Of All The Things We Made.
1964 - 1967: Harold Wilson (Labour)
1964 (Majority) def. Alec Douglas-Home (Conservative), Jo Grimond (Liberal)
1967 - : George Brown (Labour Caretaker)
1967 - 1969: Richard Crossman (Labour Majority)
1969 - 1971: Reg Maudling (Conservative)
1969 (Majority) def. Richard Crossman (Labour), Jo Grimond (Liberal)
1971 - 1977: Anthony Barber (Conservative)
1974 (Liberal Confidence & Supply) def. Denis Healey (Labour), Emlyn Hooson (Liberal), William Wolfe (Scottish National)
1977 - 1982: John Silkin (Labour)
1977 (Majority) def. Anthony Barber (Conservative), Jeremy Thorpe (Liberal), William Wolfe (Scottish National)
1979 Referendum on Scottish Assembly: Yes 52%, No 48%
1979 Referendum on Welsh Assembly: No 68%, Yes 32%
1981 Referendum on the EEC: Remain 67%, Leave 33%
1982 - : Peter Walker (Conservative)
1982 (Majority) def. John Silkin (Labour), Jeremy Thorpe (Liberal), Bill Rodgers (Democratic), Winnie Ewing (Scottish National)
1986 (Majority) def. Denzil Davies (Labour), David Steel (Liberal), Winnie Ewing (Scottish National), Bill Rodgers (Democratic)
This story starts with a Prime Minister.
Most of these stories often do, but the difference here is that this one starts with a Labour Prime Minister which is about as rare as stumbling into your back garden to find out you have a Bomb from the Blitz buried underneath. So whilst not particularly common, it happens.
Anyway this Labour Prime Minister was a chap named Harold Wilson. A strange sort of fella really, never a Harry always Harold, a figure who seemed to duplicitous in all the undertakings of being Prime Minister. Anyway this Harold, he becomes Prime Minister, with what some folks in the business call an ‘adequate majority’, which is politics speech for he can do stuff. Anyway he has big plans, modernisation, white heat, all very Dan Dare ideas of what Britain could be.
This goes all to toss though because of that ever common saying, ‘The Economy Was Shit’. Oh yeah, this Harold had inherited what folks in the business called an ‘overheated economy’ which is economics speech for drastically inflated, which is economic speech for your money is now worth less, sort of. Indeed, something needed to be done about it...something they call Devaluation.
It didn’t go to plan, a crisis emerged, Left Wing and Right Wing MPs rebelled stalling the Government’s response. Chaos ensued, government couldn’t function and Capitan Wilson would end up going down with his ship, devaluation causing the Chancellor and Prime Minister to flee to pastures new as there health suffered. After a brief Premiership by a drunk, the country got a more hands on Prime Minister of sorts, a former Leftist by the name of Dick Crossman who veers right into the Centre Left of British Politics.
Pursuing a program of cracking down on strikers, deflationary programs and rapid Nationalisation through ruthless asset stripping, Dickie boy wasn’t inspiring like Wilson had initially seemed. He was a ruthless pragmatic type who wanted to ensure some form of stability.
In return for stability, the people voted him out, understandable even. You can’t tell them that they should just suck up low wages and a stagnant economy, people don’t particularly enjoy that from what I’ve gathered in my time on this earth.
But in return they had voted in a much worser creature, though only Prime Minister briefly, Reginald Maudling’s shadow casts itself large and wide over Britain, and not because he was a chubby man and all that. He’d played the Right Wing Populist card when he campaigned, leaning into everything from tougher law enforcement to reducing immigration alongside the issues like jobs and a better economy; it was similar to the kind of politics of folks like Nixon or Muldoon, a ringing endorsement if I ever heard one.
Maudling was not a man made for governing, as Ireland imploded into sectarian conflict, students marched in the streets over Vietnam and the economy refused to grow, his response was to pour himself out whiskey and despair. He was a man of a different time, of British Imperialism, Growth and Harold Macmillan looking rather nice. He wasn’t made for Ballard’s Britain as some would say.
After consistently failing in his two and a bit years in office, Maudling would resign and go off to eventually die of liver failure. Meanwhile the Conservative’s elected a new leader, a fellow called Anthony Barber.
A man who almost seemingly stumbled into office at the last minute as the leadership contest increasingly looked like a group of bald men battling over a comb, Barber’s proposal was too, drastically revitalise the British economy by liberalising it which appealed to a certain type of Tory that looked and acted (and probably was) a bank manager. Socially, Maudling’s ‘moral crusade’ was paused because no one particularly believed in it anyway.
Whilst managing to avoid the Oil Shock crash, the after effects combined with a floating pound free diving into a pool of international currency did lead to an economically turbulent period. Parroting of Scottish Oil being a solution to British Woes didn’t appease the Miners who went on strike and the Scottish Nationalists who surged ahead. Barber seemed ready to lose the 1974 election but then Labour did shit as well and a weird deadlock Parliament ensued.
Labour didn’t really have the numbers, unless it wanted to partner with the Scottish Nationalists and Liberals as well which was a laughable suggestion. Barber managed to create a Confidence & Supply Deal with the Liberals which annoyed both parties immensely and therefore was good. It would last about two and a bit years as Hooson was consistently gaslit into supporting Barber for the good of the nation.
It wouldn’t last forever, the Prince of Darkness, also know as Jeremy Thorpe emerged from dark depths of hell known as Devon and would coup Hooson from his leadership position in early 1977, after Hooson angered the Young Liberals by supporting a welfare reform bill.
This wasn’t according to Barber’s plan, who tried to sweet talk Thorpe but boondoggles of Proportional Representation or Regional Devolution didn’t present the same opportunity as just collapsing Barber’s Government and trying to form a new one himself.
Thorpe’s Proposal went nowhere, turns out people aren’t particularly fussed by a Liberal Leaders proposal of forming a National Government, the Tories hoped to use Thorpe’s betrayal to there advantage but it turns out people care more about having jobs, being able to buy a house and afford food, little things like that. Additionally Barber hadn’t thrown enough Red meat to the suburbs who went Thorpe and the shires who voted for Right Wing nutters.
Labour to the shock of the establishment, people and even themselves managed to find themselves in power on a rather Left Wing manifesto and enough of a majority to actually pass it through with. John Silkin proceed to look the gift horse in the mouth.
Now it’s understandable why this happened, Silkin hadn’t expected to become leader, never mind Prime Minister and his habit of his Premiership being dictated by a specific form of Socialism didn’t help matters. Indeed his policies for the most part was a reheating of those Bevanite ideals but stuck in the quagmires of Ballard’s Britain.
Whilst a Scottish Parliament would become a reality and the economy briefly picked itself up, the Nationalisations efforts would be hamstrung and the lack of worker democracy angered the Left, the Welsh Assembly would die and nuclear disarmament would implode upon impact. Silkin’s more bullish attitude would make him a number of enemies on the Left and Right as he refused to budge on certain issues to the detriment of political stability.
Europe would be his downfall, though this was less the issue that Silkin cared about and was more the rumination of his cabinet colleagues including the Chancellor Eric Varley. Silkin would allow a referendum to be staged but did little to campaign for it, whilst the Tories used it as an opportunity to attack Silkin. When the referendum came up against the Eurosceptic’s it proved quite embarrassing to the government, resignations and leadership challenges would be threatened, angered by Silkin’s habit of being increasingly dictatorial and unpleasant alongside his lack of dynamic Socialist reform.
Silkin would try and keep them in and proposed a series Eurosceptic policies to appease the cabinet but his response would lead to a walk out of a dozen or more moderate Labour MPs frustrated by Silkin’s actions. Whilst not enough to collapse Labour’s Government, it didn’t improve matters much. A hope that the polls would turn around would be on the mind of every Labour politicians mind but alas hope is a fickle thing.
Walker, a man who oozed charismatic bank manager energy stormed his way to No10 on the back of this discontent. But you see, whilst this is where our story could end, I think I should discuss a little thing with you.
Walker is a pioneer of a modern major art form, forget Sun Ra, Asset Stripping is the most advent garde production to come out of the modern world scene in some time. The buying up of Corporation stocks to buy out a company and then gutting and selling off the assets of the corporation has become Britain’s major commodity in recent years, a finely honed art to be used by anyone really but Walker uses it for political means.
As you see, we’re reaching year Seven of Walker’s Rule and he’s used asset stripping and economic liberalisation to construct a Social Market Britain, with the additional caveat that unsurprisingly this program of reforms has lead to his buddies becoming richer and wealthier in the process.
Indeed one of his buddies, Jim Slater is preparing the next battle. Housing Estates need new land and Nottinghamshire, a rich and vibrant county provides the space to expand. But to do that...the coal must shut down...
The next battle for Britain, will be over the future of coal and whoever wins...we lose...hahah, I’m fucking joking.
If Walker wins then we’re all fucked.
-Extract of a First Draft from an opening for Ray Gosling’s ‘The Dogs of Finance: Asset Stripping’
