Commercial Spacers' Union registered its formal protest, both with the station and Alliance authorities, and though there was a minor dip in traffic and a resultant slowing down of the economy, profits from the station-owned ice-mining and hauling corporation were up due to increased development in the Belt, Jovians, Uranus, and Neptune which helped offset the economic hiccup. The construction of the new farming ring also continued on-schedule and only slightly over budget, with Labor receiving much of the credit.

The good times were not to last. The government was undergoing negotiations and receiving alternative bids for the upgrading of the stations mining and hauling fleet, and the construction of a new generation of haulers. Priti Medrano, leader of DS, was champion of the government accepting the bid from a Belt-based construction firm, Tycho Fleet Systems, rather than AmeriCo of Mars, the previous holder of the contract. Over the course of the bidding process, it came out that Medrano had received bribes from Tycho, and was in fact related to one of its largest shareholders. The scandal was disastrous, and brought down the coalition government only months before the stationwide election. Labor continued to govern as a minority, but was handicapped by the backlash over the scandal. Though United Wards should have benefitted most from the scandal, public trust with them was still low, and though Labor lost twelve seats, the primary beneficiaries were minor parties.

2159: Samita Solano (United Wards-Green-Farmers' Alliance-Liberation Coalition)
def. Fatimah Doakes (Labor), Eduardo Stackhouse (Green), Travers Strickland (Farmers' Alliance), Pradtana Kunakorn (Federation), Janine Ncube (Democratic Solidarity), Lerato Casares (Lone Pine Independents), Kopano Modise (Liberation), Alejandra Sidana (Real Green Alternative), Keiko Becerra (Serowe First), Rafael Moseki (Serowe Sovereignty)

Samita Solano, replacing the ineffective Khalil Jennings, only led UW to a two seat increase over the 2154 election. Though this made them the largest party, they were far short of a majority. The Greens and the Farmer's Alliance agreed to form a coalition government, but even with their combined fourteen seats, the coalition was still one seat short of a majority. With most of the other minor parties ideologically incompatible for various reasons, the would-be coalition approached the Lone Pine Independents. The LPI was fairly close to UW in terms of politics, but with one major hurdle - the LPI was committed to never serving in a coalition out of some perhaps misguided sense that the best way to serve Lone Pine was to maintain as much policy freedom as possible. Intransigent, no offer of concessions, special consideration, or pork could sway them.

It was Kopano Modise's time to shine.

With no other alternative, the UW turned to the Liberation party and offered Modise a seat at the table. The Orinda Eccentric jumped at the chance to give his ideas a wider platform, and joined the coalition. The station had a government, such as it was, though beholden to the interests of several groups often at odds with each other.

The election also saw the Federation Party win its strongest result to date. The Party's primary reason to exist is to advocate for the stations and other settlements of the Saturnians to unite as one, to allow the settlements to gain more control over Saturn as a whole and gain representation at the Alliance level. Winning a seat for the first time (due it being the first election for which it existed) was Real Green Alternative. Alejandra Sidana's passion project. In her own words, RGA is "a return to the true principles of green eco-friendly station management," advocating such ideas as for New Serowe to spearhead a moratorium on all ice-mining from Saturn's rings to allow the "eco-system to recover" [10]. She won her seat in a fiercely contested election in Reddy Ward's Willowbrook district, one of New Serowe's most urban districts. Also gaining representation for the first time are Serowe First and Serowe Sovereignty. Serowe First first came into existence in 2147 as an interest group advocating for New Serowe to claim ownership of, variously, one quarter to one third of Saturn's rings, and extract usage fees from the Alliance and corporate entities. Prior to 2158, the party had never been able to gain political representation; but with politics divisively chaotic and scandal-ridden, Serowe First saw its chance. However, the Party was wracked by a furious disagreement. The issue? Whether the claim to Saturn's rings should be in the form of a perimeter claim, or a radial claim [11]. Serowe Sovereignty was born. Both parties won a seat, and both parties hate each other. Democratic Solidarity, despite it all, also managed to hang on to four seats, though the station's best political minds feel that they are not long for the world.

The Council is more divided into niche interests than ever and the governing coalition is tenuous at best. The row over docking fees has returned with more fury than ever with UW returned to government for the first time since Nick Matenge. The farming ring construction has started to get more expensive and run behind schedule. The bid over the hauling fleet's upgrade is still being contested, and the station is fighting for a bid to be Sunbreak Dynamics' [12] outer system corporate headquarters. The Feds wants to create a Saturnian Utopia, Serowe First and Serowe Sovereignty are at each others throats over just what type of crazy claim to owning space ice is made, Sidana wants no one to own the ice, and Modise uses all his floor time to advocate for privatizing the police, abolishing docking fees, and the construction of a light-gee association football stadium. And the Lone Pine Independents are furious about their permit request for building their own "sin district" being tied up in the bureaucratic mire.

Will Solano's Council be the first in years to be free from a major scandal?

Probably not.

[1] When New Serowe was "incorporated," much of the population was from Botswana or Botswana-descended, and this demographic won the vote to name the station. In the following decades, the station has become a diverse melting pot, with large Latin American (primarily from Mexico), American, Indian, Chinese, Thai, and Nigerian populations, with many other smaller communities.

[2] Population: 145,673 as of the 2160 census.

[3] "Anywhere humanity settles, you can always count on someone out there to name some godforsaken thing after Javier Vega." - Luis Santos, Colombian diplomat, in reference to Javier Vega, considered the most important "Founding Father" of the United Earth Government, the Alliance's predecessor organization. In the most recent survey, there are 8,494 cities, towns, villages, stations, roads, schools, bridges, and various other miscellany named after Vega in Alliance-controlled space.

[4] Though Lone Pine insists on referring to its council as the "Citizens' Assembly."

[5] Depressingly referred to in many local papers as "Railgate" (the suffix proving to be unnaturally, dismally immune to the passage of time, linguistic evolution, and the presence of many non-English speaking peoples).

[6] The Liberation Party, though it stood almost a dozen candidates, was and is a one-man show. The star of that show is Kapono Modise, hailing from Lone Pine's Orinda district. Modise started his career in United Wards, but soon after left the party over "philosophical disagreements." He spent a short time in the Lone Pine Independents, but for the first and so far only time in party history, the LPI voted to expel him. The record of the session in which he was expelled remains sealed despite an ongoing legal effort to have it publicly released. When interviewed, Modise merely cited "irreconcilable differences." Shortly after, Modise launched his own political party. The 2150 election was the first time Modise won political office since 2134, and the first and only seat ever won by Liberation. 2150 was a perfect storm for Modise, with the dissatisfaction with UW and doubts about the Labor-Democratic Solidarity split. Orinda has returned Modise to the Council ever since, despite several serious attempts to unseat him from UW, Labor, the LPI, and the Greens, and despite most of his political opinions, such as the privatization of the Station Police and Security Department, polling in the single digits. Why Orinda tolerates and enables his eccentricity remains something of a mystery.

[7] New Serowe's Greens, like many Green parties through the Alliance, occupy a position more in the political center than early 21st century incarnations. This is due in part to the "mainstreaming" of many green policies over the course of the 21st and 22nd centuries.

[8] From cR100 a day to cR250 a day. The docking fees issue is one that plagues many stations and settlements from the Belt outward. Many advocate keeping them low or abolishing them all-together in order to be more attractive to visiting traffic; the other side of the debate argues that higher (but not too high) fees are an important source of income, and that in the case of large stations like New Serowe, as long fees are not unreasonably high, most traffic will elect to dock anyway. The debate is ever-continuing and one of the fiercest in station politics, ending the careers of many politicians.

[9] The subtly named home to casinos, hotels, brothels, bars, and more, with many intoxicating substances that are highly illegal on the rest of the station legal in specific establishments. Designed to cater to visiting spacers, miners, and military personnel and separate them from their money, the district is another hotly contested issue in station politics. Though moral crusaders often campaign to have it more heavily regulated, or outlawed all-together, in a place like New Serowe, it is vital to the local economy and municipal revenue, ensuring its continued existence in one form or another.

[10] Scientists don't really get it either.

[11] Thanks to Zaffre for the idea; also taking this opportunity to thank Archangel Michael, Gryphon, and Georgepatton for the ideas I stole from them too.

[12] A wholly owned subsidiary of Alphasofteslazon™.

Composition of the current Station Council:

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I present my list, which I call A Tale of Two Britains.

Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (-1922)
Arthur Balfour (Conservative/Liberal Unionist majority, then Conservative-led Wartime Coalition, then Conservative majority) 1910-1919
1910: def. H. H. Asquith (Liberal), John Redmond (Irish Parliamentary) and Arthur Henderson (Labour)
"Bob's your uncle!"
Arthur Balfour would be known for being the Wartime Prime Minister, as he led Britain into World War One in 1913, which ended up a victory for the Allied Powers after nine long years, finally concluding in 1918. The victory over the Central Powers was deemed impossible by a lot of people thanks to President Champ Clark's declaration of war on Canada to annex it, but in the end America would be brought to its knees by both the war's rising unpopularity [leading to Clark's defeat in 1916] and Balfour secretly funding the Mexican republican uprising that would consume American troops.

Back in Britain, the news of Germany's capitulation led to widespread relief as the war was now finished. Balfour would announce his resignation early in the next year due to bad health and a wish to rest. His successor would receive a ticking time-box in Ireland...

Andrew Bonar Law (Conservative majority) 1919-1923
1920: def. David Lloyd George (Liberal), Arthur Griffith (Sinn Féin), Arthur Henderson (Labour) and Joseph Devlin (Irish Parliamentary)
"Never a Government of Reaction"
The Easter Uprising led to much bitter feelings in Ireland, and Sinn Féin rode those to sweep Ireland's seats, only leaving the IPP with seven seats. The Irish War of Independence would start shortly after that, which would end in 1922 with a compromise, namely Ireland independent, but parts of Ulster would be split off as "Northern Ireland" and still be within Britain. After a bloody civil war, the IRA accepted the Treaty.

Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1922-1943)

David Lloyd George (Liberal-Labour coalition) 1923-1925
1923: def. Andrew Bonar Law (Conservative) and Ramsay MacDonald (Labour)
"A Fit Country for Heroes to Live In"
After 13 years of Conservative government consumed by war, they stood no chance. But who would replace them? The Liberals led by David Lloyd George, or Labour led by Ramsay MacDonald? In the end, it turned out neither as they had to accept a coalition to replace the Tories which narrowly held a plurality of seats. This coalition would implement what Lloyd George saw as the logical continuation of the "People's Budget" foiled by the House of Lords all those years ago. And once the Lords protested again, the Liberals and Labour joined forces to vote through a Parliament Bill that weakened the House of Lords permanently. This led to a barrage of protestations from right-wing newspapers and a narrow vote of no confidence brought down Lloyd George and his coalition barely after its two years anniversary.

Stanley Baldwin (Conservative majority) 1925-1930
1925: def. David Lloyd George (Liberal) and Ramsay MacDonald (Labour)
"The Locust Years"
The ministry of Stanley Baldwin started off with hope and ended in tragedy. Entering power with a comfortable majority and the Liberals and Labour reeling from defeat, the new Prime Minister, dubbing himself a "progressive Conservative", pushed ahead for reforms traditionally associated with the Liberals and in a move that received criticism from many backbenchers, he opened fire on the newspaper bosses that were increasingly turning against him for his reformist attitudes. In the end, Baldwin won the day, but his ministry would have its hopes and dreams of a reformist Conservative era die in 1929 as the Great Depression struck the world. Limping on for another year, the election result was inevitable. Or was it?

David Lloyd George (Liberal-Labour coalition, then Liberal majority) 1930-1941
1930: def. Stanley Baldwin (Conservative) and Philip Snowden (Labour)
1935: def. Noel Skelton (Conservative), Philip Snowden (Labour) and James Maxton (Independent Labour)
"We Shall Conquer Unemployment"
Once again, the anti-Conservative vote was splintered between the Liberals and Labour, and although the Conservatives were decidely second place this time around, DLG was denied a majority. Hence he had to go cap-in-hand to Snowden for another Lib-Lab coalition.

Philip Snowden was the most unideal Labour leader for the Liberals to coalition with, and in many ways he was to the right of Lloyd George, including on the very big issue of deficit spending. The Liberals ran in 1930 on "We Shall Conquer Unemployment", a proud declaration of deficit spending, while Snowden made waves in the first Lloyd George coalition for vocally advocating a balanced budget.

In the end, a deal was struck, and the 1930-1935 ministry would hold a balanced budget. This held back the recovery and made Snowden, the new Chancellor, a very unpopular man within the party. James Maxton first tried to challenge him but narrowly lost, so he eventually took the ILP out of Labour to run on its own in 1935. 1935 was a disaster for Labour. Many candidates tried to campaign well away from Snowden, with some even portraying themselves as "Lloyd George Labour", something the newspapers well mocked.

For the first time since 1906, the Liberals won an outright majority, and Lloyd George could have the final realisation of his People's Budget. In the end, Britain did come out of the Depression, but there was more concerning things going on. Lloyd George was pushing for an alliance with a certain German chap, and the Liberals ended up objecting to that and pushed him out in favour of Churchill, who was firmly pro keeping the alliance with France and certainly not allying with Germany.

Winston Churchill (Liberal majority, then "Loyal" Liberal-Labour Grand Coalition) 1941-1943
"This was their finest hour?"
The proud declarative Churchill of 1941 is a stark contrast to the broken man of four years later. By the time Churchill became PM, war was fast approaching and when Hitler agreed to a deal with President Murray to form the "Iron Pact", it was clear the world was going to burn. Canada fell in late 1941 [and guerrilla raids would persist until 1947] and it was wholly expected that Germany would conquer Europe while America deals with Europe's Pacific possessions.

Then Hitler died in a big explosion that decimated the Nazi leadership. Murray panicked and ordered troops to land in Britain and France to ensure they would not have the possibility of recovering and undermining America. France persisted while Churchill saw many Tories splinter to back the invading regime hoping to establish a new regime free of Churchill's radicalism. But on the other hand, many chose to rebrand themselves as "Loyal" Conservatives, sitting as a perfunctory "opposition". Churchill chose to bring Labour into his cabinet to back up his government which was then lacking a majority due to defections to the invading force ["traitors to Britain all of them!"]. The "Loyal" Government would persist based on Labour's strong loathing of America [due to their violent purge of the Socialists] and Churchill's tenaciousness.

But in the end, Murray saw the Republicans gain in the midterms as Americans grew tired of the war, and offered Churchill a deal, he would stay in his land and let Eisenhower establish a new regime in the south, and war would cease. As much as Churchill wished to fight on, reports from the front told him what he needed to know, fighting would only extinguish "free" Britain. So he signed it, putting his name in history as "The Man Who Divided Britain". Retreating to the capital of Manchester, he would spend the next two years in reclusion.

Land of Hope and Glory, Mother of the Free...

First Speakers of the Republic of Britain (1943-1989) [South Britain]
Dwight D. Eisenhower (US Military Transitional Government) 1943-1945
"The Light of Freedom"
Eisenhower knew it was a challenge to establish a regime when the rump government was hardly that far away. One way he did so was by establishing a culture, that of "South British". Using connections to media corporations, he set out the plan to "Americanize" South Britain, being careful to not create a cultural backlash. In this, he could be argued to have succeeded, and the structure was firmly in place by the time the civilian government was allowed to take over.

Stanley Baldwin (Conservative majority) 1945-1947*
1945: def. Philip Noel-Baker (Progressive) and Stanley Holmes (Liberal)
"He Has Gone Home"
Nobody knows why Stanley Baldwin chose to co-operate with the American occupation. Perhaps he saw it as a fait-accompli after Churchill signed the Treaty of Coventry dividing Britain, and chose to represent where Bewdley was, namely in South Britain.

Nevertheless, he has gone down in history as the first First Speaker of the new Republic, despite objecting to the name and to the regime being republican. Defeating the Progressives which performed very well [to new President MacArthur's annoyance] and the rump Liberals, he was in ill health, greatly deaf and essentially served as a figurehead for the eager "New Republicans" to drag South Britain further and further away from its Northern counterpart. His death failed to prevent any of that. History has portrayed him very poorly overall, being the one who was in power when the Depression struck and later on becoming the figurehead for the new South-British regime.

Richard Butler (Conservative majority) 1947-1957
1948: def. Philip Rea (Liberal) and Philip Noel-Baker (Progressive)
1952: def. Walter Layton (Liberal) and Philip Noel-Baker (Progressive)
"Tear Up Your Ration Books!"
For those who are nostalgic for the days before Re-Unification, Richard "Rab" Butler is the First Speaker held in greatest regard by the oldest of them, the ones with vague recollections of pre-Coventry days. No wonder, Butler was the face of the New Consensus, namely that of a comfortable welfare state that did not step into socialism. His gradual abolishment of rationing [implemented by Lloyd George in 1939] finalised by his speech in 1954 which declared "tear up your ration books!", was greatly popular with the South-British.

Under his ministry, South-British socialism started to decline, partially due to the popularity of the Tories, but also partially due to MacArthur and the FBI pushing the scales for the Tories and Liberals [primarily the former]. Progressive candidates who saw great support at their rallies saw suspiciously-narrow defeats. When it came out in the 1990s that the Americans were pushing the scale in its "satellite regimes" including South Britain, this was merely another blow at the crumbling prestige of the United States.

Walter Layton (Liberal-Progressive coalition, then Liberal majority) 1957-1963
1956: def. Richard Butler (Conservative) and Hugh Gaitskell (Progressive)
1960: def. Derick Heathcoat-Amory (Conservative) and Stafford Cripps (Socialist)
"Looking Ahead"
Layton was a proud "Yellow Book Liberal", in fact he was one of those who participated in its creation. But in Butler's South Britain, that made him seemingly an unelectable radical. However, the death of MacArthur brought forth President Dewey, and Dewey regarded South Britain as a firm ally, so the vote tampering was relaxed. Hence the Tories lost and the Liberals... well, not exactly won. They had to go in coalition with the Progressives, now firmly under Hugh Gaitskell. The Layton-Gaitskell coalition implemented a public health insurance system that paled in comparison with the North British's NHS, but it was still greatly received by the voters. After the Progs, with Gaitskell's prodding, voted to merge with the Liberals, the hard-left [still around] protested and established the Socialist League, headed by elder figure Stafford Cripps.

The Socialist League was widely painted as "wanting to let Moscow run amok over our lands", and this along with Layton's popularity gave him a comfortable majority. Choosing to retire in 1963, he handed over to Tony Crosland.

Anthony Crosland (Liberal majority) 1963-1969
1964: def. Edward Heath (Conservative) and Michael Foot (Socialist)
"The Rule of Law"
Tony Crosland will go down in history as the only South-British FS who dubbed himself a "socialist". He was in many ways a relic of a past South Britain, one where socialism stood for reformism. A former Progressive, he joined the Liberals upon that party merging into it and was made the deputy before quickly becoming FS upon Layton's retirement. Crosland can be credited for many of the South-British welfare state that still lingers in the reunified country. Winning a landslide over Ted Heath's Conservatives and destroying Foot's Socialists, he got to work. His "Just Society" reforms are well-known, but his unceasingly pro-American foreign policy is also well-known, especially when it got South Britain plunged into the mess that was Guyana. Protests by the student left led to a growth of criticism of Crosland and also a growth of sentiment that there was a loss of law and order. And hence the Tories returned to power and wouldn't leave for quite a bit.

Keith Joseph (Conservative majority) 1969-1984
1968: def. Anthony Crosland (Liberal)
1972: def. Douglas Jay (Liberal)
1976: def. Douglas Jay (Liberal)
1980: def. Anthony Wedgwood Benn (Liberal)
"No Shortcuts to Utopia"
Out of South Britain's seven First Speakers, the one that has most defined "South Britain" was Keith Joseph. In the first totally-binary election to the South-British House of Representatives, with no parties apart from the Libs and Tories winning seats, he won a clear victory and got to work. A man of somewhat-shifting views, his eternal "white whale" was that of achieving a "social market economy" while cracking down on the unions and on "socialism" [which he constantly referred to the Liberals as].

First elected as a young fresh-faced moderate who promised "order" in contrast with the disorder of the Sixties, his first move was withdrawing from Guyana, which was accepted by President McGovern [who was already aiming at doing anyway]. His flagpole policy was one of building thousands of council houses by 1972 and to encourage the growth of owner-occupied housing, which won him applause and a comfortable re-election for his government in 1972.

The 1973-1977 term seemed to be set for a stable Conservative majority, then thanks to Joseph being heavily influenced by monetarists like Margaret Thatcher [who was his Chancellor from 1974 forth] there was a sharp reversal on the government's fiscal policy. There was to be a cut to government spending, which was broadly unpopular and led to criticism. But then the unions decided to go on strike, which ended up Joseph's salvation as he portrayed the unions as going against South Britain, and heavily implied that they wanted to re-unify Britain under the Soviets' heels. Hence after a long general strike, the unions ended up severely weakened.

The 1976 election was a bigger majority of confidence for Joseph as he cut further, slashed tax and put further limitations on to unions. The "Mad Monk", as his fellow Tories dubbed him as, seemed to be set to go on and on... And then the Liberals chose Anthony Wedgwood Benn. This young, charismatic moderate broke the mold of Liberals and was popular with the people. The 1980 election was close, but Joseph narrowly carried the day, but it resulted in more and more criticism. Clearly Joseph was not fit to lead. Shortly after implementing through a terribly-narrow vote the Social Market Economic Bill of 1984, he resigned as leader and as First Secretary months before the next election.

Ian Gilmour (Conservative majority) 1984-1985
"Britain Can Work"
Ian Gilmour was in no way a monetarist. In fact he was an One Nation conservative and a critic of Joseph's radical-monetarist policies. The bitterness of the Tory leadership election between him and Thatcher was clear and it hobbled the Tories. Up against Benn, the landslide was inevitable.

Anthony Wedgwood Benn (Liberal majority, then Liberal-Conservative-Green "Reunification Cabinet") 1985-1989
1984: def. Ian Gilmour (Conservative) and David Fleming & Jean Lambert (Green)
1988: def. Peter Walker (Conservative), David Fleming & Jean Lambert (Green), John Tyndall (Britain First) and Loveday Jenkin (Mebyon Kernow)
"It's Time"
South Britain's last First Secretary was the only one it produced that spent all his adulthood after Coventry. Heavily influenced by American thought and by the rising Third Way, Benn expected to win in 1980 but surprisingly didn't despite a strong swing towards his Liberals and a gain of seventy seats. Undaunted, he returned to Opposition and set out a plan to win 1984. One of his decisions was to explicitly promise to seek reunification. The establishment lambasted Benn for this, saying he was betraying moderation and going to the left, but this move was popular with the South British. They still saw the Northerners as fellow Britons, after all. Another commitment of his was joining the European Commission.

Winning a landslide, he went to Manchester to start the first of many negotiations with Prime Minister Brookes [the Benn-Brookes conferences] and in 1987 he felt it was surefire enough to happen so he announced that he was forming a "Reunification Cabinet", a cabinet to oversee the complex reunification. The Tories and Greens accepted the offer and joined him in South Britain's last government. Meanwhile, South Britain was approved into the EC in 1986 with mutual understanding that it would continue to the reunified Britain.

In 1989, the House of Commons of North Britain and House of Representatives of South Britain were co-opted into a much bigger House of Commons while the House of Lords was abolished in favour of expanding the South British Senate.

And did those feet in ancient time...

Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom of Great Britain (1943-1989) [North Britain]
Winston Churchill ("Loyal" Liberal-Labour Grand Coalition) 1943-1945*
"Now this is not the end..."
Churchill's final two years were pretty reclusive ones, only appearing to give short speeches imploring people keep up courage and never give up the dream of reuniting Britain. His death was expected, he looked much the worst for wear at his final speech. Many clamoured to replace the old man, but it would be his chosen successor who would seize the crown.

Gwilym Lloyd George ("Loyal" Liberal-Labour Grand Coalition, then Unionist minority) 1945-1947
"Making Bricks Without Straw"
In the turbulent dying era of the Churchill ministry, there was one person who rose and rose, before being finally appointed to the post of Foreign Secretary in the final reshuffle of Churchill's life. Gwilym Lloyd George navigated those waters well without losing any principles. As Prime Minister, he made the conscious decision to shift away from Labour and towards forming a clear "anti-socialist" alternative. The announcement that the "Loyal" Conservatives would merge with his Loyal Liberals to form the Unionist Party was a clear sign to Labour that Gwilym was not his father. In the end he decided to call an election in 1947 despite calls to suspend elections indefinitely until reunification. "He knew the outcome of the election before he called it, but he left power with honour, not grasping at it seeking to be a dictator" said his successor.

Fenner Brockway (Labour majority) 1947-1951*
1947: def. Gwilym Lloyd George (Unionist) and Archibald Sinclair (Liberal)
"Towards the Red Sunset"
Fenner Brockway was leader of the Labour Party and firmly held to the position that the Republic of Britain was a capitalist regime and one firmly under the American heel, and he called for the workers of that land to rise in revolution against their American overlords. Despite President MacArthur's fears, Brockway was never in the Soviets' payroll and indeed criticised them repeatedly, much to the displeasure of the more pro-Soviet faction which wished for a different foreign policy. Brockway's ministry was short, but it was radical and established many tenets of North British lives such as the National Health Service. A committed republican, he tried several times to get Labour to accept a republican platform pledging to rename the United Kingdom to the United Federation [ironically, this name would later be picked as a name for the now reunified Britain] and to abolish the monarchy and the House of Lords. In the end, none of that would come about and the monarchy would persist.

In MacArthur's eyes, Fenner Brockway was a dangerous Soviet radical who led a socialist country dangerously close to London, which was still a strong financial centre. So the authorisation for his assassination went ahead, and happened. One day while walking in Edinburgh, a bullet rang out and Brockway slumped over, dead. This created panic in the Labour Party.

Aneurin Bevan (Labour majority) 1951-1962*
1952: def. Anthony Eden (Unionist) and Archibald Sinclair (Liberal)
1957: def. Harold Macmillan (Unionist) and Jo Grimond (Liberal)
1959: def. Alec Douglas-Home (Unionist) and Jo Grimond (Liberal)
"Moderating, Modifying and Mitigating Diplomacy"
In the end, Bevan triumphed and became Prime Minister, a post he would hold for eleven years until his death. Bevan, despite having a very strong domestic performance, is primarily known for his foreign policy. He was the first Prime Minister to meet with a First Secretary [Rab Butler in 1953] and adopted [well, really continued] a position of non-alignedness, up to being one of the first signatories to the Non-Aligned Movement. When there was a stand-off between Dewey and Khrushchev in 1962, Bevan offered to be the moderator and successfully negotiated an agreement between the Americans and the Soviets to not fire nukes at each other.

The fifties is known as the decade of Nye Bevan, and for good reason as his Labour Party comfortably dominated politics with the Unionists and Liberals slowly chipping away at the titan. Which made it an unpleasant surprise when news came that he died on a plane back from Switzerland of a heart attack. The Labour Party would have to find a new leader...

Denis Healey (Labour majority) 1962-1968
1963: def. Alec Douglas-Home (Unionist) and Jo Grimond (Liberal)
"No government can produce an economic miracle."
And this time the Labour "Right" won. Denis Healey became Prime Minister. Despite fears, Healey did not reverse Bevan's foreign policy. He did however, oversee a warming of North British/American relations after 1965 with President Soapy Williams. This proved both a boon and a hindrance as left-wing critics lambasted him for cozying up to the bastion of capitalism while the Tories accused him of being unpatriotic. However, it aided him considerably as he could further relations with South Britain on a more equal ground, so to speak.

The economic recession in North Britain led to the people voting for a non-Labour government, the first one since 1947.

Maurice Macmillan (Unionist-Liberal coalition, then Unionist majority) 1968-1975
1968: def. Denis Healey (Labour) and Emlyn Hooson (Liberal)
1971: def. Denis Healey (Labour) and Emlyn Hooson (Liberal)
"Looking in Vain for Leadership"
Maurice Macmillan, despite being PM for twelve years and the first Unionist PM for twenty years, is utterly forgettable. While his Southern equivalent was lurching towards monetarism, Macmillan continued the consensus. But people will regard his time in office highly, for those were good times. The recovery was done by 1971 and the economy was back to good times, handing his Unionists a majority. Less hospitable to the Americans than Healey was, his ministry was nevertheless very much domestic focused.

The Macmillan-Joseph agreement worked out free travel to and from the two Britains, an important landmark in the history of North-South relations. However, this created controversy, the first and only real contentious thing in Macmillan's whole ministry, which led to his resignation after Parliament narrowly voted against it. It took everyone by surprise.

Michael Heseltine (Unionist majority) 1975-1976
"Never Feel Your Hand Clasped in Friendship"
Heseltine was the dark horse of the Unionist leadership election, and somehow managed to defeat much more experienced candidates. While the Party was scratching their heads about this, the new PM leapt into the fray with his idea of using the Non-Aligned Movement to assert itself as a genuine third force to the Americans and Soviets. A heated conference led to the NAM voting for his proposal. Returning home victorious, he found that the economy was now stagnating and the people was set to vote him out.

Barbara Castle (Labour majority) 1976-1981
1976: def. Michael Heseltine (Unionist)
"The Red Queen"
Castle's time as PM is one of missed possibilities. The economy just stagnated all through her time, despite attempts to rejuvenate it into recovering. Foreign policy on the other hand, was a considerable success as North Britain established strong ties to many African states.

But her time in power is known mainly for her failed attempt at reducing the power of trade unions and having her government undermined by a general strike. In Place of Strife was an intensely divisive issue even in the Labour Party, and ultimately led to Labour returning to Opposition after only a single term as the people voted Unionist.

Beata Brookes (Unionist majority, then Unionist-Labour-Green "Reunification Cabinet") 1981-1989
1981: def. Barbara Castle (Labour)
1985: def. John Prescott (Labour) and Tony Blair & Lesley Whittaker (Green)
1988: def. John Prescott (Labour), Tony Blair & Lesley Whittaker (Green) and Winnie Ewing & Rhodri Morgan (Alliance of Regions)
"The Iron Lady"
In both North and South, Brookes is a divisive figure. Her facing down of the unions and implementing stricter trade union legislation, as well as the closing of many coal mines, is something "northalgic" people grumble about as they genuinely believe Brookes "destroyed" the North. In the South, you'll find people who criticise her and Benn for agreeing to the unification, saying that the wealthier South now has to pay for the poorer North. However, you'll find people who celebrate her unification efforts and credit her with the "Great Boom" of the Nineties. What is clear is that she had a huge impact and her legacy will be debated for decades to come.

Elected in 1981 on a promise to deal with the unions, she implemented a tougher labour bill, tougher than In Place of Strife, and started closing down coal mines that were now essentially unprofitable, the general strike was expected and the government toughed it out until workers decided to go back to work after a long summer strike. She also cut taxes and spending on the whole, reducing government involvement.

What's less talked about is the fact she improved disability rights for North Britons and this carried over in the reunified Britain.

Her most lasting legacy is undoubtedly the reunification of Britain. When the pro-reunification Anthony Wedgwood Benn became First Secretary of South Britain, the two met and started a series of conferences to work out what would the reunited Britain look like. Mirroring Benn's "Reunification Cabinet", she brought Labour and the Greens into cabinet to ensure unity in the reunification phase.

In 1989, the House of Commons of North Britain and House of Representatives of South Britain were co-opted into a much bigger House of Commons while the House of Lords was abolished in favour of expanding the South British Senate.

Hail smiling morn, smiling morn...

First Ministers of the United Federation of Britain (1989-present)
Beata Brookes (Conservative and Unionist-Liberal-Labour-Green "Reunification Cabinet" then Unionist majority) 1989-1993
1989 [co-option]: def. Anthony Wedgwood Benn (Liberal), John Prescott (Labour), Tony Blair & Jean Lambert (Green) and Rhodri Morgan & Loveday Jenkin (Alliance of Regions)
1991: def. Anthony Wedgwood Benn (Liberal), John Prescott (Labour), Sara Parkin & David Icke (Green) and Rhodri Morgan & Margaret Ewing (Alliance of Regions)
"The Greatest Honour History Can Bestow..."
Many sacrifices had to be made on both sides to make the Reunification possible. The one that the anti-Brookes Tories mainly criticise her for is the agreement to abolish the monarchy. That went too far for them, and they insist it should have been a red line, that the Federation should have been a monarchy "like is traditional!". Those on the Eurosceptic left criticise the unification agreement for carrying over South Britain's membership of the European Council [later European Union] and argue for a referendum on it. But overall, the unification was and remains popular.

Brookes' post-unification ministry was focused on harmonising the laws as the two countries' laws were very distant as a result of fifty years of separation and growth of distinct political cultures. She stepped down in 1993 to great applause.

Neil Hamilton (Unionist majority) 1993-1995
"Hopeless. Utterly hopeless."
Brookes, as much as she was divisive, still carried a lot of respect. That was not true for her successor, Neil Hamilton. Hamilton was controversial even in the Tory Party, with many muttering "We should have elected Heseltine instead". The 1995 election was dominated by the cash-for-honours scandal that engulfed the Hamilton government, as it was alleged that they accepted bribes in exchange for honours to be bestowed. Hamilton would deny it until his dying days, but the people chose to vote against him. It helped that there was now an united alternative.

Shirley Williams (Liberal-Labour coalition) 1995-1997 [w/ Gordon Brown (Labour)]
1995: def. Neil Hamilton (Unionist) and Sara Parkin & David Icke (Green)
"Greater Hazards in Doing Nothing"
Shirley Williams, the first South-British person to become FM, was heading an unusual coalition. The Liberals were the party of the left in the former South Britain, while Labour was the same in the North. There were enough distrust of each other to prevent a merger, but there was not enough to prevent an "anti-Tory pact" where the Liberals would run only in the South and Labour the North. This ensured they could unite the voters and prevent any possibility of the hated Prime Minister clinging on.

Williams' ministry is mainly known for the revelation that the Americans were tampering with votes in satellites in the past, and despite a veiled apology from President Campbell, this merely added to the decline in American power in favour of Brazil. In the end, the Liberal-Labour deal fell apart and the government went back to the country and was voted out.

Michael Heseltine (Unionist majority) 1997-2004
1997: def. Gordon Brown (Labour), Shirley Williams (Liberal), Tony Blair (Green) and John Swinney (Alliance of Nations)
2001: def. Jeremy Corbyn (Liberal), Dennis Skinner (Labour) and Tony Blair (Green)
"Leaders Get the Credit and the Blame"
The unlikely comeback of Michael Heseltine, from upstart challenger who squandered away a possible win, to elder statesman who was turned to as a leader after Hamilton blew it and ultimately return to power, is a great tale of political resurrection.

As First Minister, Heseltine continued his old Non-Alignment foreign policy, which came at the right time as Brazil was rising in prominence in the world. Heading up an EU Commission, he managed to get a favourable trade deal with Brazil and struck up a good relationship with its President.

Re-elected handily over a split opposition, the second fall of Michael Heseltine would be due to health issues. Quietly announcing his retirement, he stepped down as MP at the next election.

Caroline Spelman (Unionist majority) 2004-2007
"Walking on Thin Ice"
Spelman's three-year ministry is often compared to Heseltine's first ministry, because it had such a little impact on the popular mind, but there was one very important thing that can be credited to her ministry, namely the approval of the environmentalist Treaty of Los Angeles, signed by Spelman and fellow EU areas, President Schneider of America and President Silva of Brazil, and Prime Minister Kumaraswamy of India, alongside other world leaders.

But despite this achievement to her name, she still lost 2007 due to the Liberals and Labour finally coming back together after 10 years.

Cherie Booth (Liberal-Labour coalition) 2007-2014 [w/ Jeremy Corbyn (Liberal)]
2007: def. Caroline Spelman (Unionist) and Charles Windsor (Green)
2011: def. Nick Bourne (Unionist) and Charles Windsor (Green)
"A Long Way in the Future"
Booth has gone down in history as the first socialist prime minister of all of Britain, which certainly has taken longer than some in the 1920s would have thought. Her ministry has shifted Britain to the left, most especially socially as she pushed to "drag Britain into the 21st century". On economic policies, she has clashed with Liberal leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is a Bennite through and through and opposes any move to "abolish" capitalism. Hence the Liberal-Labour budgets have to be carefully balanced to appease both Labour and Liberal. In the end, it was not anything that brought down the Booth ministry, but just the people growing tired with them.

Ruth Davidson (Unionist-Green coalition) 2014-present
2014: def. Cherie Booth & Jeremy Corbyn (Liberal-Labour) and Theresa May (Green)
"We need a much Bigger Conversation"
With Davidson, the Unionists return to an old habit, that of picking the darkest of dark horses and being surprised by it. Davidson is the first openly LGBT leader of a national party, and although there were rumbles of defections to the Christian Democrats, the voters and MPs chose to stick to their leader and present an united right-wing alternative to Liberal-Labour.

Theresa May's Greens did gain quite a bit thanks to her overtly-Christian rhetoric in the debates picking up social conservatives desperate for anything but Davidson, but they would be disappointed as once there was no majority, the "Turquoise Team" option shot right up to the top at the bidders and ended up being the resulting coalition.

The Coalition have cut back some spending on welfare, all but privatised the NHS by some people's standards, expanded environmentalist legislation, expanded LGBT rights [over the outcry of social conservatives] and generally has made the economy broadly better. But will the Tories win an outright majority or have enough for a renewed turquoise team next time, or will Labour under Tim Farron and the Liberals under Caroline Lucas win a majority and form their own government? And will the Christian Democrats ever win any seats?

All of that waits in 2019.
 
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Kinda suprised you have Churchill there leading 'North Britian' and it didn't end up collapsing to Socialist revolution because of, um, Churchill being there.

The 'Americanisation' aspect is interesting, although I feel you could have- and maybe should have- gone further with it, as the idea of the not-socialist-but-socialist-consensus so close to the American reorganisation strikes as being a bit out of place in an American Britain, considering what the US did elsewhere. South Britain is also a curious name- if Eisenhower wanted to make a Britain more American that still adheres to English traditions and culture, would he not push for a rebrand like 'Wessex' or 'Anglia'?

Also, would the US not try a regime change in 1957 and put some 'emergency reorganisation' Government in place if they're that iffy about the Progressives and a 'Radical' Liberal?
 
moth said:
Kinda suprised you have Churchill there leading 'North Britian' and it didn't end up collapsing to Socialist revolution because of, um, Churchill being there.

The 'Americanisation' aspect is interesting, although I feel you could have- and maybe should have- gone further with it, as the idea of the not-socialist-but-socialist-consensus so close to the American reorganisation strikes as being a bit out of place in an American Britain, considering what the US did elsewhere. South Britain is also a curious name- if Eisenhower wanted to make a Britain more American that still adheres to English traditions and culture, would he not push for a rebrand like 'Wessex' or 'Anglia'?

Also, would the US not try a regime change in 1957 and put some 'emergency reorganisation' Government in place if they're that iffy about the Progressives and a 'Radical' Liberal?
Click to expand...
All valid points, I admit. For the last one, MacArthur was dead by then, and he was the primary one pushing for regime change in SB. Dewey prefers a lighter hand, even if still a firm one.

The rebranding is a good idea, yeah. I suppose I just wanted, at some level, to have the labels "North Britain" and "South Britain", like for the Koreas or Vietnam, so that's why I shied away from stuff like that.

Churchill is essentially a broken man and has no direction on his Cabinet. Labour actually has a fair lot of influence on domestic policy, this is one reason why Gwilym kicked them out of government, he thought they were taking advantage of Churchill to implement socialism by the back door. That and I didn't want to go the cliche "commie North, democratic South", merely different politics.
 
Turquoise Blue said:
Churchill is essentially a broken man and has no direction on his Cabinet. Labour actually has a fair lot of influence on domestic policy, this is one reason why Gwilym kicked them out of government, he thought they were taking advantage of Churchill to implement socialism by the back door. That and I didn't want to go the cliche "commie North, democratic South", merely different politics.
Click to expand...
I can understand that, although given Churchill's relationship with the North and working class communities, him in charge may end up swinging it more to a Communist revolution rather then for tempers to simmer down for a couple of years. Perhaps the Republic becomes closer to Europe as a subversion of the traditional Soviet/American dichotomy? A few figures you mention such as Lloyd George the Younger and Macmillan the Elder would facilitate such a move.
 
moth said:
I can understand that, although given Churchill's relationship with the North and working class communities, him in charge may end up swinging it more to a Communist revolution rather then for tempers to simmer down for a couple of years. Perhaps the Republic becomes closer to Europe as a subversion of the traditional Soviet/American dichotomy? A few figures you mention such as Lloyd George the Younger and Macmillan the Elder would facilitate such a move.
Click to expand...
I always had it as headcanon that North Britain was very friendly to Scandinavia, so your thing does work IU, even if Benn was the one who drove South Britain into Europe. Really, my conception of it was that before Benn, European states preferred North Britain to the American puppet, especially France. So it is a bit flux really. Like with NB's evolving relationship with America.
 
@Comisario

Second Chances

Leaders of the Labour Party

1935-1945: Clement Attlee
1935 def. Herbert Morrison, Arthur Greenwood
1945-1950: Stafford Cripps
1945 def. Herbert Morrison, Clement Attlee
1950-0000: Aneurin Bevan (Acting)

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

1940-1945: Winston Churchill (Conservative leading War Government with Labour, National Liberals, Liberals and National Labour)
1945-1945: Winston Churchill (Conservative leading National 'Caretaker' Government with National Liberals)
1945-1950: Stafford Cripps (Labour)
1945 (Majority) def. Winston Churchill (National - Conservatives, National Liberals), Archibald Sinclair (Liberal)
1950 (Majority) def. Winston Churchill (National - Conservatives, Liberals)
1950-0000: Aneurin Bevan (Labour majority)
 
Mumby said:
@Comisario

Second Chances

Leaders of the Labour Party

1935-1945: Clement Attlee
1935 def. Herbert Morrison, Arthur Greenwood
1945-1950: Stafford Cripps
1945 def. Herbert Morrison, Clement Attlee
1950-0000: Aneurin Bevan (Acting)

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

1940-1945: Winston Churchill (Conservative leading War Government with Labour, National Liberals, Liberals and National Labour)
1945-1945: Winston Churchill (Conservative leading National 'Caretaker' Government with National Liberals)
1945-1950: Stafford Cripps (Labour)
1945 (Majority) def. Winston Churchill (National - Conservatives, National Liberals), Archibald Sinclair (Liberal)
1950 (Majority) def. Winston Churchill (National - Conservatives, Liberals)
1950-0000: Aneurin Bevan (Labour majority)
Click to expand...

This an election night coup?
 
RyanF said:
This an election night coup?
Click to expand...

Yeah, Morrison does his thang. But Cripps throws his hat into the race, while Attlee defends his position. Morrison comes first and Attlee decides he is done, but due to his long-term antipathy for Morrison, throws his weight behind Cripps who wins the leadership.

moth said:
[PETRSPERATES ICE]
Click to expand...

The Conservatives, Liberals and National Liberals have realised they have something of a common enemy since the Lords was abolished, an Emergency Powers Act was passed, and county councils were replaced by local planning administrations...
 
This is a bit of silliness I know.

Chief Administrative Officers of the Martian Corporate Territory

2043 - 2051: Thatcher Bideme (Prometheus)
2051 - 2076: Kylo-Ren Jameson (UNI)
2076 - 2088: Ioni Edano (UNI)
2088 - 2089: [under direct corporate rule]

Prime Ministers of the the Martian People's Republic

2089 - 0000: Victor Obuah (People's Democratic Party majority)
2089 (human roll): Naxley Cole and Rosalin Cole (Social Democratic and Labour); Daenerys Layne (Forum for Reconstruction); Moelan Yan (Phobos and Deimos); John Konauri (Total Revolution)
2089 (AI roll): Unity (Independent)

From 'Scenes from the Life of Obuah,' published by the PDP in 2109. [Note: Its partial nature is due to the fact that the nanos were damaged during the Martian Civil War.]

Obuah wept when he was forced to leave his home, and when he was forced to leave for the Outer Systems, he said one thing and one thing only: "I will return, to bring liberty to my people."

Mars had labored for nearly 50 years under the capitalist exploitation of the corpofascist Prometheus and UNI Corporations, but the people would have it no longer. They longed for their saviour Obuah to return to his home and bring with him liberty.

When the tyrannical Ioni Edano of UNI began a crackdown against peaceful protestors, hungry for more soy, deprived them by the corrupt UNI, Mars was sent into utter furore. Hearing of this news, the great Victor Obuah, fresh from his exploits in the Outer Systems, where he had been living in exile until the day that the people of Mars might live free, immediately returned to Mars. He was the only man with enough prestige, courage, intelligence, and humility to take charge of the nascent revolution, which he graciously did, dispelling the traitorous influence of the loathsome Clementina Koenig, a corpo spy and terrorist.

[The text is here unintelligible - we must assume that it deals with the fighting of the war, as well as with Obuah's agreement with the Unity AI, which longed for self-government and autonomy within Mars, something the normally technophobic Obuah acquiesced to.]

The Battle of Olympus in late 2089 spelled doom for the corpos. Soon, all corpo officials were forced to evacuate for Terra or Luna... As Obuah and his men entered the capital to cheering crowds, he singlehandedly raised the Red Flag of Mars and [unintelligible].

Soldiers, citizens, comrades! We salute the great Obuah, who brought freedom, liberty, and socialism to Mars! Let us say now what Obuah said:

'Workers of all worlds, unite!'
 
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1970-1972: Reginald Maudling (Conservative and Unionist)
1970 (Majority) def. Harold Wilson (Labour), Jeremy Thorpe (Liberal)
1972-1973: Keith Joseph (Conservative and Unionist majority)
1973-1980: Jeremy Thorpe (Liberal)
1973 (National Unity with Democratic-Conservatives and Democratic-Labour) def. Harold Wilson (Labour), Keith Joseph (Conservative and Unionist)
1978 (National Unity with Democratic-Conservatives and Democratic-Labour) def. Tony Benn (Labour), Enoch Powell (Conservative and Unionist)
1980-1985: Jeremy Thorpe (National Unity)
1982 (Majority) def. Tony Benn (Labour), Ian Paisley (Conservative and Unionist)
1985-1994: Paul Channon (National Unity)
1986 (Majority) def. Gerald Kaufman (Labour), Ian Paisley (Conservative and Unionist)
1991 (Minority, with CUP confidence and supply) def. Bryan Gould (Labour), Ian Paisley (Conservative and Unionist)
1994-2000: Bryan Gould (Labour)
1994 (Minority) def. Paul Channon (National Unity), Ian Paisley (Conservative and Unionist)
1996 (Majority) def. Michael Heseltine (National Unity), Ian Paisley (Conservative and Unionist)
2000-2006: Chris Mullin (Labour)
2001 (Majority) def. Paddy Ashdown (British Peoples'), Malcolm Bruce (Liberal Alliance For The New Millennium), Ian Paisley (Conservative and Unionist)

Maudling is elected in the Tory leadership election of 1965. His corruption and dodgy deals come out in 1972 and he jumps before he is pushed. Keith Joseph wins the leadership election, not long before a general strike is launched. Joseph's brutal methods, along with escalating violence in Northern Ireland and his monetarist economic policies sees many in the moderate wing leave the party. A similar thing happens in Labour as Wilson decides to come out in support of the strikes and the Democratic-Labour group grows.

A National Unity Agreement is formed, and when Joseph loses his majority, a general election sees National Unity sweep into power. Jeremy Thorpe goes on to govern the country for twelve years officially. Unofficially, he remained the power behind the throne until the collapse of Channon's minority government in the 90s. His time in government was characterised by following the American lead on neoliberalism, crushing the unions and centralising power to Westminster. With Labour and Tories alike swinging to the fringes, National Unity seemed like the only sensible option and Thorpe did all in his power to keep it that way.

Channon's premiership was lamentable almost from the beginning. Corruption allegations began to froth to the surface, and the authoritarianism that Thorpe had subtly used to such dramatic effect became a clunking fist that saw journalists clumsily blacklisted and protests embarassingly contained. Despite this, National Unity's institutional strength enabled it to retain a great deal of staying power well into the 90s.

After Gould got his majority government in 1996, a proper investigation of National Unity's doings during its time in government could be carried out and the findings were cataclysmic. Everything from the illegal sale of arms to anti-communist military regimes in Latin America and the Middle East, to the cover-up of party grandee Cyril Smith's sexual crimes. The long repressed media found new dirt every week and it became clear that National Unity would not survive. While the bulk of the party would reform under Ashdown's leadership, aiming to purge itself whilst claiming the former party's achievements as its own, a Liberal Restoration group also emerged.

The Labour Party had its own problems, but re-election wasn't one. They became the party of protest in the National Unity years as the Tories were ensnared by Ulster, and they were now vindicated by the scandals which had emerged. But the party's moderation in order to gain power now came under criticism from within. Why should they toe the line of a National Unity established agenda? Gould stepped down in 2000, deciding the turn of the millennium was a good time to stand down. At the ensuing leadership election, Chris Mullin won in a shocking turn of events. He had gained no small amount of fame since 1994, finding himself at the heart of the revelations of the National Unity period and his own role in their events. Emblematic of that time and presenting a radical new agenda that proposed to take Britain out of that time into a new one, he won the leadership and then an increased majority over the divided opposition in 2001.
 
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