Greater Britain

Introduction and Prologue

Greater Britain

A moderate Britwank


Introduction


Welcome to my first alternate history (AH) timeline. The focus of this timeline will be Britain 1981-2021. It is what I think of as a "moderate Britwank", in that it is favourable to Britain but in a way that tries to stay grounded. Everything will be costed (I would show you my spreadsheets, but they contain too many spoilers). Causation will be important. Policy will be examined in detail. Britain will not be regaining her empire, or developing a federal Commonwealth, or surpassing the USA in geopolitical power. This is a timeline about a modern Britain which makes better choices.


The timeline is semi-realistic rather than fully realistic in two ways. Firstly in that it's unusual for a country (and particularly the UK) to make good choices and to invest in its future. So it’s going to take a few dramatic events to get the UK there. Secondly, this version of the UK will be lucky in terms of how its policies work out. For example, something I'm going to discuss in a lot of detail is education reform. In real life, this can often go very badly. But my Britain will be lucky enough to choose good policy which will set the stage for a lot of the later developments.


Despite those sacrifices to fantasy, it's still realistic in that the results will be moderate rather than extreme. We're looking at a Britain which manages to surpass Germany on a GDP per capita basis but still falls short of the USA's figure. (For reference, 2015 OTL GDP per capita: Germany $44,053.07, USA $52,790.00, UK $38,657.79).


But don’t think that everything will be sunshine and daisies for the UK. I am applying the rule “no pain, no gain”. Britain is going to go through some (necessary) bad times before it emerges from the crucible stronger than before. Remember this during the early stages, when things will seem quite the opposite to a Britwank.


As you might have been able to tell, the major focus of this timeline is economics and society, not military campaigns. There will be military action, and also a fair amount of material on the military procurement front (my principal motivation for writing this is in fact catharsis from the pain of the 2010 Defence Review), but what military action there is will be shown from a fairly high strategic level. With a few rare exceptions, you will not be hearing about individual squad movements or battlefield tactics.


As a result of the economic focus, this timeline will break tradition in a few ways. I feel like many timelines focus too much on state action and neglect the private sector and the acts of ordinary people. That will not be the case in this timeline. Of course government policy and spending will be important, but this cannot occur in a vacuum. A lot of this timeline is going to cover the wealth creation which allows Britain’s government to do the things it does. So I’m going to spend a lot of time talking about industry, as one of the major driving forces of Britain’s success will be the emergence of a number of successful businesses which did not exist OTL. The idea here is not to steal the OTL accomplishments of other nations (“Facebook, but British! Amazon, but British!”) but rather give Britain some appropriate successes of its own. In that respect this timeline could also be considered extremely mild sci-fi.


After the prologue (which sets the scene with some OTL events) the intention is for the story to be told largely through fake newspaper stories and other “in universe” documents. However, I reserve the right to go off on a rant about policy. I also reserve the right to post nonlinear items, but I will try to keep things in chronological order.


I hope you enjoy the timeline.


Prologue: 1981 - Spring 1982



GDP, nominal, constant 2011 USD


UK: $1,198,224,286,155

West Germany: $1,996,327,985,831

USA: $6,698,571,354,500


GDP per capita, PPP, 2011 International Dollars


UK: $20,087.57

West Germany: $25,460.80

USA: $29,794.71


BBC News, 26th March 1981


'Gang of four' launches new party


The Social Democrats have launched their new political party pledging to "reconcile the nation" and "heal divisions between classes".


At a crowded press conference in London, signalling the start of a massive media campaign to recruit supporters, the party outlined its hopes of breaking the political mould and of making significant gains at the next General Election.


The Gang of Four, the nickname of the four Labour defectors who set up the SDP, outlined their hopes of winning, with the Liberals, a majority in the Commons.


Roy Jenkins, former Labour cabinet minister, David Owen, William Rodgers and Shirley Williams published a 12-point document covering elections, education and international co-operation.


The party's proposals included calls to reform the political system, environmentally friendly policies, equality of opportunity for women and ethnic minorities, and a fairer distribution of wealth.


Mr Jenkins said formulating an incomes policy would be "one of the most difficult things we have to do".


The Gang of Four describe themselves as a left-of-centre party and is the first to be run in Britain with a one-member one-vote system for policies and selection.


Dr Owen said the party offered Britain a fresh start and he said recruits were coming from other parties all the time.


"We are going to be free: we will make decisions... But they will be your decisions," he told potential members.


He accused the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of having divided the country between the North, Scotland, Wales, and the still "relatively prosperous" South East.


The four left Labour citing major differences over European and defence policies as the party has taken a sharp turn to the left under leader Michael Foot.


The opposition leader has insisted they will win no support.


But with call centres waiting to hear from future supporters and an estimated £170,000 spent on regional journeys and advertising, the SDP is determined to win over MPs and then voters



Selection of political polls, Late 1981


Gallup/Telegraph, 1981-12-14: Con 23, Lab 23.5, SDL-Lib: 50.5

MORI, 1981-12-01: Con 27, Lab 27, SDP-Lib 44

Gallup/Telegraph, 1981-11-16: Con 26.5, Lab 29, SDP-Lib 42

MORI, 1981-10-27: Con 27, Lab 31, SDP-Lib 40



BBC News, 2nd April 1982


Argentina invades Falklands


Argentina has invaded the British territory of the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic.

The islands, off the coast of Argentina, have been a cause of friction between the two countries since Britain claimed them in 1833.


The Argentine flag is now flying over Government House in the Falkland Islands' capital, Port Stanley.


The head of the country's military junta, General Leopoldo Galtieri, has welcomed the "recovery" of "Las Malvinas" - the Argentine name for the Falklands.


General Galtieri said Argentina had been left with no option other than military action.


The invasion followed months of sabre-rattling and a build-up over the past few days of Argentine war ships off the Falkland Islands, home to about 1,800 people.


'Unprepared'


At 0600 on Friday Argentina began "Operation Rosario" when a unit of Argentine troops landed near Port Stanley.


The leader of the Argentine forces, Admiral Jorge Anaya, had contacted the Falklands' governor, Rex Hunt, to appeal for a peaceful surrender.


But the request was rejected and the 80 members of the Royal Marine regiment stationed on the island and 20 locals were mobilised.


But by early afternoon they were vastly outnumbered by about 3,000 Argentine troops.


After an attack on Government House during which one Argentine soldier is said to have been killed, Rex Hunt ordered the British troops to surrender.


No Falkland Islanders or Royal Marines died in the fighting though one serviceman is reported to be badly wounded.


The British Government has cut diplomatic ties with Argentina and started to assemble a large naval taskforce to reclaim the islands.


Questions are being asked as to why the government was so unprepared given two recent "invasions" by Argentine civilians of another British territory in the region.


In the latest incident in March they planted a flag on South Georgia, an uninhabited island 800 miles (1287 kilometres) north east of the Falklands.



Selection of Political Polls, Spring 1982



MORI, 1982-05-16: Con 48, Lab 33, SDP-Lib 17

MORI, 1982-04-30: Con 43, Lab 30, SDP-Lib 25

MORI, 1982-04-14: Con 33, Lab 34, SDP-Lib 30


N.B. Please note all these polls and news stories are real, not written by me.
 
Fascinating period and I'll watch with interest. I'm not sure an SDP government, if that's what the POD results in, would do the trick of modernising the UK. But, let's see what you make happen,
 
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