What would happen if a bomb goes off in a session of Parliament, filled with the current cabinet and the opposition, both major and minor, causing casualties with both death and injuries?
What is the domestic and international response?
Depends on where the bomb came from.
Whether the bomb came from Al-Qaida or the Real IRA is going to have vastly different political consequences.
Lets assume the IRA does it. The effects of this?
It happens in What if Gordon Banks had played. It caused a Tory landslide of unprecedented proportions.
What would happen if a bomb goes off in a session of Parliament, filled with the current cabinet and the opposition, both major and minor, causing casualties with both death and injuries?
What is the domestic and international response?
You need to give us a date. This is an alternate history forum.
The technical answer is that the Queen summons the politician most likely to be able to form an interim government and instructs them to do so. If they can do so then those supporting him/her decide who will get which job and work continues until a new General Election.
In the immediate aftermath seniority devolves down the food chain until the Queen has a new government formed as above.
Politically, anti terrorist resources are enlarged and, possibly, some legislation to make the work of the security services easier.
Which IRA? The official IRA died out years ago. The Provos now are part of the Northern Ireland Assembly and are UK Parliamentary MPs (even if they do choose not to sit.) The remaining splinter groups are so small and devoid of popular support that they are probably known to the security services by name and collar size.
The immediate action would be to strengthen the Police on the ground to forestall any Loyalist revenge actions: which is where the 'Troubles' began.
Really this is something that the UK would treat more as an act of god (in the insurance sense, not the religious one) than a national assault. If I may put it in American; Shit Happens. Irish terrorism is like the weather. It just happens. We got used to it. The proper concern is for the victims.
The UK experience is that you defeat terrorism with intelligence and politics. Military action is to allow these to take place. Otherwise, in the classic Western movie genre, your armed posse can look like a lynch mob.
Let say around 1981 after Bobby Sands death from a hunger strike for the sake of discussion.
The Army and RUC knew who was in the IRA and other groups. They can now go and get them. They can now play by their rules. They can go and kill them and no one will care. If the army has to cross the boarder, so be it, what's the republic going to do about it?
A hell of a lot of pressure is going to put on the US to put a stop to NORAID. Don't forget who is POTUS, he needs us more than he needs a few 'Irish' votes.
Up shot. 5,000+ IRA members and supporters killed/bunged up, marshall law in N.I.
The owner of CNNIBN news channel was very happy because his news channel was getting millions of viewers during Mumbai Terrorist attack in year 2008.
289 people were killed in the terrorist attack but the media moghul in India was happy because his channel got millions of new viewers.
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