"The Commonwealth of Britain" - Republican UK Wikibox TL
- Thread starter powerab
- Start date
Final Epilogue Article
20 Years Later: What's Next For Britain
By Jason Cowley
There are students graduating from university this year who don't remember a Monarchy. For them, the Windsors are those grumpy old people a million miles away who occasionally lose another nation. But for those of us a little older who remember the old times, we have been through some of the most significant times in British history. We have seen the fall of a centuries-old institution, and the rise of something new, we have seen the "mother of all Parliaments" changed beyond recognition.
Britain's differences are multitude, I doubt we would have seen UKIP, the Greens, the SNP, the BNP or the Brexit Alliance break into mainstream politics the way they have in our fair Commonwealth, I doubt we would have seen nine consecutive years of Labour Government. Nigel Farage, Natalie Bennett, Nicola Sturgeon, in another world they might have been local Councillors at best, but here they are MPs, Home Secretaries and Premiers.
To say Britain has changed has been a running part of our "20 Years in the Commonwealth" series of articles, and is nothing new, from the "BBC Parliament London" channel on my TV, to Diana's beaming face on my fiver, I am very much aware Britain has changed. But I want to speak about the future. With the fog of Covid engulfing our planet the future is murkier than ever. First, there is the question of the vaccine, if all goes well we should be "back to normal" by late 2021/early 2022. If everything goes wrong, we could be in lockdown well into 2022.
There's also the issue of cohabitation, Michael Howard was the impiety of a well-behaved cohabiting President, a quiet statesman, only intervening when supremely necessary, I very much doubt Ed Miliband will be the same. The Labour sharks will be circling, and there is talk of a Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner or Andy Burnham replacing Miliband on the top ticket should he fail to impress Labour activists.
The stakes are also high for Mr Sunak, the 39-year-old is young and untested, he has few enemies within the Tory caucus, but also few friends, the party is famously ruthless, one slip is all it will take. With both men facing pressure from within, there is little insensitive to back down or compromise, which doesn't bode well for the next three years (at least) of cohabitation.
There is also the issue of Europe, Mr Sunak has promised a referendum as soon as covid is over, most officials expect 2022 to be the earliest such a referendum can take place, a year before Sunak has to face the voters again. Sunak is a committed Eurosceptic, and polls over Brexit are narrowing, if Britain comes out of the Covid recession just to face a sudden exit from the EU the consequences could be dire.
Britain is a greener, fairer, more pluralist place than it was twenty years ago, our nations and regions have a voice, and our political class is at least occasionally forced to cooperate. The Commonwealth was a strange little experiment but if you ask this bleeding heart lefty magazine editor it appears to be a success, it has survived the Diana Crisis, the Financial Crisis and now the Covid Crisis. The British state has a remarkable ability to reinvent itself when needed, the Commonwealth is not the first iteration of Britain I doubt it will be the last.
I'm not usually one for guache nationalism, but twenty years calls for a celebration, I for one will be popping open a bottle of champagne over Zoom and googling the lyrics to "A Land of Hope and Glory". The last twenty years have been fascinating, and for better or worse we have all lived in interesting times. Here's to 20 years more.
- New Statesman, 2020
Next Project
Thanks again to everyone who's followed this TL, and for the 40 people who voted for the Commonwealth in the Turtledoves! That was the last epilogue so this is the end. I'll still be around to answer questions and I'll resurrect the thread every few years for election results etc, but this is the end of the main story. I'm going to take a while off before I start my next TL, but I've had a couple of ideas for my next TL, and if anyone wants to input on what TL will be next, I've made a Survey Monkey at the bottom where people can vote (rank 1-3, with 1 being the favourite)
The ideas are as follows:
Vote for your favourite here
The ideas are as follows:
- Purple Rain - A UKIP TL
- A Very British Transition - The Aftermath of a British Junta
- Ode to Joy - A Federal Europe TL
Vote for your favourite here
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Sad to see this amazing TL end. But excited for what you'll write next. 
And those ideas all sound so good. It's going to be hard to choose haha
And those ideas all sound so good. It's going to be hard to choose hahaOnce I toyed witth the idea of making a British Transition, but I had just finished my Spanish trilogy and my mind was not up to it. Let's see how a real master does it...
This was very fun to watch and I really appreciated all the attention to detail. Can't wait to see the next TL. Hoping for the junta one--I remember making a wikibox where the coup failed, the Windsors (who were complicit) were exiled, and Harold Wilson was elected the first British President. I must say though--although I ranked the UKIP one the lowest, Purple Rain as a title is just *chef's kiss*
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Despite its premise being incredibly heretical, this was very well written. I look forwards to your next TL.
I loved this timeline Powerab, it's a power of a work. I'm really looking forward to reading whatever you write next!
One last question from me, how do you think the 2022 referendum will turn out? A lot of the push factors behind the result of OTL's referendum don't appear to be there in TTL. More prosperous and stronger regions, people feel less failed by the status quo, a Labour leader who will vocally argue for remain etc.
One last question from me, how do you think the 2022 referendum will turn out? A lot of the push factors behind the result of OTL's referendum don't appear to be there in TTL. More prosperous and stronger regions, people feel less failed by the status quo, a Labour leader who will vocally argue for remain etc.
It's hard to say, a lot could happen in two years. For the Remain team, they have the benefit of a sympathetic Labour leader/President, less austerity, more empowered regions and a greater role for the Liberal Democrats and Greens in national politics.
However ITTL we didn't have a pro-leave PM and a largely pro-leave Conservative half of the Cabinet, which we do now, we also didn't have Farage and co physically in Parliament with all that entails, and we didn't have eight years of BNP representation stirring the pot.
If the referendum was tomorrow I'd imagine Remain to win narrowly, but two years is a long time in politics.
Hard to say, I'm taking a break from TL writing for a while and I'll need some prep time so I can't really give a firm date
Take it easy, @powerab, Rest, take a break, then begin the brainstorming for the new TL, prepare and, when it's ripe...
It was very close but A Very British Transition had the most votes so that'll be most likely the next work I publish, detailed survey results below