Marching to a Different Tune: Britannia Part 1
Merry Old England
or
The Good Ones
Land of Hope and Glory
The British Empire is a paragon of liberal order. Stretching over every continent and almost entirely unchallenged in her dominance, the rapid victory of her forces in the Great European War of 1914-1915 cemented an imperial authority that had existed for a century. Now, more than 2 centuries into
Pax Britannica, the world exists in the form of Great Britain. The isolationist united states is one of the world's few republics and Russia one of her few autocracies; a system of global constitutional monarchy are united by the Council of Nations and the kindly but firm hand of the British Commonwealth, world police. The state is openly liberal and human rights are plentiful, though military service is mandatory for 2 years and devotion to the state is common. Internationally peace has reigned since the Great European War and decolonisation, whilst slow, resulted in stable democracies across Africa. The UK's close friends, the Indian Empire, Chinese Republic, Japanese Republic and French Kingdom all have similar, multi-party parliamentary systems and help sustain this status quo. It is rare for Britain not to be at war with one rebel group or another, be it religious fundamentalists in India, Communists across Africa and Fascists in South America, she is always ready to burst onto the scene and deliver a short sharp shock of English decency and democracy, whether the locals asked for it or not.
Britain's parties are varied and somewhat confusing to American and other observers; the
Radical Progress Party are a social democratic party with socialist and social liberal wings, considered the dominant party since the 70s they have established a status quo of social democracy and racial equality, they see themselves as the true heirs of both the Liberal and Labour parties although this is contested by... The
Free Unionists, opposed to devolution but otherwise rather syncretic and divided. Some wings are socially liberal, others socially conservative, most accept the social democratic status quo but others seek a freer market, certainly more isolationist than most other parties they are nevertheless seen as wholly "moderate", they too see themselves as the sons of Liberals as do...
Freedom Forever, now languishing and banished from parliaments, they are what little remains of the "Lloyd-Georgian"
Freedom Party, established after the split of the Liberals in 1918. Whilst technically adhering to "New Liberal" policies, since their reformation they have truthfully been Libertarian.
Farmer-Labour are the only major party without a liberal heritage, moulded as much after the now firmly DeLeonist american Farmer Labor Party as their predecessors in Labour, they seek to bring radical socialism to the UK and have often gotten closer than you might think. Finally the Technocratic "
Forward!" are a new force in British politics but want to bring "scientific" government to Britain and the commonwealth whilst the "
People's Movement" is an authoritarian, far right movement famous for little more than their founder and sole MP, pseudo-fascist rabble rouser Pat Morrissey.
Utopia rating: 7/10
1917-1922 Christopher Addison (Liberal, then "Government" Liberal-"Progressive" Labour Coalition)
def. 1918 Frederick Smith (Conservative and Unionist), David Lloyd George ("Rebel" Liberal), James Parker ("Progressive" Labour), William Anderson ("Socialist" Labour)
1922-1923 Sir Edward Carson (Conservative and Unionist)
1923-1926 James Parker (Radical Liberal/Progressive Labour Alliance)
1926-1934 F.D. Acland (Radical Progress)
def. 1927 Sir Edward Carson (Conservative and Unionist), David Lloyd George (Freedom), Tom Johnston (Worker's and Farmers')
def. 1932 Sir Edward Carson (British Union), Tom Johnston (Farmer-Labour), Gwendolyn Lloyd George (Freedom)
1934-1948 Megan Lloyd George (Freedom minority, later majority)
def. 1934 F.D. Acland (RadProg) Harry Crookshank (British Union) James Shillaker (Farmer-Labour)
def. 1939 Harry Crookshank (British Union) Nye Bevan (RadProg) Wilfred Witelley (Farmer-Labour)
def. 1944 Osbert Peake (British Union) Eric Blair (Farmer-Labour) Nye Bevan (RadProg)
1948-1949 John Keynes (Freedom minority, later majority)
1949-1960 Robert Eden (British Union)
def. 1949 Hugh Dalton (RadProg) John Keynes (Freedom) Eric Blair (Farmer-Labour)
def. 1954 Hugh Dalton (RadProg) Eric Lubbock (Freedom) Ethel Mannin (Farmer-Labour)
def. 1959 Hugh Dalton (RadProg) Ethel Mannin (Farmer-Labour) Eric Lubbock (Freedom)
1960-1964 Iain Macleod (British Union)
1964-1975 Cledwyn Hughes (Radical Progress)
def. 1964 Ethel Mannin (Farmer-Labour) Robert Eden (British Union) Harold Macmillan (Freedom)
def. 1969 Harold Macmillan (Freedom) Ethel Mannin (Farmer-Labour) David Hunt (British Union)
def. 1974 (May) Harold Macmillan (Freedom) David Hunt (British Union) Ethel Mannin (Farmer-Labour)
def. 1974 (December) Peter Walker (British Union) George Brown (Freedom) Ted Grant (Farmer-Labour)
1975-1990 Winston Healey (Radical Progress)
def. 1979 Hugh Fraser (British Union) George Brown (Freedom) Ted Grant (Farmer-Labour)
def. 1984 George Brown (Freedom) Hugh Fraser (British Union) Andrew Murray (Farmer-Labour)
def. 1989 David Steel (Freedom) Andrew Murray (Farmer-Labour) Peter Thorneycroft (Unionist)
1990-1992 Gordon Brown (Radical Progress)
1992-1995 Leo Blair Jr (Freedom/British Union Coalition, later Free Unionist)
def. 1992 Gordon Brown (Radical Progress) Eric Joyce (Farmer-Labour) Bill Cash (Unionist)
1995-2001 Malcolm Bruce (Free Unionist)
def. 1997 Gordon Brown (Radical Progress), John McDonnell (Farmer-Labour), David Lloyd George III (Freedom Forever)
2001-2005 Gordon Brown (Radical Progress/Farmer-Labour Alliance)
def. 2001 Malcolm Bruce (Free Unionist), David Lloyd George III (Freedom Forever) Harpal Brar (Farmer-Labour),
2005-2012 Laura Sandys (Free Unionist)
def. 2007 Gordon Brown (Radical Progress), Ella Rule (Farmer-Labour), Reeve Musk (Forward!), David Lloyd George III (Freedom Forever)
2012-Present Justine Thornton (Radical Progress)
def. 2012 Laura Sandys (Free Unionist), Ella Rule (Farmer-Labour), Reeve Musk (Forward!), Pat Morrissey (People's Movement)
def. 2017 Shane Legg (Forward!), Steve Hilton (Free Unionist), Nina Temple (Farmer-Labour), Pat Morrisey (People's Movement)
When the revolution came for Britain, it didn't come in fire and blood but in song and strike. The General Strike of 1921, with the explicit support of the young but radical Prince Edward crashed not one but two governments and, following the Purple Election of 1921, ushered in a radical government of socialist reform. Unlike in Russia, where Leninism created the Eurasian Union, or France where the Sorelians created a militant, national syndicalist state, Britain's revolution blossomed into the Popular Commonwealth of Britain and Ireland. A repesentitive, non-partisan democracy run by a directly elected Chamber of the People and a Union-run (but still elective) TUC. By 2018 the PCBI is one of the world's superpowers but a quiet and background one, her head of Government, the First Citizen, is elected for long terms but has little actual power other than appointing the cabinet who in turn od most if not all of the governing. Out of tradition, there is a soft limit of 3 terms. For many years the First Citizen was in name independent however when the factions within the Chamber became more and more outspoken, Anthony Benn ran openly as a candidate of the Guild and TUSC factions, starting official party politics at the top.
The Guild Socialists are Libertarian Socialists and Internationalists, in favour of cooperative economics and workplace democracy, often seen as the "Natural Ruling Party", they are usually the largest faction and it is their ideology to which the Commonwealth most closely sticks. The United Centralists are the children of the ILP, openly Marxist and in favour of a more active, powerful central government, they are considered the main opposition as well as somewhat pro-Militarist and social conservative. Reform were once a powerful faction but now tend to take a backseat, the most openly feminist faction they are also the most right wing and favour only gradual steps to socialism as well as Detente with the Capitalist world. Finally TUSC are an alliance of trade unionists and syndicalists who stick near to the Guild in recent years but favour a more radical and openly syndicalist economy as well as the strengthening of the TUC and are broadly pacifist.
Utopia rating 8.9/10
First Citizens of the Popular Commonwealth of the British Isles
1921-1942 Edward "Red Ed" Windsor (Popular Front then Independent, unofficially Guild)
def. 1921 unopposed
def. 1928 various (Independent)
def. 1935 James Campbell (Centralist), Fmr General Clem Attlee (Reform)
1942-1949 Chuter Ede (Independent, unofficially Centralist)
def. 1942 William Beveridge (Guild), A.V. Alexander (Reform), EJB Allen (Trade Unionist/Syndicalist Coalition), John Gollan (Communitarian)
1949-1956 B.A.W. Russell (Independent, unofficially Guild/Reform)
def. 1949 Chuter Ede (Centralist), EJB Allen (TUSC), Joan Beachamp (Communitarian)
1956-1977 Richard Acland (Independent, unofficially Guild/Reform)
def. 1956 Dennis Healey (Centralist/Communitarian Alliance), EJB Allen (TUSC)
def. 1963 Dennis Healey (United Centralist), Anthony Benn (TUSC)
def. 1970 Jim Prior (United Centralist), Joseph Dean (TUSC)
1977-1998 Anthony Benn (Guild/TUSC)
def. 1977 Dick Tavern (Reform), Josephine McAliskey (United Centralist)
def. 1984 Dennis Thatcher (Reform), Andy Brooks (United Centralist)
def. 1991 Andy Brooks (United Centralist), Deborah Schabert (Reform)
1998-2012 Tilda Swinton (United Centralist)
def. 1998 Dr Gordon Brown (Guild), Jeremy Corbyn (TUSC), Rebecca Williams (Reform)
def. 2005 Dr Gordon Brown (Guild/TUSC/Reform Alliance)
2012-Present Hillary Benn (Guild/TUSC/Reform "Grand Alliance")
def. 2012 Tilda Swinton (United Centralist)
(There was going to be more but it took me so bloody long to finish these 2, so this is what you get, enjoy!)