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[1] Macmillan's resignation in 1963 paved the way for R. A. Butler to finally become Prime Minister. Butler's time in office would be dominated by a preparation for the upcoming general election. Butler's tenure in office would see the government's electoral fortunes turn around. While the Conservatives would not win the general election, they would see to it that the lead the Labour Party had formerly enjoyed, had been reduced to a mere two seat majority. This herculean feat could be considered to have been as a result of public uncertainty over the Labour Party's economic policy, as well as several results, such as Smethwick, which bucked the national trend and swung from Labour to the Conservatives.

[2] During the first year of the new Labour government, the party would be dealt a major blow in the form of the Leyton by-election, engineered by the party leadership so as to allow the Foreign Secretary Patrick Gordon Walker to re-enter into the Commons after his loss in Smethwick in 1964. This backfired as the popular local Tory candidate won a surprise victory in the by-election. This would see a minor, but significant, reshuffle in the new government, Richard Crossman would be shifted from the Home Office to replace Gordon Walker; Home Office Minister Bob Mellish would be promoted to the position of Home Secretary. The government would be left with no majority and would be unable to engage in its proposed renationalisation program, due to two right-wing Labour MPs, Desmond Donnelly and Woodrow Wyatt opposing such policies. The Chancellor, Anthony Greenwood, would resign in frustration in April 1965, bemoaning the government's inability to press ahead with a more left-wing economic policy. Disagreements over the devaluing of the pound, something that Greenwood supporter, and which Callaghan was reluctant to press ahead with. In Greenwood's place the Prime Minister would appoint Tony Crosland as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Conflict within the Tory Party over foreign policy (after Shadow Defence Secretary Enoch Powell gave a speech arguing for withdrawal from East of Suez; a direct snub to the United States.) Questions were raised over Butler's leadership (or lack thereof), though he would remain in place. Crossman's brief tenure at the Home Office had seen a PMB introduced by Sydney Silverman, advocating the temporary suspension of the death penalty, was passed. After such a vote the new Home Secretary, Bob Mellish, was committed to preventing any further social change in the United Kingdom during his tenure at the Home Office. Moves to liberalise abortion, contraception and sodomy laws were blocked either by Mellish's direct actions, or by his reliance on 'Bob's Boys' - a group of social conservative Labour MPs (Simon & Peter Mahon, Walter Alldritt and Leo Abse) who would work together to kill PMBs on certain social questions (namely David Steel's abortion PMB in 1965.) The government would also see a gradual de-jure British withdrawal from South Arabia, installing the anti-communist FLOSY group under Abdullah al Asnag, in power. This, coupled with Tory divisions and the popularity of the government, would contribute to Labour's returning with nearly 380 seats at the 1966 general election. Silverman would be punished in his Nelson & Colne seat, where he would be defeated by a Tory backed candidacy from the ENP of Patrick Downey, the uncle of one of the victims of the Moors Murderers - he ran on a decidedly pro-death penalty ticket. After the election, relations with the United States began to decline further, through the actions of the Foreign Secretary, Richard Crossman (who would be called "a lazy S.O.B. by President Johnson during a visit in 1967), the county would begin to lapse on its NATO commitments. The US were especially irked by the government's refusal to get involved in Vietnam and its withdrawal from South Arabia (where a communist revolt was expected.) Relations with Israel would improve during this period; an intervention of advisors to Biafra to aid the Igbo people was also proposed, though nothing would come of this. The 1968 Conservative leadership election would see Iain Macleod propelled to a narrow victory over Enoch Powell and Reginald Maudling (who was harmed by his support of his daughter, who bore an illegitimate child.) UK efforts to join the EEC would be further frustrated with French President Charles de Gaulle's use of a veto once again in 1969. The Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1969 would see a general move to tighten immigration laws - this would pass with backbench Tory support. This was not enough for Wyatt and Donnelly who would split off to form their own 'Democratic Party' in 1969. The passage of the bill was condemned and applauded from many different quarters - Ian Gilmour, Iain Macleod and the Beatles (with their 'Commonwealth' song which directly referenced Mellish) would be strong opponents of Mellish and his immigration reforms. In Northern Ireland the position of the embattled UUP leader Terence O'Neill would come to a head with the bombing of a water reservoir by loyalists in 1969 - he would be replaced by critic and former government minister Brian Faulkner, who defeated O'Neill's (equally critical) cousin James Chichester-Clark, by a single vote. British troops, with assurances of support for the B Specials and the RUC, from Mellish, would be met with warmth from Irish Catholic Nationalists. During this period the Liberal Party would elect the social liberal Eric Lubbock as its new leader, making the potential of Liberal support for the Conservatives in the event of a hung parliament more likely. Heading into 1970 the government would receive a shock concerning the nation's finances, leading to Crosland making the unpopular decision of devaluing the pound. Increases in taxation across the board were seen to 'lessen the blow' (in the words of the Foreign Secretary.) Heading into the election year of 1970, Callaghan would see to it that the cabinet would be 'spring cleaned' appointing loyal Ministers to his government, in place of more rebellious Ministers. Mellish would introduce The Misuse of Drugs Act 1970, a hardline anti-drug bill which would see drug use, possession, dealing, and production, dealt with seriously by the authorities. in cabinet the legislation was criticised by the Education Secretary Roy Jenkins; he would be attacked by Mellish who branded him a “supreme sodomite and evangelist for permissiveness.” The publication of a white paper written by Harold Wilson and Barbara Castle was met with fury from Number 10 who threatened the two with immediate removal from office. Callaghan's address to a generally belligerent TUC was receive with an standing ovation, and is considered one of the best speeches of a British Prime Minister during the second part of the twentieth century. The release of trading figures before the 1970 general election would see many predict that Labour would fall below a majority. While this didn't materialise, the government was reduced to a mere 338 seats. Callaghan's first act in office was to sack Jenkins from the cabinet, replacing him with ardent loyalist Ray Gunter. A mass demonstration in Trafalgar Square in November 1970, held by students to protest the government's conservative social policy, would turn into a series of riots that would grip the nation until January 1971. The riots only succeeded in launching the annual Nationwide Festival of Light, a Christian march which received support from various members of the government. Around this time Macleod would die and was replaced by moderate Ulster MP Robin Chichester-Clark, who once again defeated Powell by a slender margin. At the Tory conference where Chichester-Clark was elected, the party delegates voted in favour of a plank that would commit a future Tory government to supporting the reintroduction of the death penalty. The move to reintroduce the death penalty would begin in summer the early summer of 1972 when Downey introduced a PMB to do just that. It would receive behind the scenes support from the Home Office and would be buoyed with Downey's moving speech in the chamber, which saw many nominally anti-rope MPs vote in his favour. The country would however get bogged down in a conflict in South Arabia, supporting the anti-communist FLOSY regime, against the Soviet aligned communist forces, the Federation of Arab Republic backed YAR and forces of the Kingdom of Yemen, who were aided by Saudi Arabia. 'Britain's Vietnam' would play a major part in culture during this decade, with the much loved 'NAAFI' comedy series arising out of the (funnier side of the) conflict. The effects of the Arab invasion and near defeat of Israel in late 1972 would see the British government stretched to breaking point in an effort to support their Israeli allies. During the crisis the Foreign Secretary, Richard Crossman, would collapse due to ill health, and was replaced by Denis Healey at the Foreign Office (John Stonehouse would replace Healey at the MoD.) The conflict would ultimately be won by Israel after using small nuclear devises against the Arab forces. As a retaliation for western support for Israel, OPEC would force the price of a barrel of oil to over $4. In the aftermath of the events the Prime Minister addressed the nation on Christmas Eve 1972, he announced he would be standing down in the new year.

[3] George Brown's election as Labour leader was both a surprise and a shock to many in Westminster. The Labour Deputy Leader had just scraped into the last round ahead of Denis Healey, and would defeat Harold Wilson in a hotly contested leadership race. The party and country would be rocked by allegations concerning a communist spy being in the party and even the cabinet. Brown won on account of him having no suggestions of an affiliation with the eastern bloc. His new cabinet would be filled with loyalists of the old leadership of the party. Many of those who had badmouthed Brown over the prior years would suffer demotion or the sack as a result of their comments. Brown would launch a goodwill tour after his election, meeting voters up and down the country in an effort to combat the government's haemorrhaging at the polls - especially as the forces of Scottish, Welsh, and English nationalism flexed their muscles, generally at Labour's expense. In Northern Ireland the situation was deteriorating, though the authorities still had the upper hand. Faulkner would be weakened at the 1973 general election in NI, with the Nationalist Party winning 11 seats, owing to the Unionist vote being split between Bill Craig & Ian Paisley's VDUPP and the NI Labour Party led by David Bleakley. Brown would soon after jet off to Washington, D.C. for talks with the Murphy Administration, in an attempt to warm relations between the two nations. While there was definitely a move in 'the right direction,' relations still were quite icy. Brown would notably (and jokingly) dance with 'Taptoe George' to a mock version of 'Bad Bad Leroy [George] Brown.' Back at home as 1973 became 1974 the global recession began to ease off, this gave Brown's government a bit of breathing room over the coming months. This breathing space would soon contract once more, when it was reported that several leading military officials believed that the war in South Arabia was a drain on resources and could have been 'won' much sooner if the war and resources had not been mismanaged. A whiff of financial improprieties concerning the Defence Secretary would help contribute to the government's fall in support at the end of the year. This, coupled with the buoyant Conservative & Unionists in the polls, would lead to a rather predictable result in the end for the general election.

[4] Robin Chichester-Clark would form the first Conservative government in over a decade in 1975. He was the first Conservative Prime Minister to have a direct link to Northern Ireland since Bonar Law, who had served as Prime Minister five decades prior. The immediate priorities of the government were to ensure that the 'damage' of the Labour government over the last decade. Decimalisation and various tax reforms were spearheaded in the first budget of Anthony Barber. Meanwhile a PMB introduced by Ian Gilmour would see homosexuality decriminalised in late 1975 - 'too little too late' in the words of the PMB's introducer. Pushes to liberalise other social issues would ultimately come to nothing, as Chichester-Clark was reluctant to support such pushes, especially with the conservative electorate in his Londonderry seat. Chichester-Clark's government would be formed by a mixture of those on the right and left of the party; Barber at the Treasury, Rippon at the Foreign Office, Amery at the Ministry of Defence, Norman St John-Stevas at the Home Office, Sandys at the new Commonwealth Affairs Office, Thatcher at Education, Heath (having returned to parliament in a by-election in Cambridge in 1967) was the newly created Minister for Europe, Airey Neave was the new Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. The 'Government of All Talents' was seen as a welcome break from the Callaghan cabinet format with its silencing of those who disagreed with the general direction of policy within government. In relation to Northern Ireland policy, Chichester-Clark saw to it that there would be a 'gloves off' approach to militants on both sides of the isle, while also supporting general reform of institutions (or "tinkering within") political and social, without removing said institutions. These moves would ultimately result in the adoption of fairer electoral boundaries (the removal of the 'Derrymandered' electoral boundaries, which were replaced with multimember constituencies based on council areas, which would each elect three members - except Belfast which saw three members elected based on the nine electoral districts within the city) that exist to this day. The moves were generally well received by most across the political divide, though this did contribute to a further haemorrhaging of votes from the OUP to the VDUPP. A general strike was called in opposition to these moves by the Ulster Workers Council, the move nearly ground Northern Ireland to a halt as the means of energy production were now unmanned. Only the intervention by the military to get services up and running, the resolve of Faulkner and the eventual boredom of some of the strikers, would see the strike fail in its aim of forcing the government's hand and collapsing the Faulkner government. At the 1977 general election in Northern Ireland, Faulkner would gain a slightly larger share of the vote and would gain a handful of seats, ensuring his position as Premier was moderately safer than it had been in 1973. Moves towards devolution were made for Wales and Scotland, with the party adhering to the Declaration of Perth which committed the party to a devolved Scottish Assembly. Referendums were held in both Wales and Scotland (a motion for a Yes vote to be endorsed by 40% of the entire electorate was voted down) in 1976; Scotland would narrowly vote Yes by a 52-48 margin (there was divisions within both the Scottish Conservative and Labour parties on the question - most Tories were understood to be leaning towards No); Wales would reject devolution by a 77-33 margin. The Scottish Assembly would convene for the first time on St. Andrew's Day 1978, with Conservative George Younger elected as Chief Executive, leading a minority coalition with the Scottish Liberals (led by Laura Grimond, wife of the former leader, who would take the position of Deputy Chief Executive); Labour was led into second place by Tam Dalyell, the SNP were led by William Wolfe (their leader and 'longtime' MP), and the 'Scottish Labour Party' of Jim Sillars would return three MSAs at that election. The failure to achieve 'home rule' for Wales would not weaken the rise of Plaid Cymru in Wales. The global economy by 1977/78 was generally in a far better place than it had been during 1972/73. The government's programme of small-to-medium scale privatisation of several industries was generally popular, though it was met with a series of strikes in early 1978, of which the government would emerge with a slight upper hand. At the 1975 general election Labour and the Liberals had seen both of their leaders lose their marginal seats to Conservative candidates, thus forcing both parties to hold leadership elections in the coming months. The Liberals would see a fight between the various factions of the party - the traditional Liberals represented by Mark Bonham-Carter, the social liberals (now increasingly dominated by Roy Jenkins and his acolytes) represented by David Marquand (a 'paper' candidate for Roy Jenkins), and the outsiders, represented by Emlyn Hooson and Trevor Jones. Bonham-Carter would narrowly edge Marquand for the leadership. For Labour, the leadership race was seen as a referendum on the Callaghan years, yet it was a remarkably open and shut election. Bob Mellish would easily see off challenges from the left - in the form of Barbara Castle, and from the Gaitskellite right - in the form of Douglas Jay. Mellish's victory is seen to have been as a result of his close connections with the party whips and his usage of patronage while at the Home Office. One of the more interesting episodes of his earlier leadership was concerning the MP for Northampton North - Maureen Colquhoun. Colquhoun had been selected as a safe pair of hands and a traditional female MP. She raised some eyebrows with her insistence early on in the new parliament at being addressed to as Ms. rather than Mrs. by the Speaker (Enoch Powell, who had been elected to the post not long before stated that in the interest of parliamentary tradition he would not entertain the request.) She was seen initially as an ally of Mellish on account of her seemingly defending his Immigration policy and arguing against branding people as racialists. This would earn her a junior shadow ministerial position. This would all change when she decided to come out and announce she was a lesbian and would leave her Sunday Times journalist husband Keith Colquhoun for a female publisher. Mellish, enraged, saw to it that she was deselected by her constituency party due to her "obsession with trivialities such as women's rights." She appealed this decision, but was rebuffed by the party NEC. After she punched a car park attendant after he made a slur against her, Mellish would use this as an opportunity to have her whip resigned. Sensing she had no chance at getting back into the parliamentary party, Colqhoun would sit as an Independent until November 1977, when she would form the 'Women's Party' - a direct reference to the party founded by Christabel and Emmeline Pankhurst nearly sixty years to the day. The party would gain some words of encouragement from the likes of Germaine Greer and other leading feminists, but its growth would be stifled by the calling of a general election. Despite being endorsed by the local Liberal (and ironically National Front) party, Colquhoun would come in a distant third with a respectable 23% of the vote - this would hand the seat to Conservative Richard Tracey. Still, the Women's Party would remain a fixture of British elections for some time. The government would be obsessed by the issue of Europe around this time. Gaining British membership of the European Economic Community had been the aspiration of virtually every British government since Macmillan was forced to tears by the stubbornness of de Gaulle when he had attempted to gain British membership of the Community. All British applications had been vetoed by de Gaulle during his lifetime, though after his death the more reasonable centrist Alain Poher had been elected President of the French Republic in 1970. George Brown had set the groundworks for British entry during the latter period of his time in Number 10; now Chichester-Clark reasoned that it was his turn to try and gain British entry into the Community. The start of the talks would be overshadowed by the defections of Alan Clark and Peter Griffiths to the National Front on account of the government's rather laid back immigration policy and stance on Europe. After a series of negotiations it was agreed that the United Kingdom would be permitted membership of the Community - newly elected President Mitterand would not object to British membership of the Community. Chichester-Clark was then prepared to present a bill of parliament to have British membership be endorsed by parliament. He was then 'spooked' by the Chief Whip who (incorrectly) informed him that Mellish would attempt a stunt and would have the PLP vote down the measures - claiming he had a plan for a better settlement for the UK (Mellish was actually a pro-Marketeer and would have voted for the bill.) Chichester-Clark then abruptly announced that a general election would be fought on the question of British membership of the Community. Over the course of the campaign Mellish would argue for a referendum to be held on the matter, so as to deflect from the Labour Party's division on the question. Chichester-Clark in a momentary lapse of judgement would blurt out that a vote for the Conservatives would see a referendum held. In the end the general election saw the Conservatives fall just short of a majority, while Labour had to fight off challenges from Plaid Cymru in Wales; the SNP & Sillars' SLP (Sillars would be the only SLP MP re-elected.) After several days of negotiations, Chichester-Clark would enter into a confidence and supply agreement with Bonham-Carter's Liberals. Almost as soon as the new government convened, the referendum campaign would begin. The Yes campaign was backed by the leadership of the Conservative and Liberal Parties, as well as the Northern Irish VDUPP. The Labour Party in the interest of avoiding a split, opted to adopt no official party position for the referendum. The No campaign was backed by the SNP, Plaid Cymru, the NI Nationalist Party, the OUP, the National Front, the CPGB, and the Scottish Labour Party. Polls initially showed that the British people were tepid and reluctant to support British membership of the Community. The polls would narrow and show a narrow lead for Yes owing to the large financial support that it entertained from business and individual backers. What the No campaign lacked in funds it made up for in terms of raw passion. The No campaign however lacked a central, moderate, and popular figure to play the public leadership role that the Yes campaign had in Chichester-Clark, Jenkins, and Rippon. They would find this individual in the form of former Prime Minister James Callaghan who announced he would (despite having tried to gain British entry in 1969) be voting No in the referendum. With that the No campaign managed to rise in the polls leading to the result being seen as a toss up by polling day on the 13th July 1978. Results indicated that membership had been rejected in Northern Ireland, Scotland, the southern part of Wales. London, the north east and parts of south Yorkshire. Yorkshire and the majority of rural England and (central & western) Wales were in favour of Yes. The result however would be a disappointing one for Chichester-Clark and the government, with the country rejecting EEC membership by a 52.5-47.5 margin. Britain would not be joining the Common Market. This would represent a downward spiral for the Chichester-Clark government. Concerns about communist influence in the west reared their ugly head once again in early 1979 when US President Edward Gurney was slain by an assassin's bullet at a rally in Memphis - the killer was an alleged communist. The fact that Theodore Robert Bundy was a former Republican operative appeared to not filter through the media and public frenzy. Vice President Robert McNamara would take the oath of office less than an hour after the President was confirmed dead. The House of Commons Committee on Un-British Activities, under Chairman John Gouriet would see renewed interest after its formation in 1974. Then the global economy took a nosedive in 1979 and entered into a 'winter of discontent.' That year would signal a change of government economic policy away from non-interventionism towards a more interventionist economic policy. Taxes were increased across the board, wages and prices were frozen by the government in an attempt to try and contain inflation, the amount of money that could be take abroad was capped at a lower rate that it had been before, and all financial transactions overseas needed Treasury approval. These moves were very unpopular and led to Barber being unfavourably compared with Crosland. Moves to make the economic approach more centralised to the Treasury would see the Economic Affairs position dissolved and merged into the Treasury. To make matters worse a series of public sector strikes were called due to wage increase freezes. The government saw that its hands were tied due to the economic conditions, but were unprepared to give into the strikers - a standoff between the unions and the government would begin. Chichester-Clark did little to alleviate fears when he arrived back from a NATO summit in Barbados at Heathrow, where he was asked what his approach to the mounting chaos in the country was - the Prime Minister would chuckle and begin to answer, yet it was the chuckle that was carried on the news that evening. 'Robin out of touch' boomed the Mirror, 'Crisis? What Crisis?' exclaimed The Sun, carrying a photo of Chichester-Clark half-way through his laugh. The Conservative position in the polls nosedived, while Mellish's Labour Party continued to tick upwards. This rise was only stilted when allegations of Mellish sexually harassing a young male Labour activist at a constituency event were reported in The Guardian. Mellish brushed this off and made a variety of homophobic slurs about the openly gay individual and threatened to take The Guardian to court. The Guardian published an apology soon after. Some felt that Mellish received his comeuppance when a Gay Liberation Front activist smashed him in the face and broke his nose at an event in Bradford. The nation's economic state, coupled with Mellish's increasingly outlandish remarks provided Chichester-Clark with a window of opportunity to call an election in early June 1982. By this time the Tories had a unified threat from the right - the VDUPP, National Front, Democratic Party, and the English Nationalist Party had all merged into the right-wing National Party, led by Alan Clark. In an attempt to capitalise on wrong footing Labour and to use Mellish's outlandish nature to the Tories' advantage a 'debate' was held between the two main party candidates. The programme would take place in front of a live studio audience with Donald MacCormack questioning each leader in a half-an-hour segment separately. Mellish appeared first and was seen as rather effect, taking the fight to his inquisitor and stating that he would take a stand against the dishonest media which misrepresented him - that was quite a popular response. Chichester-Clark answered ably for the most part, but had been outshone by Mellish who had not self destructed as the head of the Tory campaign, party Chairman Airey Neave, had hoped. The election saw Labour win a narrow majority over the Conservatives, while the Liberals continued their slow rise into the high teens - the National Party gained a seat (in Ulster) overall to go on top of the eight it notionally held. Chichester-Clark took the loss in his stride, he would stand down at the next general election and would become a member of the board for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and an active member of the House of Lords, taking the title of Lord Chichester-Clark of Maghera.