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Lists of Heads of Government and Heads of State

The lack of Orb Mother here alarms me

You have no idea how badly I wanted to include her, but I couldn't figure out a way to make her politically prominent in the mainstream by 2032. She also didn't have many notable endorsers. Weed Lord Ryan ends up picking a left-liberal Senator Wiley as his VP to make peace with the establishment.
 
America Just Goes 🅱razy

1953-1961: Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican-NY)
1952 (with Richard Nixon) def.: Adlai Stevenson II / John Sparkman (Democratic)
1956 (with Richard Nixon) def.: Adlai Stevenson II / Estes Kefauver (Democratic)

1961-1962: Richard Nixon (Republican-CA)
1960 (with Jacob Javits) def.: Lyndon B. Johnson / Orville Freeman (Democratic); Harry F. Byrd / Strom Thurmond (States' Rights Democratic)
1962-1962: Jacob Javits (Republican-CA)
1962-1962: Sam Rayburn (Democratic-TX)
1962-1969: Robert B. Anderson (Republican-TX)

1964 (with William Scranton): Hubert Humphrey / Stuart Symington (Democratic); Orval Faubus / J. Lister Hill (States' Rights)
1969-0000: Robert King High (Democratic-FL)
1968 (with Henry M. Jackson) def.: William Scranton / James A. Rhodes (Republican); Gene McCarthy / George Wallace (Federalist)

Due to LBJ winning the nomination over Kennedy, Nixon makes a play for the white ethnic voters and northern liberals who would've come out for Kennedy (in a ploy dubbed the Northern Strategy). In a moment that proves that Nixon is more power-hungry than he is anti-Semitic, he swallows his pride and selects Jacob Javits as his running mate. This move works, and Nixon narrowly wins the presidency by flipping Illinois, New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut.

In the first year of his presidency, Nixon decides to go to war and/or do crafty CIA shit against Cuba, which emboldens a couple Marxists/Cuban ultranationalists to merk him during a speech. Jacob Javits is promoted to the presidency, which makes some neo-nazis veeeeery angry. Despite heightened security after Nixon's assassination, Javits is killed when a car bomb crashes into his motorcade. It's horrific timing, because Javits is in the process of having his own vice president confirmed.

An ailing Sam Rayburn becomes president and manages to cling to life for the few days it takes to get Robert B. Anderson nominated. After two presidential assassinations in the span of a few months, Anderson's first acts are to stabilize the markets and then to drastically increase the security state. Though he wins in 1964, this newly-overbearing government creates some odd bedfellows. Segregationists and New Left libertarians realize they have a common enemy- the overgrown power of the federal government. Gene McCarthy, embittered over his defeat in the 1968 Democratic primaries, makes a Faustian bargain with George Wallace to create the Federalist Party, a schizophrenic coalition determined to roll back the power of the jackbooted thugs who are cracking down on protestors of all stripes.
 


2021-2025: Joe Biden
(with Kamala Harris)
defeated Donald Trump/Mike Pence

Biden wasn't Trump, which is why he won. Nobody was super jazzed about a 78-year-old centrist taking office except for the Democratic establishment, who worked harder and meaner to stop Bernie Sanders' primary campaign than they worked to stop Trump in the last four years. Regardless of who was nominated, the President would've been elected into a floundering economy, a radicalised population and deteriorating international situation. Anyone would've had a hard time, but Biden somehow took special effort to either mismanage or outright ignore problems that wound up on his desk.

After the Republicans, predictably, retook congress in 2022, Biden was left with little more to do than repeat that he "had a mandate" ad nauseam, as the government quickly slipped back into 2012-era gridlock. Unemployment spiked just as hard as the temperature, as elderly and young alike were cooked alive in their houses during the summer, or alternatively swept away by flash floods the following winter. Speaker of the House John Bassaro was far more concerned with impeaching the President for 'endangering our overseas assets for his hasty retreat from Afghanistan" than he was his constituents succumbing to the elements. And no matter how hard the Squad plead with him to use his power of the Executive Order, the President didn't touch student debt or marijuana decriminalisation with a ten-foot pole.

Even tho Trump's passing in early 2023 from coronary thrombosis was seen as a Hail Mary pass, Biden's reputation was only just clinging to the upper thirties, and the signs of early vascular dementia gave the media more than enough to speculate about. Shockingly, Harris, who many people had pegged as the presumptive nominee, declined to run in her own right, with whispers she'd be considered for the SCOTUS if she smiled and kept out of the way.

2025-2029: Jay Robert "J. B." Pritzker
(with Eric Adams)
defeated Chris Christie/Donald Trump Jr.

Like with 2020, anyone who didn't have "Trump" in their name could've won this election, tho it was more down to the fact that nobody really likes Chris Christie much. Well, that and nobody was really sure who exactly was the running mate, as Junior frequently went overtime on his speeches promising to "make the communist Democrats rot in prison for their crimes". Buttegieg, the go-getter Transportation secretary, was expected to capitalise on this fumble of a ticket, but slunk out of the race when Pritzker, millionaire governor of Illinois, promised him the UN Ambassadorship.

J.B. experienced a small approval bump, since he wasn't Biden, but ran into many of the same problems. The smug Senate majority, having lost the House on Pritzker's coattails, still claimed they were too busy to read any bill that was put on their desk. Unlike Biden, however, Pritzker wasn't disillusioned that he could 'work' with the Republicans, which is why a lot of his legislation came in the form of Executive Order. The Republicans swore this was illegal and threatened round after round of impeachment, of course, but that didn't bother the President much. What did was when the Fed came after his $331K 'tax break' from his shady mansion renovations in 2019, which is suspected the reason he bowed out much like Biden did.



2029-2033: Francis X. Suarez
(with Torren Ecker)
defeated Eric Adams/Raphael Warnock

The 2028 Election wasn't all about politics; it was more about cryptocurrency. It wasn't just a fad your kids would have to educate you on anymore, with some nations even adapting it to a "digital wallet" system for international trade. Both the candidates were super-jazzed about crypto, but voters were slightly more jazzed about the concept of 'President X' than they were Adams, who was receiving massive cross-party support from technocratic Democrats and wonk independents alike at the time of his inauguration.

Suarez promised to firmly bring rural America into the 21st century, kicking and screaming if he had to. And he had to, since many of the multinational conglomerates he so much as looked up packed up domestic operations and outsourced themselves to ripe new countries of interest. Many of those same multinationals were executed by Naxals during the Indian revolution, but look over here, gold-farming is now a recognised form of employment according to the Department of Labor!



2033-20??: Brace Belden
(with India Walton) defeated Francis X. Suarez/Torren Ecker

It was only a matter of time before the Democrats had to deal with their own version of Trump, despite how hard they tried to ignore the trends. Belden didn't particularly like the comparison, famously cocking an eyebrow and asking "Who?" when a reporter asked, but he was certainly just as bombastic and incorrect. He's already made history, being the first President to publicly smoke a blunt in the oval office, afterwards telling the GOP leadership to "suck my dick from the back". We have no idea what's in store for America's future, but unlike the last few Presidents, Belden seems to be extremely committed to enacting through his tax reform package, which he claims will use the excess revenue to pay to have Jeffery Epstein's corpse dug up and paraded up and down Wall Street while blasting the iCarly themesong from a Beats Pill shoved up his--
 
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Chairmen of the Norteamérica Committee

1938-1939: Saturnino Cedillo (Caretaker)

- appointed following the North American Revolution/"La Violencia"
1939-1945: Narciso Bassols/Norman Bethune (Confederación de Trabajadores/Ligue Sociale-Démocrate Fusion)
1945-1950: Eliseo Velásquez (Confederación de Trabajadores)
1950-1955: Carlos Marighella (Independent)
1953-1967*: Ernesto "Che" Guevara (Ação Libertadora Nacional)

- assassinated by counter-revolutionaries
1967-1970: José Ángel Gutiérrez (Ação Libertadora Nacional) [ACTING]
1970-1975: Cesario Estrada Chavez (Popular Movement)
1975-1985: Daniel Ortega (Independent, then Reconstrucción Americana)
1985-1987*: Abimael Guzmán (Independent)

- impeached by the Congreso para el Pueblo Estadounidense
1987-1990: Antonio Cardenal Caldera (Reconstrucción Americana) [ACTING]
1990-2005: Daniel Ortega (Reconstrucción Americana)
2005-2020: Rafael Vicente (Sol Rojo)
2020-present: Laura Alvarez (Popular Movement)
 
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2033-20??: Brace Belden
(with India Walton) defeated Francis X. Suarez/Torren Ecker

It was only a matter of time before the Democrats had to deal with their own version of Trump, despite how hard they tried to ignore the trends. Belden didn't particularly like the comparison, famously cocking an eyebrow and asking "Who?" when a reporter asked, but he was certainly just as bombastic and incorrect. He's already made history, being the first President to publicly smoke a blunt in the oval office, afterwards telling the GOP leadership to "suck my dick from the back". We have no idea what's in store for America's future, but unlike the last few Presidents, Belden seems to be extremely committed to enacting through his tax reform package, which he claims will use the excess revenue to pay to have Jeffery Epstein's corpse dug up and paraded up and down Wall Street while blasting the iCarly themesong from a Beats Pill shoved up his--

business plot wen
 
Very tentative list for something I may eventually work on some time before the heat death of the universe - more just tossing ideas around while trying to get to sleep last night.

List of Presidents of the United States
1933-1942: Franklin D. Roosevelt† (Democratic)
1932 def: Herbert Hoover (Republican, inc.)
1936 def: Alf Landon (Republican)
1940 def: Wendell Willkie (Republican)

1942-1943: Henry A. Wallace* (Democratic)
1943-1945: Cordell Hull (Democratic)
1945-1949: James F. Byrnes (Democratic)
1944 def: Thomas Dewey (Republican)
1949-1951: Robert A. Taft† (Republican)
1948 def: James F. Byrnes (Democratic, inc.)
1951-1953: Harold Stassen (Republican)
1953-1961: Estes Kefauver (Democratic)
1952 def: Harold Stassen (Republican, inc.)
1956 def: Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (Republican)

1961-1969: Nelson A. Rockefeller (Republican)
1960 def: Hubert H. Humphrey (Democratic)
1964 def: John B. Connally, Jr. (Democratic)

1969-1973: Edmund Muskie (Democratic)
1968 def: George Romney (Republican)

*Resigned, ostensibly for health reasons; it is widely claimed he was the victim of a quiet military coup.

Not sure where to take it from there, and it might not matter, depending on when I decide to set the story. This is a case where story comes first and it's just handy to have a crib sheet of who should've been in power at what time when dropping references, and it can potentially be changed on the fly later if necessary for plot reasons.
I'm finding this counterpart (from the same scenario) a bit trickier, I may need to consult someone like @The Red.

List of Soviet paramount leaders (actual titular offices held will vary)
1922-1924: V. I. Lenin (Communist)
1924-1941: J. V. Stalin (Communist)
1941-1942: V. M. Molotov (Communist)
1942-1942: K. Y. Voroshilov (Communist)
1942-1959: A. A. Zhdanov (Communist)
1959-1960: A. S. Shcherbakov (Communist)
1960-1961: (Troika)
1961-197?: M. G. Pervukhin (Communist)

According to official Soviet histories, Stalin died heroically in the Germans' (briefly) successful occupation of Moscow, refusing to evacuate. It is more likely he died in the process of evacuation, though whether he was taken out by the Nazis or an internal coup attempt remains an open question. Molotov briefly took the reins of power with the assistance of Zhukov, but the realities of the front meant that Marshal Voroshilov (who had successfully relieved Leningrad) was soon the one calling the shots, soon handing over formal political power to his ally (and Stalin protegé) Andrei Zhdanov. Both Voroshilov and Zhdanov were regarded as heroes, and the latter had soon consolidated his power over the USSR after the Germans were expelled. Zhdanov's corpulent deputy Shcherbakov briefly seized power after the former's death in 1960, but was soon removed by a troika (and died soon afterwards under circumstances that may not be as suspicious as they first appear - his lifestyle made heart problems inevitable). From this troika, after mutually-assured destruction between several bigger but more divisive names, the technocrat Mikhail Pervukhin rose to power - initially as a figurehead for more powerful interests, but later asserting control in his own right.
 
I'm finding this counterpart (from the same scenario) a bit trickier, I may need to consult someone like @The Red.

List of Soviet paramount leaders (actual titular offices held will vary)
1922-1924: V. I. Lenin (Communist)
1924-1941: J. V. Stalin (Communist)
1941-1942: V. M. Molotov (Communist)
1942-1942: K. Y. Voroshilov (Communist)
1942-1959: A. A. Zhdanov (Communist)
1959-1960: A. S. Shcherbakov (Communist)
1960-1961: (Troika)
1961-197?: M. G. Pervukhin (Communist)

According to official Soviet histories, Stalin died heroically in the Germans' (briefly) successful occupation of Moscow, refusing to evacuate. It is more likely he died in the process of evacuation, though whether he was taken out by the Nazis or an internal coup attempt remains an open question. Molotov briefly took the reins of power with the assistance of Zhukov, but the realities of the front meant that Marshal Voroshilov (who had successfully relieved Leningrad) was soon the one calling the shots, soon handing over formal political power to his ally (and Stalin protegé) Andrei Zhdanov. Both Voroshilov and Zhdanov were regarded as heroes, and the latter had soon consolidated his power over the USSR after the Germans were expelled. Zhdanov's corpulent deputy Shcherbakov briefly seized power after the former's death in 1960, but was soon removed by a troika (and died soon afterwards under circumstances that may not be as suspicious as they first appear - his lifestyle made heart problems inevitable). From this troika, after mutually-assured destruction between several bigger but more divisive names, the technocrat Mikhail Pervukhin rose to power - initially as a figurehead for more powerful interests, but later asserting control in his own right.

Honestly it's hard seeing Shcherbakov survive beyond 1950,given his obesity and how much of a drunk he was. Same with Zhdanov-his alcoholism is a big reason for his health problems.
 
Honestly it's hard seeing Shcherbakov survive beyond 1950,given his obesity and how much of a drunk he was. Same with Zhdanov-his alcoholism is a big reason for his health problems.
I was thinking that, I often have Zhdanov lasting up until 1949/50 at most before his liver gives way, which probably leads to some power struggle between various groups and such.

Additionally Zhdanov work in probably creating a true cult of personality image and Zhdanovism would probably make things easier for whoever is running that machine be very powerful when he dies.
 
Honestly it's hard seeing Shcherbakov survive beyond 1950,given his obesity and how much of a drunk he was. Same with Zhdanov-his alcoholism is a big reason for his health problems.
I'm not wedded to using Shcherbakov but I would like to use Zhdanov. May need somebody to take over through running that machine as @Time Enough suggests in the 1950s before being troika'd later after an international crisis.

I did toy with the idea of having Yezhov as a post-Stalin leader as a 'WTF early POD, readers' moment, but I can't see him ever commanding enough loyalty even if he avoided being purged.
 
I'm not wedded to using Shcherbakov but I would like to use Zhdanov. May need somebody to take over through running that machine as @Time Enough suggests in the 1950s before being troika'd later after an international crisis.

I did toy with the idea of having Yezhov as a post-Stalin leader as a 'WTF early POD, readers' moment, but I can't see him ever commanding enough loyalty even if he avoided being purged.
Voznesensky could work as a successor to Zhdanov,as well as Alexey Kuznetsov given that the Leningrad Case doesn’t happen in this TL.
 
Voznesensky could work as a successor to Zhdanov,as well as Alexey Kuznetsov given that the Leningrad Case doesn’t happen in this TL.
I did think about Kuznetsov but I was wasn't sure if that made sense or not, so thanks for the suggestion.
I would have recommend Voznensensky or Kuznetsov too, given there closeness to Zhandov. I could see one of them become the figurehead of a group of reforming technocrats who are turfed out by M. G. Pervukhin due to there perceived destruction of Soviet Centralisation in the late 50s (probably after a bad economic recession or something).
 
Luck Could Not Occur Without Misfortune's Help

2021-2025: Joseph R. Biden (Democratic)

(With Kamala Harris)
2020 def. Donald J. Trump Sr./Mike Pence (Republican), Others [306/51.3%-232/46.9%]

2025-2025: Donald J. Trump Sr. (Republican)
(With Vernon Jones)

2024 def. Joe Biden/Kamala Harris (Democratic), Justin Amash/Kim Coco Iwamoto (Independent), Others
[302/49.5%-236/47.4%-0/2.2%]

2025-2033: Vernon Jones (Republican)
(With Mike DeWine, later Micheal Flynn Sr.)
2025-20xx: 'The American Troubles' - Increasing political polarization and the radicalization of traditional Liberals & Conservatives, Further consolidation of wealth and property by both established and new capital formations (namely the energy, media, military industrial, and information technology sectors), Rolling economic troubles including small-scale recessions, resource shortages, rolling inflation, and stagnant wages, Widescale labor conflicts, unionization campaigns and subsequent corporate responses, Rapidly degrading ecological conditions amid rising global temperatures, Numerous ongoing protest and counter-protest movements, Widening corruption, electoral fraud, and political dysfunction on both the Federal and State levels, Widespread militia violence between various elements, Increased rates of domestic terrorism, Broadened State Power and increasingly authoritarian social methodology, American deinvestment from global markets, The breakdown of Geopolitical Alliances and Subsequently Intense Chauvinism Globally
2028 def. Pete Buttigieg/Letitia James (Democratic), Others [300/48.9%-238/47.5%]

2033-20xx: Jasmine Crockett (Democratic)
(With John Fetterman)
2032 def.
Penny Schwinn/Tulsi Gabbard (Republican), Others
[307/52.1%-231/46.5%]
 
New Labour but instead of Third Way bullshit it's J E Z Z A

1997-2010: Jeremy Corbyn (Labour majority)

'97: def. John Major (Conservative), Paddy Ashdown (Liberal Democrats)
'01: def. Kenneth Clarke (Conservative), Charles Kennedy (Liberal Democrats), Jeffrey Titford (UKIP)
'05: def. Neil Hamilton (Conservative), Charles Kennedy (Liberal Democrats), Alex Salmond (SNP)

2010-2015: Jeremy Corbyn (Labour-Lib Dem-SNP-Green "Progressive" Coalition)
def. John Bercow (Conservative), Lembit Öpik (Liberal Democrats), Alex Neil (SNP), Nikki Sinclaire (Veritas), Caroline Lucas (GPEW+SGP+GPNI)
Scottish independence referendum results: Yes - 44.70% / No - 55.30%
2015-2017: Jeremy Corbyn (Labour majority)
def. John Bercow (Conservative), Matthew Taylor (Liberal Democrats), Campbell Martin (SNP), Nikki Sinclaire (Veritas), Pat Doherty (Sinn Féin)
European Union membership referendum results: Yes - 48.11% / No - 51.89%
2017-2019: Harriet Harman (Labour caretaker)
2019-present: Robert Halfon (Conservative)

def. Ben Bradshaw (Labour), Lynne Featherstone (Liberal Democrats), Gisela Stuart (Veritas - The Independent Group), Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin)
 
The Foretelling - "Kamala Harris will be President of the United States"

2004-2011: 27th District Attorney of San Francisco

'03: defeated Terence Hallinan
'07: scattered opposition

2011–2017: 32nd Attorney General of California
'10: def. Steve Cooley (Republican)
'14: def. Ronald Gold

2017–2021: Senator from California
def. Loretta Sanchez (Democratic), Duf Sundheim
2020: Democratic Party primary candidate for President of the United States
lost to Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Michael Bloomberg, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Tulsi Gabbard, others
2021-2025: Vice President of the United States
Joe Biden/Kamala Harris defeated Donald Trump/Mike Pence
2024: Democratic Party primary candidate for President of the United States
lost to J. B. Pritzker, Pete Buttigieg, Nina Turner, others
J. B. Pritzker/Eric Adams defeated Chris Christie/Donald Trump Jr.

2025: Candidate for Associate Justice of the SCOTUS
lost to Sri Srinivasan, Goodwin Liu, Florentino Cuéllar, Patricia Millett, others
2026: Democratic Party Primary candidate for California Senator
lost to Ro Khanna, Rusty Hicks, others
Ro Khanna defeated John Elder, Kevin Paffrath (Forward-endorsed Independent)

2026-2027: Private citizen, public speaker
2027-2029: United States Attorney General

appointed by President J. B. Pritzker
2028: Democratic Party primary candidate for President of the United States
lost to Eric Adams, Jennifer Carroll Foy, Beto O'Rourke, Saikat Chakrabarti, Ryan Fecteau, others
Francis X. Suarez/Torren Ecker defeated Eric Adams/Raphael Warnock
2029-2030: Private citizen, author
2030-2036: Vice-President for Global Affairs and Communications of Meta Platforms, Inc.

appointed by CEO Priscilla Chan
2032: Democratic Party primary candidate for President of the United States
lost to Brace Belden, Steven Bonnell, Nikema Williams, P.G. Sittenfeld, others
Brace Belden/India Walton defeated
Francis X. Suarez/Torren Ecker
2034: Democratic Party primary candidate for Governor of California

lost to John Drake, Angel Lara, Jonathan Nez, Yvonne Hargrove, others
John Drake defeated
Elizabeth Eng
2036: Democratic Party primary candidate for President of the United States

lost to Brace Belden, scattered perennial candidates
Brace Belden/India Walton defeated Antwan McClellan/Dusty Johnson

2036-2041: Private citizen, lecturer, Chairwoman of the Build Back Better Foundation
2040: Democratic Party primary candidate for President of the United States

lost to Amara Enyia, Garlin Gilchrist, Joseph Stallcop, Kate Gallego
Amara Enyia/Athena Salman
defeated G. T. Bynum/Dan Crenshaw
2041-2049: United States Ambassador to the United Nations

appointed by President Amara Enyia
2048:
Democratic Party primary candidate for President of the United States
lost to True Kander, Billie Sutton, Will Haskell
True Kander/Lina Hidalgo defeated Justin Tuthill/Julian Gluck
2049-2050: United States Secretary of State
appointed by President True Kander
2050 (April 19, 7:02am - April 19, 7:09am): Acting President of the United States

appointed following the D.C. Terror attack as per Line of Sucsession, died of heart attack shortly after inauguration
 
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The End of Reason
Epistemology-philosophy-knowledge.jpg

2019-2022: Boris Johnson (Conservative)

Boris Johnson, scion of the Leave campaign, began his leadership with bold, simple statements - getting Brexit done. However, the country that had apparently had enough of experts was soon struck by a crisis that required expert skills - COVID-19. Despite bold statements and defiance of economists and policy experts over Brexit, Johnson was still a believer in the old style economic-scientific orthodoxy, and ultimately as questions rose over the death count from COVID his defence was based on claiming to have followed expert advice. However, a growing number of people at the time were questioning orthodoxy and coming up with new formulations of truth. The first expressions of which came in anti-mask, anti-vaccination, anti-lockdown and anti-5G movements.

In 2021, with the pandemic ebbing into it's long second phase, the Boris faced a second establishment revolt. A growing issue with second jobs and financial scandals caused a rift between Boris and factions in his party who relied on second jobs and illegal enterprises for income. A problem, for Boris, was dealing with the fact that he not only had to clean up the party but also defend himself against the same kind of accusations. His position became untenable.

The Conservative Party was at crossroads. Priti Patel was seen as too scary and forceful, Liz Truss was too gaffe prone, and Michael Gove left the contest after a scandal. This left a highly establishment moderate and an outsider candidate who was seen as a protest vote for backbench Tories and was never meant to be elected. Sunak won a lot of support in the country by charting a moderate course that was popular with liberals and the left. Cox aimed more at winning over people who were eligible to vote in the Conservative leaders election.

2022-2024: Sir Geoffrey Cox QC (Conservative)

Cox immediately found himself with a lower approval rating than Keir Starmer, and that was the honeymoon phase. While he was seen as the least bad option by his party he struggled to find a moral justification for his stance of ignoring the growing scandal over MP's business interests. Instead of trying, he tied himself to a series of culture war stances and government hand outs. For example, he banned trans women from women's competitive sport and established a rule that schools should fly the Union Jack; he deceased business rates, reduced alcohol taxes and reinstituted eat out to help out. During the period after the queen's death, when patriotism and his desire for a cheap payout was at its greatest, he even minted a special £5 coin commemorative coin and sent a copy to every home. The commemorative fiver would become a complete fiasco and a laughing stock.

Perhaps certain that they were going to lose the next election anyway, in 2023 the government closed Westminster for 15 years of renovations, selling this as them putting MPs into the real world, in the form of the QE2 Centre, next door to Westminster.

2024-2028: Sir Keir Starmer KCB QC (Labour)

By 2024 Starmer's election was seen as unavoidable. He won a significant majority and described his goal as being to "go forward from forensic opposition into evidence based leadership". His leadership was very much based on the old epistemology: academic and policy experts analyse data, present a reality, which then policy makers implement taking into account public opinion. An independent commission was set up to manage the House of Lords, with the goal of reducing it to 600 people by 2050 and to induct new members based on merit, with two thirds of the seats given to political appointments. Gender self-ID was quietly shelved in place of psychiatric professional bodies being given more rigorous training and powers to diagnose and get legal recognition for transgender identities quickly.

It was a time of rigorous evidence led policy, and, unfortunately, widespread economic collapse, a flare up of COVID and near war with Russia. Conspiracy theories, extremist movements and radical ideas abounded on all sides, from "Meghan Markle is part of a secret cabal of trans women" to "the UN is hiding the fact that the Earth will be uninhabitable by 2040". This was fine as long as the two parties represented establishment views, a state of affairs that existed for the first two months of Starmer's ministry.

2028-2037: Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative)

Moggism could be described as a fundamental and permanent break with the previous epistemic reality. It came at a time when this was necessary. Starting with Stonewall, the role of policy experts had become suspect, while outsider academics were creating successful ways to build platforms without relying on peer review. By 2035, less than half of research citations were to formal groups and peer reviewed studies.

Mogg's government rid itself of a large number of QUANGOs, think tanks and lobbying bodies and instead focused on collecting its ideas from specialist groups like churches, charities, businesses, and political campaigning bodies. MPs salaries had been frozen at £85,000 a year through Starmer's administration, but in his first year Mogg cut it to £76,500 and went on to cut funding to MP's offices, including replacing Short money with per MP expenses and grants.

In general, MPs were expected to be able to make up the shortfall through generating income and donations, to do this, MPs offices had to become commercial endeavours - producing policies or reports for particular businesses. A new model emerged where MP's offices served as a nexus for policy production, connecting influencers and stakeholders. This has advantages, for example Heathrow Airport invested heavily in developing its climate change policy and a lot of this research was directly applicable to the government's Green New Deal Plan. It had disadvantages in that the Green New Deal plan included £40 billion towards a refit of Heathrow Airport. Other examples of issues were the significant resources spent by homophobic churches towards the Equality and Freedom of Speech Act 2030 - which made much of Britain's laws against conversion therapy obsolete.

Mogg always intended to run the country from Westminster. But aside from a few symbolic debates this proved impossible. Not only was construction not finished but Westminster was highly inappropriate for the huge teams and technological infrastructure involved in running a modern parliament.

2037-2045: Gemma Bolton (Labour)

By the time Jacob Rees-Mogg left office the nature of politics had changed substantially. To counter the power of big business, left wing MPs had increasingly relied on crowd funders and patron subscriptions for income generation, the result was that trade unions were being sidelined and Labour MPs had increased financial reliance on their grassroots footsoldiers.

This had mixed results. Despite taking the leadership in 2032, Bolton did not manage to expel Rosie Duffield from the party until 2035 - she was bringing in money from a market that the party otherwise had difficulty accessing and was generous with donations to the central party. On the other hand, calling for Duffield's expulsion was a good business decision for most of the PLP. So while the party's organisation wanted to keep her, nobody wanted to actually say that. Over Bolton's premiership, the patron model would diffuse across the political spectrum.

Some heralded her leadership as a return to the old epistemology because it meant a return to the scientific consensus on climate change, vaccines, LGBT rights, etc. But this misses the point of Boltonism. Unlike the Mogg cabinet, Bolton's worked from the assumption that climate change was real. But this wasn't because Norwich had recently been evacuated after a bad flood, or due to the water wars in the former Saudi Arabia. It was because the XR caucus within Labour was rich and influential. Labour removed the rules against allowing school children to be transgender. But this was not because Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria had been disproven in 2021 and therefore shouldn't be the basis of government policy, it was because of school occupations and the social media campaign.

In many ways Boltonism completed the New Epistemology - MPs were now connected to both big business and grassroots movements. Where Mogg had reduced the importance of professional qualifications in Law, medicine, academia, teaching, etc; Bolton reduced the status of the church, royalty, etc. The House of Lords was replaced with an elected Senate, old fashioned ranks and awards associated with the British Empire were replaced with no grandfather clause, the powers of the monarch were severely curtailed.

Symbolically, in 2040 Bolton announced that Westminster would be reopened as a museum rather than a legislature. By the time she left office, West Ham had won the tender to build a new parliamentary estate in the site of the former London Airport. However, for the next 15 years Parliament was held in various venues across the country. It was either a golden age that bought politics back to the people, or an era of constant, pointless upheaval and chaos. Depending on who you ask.
 
By the time Jacob Rees-Mogg left office the nature of politics had changed substantially. To counter the power of big business, left wing MPs had increasingly relied on crowd funders and patron subscriptions for income generation, the result was that trade unions were being sidelined and Labour MPs had increased financial reliance on their grassroots footsoldiers.

I think you could easily have fit in the unions as donating to individual MPs too. Some of them are already looking at a move in that direction.

But overall, an entertaining read.
 
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