Civil Assistance would incite pro-Junta civilians into riots
“Cordoned off from the Parliament by riot policemen, crowds of young rightists and leftists sparred. "Kill them, Jonny!'' screamed the rightists, urging General Jonathon Riley to execute Alan Johnson and the other politicians held hostage. The leftists responded by chanting, ''The people united will never be defeated!'' Several regional commands have gone on alert. Scattered reports suggest that a few other commanders might throw their lot with the plotters if they gather strength. The ease with which Riley stormed Parliament with complete surprise also points to hidden complicities. After moving into the building, the General waited for a higher officer to appear, but none did.” - UK Enters Standoff, Sarah Lyall, New York Times (2009)
To everyone’s surprise the Black Eyed Peas didn’t topple the Salvation Forces. Several more hours passed and the nation entered a standstill. Whilst most uprisings had been crushed, the Salvation Forces still maintained control of Parliament Square, Northern Ireland, and a handful of military bases up and down the country. The provisional leadership had made sure to deploy riot police, rather than soldiers, to Salvation controlled areas - as well as not trusting the army, many in the Provisional Government wanted to resolve the situation peacefully and avoid a civil war. The Palace had been deathly silent for almost eighteen hours, whilst she had called for Khan the Queen had refused to intervene directly. At midday on the 11th of August this would change and her majesty would talk directly to the country.
The Queen was broadcast on television sets and radios across the nation. Dressed in her full military uniform she officially gave the order as Head of the Armed Forces that all military units should take “any and all measures necessary to uphold the democratic settlement under the Cardiff Accords and restore order to our United Kingdom”. She added “one will not tolerate anyone through use of force attempting to disrupt the accession of the democratic government the British people approved in an election.” She finished her speech with a direct order to Riley, Hamilton and their fellow conspirators, ordering them to lay down their arms and surrender to the civilian administration. It had taken her almost 24 hours, but the Crown had come down on the side of the democratic government.
Left-wing papers would describe the queen as a "fair-weather friend" to democracy
“Brits had heard for weeks of the possibility of a “touch on the rudder”. No one wanted to transform a “soft” coup into a “hard” one through staunch and immediate opposition. In not immediately opposing the coup, institutions hoped not to be counted among the vanquished if the coup should succeed. Whatever the reason, the majority of Brits, with the notable exception of the young, watched in silence as Riley took Parliament and the coup’s initial plans succeeded. There were many reasons why the coup attempt failed, and it is unclear the extent to which the Queen’s speech aided in this failure. What is undeniable though, is after the Queen’s appearance on television, cascades of condemnations of the coup poured forth. The Queen's words were echoed by trade unions, regional governments, local councils and the press. Thus the Queen's unequivocal denunciation of the military coup signified the triumph of democracy. Those who had been wary to intervene for whatever reason knew that without the Queen’s support, the coup could not succeed.” - The Queen's Role in the British Transition to Democracy, Lecture by Vernon Bogdanor, University of Oxford (2017)
On Her Majesty's order the remaining neutral military forces came down on the side of the Provisional Government and several Salvation-aligned barracks uprisings surrendered to armed police. In Belfast, Hamilton began to lose control of the soldiers underneath him and ordered his troops back to their barracks and surrendered to David Cass of Belfast Airport, the highest ranking military official in Northern Ireland loyal to the Provisional Government. Whilst some of the loyalist paramilitaries who had joined in the uprising refused to stand down, order was eventually restored by the end of the day, with the Irish Border once again reopened. Alongside the airforce and the Northern Irish Police Force the civilian government of Northern Ireland under Provisional President Michelle Gildernew retook control of Stormont and the province.
In Westminster, with the dulcet tones of Will-I-Am playing in the background, videos emerged on Twitter showing dozens soldiers abseiling out of the Commons or trying to escape through the Palace of Westminster's various tunnels, to be quickly arrested by awaiting riot police. Despite losing control of some of his men Riley and those still loyal to him refused to surrender and continued holding their hostages. After a series of negotiations between Khan representing the Provisional Government and Riley, eventually the plotters surrendered at roughly 5pm, 25 hours after they had first stormed the building. The MPs were released shortly after, and both sides scrambled to control the narrative of the coup, with National MPs singing “God Save the Queen”, the Alternative’s Members singing “The Red Flag”.
Meacher would address the young protesters, hoping to bring them into the SA fold
Khan surrendered control of the British Government to Johnson on the green outside the Palace of Westminster. Surrounded by international media and the young protesters Johnson made a speech to the nation. Johnson promised the perpetrators of the coup would be brought to justice and he would seek overarching reform of the military, promising an incident like this would never happen again. He announced a plan to solidify civilian control over the Ministry of Defence, promising to end the Military’s guaranteed seat at the Cabinet table, and bring in legislation for a civilian Defence Secretary: “The Military can no longer pretend to be above the people it serves”. The ball was firmly in Johnson’s court - behind him Guthrie grimaced, maybe he should have joined Riley after all.
Johnson announced the creation of a “Northwood Commission'' to investigate the events of the coup and prosecute those responsible. Johnson refused calls for a court marshall making clear this would be a civilian trial. He appointed Supreme Court Justice Willy Bach to head the Commission. There were many questions still left unanswered, what was the Place’s role in the attempted coup? Who knew what and when? Were any civilian politicians in on the coup? And the most important question, would this happen again and how long did they have to get their house in order, before it all came crashing down again. The dark underbelly of transition Britain had been revealed to the world, could it be swept back under the rug?
“Conspiracy theories have run rampant ever since the day of the coup. On the night of 24th March 2015, Adam Curtis’s latest documentary, "Operation Buckingham'', was broadcast on Channel 4. It received the highest viewing figures of any non-sports programme ever shown on the channel. The hour-long show made a series of extraordinary revelations. It claimed the 2009 coup was not a real coup, but a planned operation designed to shore up support for the Queen in the country. Some of the MPs who had been present on the day knew about the operation and testified to this fact in interviews. Curtis claimed the coup had been directed and filmed by Danny Cohen who confirmed in an interview that he had been hired to grip the public’s imagination. And then, at the end of the broadcast, Curtis admitted it was all a hoax. He had created the mockumentary, because no one knows what really happened behind the scenes in 2009. His aim, he said, was to ask the question: can a lie explain a truth?” - Operation Buckingham and 2009 Conspiracy Theories, Rob Orchard, Delayed Gratification (2014)
Operation Buckingham was the conspiracy theory that the Palace had attempted to launch a "soft-coup" but lost control of Riley and the more hardline elements of the military