"A Very British Transition" - A Post-Junta Britain TL

>Eddie Izzard and Sandi Toksvig in positions of Government
I see those 2 went down different paths in life

I am curious though, being as it looks like the SDP has went into coalition with SA, SNP and Plaid Cymru, why haven't they got any positions in the cabinet?
 
Good Lord, it actually happened - a reckless coalition of socialists and separatists, just like the OTL Canadian Tories said! /s Seriously, though - it's going to be interesting to see if Johnson can hold it together without a coup d'etat.

Must say I'm particularly surprised by TTL's Queen Elizabeth's more frequent interjections into politics here.
 
>Eddie Izzard and Sandi Toksvig in positions of Government
I see those 2 went down different paths in life

I am curious though, being as it looks like the SDP has went into coalition with SA, SNP and Plaid Cymru, why haven't they got any positions in the cabinet?
Maybe this is just a confidence-and-supply deal instead of a full-fledged coalition? The new Johnson government was referred to as a "minority government," whereas an actual coalition of the SDP/SA/Separatists would have a majority.
 
The terms negotiated by the SNP are pathetic, not even a national parliament.
Considering the threats National keep pulling at, the terms the SNP negotiated are probably the best it's going to get. Not until Britain institutionalizes it with a fully-codified Constitution (even if it regurgitates much of the status quo) that also completely reorganizes local government so that that could be possible.

Why yes, what makes you think (although I'm not a mind-reader - sorry @powerab) I think something akin to Spain's 1978 Constitution - at least, as originally intended with the local government formula (so Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland could be "fast track" autonomous communities within the UK that have a high degree of autonomy, with England divided into devolved "slow track" regions [think Wales IOTL pre-Government of Wales Act, 2006], London reorganized along the lines of Madrid, and all provinces reorganized to become another layer of decentralized government as well as building blocks for the regions and autonomous communities) - might eventually happen? ;) Although I'm also thinking maybe a more left-leaning version of what Milbank and Pabst (yes, I know!) put out in their book, The Politics of Virtue - among which includes a more corporatist House of Lords, bicameral assemblies at the municipal and regional levels, and a renewal/strengthening of the monarchy (including reforming the Privy Council and civil service, and encouraging the formation of more Royal Commissions and Royal Colleges (= guilds)).
 
I'm kinda impressed that National somehow managed to screw themselves out of a new term in office. Like they can't escape the sinister undertones of where their party came from and most of the people inside can't stop putting their foot inside their mouth. It's really quite fascinating. I'm curious here, is there a lot of backpedalling going on in the media? By which I mean is National trying consistently to calm everyone down after they make dumb-ass statements like that, or are they trying to own it? This is a genuine question by the way, I find this stuff fascinating.
It's largely an act of desperation on Collins' side. The sharks were circling after losing one election, he knows his career can't survive two loses. Many in National weren't aware of Collins' plan before he made the speech and are equally perplexed, some think he's bluffing to get a stronger negotiation hand, some think he's genuinely threatening a coup, some think he just put his foot in it.

There's no central line from National so most Shadow Cabinet members are either refusing to comment or floundering.
 
The terms negotiated by the SNP are pathetic, not even a national parliament. I love the title of the Atlantic's piece, 'the Queen of England'. Here's hoping for a Scottish republic, although knowing this TL it'll descend into Catalonia style madness!

Speaking of which, does Scotland still have a separate legal system ITTL?
The SNP is a even more moderate than OTL, a large minority of it's membership aren't even Nationalists but more Gordon Brown/Lib Dem style devo-max federalists. Also the pressure of an impending coup and/or a National Government means the SNP have folded easily in coalition negotiations.

Currently there is no Scottish judicial system, with each of the provinces having limited criminal and civil judicial powers. However under the deal with the SNP a Scottish judiciary will be established under the Executive Council, it will rank above the provincial courts but below the Supreme Court.
 
>Eddie Izzard and Sandi Toksvig in positions of Government
I see those 2 went down different paths in life

I am curious though, being as it looks like the SDP has went into coalition with SA, SNP and Plaid Cymru, why haven't they got any positions in the cabinet?
Maybe this is just a confidence-and-supply deal instead of a full-fledged coalition? The new Johnson government was referred to as a "minority government," whereas an actual coalition of the SDP/SA/Separatists would have a majority.
As Mx Squirrel said it's a confidence and supply deal, so only SDP Ministers

Izzard's form of subversive comedy wasn't allowed under Junta censorship, forcing her into politics.

Toksvig became an LGBT rights and feminist activist as much of the opportunities in media available to her in OTL were closed off - this also led her into politics
 

Nick P

Donor
Toksvig became an LGBT rights and feminist activist as much of the opportunities in media available to her in OTL were closed off - this also led her into politics
Does she take on British citizenship earlier then?
Because in OTL she was Danish until 2013 and I'm not sure that having a foreigner as an MP ITTL would be that acceptable.
 
Does she take on British citizenship earlier then?
Because in OTL she was Danish until 2013 and I'm not sure that having a foreigner as an MP ITTL would be that acceptable.
Yes Toskvig took British citizenship in 1998 after the Hill-Norton administration relaxed citizenship rules.
 
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National emerged as the largest party, but with few clear routes to Downing Street

“UK Prime minister Alan Johnson insisted on Monday that he would forge ahead with forming a government, even after his party lost over 30 seats. Commenting on the election Mr. Johnson said that “in politics, you cannot always achieve 100 percent of the goals that you set.” Still, he promised to stick to his second term objectives because “this is what Britain needs.” But Tim Collins of the National Party, suggested that the SDP had avoided the clear-cut defeat forecast by pollsters through "glitz and spin", arguing he should form the next government. In Sunday’s vote, the National Party won 211 of the 497 seats in the House of Commons, against 203 seats for the SDP. While the National Party won the most votes for the first time since Britain’s return to democracy, it fell short of the 249 seats needed for the absolute majority.”
- UK’s Ruling Party Disappointed in Ballot, Raphael Minder, New York Times (2009)

The hardest part about democracy is disappointment, sure getting beaten or imprisoned isn’t fun, but the copper wouldn’t get your hopes up. He’d say he was going to smack you, and then smack you, simpler times. Speaking of getting smacked in the face, very few people were happy with the 2009 election results - Alan Johnson had lost his majority and was more reliant on the Socialists then before, Tim Collins had failed to win a clear mandate despite all the tribulations the SDP had faced. Even the third parties were glum, the Alternative had watched global capitalism melt down around them and only gained one measly seat, meanwhile the Reform Party had spent millions of pounds for fourth place, not even on the podium. RISE had lost over half it’s MPs and the SNP had only managed to pick up three of RISE’s eight dropped legislators.

Everyone was depressed, exhausted and thoroughly annoyed at each other, such is the joy of democratic engagement. There was no time to sulk however as an invisible clock began to tick down. Politicians of all parties knew they had limited time to get some sort of functioning administration together before the military got bored and decided to march on Whitehall and shell Glasgow for old times’ sake. Collins, as leader of the largest party seemingly had the best shot at forming a government, but he found a lot of doors slammed in his face. Shockingly neither the Alternative or RISE wanted to work with him so some sort of frankenstein nationalist/communists alliance (Jean-Pierre Faye eat your heart out) wasn’t going to happen. Both Reform and the SNP were open to working with National, but not working with each other, so that route was a non-starter, so Collins’ only real path to Downing Street was hand in hand with Alan Johnson.

“Britain’s stunned political parties looked for a way forward after an election that gave none of them a parliamentary majority. “The winner is: Ungovernability,” ran the headline in the London Evening Standard. The country is confronting deadlock in the next few weeks as sworn enemies are forced to work together to form a government. The results left the governing left-wing bloc of Prime Minister Alan Johnson without a majority in the House of Commons. Financial markets fell at the prospect of a stalemate pushing Britain's borrowing costs higher. Johnson has the difficult choice of trying to agree a “grand coalition” with Opposition Leader Tim Collins or striking a deal with regional Separatists. Collins admitted on Tuesday he had “come first but not won” the crucial elections and asked parties to join him in forming a government.” - Britain seeks path out of election impasse, Al Jazeera (2009)

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Johnson wasn't going to give up the premiership without a fight

Johnson’s path to Downing Street was equally murky, assuming he could get the Alternative back on side (and that was a big if) he would need at least two other parties to get over the line. The Reform Party was the obvious choice but they had been established in direct opposition to the Alternative’s perceived radicalism. Brown had said several times on the campaign trail she wouldn’t support a government involving any far-left or separatist parties, and nothing she said after election day indicated she had changed her mind. The other option was working with the “Celtic Alliance '' of the SNP and Plaid, both countries would demand extra funding for their provinces, further powers and even an independence referendum. Swinney was likely to play hardball and cooperating with the separatists would be unthinkable for many in the SDP.

Johnson approached Meacher first, in the talks lasting several days Johnson managed to talk Meacher down from a position of “full communism immediately” to three key pledges. Firstly, a cap on the pension age, keeping the retirement age to 65 throughout the parliament. Secondly, no cuts to corporation tax and finally a 400 euro payment to the long term unemployed to prevent Britain’s growing jobless population from falling into poverty. In return for these pledges Meacher agreed to keep the confidence and supply agreement in place with the SDP, voting alongside the Social Democrats in confidence votes, including the budget.

With the Alternative pact signed, sealed and delivered Johnson once again led the largest bloc in parliament, with this momentum he could make an approach to the unruly Celts and attempt a last desperate dash back to Downing Street. Seeing his political capital fall through his fingers, Collins made a last minute gambit. He held a eleventh hour press conference where he announced plans for National to “bring the country together in a time of crisis” National proposed a continental style grand coalition stretching both left and right, to steer the country through the financial crisis. Collins called on the Social Democrats to put party politics aside and come to the negotiating table for the sake of national unity and to avoid a prolonged period of uncertainty.
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Mountbatten's dictatorship had started with a "national unity government"

Collins signed his speech off with the now infamous line “Mr Johnson, the future of democracy as we know it is in your hands”. Alarm bells went off across Westminster, many perceived the speech, especially the last line as a threat. Appearing on the John Simpson Show, Alternative Deputy Leader Diana Abbott described Collins’ speech as “get on board or our mates send the tanks in - it’s a soft coup!”. The “coup clock” as SDP party insiders called it, was ticking closer and closer to midnight. Johnson’s options were narrowing; he could risk it all on a deal with the separatist parties, or he could let the “soft coup” happen. The postie from an Inner London Council Estate had been bombed, shot at, bribed, threatened and beaten in the name of democracy, was he ready to do it all again?

“It's quite hard, at a time when most politicians appear to have popped out of the womb yelling for a Hansard, to imagine a prime minister who was once a postman. It's quite hard to imagine a prime minister who was, from the age of 12, brought up by his 15-year-old sister in a council flat, and left school at 15. It's quite hard, but it shouldn't be, because our Prime Minister is Alan Johnson. This is a man who cares about the kinds of people who don't grow up dreaming of Downing Street. "We were in a bar the other night," says his aide and I overheard someone saying 'There's someone famous over there, but I don't know his name'". Johnson laughs. "I guess," he says, "I'm never going to make it now". To a second term, I ask, or as a rock star? Alan Johnson flashes me a smile. "Both," he says, and quite a big part of me wishes he was wrong.” - An Interview with Alan Johnson, Christina Patterson, The Independent (2009)

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"Ours not to reason why, ours but to do and die" by Alfred Lord Tennyson was a popular saying among the Junta era military

Had another look at this and I've been wondering, what have Corbyn and Galloway been up to during the Junta years?
 
Had another look at this and I've been wondering, what have Corbyn and Galloway been up to during the Junta years?
Corbyn was in Jamaica working as a Geography teacher when the coup happened and his parents were both imprisoned as subversives. Fearing that the right-wing government of Hugh Shearer would deport him back to the UK he fled to Cuba. He would spend most his Junta years working for various socialist parties and governments across Latin America. He returned to Britain in 2005, joining the Socialist Alternative and in 2007 he was elected as an MEP.

Galloway was also a teenager when the Junta fell, he would end up joining the SNLA as a fighter and would eventually rise to officer status. Galloway served as an unofficial "ambassador" for the SNLA, travelling the Middle East acquiring arms and funding for the movement from states such as Libya. With the fall of the Junta he became a leading figure in RISE and would also be elected as the party's sole MEP in 2007.
 
How did the Junta handle the Troubles in Northern Ireland? (Assuming they weren't butterflied away as a result of the coup)

Did Operation Banner still happen?

With a military led government was the UK's approach to and conduct during the situation significantly different from OTL?
 
How did the Junta handle the Troubles in Northern Ireland? (Assuming they weren't butterflied away as a result of the coup)

Did Operation Banner still happen?

With a military led government was the UK's approach to and conduct during the situation significantly different from OTL?
Poorly, it was essentially a more aggressive Operation Banner as the military didn't receive any civilian oversight. Northern Ireland essentially spent most of the Junta years under effectively full military occupation. The Troubles were even more bloody than in OTL with the peak violence of the 70s continuing well into the 80s and 90s.
 
Chapter 45: Do or Die
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The Queen's role in the coup attempt of 2009 would be debated for years to come

“Queen Elizabeth showed "sympathy" for the 2009 coup plotters. That was the impression that the then-German ambassador to London Wolfgang Ischinger, passed on to his bosses in Berlin. He based the view on a meeting with the British monarch a month after the attempted military coup of 10th August 2009, exactly ten years ago. In that meeting, the British head of state "showed no revulsion" with the coup plotters, but rather "understanding." Her words were almost an "apology" to the military rebels, believing that they only "wanted the best." This document has just been made public after being declassified by the German foreign ministry.
” - The shadowy role of the Queen in the attempted coup of 2009, Richard Walker, The National (2019)

Shabana Mahmood was a novelty. At just 28 years old she was one of the youngest MPs in the new Parliament, she was also the second ever Muslim woman elected to the House of Commons. Generally Jonathon Riley was not a novelty, in a Parliament filled with old white men, usually veterans Riley blended into the background nicely. A National MP and leading member of the party’s hardliner faction, Riley had opted not to seek a second term in the Commons, instead he went back to the military and went for drinks with some old pals. Now Mahmood was inside Parliament, and Riley was outside. The good news for Riley was he had a gun, and so did his 300 mates.

At around 4pm on the 10th of August 2009 the House of Commons was having it’s usual ceremony of swearing in MPs, over 400 MPs had been sworn in with only the last few dozen waiting their turn. The Commons was unusually busy as Johnson hoped to get his Cabinet voted through in the evening after the last few MPs were sworn in. Shabana Mahmood, a 28 year old rising star was giving her oath to the Queen when several dozen armed men stormed the Chamber, with several hundred others securing the Palace of Westminster, Portcullis House, The Norman Shaw Buildings and other key points around the Parliamentary Estate. Led by General Jonathon Riley, the Neo-Mountbattenites as the media dubbed them, were a motley crew of former Civil Guardsmen, rogue soldiers and Civil Assistance paramilitaries. The armed men shot speaker Vince Cable and then kindly informed the assorted parliamentarians that they had all been relieved of their positions, to take their seats and await further instruction. This was all broadcast live around the world by the Common’s cameras and microphones.

At the same time rebel forces in Northern Ireland had seized Belfast and military units in Berkshire, North Yorkshire and Lincolnshire had also risen up from their barracks, with smaller sporadic mutinies happening up and down the country. The rebels had also seized Broadcasting House, where Robert Kilroy-Silk, the old voice of the Junta, swaggered back to his usual seat to deliver a message to the British people. Silk announced the “Salvation Government” had seized control of the House of Commons in the name of the Queen in order to prevent a government of “socialists and separatists from destroying our United Kingdom”. Almost every single member of the House of Commons was now trapped in the world’s oldest parliament, surrounded by heavily armed men.

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The 300 Salvation soldiers entered into a siege with armed police outside

“The swearing in ceremony was nearly finished. When Several of the ushers who kept the doors closed entered the chamber shouting "fire, fire." Black Rod, believing that it was a fire, recommended calm to the MPs. Immediately afterwards, several men in Civil Guard uniforms broke into the Chamber and asked those present not to move. General Jonathon Riley addressed the Speaker, Vince Cable and shot him. Other members of the Civil Guard went to the stands of the photographers and the television cameras, ordering them not to take videos. The first moment, the civil guards and the plainclothes people who acted alongside them, also armed, recommended calm to those present. When they had controlled the Chamber, they ordered deputies, the public and journalists to remain seated.”
- A Very Un-British Coup! As it happened, George Pascoe-Watson, The Sun (2009)

In the Commons the men of the “Salvation Government” were struggling to keep order, Defence Secretary Charles Gutherie, the highest ranking military official present, refused to sit down, ordering the men (who were technically his subordinates) to stand down. Either Gutherie was genuinely unaware of the coup or he was putting on the performance of a lifetime. 78 year old Alternative MP Dennis Skinner also refused to sit down, and had to be wrestled into his seat by three men half his age. The former coal-miner was physically gagged by his own neck-tie after one too-many heckle. Tim Collins too was thrown onto his seat, breaking his nose in the process, all the while the rambunctious scenes could be watched by all on BBC Parliament.

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Retired General and former MP Jonathon Riley led the storming of Parliament

Johnson, Collins, Guthrie, Deputy PM Rosie Boycott, Deputy National Leader Theresa May and Socialist Alternative Leader Michael Meacher were all taken out of the Chamber and into the gentlemen’s cloakroom. They were given a statement, a pen and a gun to their collective heads. The statement outlined their agreement to take part in a “Government of National Salvation” headed up by “competent military authorities” who these authorities were was unclear. Being trapped in the Commons with no form of communication, the politicians had no idea if Riley was leading a couple dozen maniacs or the entire military had risen up across the country. All they had was the pen, the paper and the guns.

Whilst most of the uprisings in the North of England stalled and struggled to take even their county town, in Northern Ireland the Juntistas were taking control at an unprecedented rate. The former Lord Lieutenant and Commander of the Irish Guards Brigadier James Hamilton lead the Northern Irish elements of the coup’s forces, with the help of loyalist paramilitaries and over 3,000 troops the Salvation forces seized Belfast, Derry and Lisburn, effectively placing them in control of the whole province. The only part of the province the rebels failed to capture was Belfast Airport and it’s adjoined RAF Aldergrove base. Aldergrove’s Commander Dave Cass remained loyal to the democratic government and controlled a fleet of attack helicopters; he threatened to unleash them on any Salvation forces who approached the airport, effectively trapping the Juntista’s forces across the Irish sea. This whole coup thing was harder than it looked.

“The speed of the coup paralysed much of civil society. Apart from the Fire Brigades Union and RISE, there was no notable political or social organisation that issued a statement of protest in those crucial first few hours of the coup. When some trade unions discussed the possibility of mobilising their membership, they were immediately dissuaded from doing so by what remained of the government. Those opposed to industrial action argued that any demonstration could provoke further military action. That evening the memory of the Junta closed people up in their houses, paralysed and silenced. No one put up the slightest resistance to the coup. Everyone took the hijacking of Parliament with moods that varied from terror to euphoria. There was no popular response to the coup - fear of escalation led most to entrusting elite actors to reach a negotiated settlement. The fire of 2003 was gone.” - The Moment: The 2009 Coup and it’s Aftermath, Thomas Hennessey (2014)

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With civil society failing to act the protests that sprung up were decentralised and overwhelmingly led by the young and organised through social media
 
Oh dear! Just when things were starting to look up for Johnson. The man cannot catch a break. The use of “attempted” in that National article indicates the coup will fail but it’s going to be interesting to see it play out. Wonder if we’ll get a V for Vendetta style March in Parliament (unlikely but still a fun idea)
 
If Northern Ireland doesn't devolve into civil war it'll be a minor miracle.
On the edge of my seat here, great job as always.
 
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