"The Commonwealth of Britain" - Republican UK Wikibox TL
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Yes so currently polling has Le Pen far ahead in the first round but losing to whoever her opponent is in the second round, there's a four-way battle between LFI, LR, PS and EELV for second place with all four polling within the margin of error of each other. Macron was offered a job with Fillon but refused it, he remains in the Socialist Party, but is likely to play a large role as a staffer/fixer in the PS primary in 2021/22.
Hidalgo is still Mayor of Paris so she is a likely candidate for PS nomination, but Hollande remains a contender as he never became President ITTL as is Manuel Valls and Olivier Faure. Barnier is a possible LR candidate being close to Juppe, but he hasn't had the high profile created from Brexit negotiations, Dati and Kosciusko-Morizet are potential candidates as are Barion and Bertrand.
The First Round polling as of May 2020 is as follows:
- National Rally - 27%
- La France Insoumise - 16%
- The Republicans - 16%
- Socialist Party - 13%
- Europe Ecology – The Greens - 12%
- Democratic Movement - 9%
- Debout la France - 7%
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Epilogue Articles: Cohabitation
Why Cohabitation at this Time Could be Dangerous
By Robert Saunders
Ed Miliband is used to having his wings clipped, when he was first elected in 2014, his Prime Minister Ed Balls was loath to give up power and often ended up as the senior partner rather than the junior one, when Emily Thornberry became Prime Minister in 2017, Ed got a brief crack at the whip before it was wrested away from him by Rishi Sunak. We are now in the Commonwealth’s third Cohabitation Government.
With one party controlling Buckingham and the Senate and another holding to Commons, the main players of British politics will have to work together, whether they like it or not. There are rumours of Rishi manoeuvring to take the Senate Presidency off Diane Abbott “in the national interest” with the help of Labour rebels, but we will see if that materialises.
Previous periods of cohabitation do not bode well for the Miliband/Sunak duo, Micheal Howard frequently found himself in standoffs with Gordon Brown or Ed Balls, and with a pandemic raging through the country every delay, every amendment, and every Presidential veto counts.
Currently, Miliband seems disinclined to be a roadblock, he has seen the scale of Labour’s defeat and the public mood towards bickering politicians and wants to be seen as a constructive critic of the Government, but if Sunak’s cuts start to bite his darling projects, he might not hold his tongue.
With the Prime Minister and President having different views from Europe to the lockdown, there is little to suggest the gridlock and bickering of the last few years will pass in this cohabitation government.
If vaccines bear fruit, and the pandemic resolves itself by early 2022, both men will be fighting to take the credit, and with both the House and Senate up for grabs in 2023, no punches will be pulled.
Unity has an obvious appeal. But in a well-functioning society, disagreement is healthy. It is how we learn, how we expand and deepen the prevalence of ideas, and how we test our arguments against those of other people. What Britain needs is not “unity”, but the ability to disagree more constructively.
In 1999 Blair, Ashdown and others set out to create a more pluralistic, European style multi-party democracy they have succeeded, as Ming Campbell said we have a “Rainbow House” of Commons, but now the danger is most great and Britain is in the grips of a pandemic, maybe so many voices isn’t such a good thing.
Does the Commonwealth have a written constitution? I am a bit confused about the exact separation of powers between the PM and the President or The House of Commons and the Senate.
The PM is more or less the same. The Senate is like the House of Lords. The President is like the Queen and House of Lords.
The Commonwealth is a semi-presidential system, similar to France and Finland. The President's power varies, in periods where the President and the Prime Minister are from the same party, the President tends to be the de-facto senior partner due to their larger mandate, with the President and PM working closely together on their shared agenda day-to-day. When the Commonwealth enters a period of "cohabitation" where the two senior figures are from different parties, (such as between 2004-2008 and 2008-2014) the PM is the more senior figure, and the President is essentially limited to foreign policy and defence. The powers as written de-jure in the constitution are:
- The President handles foreign affairs in cooperation with the cabinet, is Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces and has some appointive powers mostly limited to Foreign Policy (ambassadors, European Commissioners etc). The President also has the power to veto laws, returning them to Parliament for another reading, but this veto can be overturned by a simple majority. The President also appoints the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, but all appointments must be approved by the Parliament and Senate.
- The Prime Minister acts as the Head of Government, ensuring the "smooth functioning" of day-to-day administration, such as proposing new legislation to the Parliament, writing the annual budget etc. The Prime Minister also "advises" the President on cabinet appointments.
Really? I thought the President actually wielded power and the senate actually mattered ITTL. Why would serious political figures compete for the presidency at all if the only thing that mattered REALLY was the PM job? It seems Miliband has actively made and shaped policy as have other presidents, so it can't be a ceremonial head of state position. If the senate was like the Lord's then the battles and Diane Abbott wouldn't be worth a damn.
Ah great! Thank you for clearing that up! You mentioned this grew out of designing a dream constitution, I don't suppose you wrote one up? Might be nice to have.
A large part of Ed Miliband's power is that Ed Balls and Emily Thornberry were PMs whilst he held the Presidency, meaning with his bully-pulpit and more prestigious job Miliband can direct the flow of Government, will Sunak in power his influence will be greatly curtailed. Michael Howard served as President for ten years but only had a friendly PM for a third of that time so his influence on British politics is greatly reduced. Serious political figures compete as it is a prestigious job, and when you have the Commons on side you can be very powerful.
The Senate's powers are generally very limited, being able to delay bills and send them back to the Commons. But they do have veto power over Confidence Votes, Budgets and Cabinet appointments, meaning control is important to the running of the Government. The Senate is also generally seen as more prestigious, as there are only 30 Senators per region you tend to get paid more, have a larger staff and generally have greater autonomy and media attention.
Unfortunately, the constitution design was a first-year uni project and my laptop packed in shortly after submitting it, so I was never able to retrieve the full thing.
Mentioning the President’s powers on nominations made me think about the EU: what’s the list of Commowealth Commissioners to EU Commission?
I've always been interested in the youth wings of political parties and how under-25s engage with politics. Perhaps because I got my own start in politics through the SNP's youth wing. Has there been any major change in how youth wings are run in TTL? Was the Conservative's youth wing still shut down for bullying?
EU Commissioners for the Commonwealth of Britain - 1999-
- Neil Kinnock 1999-2004 (Retired)
- Kenneth Clarke 2004-2010 (Resigned to seek a Senate seat in 2010)
- Michael Fallon - 2010-2014 (Sacked by President Miliband)
- Charlie Falconer - 2014-
Youth wings are fairly similar to OTL, when people under the age of 30 register as party supporters they can adopt to register with that party's youth wing, but most choose not to. Still, youth wing memberships remain considerably higher than OTL, due to more people being in political parties. Smaller parties like the Greens especially have bigger youth wings as they are now a viable option. The Conservatives have kept a better eye on their youth wing so it's still operation, the chair is Senator Sara Britcliffe.
Mandelson served as Senator for North East England from 1999-2011. Michael Howard refused to nominate anyone from Labour as Britain's Commissioner so he was passed over in 2004. After leaving politics he entered the private sector but remains a frequent pundit in the media. As of May 2020, he is planning a bid for WTO President.
What party would I, a man in his 30s who would consider the abolition of the monarchy no more than an act of treason, be a member of in this 2020? I would also, like OTL, be in favour of Brexit and, again like OTL, be of the opinion that England should have more of the power due to its size, population and economic strength.