I wonder how long until the credit crunch starts to hit. Then we'll see what Burnham is made of. Also, did the labour government get a note of 'there's no money' from the Conservatives
The credit crunch has been at least partially butterflied away due to the policies of President Dean. There’s been an extended stagnation but it’s not going to ammount to any sort of crash. So no note from the Tories either.
 
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Election Aftermath
Following the political earthquake that was the election, many parties were left with many different attitudes to the results. For Labour there was obvious cause for celebration as they had won a strong majority to enact their manifesto pledges. Burnham, as Prime Minister, quickly announced his new cabinet that would lead Britain for the next few years.

Cabinet of Andy Burnham

Prime Minister: Andy Burnham
Chancellor of the Exchequer: Ed Balls
Foreign Secretary: Charles Kennedy
Home Secretary: Ed Miliband
Education Secretary: Ben Bradshaw
Defense Secretary: Hilary Benn
Health Secretary: Jeremy Corbyn
Justice Secretary: Hariet Harman
Business Secretary: David Miliband
Trade and Industry Secretary: John McDonnell
Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Secretary: Douglas Alexander
Environment Secretary: Frank Roy
Communties and Local Government Secretary: Richard Leonard
Minister for Women and Equality Secretary: Emily Thornberry
Transport Secretary: Gemma Doyle
Europe Secretary: Roger Godsiff
Culture, Olympics and Sport Secretary: Alan Johnson
International Development Secretary: Jim Murphy
Scottish Secretary: Tommy Sheppard
Welsh Secretary: Albert Owen
Northern Irish Secretary: Sadiq Khan

For the Conservatives, the election was about as much a mixed bag as you can possibly get. The party had by all purposes lost their chance to be in government and yet the party held not only held strong but had gained seats from the sheer intensity of the Liberal collapse. William Hague had technically just got the Conservatives their best result since 1997. In the aftermath Hague wondered if he’d be pushed out for costing them the election but due to the odd circumstances of the gain in seats it became clear that although he could go anytime he liked, he certainly wouldn’t be pushed.

The Liberals suffered a knockout punch and just looking at the popular vote totals it was clear the SDP were responsible. The near wipeout had almost cost Wheway his seat in what would have been an unprecedented event in modern British politics. Before the Election night was even up Wheway announced his resignation as leader of the Liberal party, apologising profusely to each one of the 79 MPs whose seats were lost by the near wipeout. Declaring that “the torch of liberalism would burn brighter” he stepped down as humbly as you could after such a loss.

What was the Liberals loss was of course the SDP’s gain. With 18 seats the party was only narrowly behind their rival whilst also trumping them in the popular vote. Almost all of the original 10 defectors from the Liberals had kept their seats however Peter May of Swansea West and Jason Zadrozny of Ashfield were defeated by a strong Labour resurgence in these former safe seats. The 18 MPs for the SDP were:

Vince Cable (Twickenham)
Duncan Hames (Chippenham)
Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire)
Kathryn Newbound (Maidenhead)
Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale)
John Thurso (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Dan Rogerson (North Cornwall)
Mark Williams (Ceredigion)
Eric Lucas (Bath, former Green Party)
Andrew George (St Ives)
Keith Taylor (Hazel Grove, former Green Party)
John Bates (Cheadle, former SDP Leader)
David Owen (Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, former SDP Leader)
Steve Burgess (Edinburgh South, former Green Party)
Layla Moran (Oxford West and Abington)
Alex Hough (Eastbourne, former Green Party)
Alfie Stirling (Lewes, former Green Party)
Peter Lynn (Colchester, former Green Party)

The SDP had been successfully able to capture many seats from the Liberals and Labour, including the return of veteran parliamentarian David Owen to the ranks. The party had also succeeded in wiping out the Liberals in their former stronghold of Wales, the first time the region hadn’t had a single Liberal mp since the parties creation. In Scotland too the Liberals had been left with just Orkney & Shetland and North East Fife, with Labour surging even further to the top spot. A very different Parliament lay ahead.
 
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(And as promised here is the first of the previous general elections presented as wikiboxes. I'll post one every new update.)​
 
I wonder what a Burnham Government will do to the North West & North in general. Around this time IOTL, First Transpennine Express wanted extra carriages for their trains.
 
I wonder what a Burnham Government will do to the North West & North in general. Around this time IOTL, First Transpennine Express wanted extra carriages for their trains.
Rail travel would be remarkably different as the Brown Government renationalised it to appease the Labour Left.
 
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“You know we make you want to Spit”
(I thought I would give a little more of a media based update on how Spitting Image has been satirising some of Britain’s most famous politicians since its revival in this ATL in 2004.)

Labour Party

Gordon Brown: Extremly Scottish, portrayed with an eye that would roll around as if in water.

Andy Burnham: Impatient, akways asking “Is it time for the Election yet?. Once Prime Minister he still remained impatient but also became obsessed with cats after a tabloid article likened him to a cat.

Ed Balls: Portrayed as Gordon Browns body double, given their similar politics.

Tony Blair: Cocky and Nostalgic, treated Sedgefield as it’s own country, running gag of Sedgefield declaring independence every episode he featured in which led to an actual minor tongue in cheek secessionist movement.

Tony Benn: Anti-War to the extreme. Told kids off for fighting in the sandpit. For the Conservatives year of government the “News at Benn” was broadcast where Benn would blame every minor issue on the Tories government.

Miliband Brothers: Portrayed as an unpopular stand up comedy double act.

Charles Kennedy: Frequently seen campaigning for “Ginger Rights”, as Foreign Secretary he would accidentally introduce himself as everything but the Foreign Secretary.

Conservative Party

William Hague: Portrayed as a grumpy teenager in reference to his speech at the Tory party conference at 16. As Prime Minister a two headed beast, one head anti Europe and one head pro Europe.

George Osborne: Overally posh Eton college boy. Had a “crisis? What crisis?” attitude to any news involving the poor.

Michael Howard: A senile vampire who still thought he was Home Secretary or Leader of the Opposition.

David Cameron: Osborne’s second in command, similar attitudes to the poor as Osborne.

Boris Johnson: Moaned about Brexit in every episode, seen dressed in very stereotypical European clothing, different every episode.

Margaret Thatcher: Still appeared every so often giving advice to Hague from a small window in his Downing Street bedroom.

David Davis: Angry about almost everything, secretly had talks with Ed Davey.
Democratic/Liberal Party

Ed Davey: Screamed “Nanny State!” at everything to do with authority, including his own Nannny.

Rob Wheway: It was claimed by him that all of the Liberal MPs had gotten lost inside his beard and that was the cause for the -79 Seats. As deputy pm he was frequently ignored by Hague unless he said the “C word” (Cornwall).

David Laws: Eager to be leader, “Me next me next.” Behaved like a spoilt toddler.

Nick Clegg: For reasons unknown, Portrayed as a freestyle rapper with Paddy Ashdown beatboxing for him.

Kenneth Clarke: Always drunk, never quite sure where he is or what party he was in.

Social Democratic Party

Duncan Hames: Excitable, often seen going for a jog due to his enjoyment of this activity, interviewers would have to jog alongside him.

David Owen: Desperate for power. Overly resilient and confident in himself.

Vince Cable: Seen as senile. Broke into Downing Street claiming to be PM of an SDP majority Government.

John Bates: Pushed aside by the new defectors to the party. Desperate for attention. “Still here!” was his catchphrase.
 
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A Safe Pair of Hands for Once
After the loss of nearly 80 seats to rival parties the Liberals had been left with only a handful of prominent politicians. Nick Clegg, widely touted as a possible successor to Wheway, had lost his Sheffield Hallam Seat to a strong challenge from Labour in a Portillo like manner and was now out of the race. Susan Kramer, the deputy leader, had too lost her seat of Richmond Park to the Conservatives. Kenneth Clarke therefore became acting leader but stated he would not stand in a leadership contest. David Laws, extremely popular in his Yeovil Seat, had managed to survive the Tory sweep through the West Country and as such put his name forward as the man to take the Liberals out from their darkest days.

David Laws was a popular figure in what was left of the Liberal Party due to his strong libertarian views and therefore was seen as a strong contrast to Wheway. He was able to obtain a rally round the flag effect as many did not wish to face a long divisive leadership contest. Nobody else had the political clout to stand against Laws and as such became the leader to bring the Liberals back into the spotlight.

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I would dearly love to see how Burnham is going to approach the EU negotiations, but I'm also loving how Shads is drawing this out by filling in the details and creating more depth in this universe.
 
I would dearly love to see how Burnham is going to approach the EU negotiations, but I'm also loving how Shads is drawing this out by filling in the details and creating more depth in this universe.
The EU negotiations will come after the election aftermath and the dust settles. Thanks for the feedback though, I am attempting more of a world (and by world I mean 95% Britain, 3% USA and 2% non-Brexit related Europe) building scheme. I have the rough timeline up to January 2019 (when I will finish it) but I partly write it as I go along. I wanted to create some more visual stuff with the wikiboxes which I’ve started to add at the beginning of the TL if you haven’t noticed :)
 
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Modernisation of the Extreme
You could have predicted the Liberal decline and crash. You could have predicted Labour would surge into 1st. There were however few political pundits predicting the steady rise of a party that had been frequently lambasted as a “gang of thugs”. The BNP, as much as you can mellow fascism, had mellowed its image since Nick Griffin had became leader. Gone was their founder, John Tyndall, and his calls for the re-establishment of the British Empire. In came a party that could appeal to disaffected Conservatives and Labour supporters that seekers to preserve their idea of "british identity".

The party however recognised that the 0.6% support boost in the General Election had mainly came from Brexiteer Conservatives who couldn’t quite get themselves to vote Labour. Therefore Nick Griffin decides to restructure his party once again, moving it slightly closer to the centre in order to pick up these Tories who found their party a little too soft on certain issues. The “Traditional Britain” campaign was launched aiming at rural voters and Thatcherites. Several of the more prominent and direct fascists were expelled from the party, trying to make as little fuss as possible by distancing themselves from their more sinister origins.

The move was a success, capturing the sort of appeal that the Referendum Party had won in 1997. Those same conservatives who had been furious at the apparent betrayal of Hague now began to stick around. Party membership increased to 5,000 and finally, after UKIPs strangling at birth almost a decade ago, the hard right had somewhere to look to and somewhere to go.
 
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Oh no...oh dear...oh dear, well I hope they do something stupid that gets that movement smothered in a crib, I don't know Nick Griffin gets caught doing tax evasion or something similar.

If the BNP get one MP into office I will be a little horrified.
 
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The first PMQs
After Labour swept back to power they set in motion a timetable for the start of the new EU negotiations. Before that came a round of prime ministers questions that would be the first of the new parliamentary term. Hague was quick to question the possible instability brought in by a change of party during negotiations but Burnham defended saying Labour would achieve in months what the Conservatives hadn’t been able to achieve in a year.

From the third parties came an uneasy atmosphere. The SDP attacked Brexit as a concept but again the Prime Minister listed the many opportunities a clean slate would bring the U.K.. The Liberals still were recovering from having the wind knocked out their sails but Ed Davey, who had hung on in Kingston and Surbiton as a popular mp, did express his concern for Labour’s renationalisation efforts.

Burnham did also lay out plans for obtaining his “peoples Brexit” by creating a firm but fair “red wall” with Europe. He claimed this would be far easier to achieve than the “hokey pokey” Brexit that had been attempted under the Conservatives. With negotiations to begin that Friday, the new pm would be quick to face his first major test.
 
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A Left Wing Brexit
As Burnham began his first round of negotiations for his exit strategy with Brussels, a wide range of support and criticism came from the British political world. Tony Benn, serving what he said would be his last parliamentary term as member for Chesterfield, was quick to praise Burnham stating that Labour was once again a people’s party and that he was glad the new government saw the case that must be made for Brexit. Blair was more muted in his support but nevertheless was happy to see “the back end of a Tory Government so soon”. Whilst Gordon Brown stated his confidence in Burnham to be an effective prime minister.

From the Conservatives came otherwise. Hague of course criticised the “plane crash” deal being proposed by Labour, perhaps not the best choice of words given that the tragedy of Flight 55 was still in recent memory. Nigel Farage gave some praise for the “clean slate” being offered by Labour. Upon meeting with Brussels Burnham was clear in his intention to take the U.K. out the EU with no “loose ends tied”. Britain would be able to control its own laws, patrol its seas and achieve fair protection for its farmers. There were some harsh words thrown between the two but Burnham remained resolute in stating that it was either this or Britain would be perfectly happy to leave on World Trade Organisation Terms.

This strong stance presented in news bites helped Burnham with his voting base. In the first approval rating poll shortly after the first round of negotiations, Burnham held a 65% approval rating with sub polling showing a 54% personal approval amongst Brexit voting Tories and a 77% approval rating of his handling of Brexit so far. This was helped by Burnham bringing along notes from his Minister for Food, Fisheries and Agriculture , Douglas Alexander, stating a clear need to protect farmers and fishermen, helping Labour in areas they previously hadn’t excelled in. This had been evident even in the election when Camborne and Redruth in traditionally Tory/Liberal Cornwall went a deep shade of red. Could this bipartisan support of the new PM hold up?
 
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Hague’s Reshuffle
After becoming leader of the opposition for the third time, Hague decided that some drastic changes to the Conservatives were necessary in order to shake up the party. Farage was of course kept far away from the shadow cabinet for his support of Labour’s Brexit strategy. Some more loyal supporters were added to replace the previously shared cabinet with the Liberals.

2008 Shadow Cabinet of William Hague

Leader of the Opposition: William Hague
Shadow Chancellor: David Davis
Shadow Foreign Secretary: David Cameron
Shadow Home Secretary: Eric Pickles
Conservative Party Chairman: Michael Howard
Shadow Education and Employment: Boris Johnson
Shadow Defense: Iain Duncan Smith
Shadow Health: Michael Gove
Shadow Justice: Caroline Spelman
Shadow Business: Phillip Hammond
Shadow Trade and Industry: Ian Liddell-Grainger
Shadow Food, Fisheries and Agriculture: Jacob Rees-Mogg
Shadow Environment: Jeremy Hunt
Shadow Communities and Local Government: Andrea Leadsom
Shadow Culture, Olympics and Sport: Chris Grayling
Shadow Transport: Rory Stewart
Shadow International Development: Roger Gale
Shadow Scottish: Greg Knight
Shadow Welsh: David Davies
Shadow Northern Irish: Reg Empey

This new cabinet of primarily Hague loyalists featured several new faces of backbenchers that had been promoted upwards due to the loss of several high profile MPs, such as Michael Portillo in Kensington and Justine Greening in Putney. The Tories were still seatless in Scotland and it appeared an image problem was blighting them north of Hadrian’s wall. Not even the relatively safe seat of Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale had returned a Conservative candidate, with Richard Leonard winning a majority of 4000 in this Brexit voting area of Scotland.

David Cameron, who had floundered for many years due to his support of Osborne, had now returned to shadow one of the great offices of state. The popular Eric Pickles too was promoted to Shadowing Ed Miliband in the Home department. This new shadow cabinet would be trading blows with the Labour Government over the coming years. But with a perhaps at best shaky but stable control over the leadership, would they land any decisive hits?
 
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David Cameron, who had floundered for many years due to his support of Osborne, had now returned to one of the great offices of state. The popular Eric Pickles too was promoted to Shadowing Ed Miliband in the Home department. This new shadow cabinet would be trading blows with the Labour Government over the coming years. But with a perhaps at best shaky but stable control over the leadership, would they land any decisive hits?

Shadow Foreign Secretary is a great office of state? :p;)

I think you might have meant "had now returned to shadow one of the great offices of state"
 
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