1975-1990: Margaret Thatcher (Radical)
1975 def - Edward Heath (The Centre), William Whitelaw (Unionist), Geoffrey Howe (Free Liberal), James Prior (Christian Democratic), Hugh Fraser (Union of Workers and Farmers)
1989 def - Anthony Meyer ("Rogue" Radical)
When Margaret Thatcher was elected President of the Commonwealth of Great Britain in 1975, defeating previous President Ted Heath as his Liberal and Christian Democratic Allies abandoned him, few would have expected her to become a dictator. Yet she did, albeit through dubiously constitutional means based, in part on the expectation that Britain's PR system would never give any party a legislative majority, and the stipulation that a President need only resign if they lost a vote in the legislature. This hybrid system should have included a formal term limit, yet only a four year convention existed, and so when Thatcher assumed power with a huge majority (which she would see returned, if diminished, at elections in 1979 and 1983, and which would allow her to form a minority in the Commons in 1987) she was able to keep going on... and on, and on. Implementing radically deregulatory policies, Thatcher transformed Britain from a dwindling nation dominated by aristocrats to a Great Power capable of competing with her European rivals once more. It was only with the loss of her majority in 1987 and then her attempts or reintroduce a flat rate of tax whilst simultaneously appropriating the last of Britain's old aristocratic estates that Thatcher was overthrown in the legislature, triggering a Presidential election in which she was faced by one of her own ministers. Whilst she won, she was forced to step down just one year later after failing to secure a legislative majority once more and, with allegations about illegal uses of the sceurity services to silence dissent, her Radical party was thrown out in a landslide...
1990-1997: John Major (Christian Democratic)
1990 def - Michael Heseltine (The Centre), Douglas Hurd (Unionist), Margaret Thatcher (Radical)
1995 def - John Redwood (Unionist)
John Major had been an unlikely leader of the radical opposition to the Thatcher years; a banker who had never gone to university, Major eventually found himself embroiled in the politics of London's Christian Trade Unions and their campaign to capture control of all of the city's Poor Law Boards in the late 70s, rising to prominence in the socially conservative but distributist CDP as a result. When Thatcher was forced to face election in 1989 he did not stand against her for fear of violence towards his family, but with her second defeat (and after a period of one year as leader of the opposition) he stood and won a remarkable victory, promising to restore democracy to Britain. Unfortunately Major's term would be dogged by the eocnomic hangover of Thatcherite free-trading radicalism, and though he would win re-election handily five years later (after writing a formal constitutional amendment providing for a Presidential election at least every five years), he would struggle on for two more win a Unionist legislative majority and a resurgent Radical party (which had found itself easily bale to regroup around its old entrenched power bases after sitting out the 1995 Presidential election). The far-right John Redwood had primarily made the 95 election about Major's proposed "Continental Alliance" with France, and when the plan was beaten in 1997, Major stepped down and refused to contest the Presidential election.
1997-2001: William Hague (Radical)
1997 def - Kenneth Clarke (Christian Democratic), John Redwood (Unionist), Peter Lilley (Libertarian), Michael Howard (Democratic)
Enter William Hague. A young, reformist, radical who had reached national prominence under Thatcher's guidance, Hague would become the youngest President in British history when he beat Ken Clarke in 1997 and restored the Radicals to power after just 7 years in the wilderness. Nevertheless, Hague was to be a very different leader to Thatcher, happily admitting the need to impose constitutional limitations, and revised the Presidentil tenure down to just four years. In part this wasn't because Hague did not need to cling to power in the same way Thatcher did - her tenure, spanning the middle of the second Victorian Era had largely crushed the power of the old established institutions which most Radicals had believed would be used to covertly remove a radical government from power, as had been done to Austen Chamberlain and Harold Macmillan. By 1997 this seemed a world away, in part because Thatcher, through extreme methods, had genuinely used dictatorship to create a fairer democracy less manipulated by entrenched interests. Despite his bets intentions, however, Hague would be an uninteresting premier, primarily grappling with the frequent strikes launched by Tony Blair's semi-paramilitary Christian Workers League, especially over fuel shortages in 1999-2000. Hague would pass little meaningful legislation, though again this wasn't in part because the Radicals were still exhausted from 15 years in power, and had implemented almost all of their political programs...
2001-2003: Iain Duncan-Smith (Democratic Unionist)
2001 def - Kenneth Clarke (Christian Democratic), Michael Portillo (Radical), David Davis (Libertarian), Michael Ancram (Scottish)
It was, however, still disappointing when Michael Portillo sunk down to third place in 2001s Presidential election in the face of a more radical challenge to the Radical Party from David Davis, and due to the loss of Scots voters to the new Scottish Party. Moreover, the new Democratic Unionist Party (a merger of the older and increasingly right wing Unionist Party and Michael Howard's 1997 Law and Order Presidential campaign) was able to mobilise many anti-establishment voters alienated by both major parties. Iain Duncan-Smith would be a fervent supporter of conservatism at home and restraint abroad, arguing for withdrawal from all foreign obligations, whilst cracking down on "overly charitable" poor law boards and ensuring that Outdoor Relief was only given to those truly "deserving" (largely those with no need of it). It was no wonder then that IDS was assassinated just two years into his term by a disgruntled unemployed worker from London whose family had been split up by the Limehouse Workhouse.
2003-2005: Michael Howard (Democratic Unionist)
Surprisingly, the British Constitution was in fact very vague about what to do if a President died in office. It did not say a new Presidential election should be held, but it also did not say who should become President, so many argued one should be held anyway. Instead, the government elevated Prime Minister Michael Howard to the Presidency, a controversy which reinvigorated a moribund Radical Party, which took to the streets in protest at the government's abuses of power. Led by young Radical aristocrat David Cameron, the party stormed ahead in Mass Observation polls, especially as Howard used soldiers to break up protestors in London, Manchester and Birmingham. So devastated by Howard's autocratic rule was the Democratic Unionist Party that, when he resigned four months before the election was scheduled, they were not even able to nominate a Presidential candidate.
2005-2016: David Cameron (Radical)
2005 def - David Davis (Libertarian - The Change Coalition), Liam Fox (Scottish), Kenneth Clarke (Christian Democratic)
The Cameron years would see a return to the authoritarian Radicalsim of Margaret Thatcher, in a way which crushed so many dreams of a true radical revival. With the CDP still languishing and David Davis' Libertarians burning themselves out as they seemed less and less like Britain's true Radical force, Cameron was able to win despite starting out as the outsider candidate. Few believe Cameron actually set out to establish a dictatorship, but a series of early crises (including efforts by opponents in Parliament to call an early election in 2007 and Governor of the Bank of England Gordon Brown's "intentional crash" in 2008) forced him to become more authoritarian, cancelling the 2009 elections in order to weed out the corrupt elements of Britain's financial system which had sought to undermine the Radicals. From there things just got more and more difficult; in 2010 Ed Miliband, a prominent Union leader killed his own brother the Independent Sodialist MP David in a duel, provoking a series of riots across the North, again leading to a suspension of elections, followed by the disastrous resignation of Chancellor David Laws when his homosexuality was revealed, again promoting riots led by the CDP, a farcical turn of events was repeated after the Ambassador to France Chris Huhne was revealed to be being blackmailed by the French government in 2012 causing a diplomatic crisis. The ultimate crisis, however, came in 2014 when a rebellion by "Highland" Scottish Nationalists forced the widely anticipated 2014 election to be cancelled. Soon the people turned against Cameron, however, and he was removed from office in 2016 after a popular uprising by an alliance of working class rioters and aristocratic financiers.
2016-0000: Theresa May (Christian Democratic)
2016 def - Andrea Leadsom (Radical), Michael Gove ("Highland" Scottish), Stephen Crabb (Democratic Unionist), Liam Fox ("Border" Scottish)
It remains to be seen whether Theresa May will be the Major to Cameron's Thatcher, but she has already proven herself quite the authoritarian, exploiting the divided Scottish Nationalists to revoke devolved powers, and forcing Andrea Leadsom to resign from Parliament over claims that May was barren and unable to bear a child. Whilst seemingly the protégée of Kenneth Clarke and a distrubutist social conservative, May and her husband Phillip seem frighteningly comortorable with the bankers with whom they are in bed, and many worry May will be yet another disappointment...
(Yes I know someone posted theirs here first but I'd finished mine and posted it in my test thread ages ago).
1975 def - Edward Heath (The Centre), William Whitelaw (Unionist), Geoffrey Howe (Free Liberal), James Prior (Christian Democratic), Hugh Fraser (Union of Workers and Farmers)
1989 def - Anthony Meyer ("Rogue" Radical)
When Margaret Thatcher was elected President of the Commonwealth of Great Britain in 1975, defeating previous President Ted Heath as his Liberal and Christian Democratic Allies abandoned him, few would have expected her to become a dictator. Yet she did, albeit through dubiously constitutional means based, in part on the expectation that Britain's PR system would never give any party a legislative majority, and the stipulation that a President need only resign if they lost a vote in the legislature. This hybrid system should have included a formal term limit, yet only a four year convention existed, and so when Thatcher assumed power with a huge majority (which she would see returned, if diminished, at elections in 1979 and 1983, and which would allow her to form a minority in the Commons in 1987) she was able to keep going on... and on, and on. Implementing radically deregulatory policies, Thatcher transformed Britain from a dwindling nation dominated by aristocrats to a Great Power capable of competing with her European rivals once more. It was only with the loss of her majority in 1987 and then her attempts or reintroduce a flat rate of tax whilst simultaneously appropriating the last of Britain's old aristocratic estates that Thatcher was overthrown in the legislature, triggering a Presidential election in which she was faced by one of her own ministers. Whilst she won, she was forced to step down just one year later after failing to secure a legislative majority once more and, with allegations about illegal uses of the sceurity services to silence dissent, her Radical party was thrown out in a landslide...
1990-1997: John Major (Christian Democratic)
1990 def - Michael Heseltine (The Centre), Douglas Hurd (Unionist), Margaret Thatcher (Radical)
1995 def - John Redwood (Unionist)
John Major had been an unlikely leader of the radical opposition to the Thatcher years; a banker who had never gone to university, Major eventually found himself embroiled in the politics of London's Christian Trade Unions and their campaign to capture control of all of the city's Poor Law Boards in the late 70s, rising to prominence in the socially conservative but distributist CDP as a result. When Thatcher was forced to face election in 1989 he did not stand against her for fear of violence towards his family, but with her second defeat (and after a period of one year as leader of the opposition) he stood and won a remarkable victory, promising to restore democracy to Britain. Unfortunately Major's term would be dogged by the eocnomic hangover of Thatcherite free-trading radicalism, and though he would win re-election handily five years later (after writing a formal constitutional amendment providing for a Presidential election at least every five years), he would struggle on for two more win a Unionist legislative majority and a resurgent Radical party (which had found itself easily bale to regroup around its old entrenched power bases after sitting out the 1995 Presidential election). The far-right John Redwood had primarily made the 95 election about Major's proposed "Continental Alliance" with France, and when the plan was beaten in 1997, Major stepped down and refused to contest the Presidential election.
1997-2001: William Hague (Radical)
1997 def - Kenneth Clarke (Christian Democratic), John Redwood (Unionist), Peter Lilley (Libertarian), Michael Howard (Democratic)
Enter William Hague. A young, reformist, radical who had reached national prominence under Thatcher's guidance, Hague would become the youngest President in British history when he beat Ken Clarke in 1997 and restored the Radicals to power after just 7 years in the wilderness. Nevertheless, Hague was to be a very different leader to Thatcher, happily admitting the need to impose constitutional limitations, and revised the Presidentil tenure down to just four years. In part this wasn't because Hague did not need to cling to power in the same way Thatcher did - her tenure, spanning the middle of the second Victorian Era had largely crushed the power of the old established institutions which most Radicals had believed would be used to covertly remove a radical government from power, as had been done to Austen Chamberlain and Harold Macmillan. By 1997 this seemed a world away, in part because Thatcher, through extreme methods, had genuinely used dictatorship to create a fairer democracy less manipulated by entrenched interests. Despite his bets intentions, however, Hague would be an uninteresting premier, primarily grappling with the frequent strikes launched by Tony Blair's semi-paramilitary Christian Workers League, especially over fuel shortages in 1999-2000. Hague would pass little meaningful legislation, though again this wasn't in part because the Radicals were still exhausted from 15 years in power, and had implemented almost all of their political programs...
2001-2003: Iain Duncan-Smith (Democratic Unionist)
2001 def - Kenneth Clarke (Christian Democratic), Michael Portillo (Radical), David Davis (Libertarian), Michael Ancram (Scottish)
It was, however, still disappointing when Michael Portillo sunk down to third place in 2001s Presidential election in the face of a more radical challenge to the Radical Party from David Davis, and due to the loss of Scots voters to the new Scottish Party. Moreover, the new Democratic Unionist Party (a merger of the older and increasingly right wing Unionist Party and Michael Howard's 1997 Law and Order Presidential campaign) was able to mobilise many anti-establishment voters alienated by both major parties. Iain Duncan-Smith would be a fervent supporter of conservatism at home and restraint abroad, arguing for withdrawal from all foreign obligations, whilst cracking down on "overly charitable" poor law boards and ensuring that Outdoor Relief was only given to those truly "deserving" (largely those with no need of it). It was no wonder then that IDS was assassinated just two years into his term by a disgruntled unemployed worker from London whose family had been split up by the Limehouse Workhouse.
2003-2005: Michael Howard (Democratic Unionist)
Surprisingly, the British Constitution was in fact very vague about what to do if a President died in office. It did not say a new Presidential election should be held, but it also did not say who should become President, so many argued one should be held anyway. Instead, the government elevated Prime Minister Michael Howard to the Presidency, a controversy which reinvigorated a moribund Radical Party, which took to the streets in protest at the government's abuses of power. Led by young Radical aristocrat David Cameron, the party stormed ahead in Mass Observation polls, especially as Howard used soldiers to break up protestors in London, Manchester and Birmingham. So devastated by Howard's autocratic rule was the Democratic Unionist Party that, when he resigned four months before the election was scheduled, they were not even able to nominate a Presidential candidate.
2005-2016: David Cameron (Radical)
2005 def - David Davis (Libertarian - The Change Coalition), Liam Fox (Scottish), Kenneth Clarke (Christian Democratic)
The Cameron years would see a return to the authoritarian Radicalsim of Margaret Thatcher, in a way which crushed so many dreams of a true radical revival. With the CDP still languishing and David Davis' Libertarians burning themselves out as they seemed less and less like Britain's true Radical force, Cameron was able to win despite starting out as the outsider candidate. Few believe Cameron actually set out to establish a dictatorship, but a series of early crises (including efforts by opponents in Parliament to call an early election in 2007 and Governor of the Bank of England Gordon Brown's "intentional crash" in 2008) forced him to become more authoritarian, cancelling the 2009 elections in order to weed out the corrupt elements of Britain's financial system which had sought to undermine the Radicals. From there things just got more and more difficult; in 2010 Ed Miliband, a prominent Union leader killed his own brother the Independent Sodialist MP David in a duel, provoking a series of riots across the North, again leading to a suspension of elections, followed by the disastrous resignation of Chancellor David Laws when his homosexuality was revealed, again promoting riots led by the CDP, a farcical turn of events was repeated after the Ambassador to France Chris Huhne was revealed to be being blackmailed by the French government in 2012 causing a diplomatic crisis. The ultimate crisis, however, came in 2014 when a rebellion by "Highland" Scottish Nationalists forced the widely anticipated 2014 election to be cancelled. Soon the people turned against Cameron, however, and he was removed from office in 2016 after a popular uprising by an alliance of working class rioters and aristocratic financiers.
2016-0000: Theresa May (Christian Democratic)
2016 def - Andrea Leadsom (Radical), Michael Gove ("Highland" Scottish), Stephen Crabb (Democratic Unionist), Liam Fox ("Border" Scottish)
It remains to be seen whether Theresa May will be the Major to Cameron's Thatcher, but she has already proven herself quite the authoritarian, exploiting the divided Scottish Nationalists to revoke devolved powers, and forcing Andrea Leadsom to resign from Parliament over claims that May was barren and unable to bear a child. Whilst seemingly the protégée of Kenneth Clarke and a distrubutist social conservative, May and her husband Phillip seem frighteningly comortorable with the bankers with whom they are in bed, and many worry May will be yet another disappointment...
(Yes I know someone posted theirs here first but I'd finished mine and posted it in my test thread ages ago).
yes Jewish emancipation has happened, though not energy as happily or popularly as IOTL, but this Britain is still very Puritan and old fashioned in its values (see the surviving work houses). It started out quite "normal" but I decided a world where Margaret Thatcher is a figure on the left would need a bold and distant POD and decided to have fun with the retrograde aspects of this society. Also I've been reading about the Work Houses and Poor Law a lot as part of university pre-reading which played a big role in inspiring this!
