THE GREAT OPPORTUNITY
An Alternate History
By
Alfie J Steer
An Alternate History
By
Alfie J Steer
Chapter One
Taking Power
(Taken from “The Deputy: 1992 - 2003” by Tony Blair, Random House 2010)
“…Gordon called me that morning and asked for us to meet. I was still reeling from the election and was very tired by the whole thing. But I knew it was very urgent. He suggested a small restaurant in Islington around lunch time. I agreed and caught the first train back to London. I knew already what he was going to tell me, and I already knew my response.
Ever since John died six years before Gordon had been seen as Neil’s natural successor. He had been Shadow Chancellor for six years and had become a very experience parliamentarian and minister. He was a strategic expert, a brilliant intellectual force. He was the man for the job, I already knew it. Perhaps if John was still with us he would have been the favourite, and maybe I could have stood. But right then, it was not to be.
I arrived at around two o’clock and we sat down at a table, I couldn’t eat anything, I was too nervous.
He didn’t beat around the bush. He knew what he was going to do, and what he wanted from me. He was going to stand and he wanted me on side. I was hardly surprised but tried to act it. He offered me Deputy Leadership and Foreign Secretary, Beckett was going to Home Secretary and Cook would be Chancellor. He said if we won in 1997, which didn’t seem certain at the time, he would go after six years and would support me if I stood for leadership.
I couldn't refuse…”
(Taken From “New Labour, New Socialism: A history of the Labour Party 1992 – 2012” By Andrew Marr, Pan Books 2012)
“…In July 1992 Gordon Brown was elected Leader of the Labour Party in a landslide victory, defeating challengers Bryan Gould and Michael Meacher. Tony Blair also became Deputy Leader almost unopposed with only John Prescott standing against him. Their plan had worked and the two became the face of the Labour Party. They embodied the image of modernisation, while still maintaining the roots of Labour’s heritage, a move which struck a chord with Labour supporters both old and new.
The first appearances they made in Parliament was greeted with a huge applause from the Labour seats, an applause they experienced ten times louder at the Labour Party Conference that September in Blackpool, a few days after what would one day be called “Black Wednesday”. The two men stood side by side on the grand conference stage, the brothers in arms, the hope the Labour hadn’t experienced for over a decade, and on the final night of that Conference, the two men made their maiden speeches…”
(Taken from Tony Blair’s speech to the Labour Party Conference, Blackpool 1992)
“…this is a new dawn for Britain; we have a new leader, with a new message, a new movement, a New Labour, a New Socialism! We will win, we will change Britain…”
(Taken from Gordon Brown’s speech to the Labour Party Conference, Blackpool 1992)
“…Comrades, Brothers, Sisters and Friends; I am delighted to be elected Leader of the Labour Party and honoured to be given this great opportunity to serve my country...”
(Taken from “From Thatcher to Hague: A History of British Prime Ministers: 1979 – 2019" By Andrew Rawnsley, Harper Collins 2019)
“…Labour were back, with a new leader, a new deputy and a new movement. On that rainy night in Blackpool as thousands of people crammed into the huge building of the Labour Party Conference, the “New Labour Movement” was born.
The most influential political ideology since Thatcherism was taking its first steps on a modest stage in Blackpool. It was the beginning of New Labour Socialism…”
(Taken from “The Modernizer” by Sir Gordon Brown, Random House 2005)
“…I had finally done it. The job I had wanted since I was fifteen was finally mine. I was honoured and delighted. This was my chance to make the country a fairer, more equal and more prosperous place. I could not afford to fail…”
(Taken from “Brown and Blair: The Rise and Fall” By Robert Harris, Random House 2007)
“…Once the conference was over it was time for the two men to get to work. The Conservatives had dropped in popularity due to Black Wednesday and it was time for Labour to capitalise on that. For the Conservatives it was a disaster, they were in second place in the polls. They would stay there for over twenty years.
Brown and Blair became the political double act. Seemingly inseparable in Parliament, Television interviews and on the numerous public appearances they made that year, sending out the message of their news movement. In the weeks following Black Wednesday the two were at the for front of burrowing into the then Prime Minister John Major, while Robin Cook the new Shadow Chancellor attacked Norman Lamont for his failure to prevent the crisis.
Gordon Brown described Lamont and Major as “the Chuckle Brothers of British politics” while Tony Blair famously called Major a “Weak Prime Minister in a weak Government”
The Labour attack had dealt a heavy blow and was a work of strategic genius. They showed themselves as a new Party moving on from the days of Michael Foot and Neil Kinnock but still calling onto their previous successes of Gaitskell, Attlee and Wilson. They attacked the government’s economic policy but refrained from returning to Labour’s “Tax and Spend” economics. A move Gordon Brown was determined to stick to.
By the end of December 1992 Brown and Blair were beginning their climb to power. They had begun their march to the door of No.10…”
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