An Abstract Sort Of Hell:
An Abstract Sort Of Hell:
Owen Jones had never been the type of man to keep quiet. Ever since he was just a teenager, he could never just turn a blind eye to something he saw as unjust. He couldn't just look away as the far-right attacked Arab migrants in the streets, or as the Tories destroyed the lives of the average working Briton. He had to say something; he had to
do something. Often, when he wasn't giving a speech calling to intervene in the United States at the U.N, or rallying the Labour caucus to vote for one of his various pet projects, Jones would debate with himself whether or not it was a good thing that he didn't know how to keep his mouth shut. His tendency to talk was what had gotten him shot, twice and his mouth had nearly landed him in his late mentor's position; in a grave, a stress induced heart attack taking the fire right out of him. But, his refusal to bow down to the elites had what had allowed him to come this far. To become elected to parliament, eventually elected
Prime Minister, and finally to become one of the greatest leaders the United Kingdom had seen in generations; God, if only Jeremy could see him now. No, it was a good thing that he never learned when to shut up, Jones often concluded. His voice was what let him do all the good that he had done.
Which is why the situation in America was so distressing to the Prime Minister.
Jones had watched the situation in the United States deteriorate from London. When he had first been elected to Parliament, the Biden Administration was just beginning to see it's worst days. The American economy had collapsed as the Second Great Depression swept the country, all while the ever worsening effects of climate change ravaged the coasts and countryside. Unemployment, homelessness, famine, and all the other worst side affects of the depression plauged the country. To make matters worse, the ruling coalition, the Democrats and the rebellious Progressives, were at each others throats, making any sort of solution to the crisis impossible. The Republicans weren't doing much better for themselves, embroiled in an internal civil war between the party's various different factions that had eventually seen the
liberals come out on top. In this atmosphere, many Americans turned to radical solutions to save their families. Possibly the most radical of these was the far-right America First Party. Across the ocean, Jones and many others observed nervously as the AFP gained traction in the lead up to the 2024 American election. By March of 2024, the AFP was polling in third and second place, depending on the poll, either just behind or just ahead of Charlie Baker's Republicans. At that point, there was a very real fear, both at home and abroad, that the American First Party may actually win the election. Unfortunately, there wasn't much that Jones, or anyone else really, could do. The young MP was busy furiously working away with the rest of the Labour Party to fix the depression in the United Kingdom. Jones could only hope that the Progressives, led by the ever popular Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, would defeat the AFP.
As history would show, this was not the case. The "fascist compromise", as members of the resistance would later dub it, between the AFP and the Republicans saw the AFP swept into power, albeit with a Republican Vice President; This wouldn't save Charlie Baker and other mainstream conservatives from getting swept up in the purges, of course, but that wasn't part of the deal now, was it?
From there it only got worse. The crackdowns, the uprisings, the suspension of elections. It was a classic descent to fascism happening right in front of the world's eyes and noone was doing anything about it. Really noone
could do anything about it. The American regime still had one of the largest stockpiles of nuclears weapons on the planet and the AFP's stalwarts made it clear that they were more than happy to use them on anyone who interfered. So noone dared interfere. And that was just the way it was for several years. Certainly, there was almost universal condemnation of the American rigeme, but no actual substantive action against the injustices being committed on the American people were ever taken.
Owen Jones planned to change that when he was elected Prime Minister.
Jones had gotten caught up trying to fix the worst effects of the crash during his early years in parliament, but after Corbyn died suddenly in the summer of 2026 and his successor Cooper was defeated in the 2027 Snap Election, he suddenly found himself without a preoccupation. Still on the Labour backbenches, Jones, along with his colleague and friend Ash Shakar, dedicated much of his time attempting to rally British support for the American resistance. He found these efforts largely fruitless, as few in the United Kingdom had the desire to provoke the rigeme in Washington, ecspecially with the Tories in Westminster. His frustration at the reluctance of the International community to intervene in the United States was one of the driving forces behind Jones' descion to run for Prime Minister and during his campaign, he made support for the "true American patriots" front and center in his rehetoric. When he was actually elected, however, Jones found it to be a far more complicated task then he had anticipated. Most nations were still very reluctant to give any sort of aid to the American rebels for fear of the nuclear hellfire the regime could reign down upon them. When Jones would bring up the idea of a international intervention in private talks with his fellow European leaders, he would often be laughed out of the room. They already had President Zuhkov and the Chinese breathing down their necks, why would they risk starting a global nuclear war over a nation that was slowly turning into a third world backwater? Even Jones' pleas to the moral sensibilities of his colleagues often failed. Sure, most world leaders would express sorrow or sympathy when the Prime Minister would show them the photos his agents in America had gathered of the wretched conditions of it's citizens, but in the end, they wouldn't budge. They had to think of their people first.
Frustrated, Jones would continue to do whatever he could to secretly help the American resistance, utilizing the good will he had built up with the British public through his successful domestic program to assist the Americans in any way possible. Between the start of Jones' Ministry in 2032 and the middle of his second in 2037, the United Kingdom would accept thousands of American refugees, provide shelter for dozens of political exiles, and, secretly of course, use the British foreign intelligence apparatus to communicate with and arm resistance groups like the White Rose. However, by 2037, Jones' efforts began to seem fruitless. The White Rose had suffered several major setbacks, including the arrest of one of their brightest military minds, General Brace Belden and their strength had been diminished severely as a consequence. The American regime seemed to be in a stronger position then ever and to make matters worse for the Prime Minister, the faith of the British public had began to diminish. It got to a point where Jones began to seriously consider pulling all of his assests out of America.
Then the Sloan report was put on his desk.
Jesse Sloan was an agent of MI-5, one of the many Jones had dispatched to the United States. Sloan in particular had been placed in an advisory role for the White Rose, effectively serving as a de-facto ambassador between London and the American resistance at the same time. In September, Sloan, at the time working with one of the larger White Rose cells in Detroit, bore witness to the return of Brace Belden. As Sloan described it an older woman who was "bloody loony, but alright otherwise" found the White Rose hide out in the Detroit sewers and simply walked in, armed to the teeth. While the resistance fighters were, naturally, prepared to gun the woman down, believing she may have been an FSB agent or government contractor hired to flush out the Detroit cell, a bruised and battered Brace Belden stepped out from behind her and ordered the fighters to stand down. Obviously shocked and confused, Belden informed his allies that this woman, who he identified simply as "Marianne", had broken him, as well as about a dozen other White Rose members, out of the infamous Rocky Mountain Hilton several days prior. Again, the fighters were shocked, as they hadn't heard about any strike at the Rocky Mountain Hilton, even through the official government channels they monitored. According to Sloan's report, Belden gave a devious smile that "only Belden could ever wear right" and simply said
"yeah, there might be a fucking reason for that" before turning to the commanding officer of the base and requesting a conference with the other "big six" White Rose leaders. Sloan was also invited and asked to relate the details of the conference back to London. Said conference was the primary reason for Sloan's report. Apparently, while in prison, Belden and several other prisoners had began to devise a plan to start a national uprising in the United States. While Belden accepted that the uprising wouldn't likely succeed in overthrowing the rigeme, it was his hope that the resistance could use it as cover to sieze the majority of the rigeme's nuclear stockpile, hopefully spurring an international mission, led by the U.N, to liberate the United States. Belden already had the first stage of the operation planned out and the rest of the White Rose leadership had agreed to go forward with his plan; now, they wanted conformation that London would stand by them when the time came.
This was the moment Jones had been waiting for.
Ecstatic, he called a meeting of the cabinet. After hours of discussion, most of the cabinet, including Secretaries Sakar and Sanders, agreed to support Jones.
Six hours later, Jones contacted Sloan on a private channel;
"Sloan, this is the Prime Minister speaking. Tell Belden were in; London will stand with the White Rose".
Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom (2021-2037):
2021-2024: Jeremy Corbyn (Labour)
2024-2027: Yvette Cooper (Labour)
2027-2032: Sajid Javid (Conservative)
2032-2037: Owen Jones (Labour)