Blackadder's Mini Timeline

7th July 2013

He hated coming to Birmingham. The city itself was nice, not much to complain about, and the arrival of the Parliamentary Building had allowed for the place to get more tourists, attention and decent entertainment. No, what was annoying about the trip to this city was the reason itself. Every year, he had to pack up his things and head to Britain's Second City for a few days, essentially preach to the choir or the damned and then head back to his nice office in Kent in what could be described as a monumental waste of time, especially with the Summer recess emerging.

It was simply baffling how, with the boom in technological progress, they all couldn't just wire up and speak to one another using computers and visual communication. Teenage girls could do it, why couldn't the Regional Assemblies and English Parliament try that? It would be cheaper than having to pay for this back-and-forth every year, surely? Perhaps there were problems up North that prevented such things, though he was pretty sure that Cook or Brown (or perhaps Prescott?) said that Regional Assemblies were supposed to address these problems quicker. Then again, it took them five years to get the bloody elections going, though it was convenient timing for his lot, right at the worst moment for Labour.

The car was driving into the City Hall, the driver and himself had to take turns driving due to the long trip ahead and none of them wanted news of a vehicular crash murdering the First Minister for South-East England and his driver. The press were already waiting, the others must have already arrived. It would be nice to see some faces again, Liam had the poor luck of having his office be further away from the action than he would like and Alan and David had similar issues, though it made their trip easier. Dan had no such trouble, managing to easily speak with both him and Shaun.

Keeping such thoughts in mind, and away from the shitty meeting that would soon to emerge, he hopped out of the car, put on his flat cap and strolled towards the building. Some of the press noticed him and began to ask questions. Weighing the merits of either giving the hounds some meat and having to sit awkwardly with the other First Ministers and wait for Liam to arrive, the former was chosen with a worryingly amount of eagerness.

"What is your opinion of the recent resignations from the Cabinet, is the Prime Minister undermined by this?" Ah, Iain and Owen fired the first shot it seemed. Better to have that then the awkward talks with the PM over the gay marriage palava, better give a vague answer about sticking with the right path for the country, it'd be cruel to go far into the attack now, especially with how bad things are getting for poor Matthew.

"The calls for "new and radical leadership", are they referring to the Chancellor? Will Michael Gove be resigning from the Cabinet over this?" Oh come on. He knew the Guardian slacked on journalism but they could have remembered that Gove voted for gay marriage of his own choice. Then again, not many people really cared. Michael was too soft, he had to be pushed into running against Matthew if required, though Matthew's harsh pro-Europe line wasn't making friends.

Might as well show them what for. "Now, I am only going to repeat what our dedicated Chancellor said a week ago. We've got the best plans and we need to show them as we have been doing. Over five hundred free schools established, immigration has fallen under a hundred and ten thousand and we've managed to get the economy back to its former self once more, these are fantastic successes and should be seen as such."

Daily Mail's turn. "What's your response on rumours of racism during the late 90s, especially with claims of close cooperation with Mayor Bailey's scheme for South-East development?"

Oh for fuck's sake. Leave it to someone to take it all out of context, all he said was that they would never get the "dark" vote, but now it seemed that he might as well have fist-bumped the magical talking walrus known as Nick Griffin while dancing on Stephen Lawrence's grave for good measure. Might as well get this out of the way, include some attacks on Labour as well, show the bastards what happens when you accuse someone of racism.

"Lies and slander brought about by those who can only find a way to get involved in the political process through the dishonest means of muck-racking. We saw it all before with the 2009 elections, Labour suddenly cared about the moral integrity of the nation. Declaring that we would sink the nation and cause unemployment of over five million, when it was their own failed policies that brought us into this mess that we needed to bring the country out of. When political arguments fail, the personal attacks appear."

Now that the proto-Party broadcast was over, and he saw Liam's car drive in, he quickly walked into City Hall and let the press do what they could with the stuff he gave them. He knew what they wanted, an excuse to paint the government as divided and the Prime Minister's time as limited, the men in grey suits preparing to have him removed and replaced with someone who could unite the party under a single banner and win the country back over. The highest in the party, including himself, plotting against Matthew as if they were planning a conspiracy. It was shameful what the media were declaring about the government.

True, but still shameful.

Matthew had his time but the recent battle over gay marriage proved to be the final straw. They can't risk some sort of British version of the Reform Party breaking out, especially with the LibDems doing a lot better in the polls, it would be March or April that the coup would be launched. The meeting was to make sure that they were all united behind a single candidate to replace Matthew with and ensure that the 2014 elections went by smoothly and allow the polls to recover, the lack of a honeymoon period had worried many of them. Laws did too well for their liking and he had a feeling that more people voted against Harperson than for Matthew.

Boris may stand down as Premier, he was popular enough with the public, had been able to attract admiration from many in the party despite being close to Matthew on many policy terms and had more steel than Michael when it came to doing what needed to be done. Then again, how many people liked him because he wasn't seen as a politician, and he may have trouble convincing the electorate otherwise on the merits of him being a serious leader, it might be better to keep him in Birmingham to fight the good fight there, though if he decided to run then he would likely win. That was for certain.

A lot of the press had been considering Michael. He did very well in Education, though some proto-Scargills would disagree, with the strong reforms he made in the face of firm opposition and was universally admired throughout the party, a moderniser with Thatcherite decision-making and none of the potential issues about not being a 'serious' politician. Though where Boris had lots of support from the public and the approval of the country, Michael...didn't. His reforms in Education often got a negative press and he didn't seem interested in the job either, much happier with the Treasury, that ruled Michael out but also meant that he wouldn't resign if the right one was chosen.

Some wanted Douglas but he wasn't really the man for the job. Let Douglas handle the situation on rebuilding the party membership figures and reinventing policy, the ceding of powers to such assemblies as his own rather aided his endorsement of his ally, but keep him from actual Cabinet jobs unless he wanted one. Matthew started failing once he expelled Douglas from the inner circle, voting against Europe and gay marriage was a big no-no and now Douglas was with them, hoping to recreate the Party anew.

The meeting would start soon and it would likely be the same old drivel. Miliband the Younger and Burnham would spout Harperson's dogma and the others would talk about cooperation, more competitive tax rates and essentially giving meat to the party and making sure they all kept up the pace on the ideas of the party. Boris, Dan, Shaun, Liam, William and himself would meet afterwards, David and Alan being too loyal to be part of their little plot, to talk about "future policy decisions", especially with the difficulties some of them had with their own Assemblies, Party List systems often had those effects.

Now that he thought about it, better to have Boris stand down. It was win-win for him, Matthew would be removed either way, Boris would have five years to build up a profile beyond being "epic" and it would conveniently leave a nice little empty seat for others with ambitions to take for their own, everybody won. Except, of course, Matthew and English Labour, but that was the economy now. Firmly judging on choices and no exceptions, Cook would have found that out on his little socialist experiments if the man hadn't become a vegetable and Brown found it out the arguable harder way, some of Matthew's best moments were based on such fates.

Nigel found a grin developing on his face as he strolled down the hall, catching Liam's eye and heading towards what would be a very...productive meeting.
 
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You've really grown into a very engaging writer. I like how you paint a picture so well. The reveal is excellent, I felt like an idiot for not spotting it.

One piece of advice, though: your lists of names sometimes get a bit long and frequent. I couldn't quite engage with some of the more 'as we all know, these are the first names of the important figures in this TL' moments, though when done sparingly it's a good technique.

Otherwise it's great, I like the picture of über-devolution and the apparent controlled chaos that has ensued. Not sure how I feel about my First Minister seeing me as a mini-Scargill, though...
 
You've really grown into a very engaging writer. I like how you paint a picture so well. The reveal is excellent, I felt like an idiot for not spotting it.

One piece of advice, though: your lists of names sometimes get a bit long and frequent. I couldn't quite engage with some of the more 'as we all know, these are the first names of the important figures in this TL' moments, though when done sparingly it's a good technique.

Otherwise it's great, I like the picture of über-devolution and the apparent controlled chaos that has ensued. Not sure how I feel about my First Minister seeing me as a mini-Scargill, though...

Thanks, I was hoping to keep everyone in suspense and was worried about the "baffling" line ruining the twist but luckily that's been stopped. I've been trying to work on "prose" areas for future TL works and wanted to find out any problems I may have.

The prevention of names being too known and even confusing the reader was actually intended, I'm trying to convey Nigel's thoughts and the complexity of what is actually happening, sacrificing clearer reading for realism in that you never really think of someone with their full name if you know them, probably not the best idea. I recall seeing a similar effect with other TLs but they probably did it better than myself. Nigel's thoughts also become more complex as the plan is laid out into motion in his attempt to gain more power, and he's a bit tired from the long drive and having to remember all of the other Regional Assembly representatives', I'm happy to explain them though, if you want, butterflies having carried certain careers forward and back depending on who you ask.

It's an area that I find to be ignored, often we have devolution working out alright and little actual controversial use of it and we never get to see the idea of it being used in the worst possible way i.e. one level using a different voting system to the other, forming little cabals to advance each other's career, the time taken to set up all of the necessary equipment and the potential conflicts that can emerge. The only reason that it's all very "boring" is that the elections came at the worst time for Labour so most of them are Tories agreeing on Tory things, come 2014, we may see an additional Labour person in place of a Tory.

Nigel is being playful with the truth. The Tories certainly weren't paragons of kindness when it came to the campaign, selectively remembering certain policies and direct attacks on certain leading Labour politicians, Brown is probably more 'hinted' to be linked with McBride than OTL and Nigel himself was being selective with the truth in that very interview and his opinions of Gove opponents, apparently many but also a bunch of Trotskyites. The plot against poor Matthew is probably less called because he's not doing well, a factor but not the main one, and more because he's been in the job a while and a lot of people are chafing under a lack of actual change in terms of upward movement or policy concessions. Gove being the exception rather than the rule.

I'm thinking about doing two other updates looking at Labour and the LibDems, showing the state of the parties and all that, especially the fates of Labour politicians, both lucky and unlucky.

EDIT: Labour's up next, if the words "controlled chaos" come to mind for this TL, then the latter part applies more to Labour. Prepare for some bad news.
 
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10th July 2013

"How are the candidates for the Regional and English elections going, David?"

He jumped a bit and quickly saw that Harriet was looking right at him, he had been lost in a train of thought and it must have been noticed, everyone was staring at him with expectation in their eyes. He could see why, he was supposed to be one of the potential candidates who could win, a rising star in the party and all that. Agitation in the party had been showing in a lot of places since the election, it was a question of when rather than if Harriet was going to resign, especially with the polls showing how much she dragged down the party now being accepted fact.

The plan would be in October or November, they all agreed, give the new leader a honeymoon but also to give them time to establish themselves in the media before the 2014 elections. Europe was a area of potential gains but it would be hard, that much was accepted, locals would be a battle with the LibDems and certain regions could be won, but some that were once easy to grab were going to become bloody battles.

"Ed and Andy haven't said if they were going to run yet, it's likely that they will though. Andy's seen as having done good by the North-West and Ed's proven a lot more popular with the North-East than we thought, the urban seats will go out for him and the LibDem chosen is just a parachute candidate, one of the Beveridge Group lot who weren't happy with Laws." He remembered speaking with Ed, the nasally voice thing was less of an issue than he thought, and Andy seemed confident about his seat. The small, that was a word for it, margin of victory in 2009 would probably be boosted, plus the Tory divisions over Europe, gay marriage and reforms going too far weren't doing them much good.

Peter, in all his glory, was unconvinced. "We should get statements from them, this week. One thing that we can't do is look like we're just using the Regional Assemblies as a way to make the CV for Labour leadership look good, Liam ruled it out and claimed he would fight the whole term in the East Midlands, get them to do the same. If they say no, then get them to resign soon and replace them with others, the image re-branding can't afford more damage." From what David had heard, this return to a sharp mind was a large improvement over the Mandelson of the late 90s and early 2000s, that couldn't be blamed on him though.

Watching a friend get blown up with a few dozen other people, while your other friend gets injuries lasting six months, does that to people.

"What about Balls? How's the situation for him there?" Balls hadn't had a fun time these past few years, being tarred with the label of Brown's crony in chief and Tory accusations of being buddies with McBride hadn't helped him, losing his seat was testament to that. If he thought his career would be kick-started by running in Yorskhire and Humber, he was wrong.

David sighed and gave his thoughts. "Balls might increase the vote share, heavily attack the Tory record and win some of the more left-wing LibDem vote alongside some of our more... eccentric voters, but Hague is seen as doing his job fine and it doesn't look like he'll stand down." Murmurs of agreement appeared throughout the room, Yvette might have stood up for him if she was here, then again she stayed in the Shadow Cabinet for a reason. Better to stay safe and keep your winnings rather than risk it all with nothing to lose.

"What about England? I heard that Ken is trying to run again." Oh for Christ's sake. Ken said that he was retiring from politics after losing 2012. Peter was going to run against Boris under a banner of controlled public service reform and preventing the rumoured "33% rule" from passing, the tactic was to play that card in a lot of the industrial zones and hope that they see the Tories as returning to the Thatcher days and Ken was going to bugger it up.

"Well, then we're just going to have to stop him, tell everyone who has influence in the electoral college that they vote for Ken and they'll regret it." Harriet seemed shocked about what Peter just said, everyone thought he lost his sharpness years ago, but after 2009 he just steamed back from Europe and showed everyone why they called him the Prince of Darkness. He soon explained his plan, using a 'cordon' to prevent Ken from buggering up everything and showing that Labour can help Britain win the global race by working with Europe instead of against it and all that.

Harriet didn't say anything. She was moving herself out of leadership duties and allowing others to take the mantle, David felt that he should be contributing more than just sitting here and offering data, as if he needed to give something that would change the pace of the meeting.

"What should we do with Jon?" That got everyone silent. Cruddas had been given the job of reviewing policy and some of what he was saying was potentially dangerous, it was innovative and exciting, but dangerous nonetheless. Harsher rules on immigration, a less pro-EU stance, a look again at welfare policies, it all seemed very dangerous and the involvement of Frank Field wasn't helping much either, but it was those areas that Labour was losing in and there were firm elements of social justice. Going after employers hiring illegal immigrants, ensuring that tax is actually paid instead of somewhat avoided, had some elements of Cook-Brownism that may need to be ignored.

Therein lied the problem, Jon lost his seat in 2009 and tried to go for London, only to have the Ken Livingstone Fan Club vote against him for their own personal messiah. Harriet backed him fine but Ken had the problem of never shutting up when he should, Boris' incidents were the type that were made into comedy films, Ken's were not to say the least. Between the Uncle Tom comment and "riddled with gays" idea, Bailey managed to triumph after second preferences were added and now they were here, trying to stop the KLFC from wrecking their chances in England.

Jon took it all in his stride, offering to stand in 2016 and had been writing books and speaking at universities, even working on policy ideas during the darker days of Labour. After the Ides of May, the question now laid on whether to bring Jon into Parliament or whether to just have him in a special advisor position. David himself would keep him very close but he wasn't sure about potential rivals such as...

David didn't know whether it was fantastic or utterly depressing that he couldn't think of any contenders for the throne who wanted that bad or were good enough to get it.

Not like their beloved PM, or course, who had challengers coming out of the bag, not good ones yet but the media speculated day in and day out about the rise of Boris or Gove or even Douglas Carswell (how the hell did he come up? Probably some ConHome circlejerk that Guido egged on) among others. Then again, Ed, younger brother Ed not Balls, did say that some of the Tory First Ministers were gathering together for something.

"Maybe the Tories will get rid of their man?" David innocently said. "He's been there for ten years and I hear the party is chafing under a lack of upward mobility, same faces and all that." Everyone, apart from Peter, looked at him as if he just suggested that Labour call for the canonisation of Harold Shipman. The lack of such looks from Peter, however, showed that he was onto something.

Alistair looked sceptical, Darling of course, not Campbell. He got tired of Cook's "patronising" and the collapsing situation with Brown and fled after the tarring of Red Rag, no matter how much they tried to bring him back, although he was getting interested again. "David, he's out-polling his own party. The public agree with him on a lot of issues, or think that he's taking the conviction decision on it, so why would they get rid of him."

"Because what good is a skilled general if his own troops are close to mutiny and fragging." Peter smiled, as if expectations were met and surpassed. "Yes, our holy PM is currently doing well in the polls but not too well. Cameron's popular because of his firm stance on Europe, why he hasn't been moved yet, so why would the ambitious Foreign Secretary not make his move? Hammond is boring but practical, great for keeping the party together when the Opposition is seen as dying and Davis has been making strides in the Home Office for the past few years. They could move against him and gain a lot of backing, it'd be like with Thatcher, all they need is a horse and a second round."

Cameron? Peter didn't think much of the press speculation but Davies was getting on a bit, at least that was the excuse for Ken Clarke being moved out and Hammond was less "boring but practical" and more "practical but boring", knowing the difference was key. One got the public's confidence, the other's got the public reaching for their pillows.

The room soon bustled with their own suggestions, Harriet looked ready to make one of her few skilled media tactics. "Stoke up the fires, get a list of faces and a "Wanted for Treason" cartoon by someone in the Guardian, make the Tory loyalists look dictatorial." Such a style was probably better for political cartoons then actual political broadcasts depicting "Tory Britain".

He still got Guido-fanboys e-mailing him that bloody parody, the auto-tune remix, the Dan Bull rap attacking Harriet and the Tory response, it was bad enough they actually bloody lost votes while the LibDems got everyone claiming a new Opposition when they lost in seats and votes. Only the "gerry-mandered" boundaries saved them from a total wipeout, they were bound to get north of 200 seats in the next election, especially if the Tories dump their man.

Jim Murphy was next. "What's going to be our theme? For the new leader to use and all that." Ah, Jim. If only Liam Byrne wasn't running for the East Midlands candidature, there’d be more people ready to be what was needed for the party, taking it out of its comfort zone and preparing for new policies.

"Ed called and suggested 'One Nation Labour'?" Peter looked at David warmly, strolled over to him and placed a hand on his right shoulder.

"David," Peter said in a kind manner. "'One Nation Labour' is one of the worst things I ever heard and I heard the planning for 2009." Christ, no one wanted to remember the McBride scandal, the resignations and the economy going shit in the same few months as the election, not to mention the revelation of Balls briefing against Robin Cook in the early 2000s. When someone is in a coma, it's not exactly good to have it revealed that they were being attacked inside the Cabinet, even if it was that before. 2013 was worse, far worse. It had to be allowed to happen, it was the only way to get the party in the right direction.

An expression of surrender was made. "I told him that the idea needed work. I was thinking something on the lines of taking the mantle of localism away from the Tories, the way they did to us on devolution and powers. We back powers going back to the local councils, encourage people to volunteer to aid the community, make government transparent more, hit Parris hard on that u-turn, and back more co-ops and the idea of people taking charge of their own lives rather than being dependent on the government. Link it in with the Policy Review."

Scepticism was present but no one was suggesting anything better, Peter was unsure but was willing to go along with it "Good, might help with our image of the tax at all costs, obey Big Brother image. Would also help show that we do have fresh ideas, what was the name that you were thinking of, David?"

It had to be good, it was an enlarging of local powers at the expense of central government, stole a trick from the Tories and it allowed them to press the issue of government divisions, it needed to be catchy and memorable. The name popped in David's mind and sounded perfect.

"The Big Society." He declared confidently, reaching for the banana on the fruit platter brought in.

Everyone gave comforting smiles and Peter, once again, said what they were all thinking.

"We'll work on the name."
 
Great stuff BA, and you started typing in a font I can read as well. :p
One thing I'm a little sceptical of is that so many big names would drop out of National Politics for regional English politics. Did Many Welsh and Scottish MPs leave Westminster for the devolved parliaments in OTL in the late 90's?
 
When I read the title I was expecting some cunning plans.

There are and have been cunning plans, they're just happening in a subtle manner.

Hehehe.

I'll comment in more depth later.

Where do they find such daft names? :p

I'll be eager to see what you think, David's underestimating Labour's potential for later a fair bit. A lot of their misfortune is more due to bad luck than actual poor decision-making, though the latter didn't make things much better, hopefully I've done these characters justice.

Great stuff BA, and you started typing in a font I can read as well. :p
One thing I'm a little sceptical of is that so many big names would drop out of National Politics for regional English politics. Did Many Welsh and Scottish MPs leave Westminster for the devolved parliaments in OTL in the late 90's?

Don't expect this to be a recurring theme. ;)

The alternate career trajectory, David Miliband being a "rising star" for one rather than the wasted ace by 2013 should be an indicator of that, makes it so that a lot of these guys were more dependent on devolved assemblies to get their careers going with Farage decided to go for the South-East Assembly after a "noted" career in the EuroParl because going to Westminster would have him painted as a rebel, a lot of them haven't become big names which is partly why their unhappy with Matty's leadership.

Hague didn't have the career boom, and then sharp decline before rising back up again under Dave, that he had IOTL and a lot of the Tories are probably looking to be the heir to Boris in the aftermath of their little scheme, Premier of the English Parliament looks good on the CV and they are expecting the successor to Parris to give them some more powers. Something that'll be looked at for the LibDem update along with the reason for the Tories throwing their weight so much in England, the figures mentioned in the updates as First Ministers were more middle and low-middle rankers who were thrown at the seats for a variety of reasons.

Some careers have also gained a head-start compared to OTL, Shaun Bailey's a Cameron advisor who resigned earlier this year and someone who a lot of people are assuming will run for Mayor of London in 2016 IOTL while he already won the job ITTL in 2008.
 
13th July 2013

"Summer recess in five days."

David Laws couldn't fight off the smile from his face as he said that. Parliamentary politics were fun and all but they could get tiring, especially with the election only been two or three months ago, and the recess allowed for everyone to freshen up and avoid killing themselves due to a mixture of boredom and frustration. The Liberal Democrats were rather like the Big Two Parties in that regard, everyone had their limit and summer recesses allowed for such limits to be maintained.

Plus, he had the feeling that things were about to become a lot more exciting. Big Sister was likely to stand down from Labour, leaving it to all two or three highly qualified successors and he had the feeling that the Men in Grey Suits were aiming for Matthew the same way that they did for the Iron Lady. It was all well and good to be seen as a decent PM but if you don't sate the party then you can't be surprised when the knives are brought out.

Matthew's speech didn't help, he completely contradicted Gove on the matter of working with the backbenchers for a stable government and went on the warpath, yes he was completely right to and a lot of the backbenchers were going back on the "if gay marriage was on the Manifesto, we'd back it" claims, but party leaders needed to accept hypocrisy from the backbenchers. Though the confrontation may alienate the moderates and allow for the LibDems themselves to get some members that were less there because of Labour "selling out".

Support was nice but the Liberal Democrats really shouldn't strive to become a left of Labour party, policies such as health reform were now in the strategic hands of Britain's third party and David was going to make sure that they were passed. He heard the sound of a door opening and shutting and turned to see some of his colleagues be present, he had almost forgotten that they were coming to see him, just summing up how they were going to deal with the next few years.

"Oh come in." He knew he was safe, everyone agreed that the main reason for their failure to break the sixty seat ceiling was lying in the piss-poor Labour campaign and the boundary reforms screwing them over and that they did pretty well in the popular vote. If they kept it up, or rather Labour made another horrible decision in choosing a leader, they might become the party with second largest vote share.

Better not jinx it though, better to continue with the conversation.

"So, what should be the plan for 2014?" That was the biggie, the Euro elections were never an area that the LibDems excelled in, the price of sticking to principle on the EU, but local elections often boded well for the party and party shifts may go in their favour. Working with the Tories in Yorkshire and the English Parliament and Labour in the North-East and West often meant they couldn't be accused of being stooges of one of the big two, poison for any third party, and that may reflect well on them if they show that they can be bi-partisan if the Parliament was hung.

Vince started speaking. "We should try and diverge ourselves from the Tories, I know that they were the best options in some regions, but we can't look like we're rubber-stamping the removal of worker freedoms in England, especially with this "33%" rule that we've been hearing about, we can't let the Tories get away with it." This was the issue, trying to become anything but the protest party often met with resistance, or avoiding the position of all things to all men. Vince was a decent fellow, but it was clear who he preferred to work with and it was only Labour heading to the hills that stopped him from raising such a point.

"He's right. We need to show that we're not just painting orange over blue, we can understand the choice over London but we need concessions. Demand STV for English Parliament elections rather than D'Hondt or something." Chris was a fantastic person but really didn't get what a Pandora's Box that would open and the constitutional chaos that would emerge from breaking the happy little compromise that was developed.

Nick spoke some of his thoughts for him. "Hold on. I know that we need to divide ourselves from the Tories but we can't just go full-speed towards the left. What we need to do is define ourselves as separate from the other two parties. We are the only ones calling for more power to the local councils that actually means something and we're the ones who are demanding transparent government which Parris backed out on, we can sell that to the electorate instead of a system people think we already have." The downside to demanding PR when they meant STV was that campaigning against Party List, a voting system that did offer proportional representation, made them look a bit odd.

"We need STV or else we're not going to get as much seats as we could with it." To be fair, that was an excellent point by Chris.

"Alright then, suppose we demand STV for the English Parliament. How do we do that? Can we do that? What if Parris decides that this shouldn't be allowed and blocks it, the Parliament in Westminster is still the central and sovereign Parliament, if he says no then we have to go with it unless we want to kick up a fuss."

"Exactly, we show that the upper level of government can't dictate orders to the lower levels that got a mandate by the public. It'd destroy his nice little moderate image if he tried to do that. We get the system that's more proportional."

"And when the Regional Assemblies refuse?" David could have kissed Danny right there. That managed to get Chris to quiet down, once he started it was very difficult to get him to stop and involved more stress than needed, they couldn't pick a fight with the central government over imposing electoral systems and then force it onto the Regional Assemblies. "Then we have a mess of electoral systems in England and become the buggers that made voting become the bloody Da Vinci Code."

Time to step in, them all arguing allowed for the Beveridge Band to avoid attacking him directly, but it could sometimes get out of hand. "Look, we will get policy concessions but we need to think about which party has the policies closest to us. The party that wants to decentralise government and reform the services that we use and that prize goes to the Tories, remember Brian? He was unsure about calling for second preferences to Bailey until he saw that Livingstone was willing to pull the Uncle Tom card for the sin of not backing Labour. That got us celebrations, we were told that we put morality over meaningless ideological loyalty." It still upset David that the LibDems were still seen as the Robin to Labour's Batman, only less crime-fighting and more getting fucked in the arse, but he took what he could get.

"I know that we are all unsure about the recent...shifts in rhetoric by some. I understand and I am just as angry as you all are when I hear of some using their powers as an excuse to boost the authoritarian stance. However, we all know that Parris isn't going to lead the Tories further right and we've all heard his speech, I'm pretty sure that he isn't going to start hugging Tim Loughton at any moment soon."

Everyone seemed happy with that, although Vince was unconvinced. "What happens if they get rid of Parris? I've been hearing that Bastard Smith, Fallon or Patel are going to challenge him, they could get enough support to be a strong threat and then force Parris to resign, leaving the field open for them to take charge." Michael Fallon? He heard that he thought Parris was too confrontational with the party base but he seemed happy in Business, cutting all the red tape that he could, to Vince's displeasure. David thought that it would be Fox, Hannan or Farage who launched the challenge.

He heard, actually he knew, that Fox was upset about being sent to South-West Regional Assembly rather than get a place in the Cabinet and that Nigel Farage and Dan Hannan were a lot more popular with the base than some Parrisans liked to admit, but Patel was one of the newer MPs and only gained a reputation for being one of Parris' stronger critics. Not to mention that Smith wasn't exactly known for reaching across to the country, Tory politics was all very confusing.

"We'll go with the flow, ensure that we stick to our principles and allow for one of the Big Two to come to us with the begging bowel. We can demand more transparency and local powers among other concessions, demand that this "33% rule" on trade unions be sent to the long grass and show that Liberal Democrats can be in government." It was a bland speech and he knew it, but they got the message and went back on thinking about how to combat the Tories and Labour rather than talking about his leadership style.

Nick seemed confused about the idea of the Tories ditching Parris. "Why would they? Yes, they're at their worst for a long time but it's not like the Tories are facing electoral doom. The polls even show them in the lead still!" The margins had changed, more for Labour and the LibDems, but the Tories were still in the lead with Labour trying to stay in second and failing, the sooner they ditched Big Sister, the better. "It just doesn't make sense, it's like they think they are going to get a smashing at the 2014 elections."

"That's precisely what they think." Ah, the returning champion of the Beveridge Band. Here in all of his HIGNFY glory, he was wondering where Charles had gone and now he knew. "Sorry I'm late, got caught up by Tim over the gay marriage vote, he's worried that his abstaining with Simon over it was going to get him in trouble." It did with the base but not to the Parliamentary party, they were too important to leave in the cold.

"Anyway, the men in grey suits think that's exactly the case. English Devolution, at the moment, is dependent on one party controlling a good portion of the Assemblies, the Parliament and Westminster, if that control is badly damaged in any area, they'll have to deal with a potential constitutional crisis over which area has what powers. The Tories being divided has always damaged them, it did during the Cook years and it is now, they can't afford to allow this control to be lost or else their changes can be reversed before they set in." So that's what he wanted, more commitment to opposing some of the reforms, clever man.

"So if Parris and the Tory base are at each other's throats, that’ll mean people won't vote for a party of uncertainty and the Tories in the English Parliament and Regional Assemblies have to compromise with us or other parties." Danny contributed to the explanation, feeling proud of himself for realising the implications early on.

"Precisely. Parris has alienated a lot of his team, they want to compromise on Europe, inheritance tax and immigration even further but that isn't happening because the PM feels that it's now personal, they voted against his own bloody civil rights, he's right to be bloody furious. However, they also don't like his lack of promotion, his preference of old faces compared to new ideas and they see him going as a way to alter the Cabinet entirely. A new leader can compromise, can unite and can even win if they choose the right man."

"It's desperate and cowardly, treating the man who did so much for them and given so much time to them like that, but it's in their nature. They see themselves as the party of government, their sworn duty is to govern and ensure that they are governing or that their policies are the ones being passed, and fighting between the Prime Minister and backbenches and constitutional chaos on top doesn’t exactly aid in such goals. Ever since they realised that no leader is too expendable when the chips are down, they've become like sharks. Stabbing their man in the back if even one moment of potential failure is present and replacing him with someone different. They did it to Thatcher, they did it to Major, they did it to Portillo and they're gonna do it to Parris."

David seemed too happy at the sound of such news. "Almost feel sorry for him," He said with a confident, maybe even cocky, tone. "Still, it'd be a waste to let all of those upset moderate voters go to waste because the Magic Circle felt a bit nervous. Unhappy about the sudden shift right and the betrayal of a man who did all that for them, they might be ready to tear down his image beforehand, some 'gaffes' to damage him personally but some will still be upset. They could be good LibDems, given the right massaging and direction-pointing."

Everyone in the room smiled with him, even Vince realised that what David was doing could give them a pretty big boon. "It’s an absolute shame. Labour's set of leaders aren't what they used to be, David Miliband, Alistair Darling and maybe even Yvette Cooper are the only competent ones and not many of them can do what we can."

"If only there was a party for them to go to, free from the constraints of the two-party system and can offer a fresh alternative to divisive politics and allow for moderate voters of both sides to coalesce together." Nick pretended to lament, everyone realising that this could actually be great for them while David looked at all them and threw his hands in the air in a mock-gesture of woe.

"Where could we ever find such a party?" Looks like British politics was about to get a fresh coat of paint, might need a quick campaign drive for money and advertising. Increase their credentials for moderate Tories and offering strong leadership for the headless Left, never really getting over their hero falling into that coma, and maybe another policy look-see over the summer.

It appeared that they wouldn't be getting a relaxing recess after all. Then again, what were a few months when a potential coup in British politics itself was on the table?
 
This is interesting and confusing all at once, what with being in some ways very familiar and in others completely alien to British politics OTL. I do feel that I'm getting more of a handle on things ass there are updates from the point of view of each different party though. The increase in regional autonomy certainly seems to have led to a lot more wheeling and dealing within the central hierarchy of the big three parties. I wonder how the other regions are. Presumably Northern Ireland is much the same, but I'm unsure how devolution in England would have affected Wales and Scotland. Perhaps Wales has a Parliament rather than just an assembly?
 
I can't help but wonder whats going on in Scotland and what powers the regional assemblies actually have?

This is interesting and confusing all at once, what with being in some ways very familiar and in others completely alien to British politics OTL. I do feel that I'm getting more of a handle on things ass there are updates from the point of view of each different party though. The increase in regional autonomy certainly seems to have led to a lot more wheeling and dealing within the central hierarchy of the big three parties. I wonder how the other regions are. Presumably Northern Ireland is much the same, but I'm unsure how devolution in England would have affected Wales and Scotland. Perhaps Wales has a Parliament rather than just an assembly?

Scotland and Wales and being very boring at the moment, the SNP are the largest party in the Scottish Parliament but a Lab-LibDem coalition has a small majority while the Scottish Progressive Party (separate Scottish Tory Party with a new name) is doing slightly better than OTL, mostly because they're still detoxifying the brand name. Wales is similar, Labour's got a minority government and are being backed by the LibDems in government again. Their voting systems, along with the London Assembly, are the same as OTL, using AMS, bringing up strange questions about having all of the devolved assemblies use the same type of voting system but not really working in principle.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are rather boring in that they're less controversial, well as much as it can be in Norn Iron's case, and because their issues e.g. who decides what and can central government overrule them, was sorted out because only one layer was introduced. ITTL, both Scotland and Wales got more powers than OTL and a Parliament/Regional Assembly plan was made for England.

The "wheeling and dealing" is more complicated and less complicated than it seems. Parris might even be able to fight off the challenge if he is able to keep the Tories at a respectable lead against Labour and the LibDems, going to be difficult once Labour replace their leader and a boom is made, but it's clear that a lot of people think that he's gone on for too long. If Parris were to resign, I imagine it would either be in the form of everyone telling him to resign or letting a stalking-horse candidate go against him like IDS, Hammond or one of the main backbench rebels and then having to resign for party unity while a new election is called.

The Devolved Party will want Boris to run, the Cabinet will want David Cameron and the MPs are likely to fall in line with whoever does the best campaign. It'd be a fair fight and Boris is likely to be included and any future Cabinet or may not resign as Premier unless he wins the leadership election, whether the party will be re-united for more than a year is a question that a lot of them seem to be avoiding and Kennedy does have a point when he says that a lot of moderate voters aren't going to just get over this coup d'etat on their man. Depending on how the leadership responds, these voters could head towards the LibDems, especially if it seems like the "safe" choice and allows for Laws to become vindicated in his "Orange Book" approach.

For powers, it's a bit of a confusing mess. Scotland and Wales had only one level that was gaining new powers and there were a fair few battles over policy. England, on the other hand, has had most of its Regional Assemblies and the Parliament itself either under Tory control or has the LibDems backing Conservative policy because it's difficult to fight it off. The 33% rule is part of that, the English Parliament could actually impose it on the Regional Assemblies but is likely to give the North-East and North-West a 'consultation' period to avoid too much battling and kick the can down the road.

The lack of actual bickering over powers is actually bad because there is going to be a time where Labour, or a Lab-Lib coalition, wins control of some Regional Assemblies or Labour become the government again. Now the question is whether the English Parliament has powers in that direction or whether it belongs to the Regional Assemblies, if the English Parliament varies Corporation Tax and Inheritance Tax to decrease by 5% (the amount that the SP can change it ITTL) can the Regional Assembly in South-East England lower it by an additional 3% (the amount the WA can ITTL) or is it that they can lower the national rate applying to them and the EP can only lower it by another 2% on a national scale for the South-East Regional Assembly.

It's all very confusing, and when it is combined by the lack of an actual 1997-landslide of doom, you get a party that still sees it as their duty to govern and have their policies implemented, you get a government that is avoiding such issues and is determined to get as much stuff as they can through as possible. Thus it continues on, despite the anger of internet commentators and posters on an alternate history site, aghast at how badly it's all about to turn out. ;)

This is the last part of the TL, however, I can answer questions you may have but this is where I think it is natural to end it. Showing a "typical" day in this new Britain where everyone is planning something, trying to climb up the pole with the new handlebars in particular being some help, and the controlled chaos that is English devolution being very confusing.
 
Whoa, Matthew Parris with a leading role in politics in 2013.

That's, errrm, interesting.

Just when he thought he was out, they pull him back in.

I will admit to a lack of originality, I already had PM Parris for "With Nowhere Else To Turn" and one of my ideas for an epilogue chapter for that one was Nigel Farage claiming that Britain was naturally against socialism, but the concept of him in charge itself is interesting once you factor in his hard comments on both Miliband and UKIP among other things, which helped me come up with the idea for having him be the victim of a mini-coup within his own party.

Hopefully, I did right by the LibDems as well.
 
Just when he thought he was out, they pull him back in.

I'm not entirely sure Matthew is still a consistant Tory voter, although he is a bit of a Cameroon. How did the Tory party take to their openly gay leader? Did he get to publish Chance Witness (which is a bit of a must read, btw)? No, he can't have done, too many hostages to fortune in there.

The LibDems don't feel right, nearly right, but not quite right. We aren't that obsessed with STV, it just feels like it at times. I remember being corned by David Rendel...
 
I'm not entirely sure Matthew is still a consistant Tory voter, although he is a bit of a Cameroon. How did the Tory party take to their openly gay leader? Did he get to publish Chance Witness (which is a bit of a must read, btw)? No, he can't have done, too many hostages to fortune in there.

The LibDems don't feel right, nearly right, but not quite right. We aren't that obsessed with STV, it just feels like it at times. I remember being corned by David Rendel...

Parris was a narrative choice, rather like having a PM Mosley, Powell or Kilroy-Silk, I think they could do it before a certain point, but not for long, it would take many a coincidence and would eventually have the party try to force them out if not the electorate but makes for an enjoyable read. Just to see what they would do.

I thought it matched well with the theme of controlled chaos, as Meadow put it when describing this TL, with a Prime Minister who doesn't even like a lot of his own party and was more elected due to the Tories going a bit more moderate and the choice going down to him and someone worse, I imagine. He's not long for the premiership either way and I see him having a troubled divorce with the party and he's got the transcript of the book jotted down, nice and filled with other names and secrets that aren't going to be good for the party. The Anti-Parris crowd aren't exactly thinking in the long-term here.

To be fair, they're more arguing for concessions to be gained with STV being an example, and being more than a bit worried about what Laws is just handing to the Tories, and just want more seats so that they gain more seats before Kennedy interrupted them. Not really an obsession, I imagine that they are demanding that the Regional Assemblies that they have a hand in controlling should gain the power to lower tuition fees a fair bit or introduce a measure to give more aid to students. It's just that they've said it many a time.
 
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