5th Past the Post
1979-1983: Jonathan Tyler (Ecology)
Def: National Front (John Tyndall), Communist Party of Great Britain (Gordon McLennan)
After the surprise dissolution of Labour, the Conservatives, and the Liberals, Jonathan Tyler's gamble of standing in as many seats as possible seemed to pay off. Ecology formed the first government of the new party system, and with a majority of 21, enough to push through their ideas. The only issue was that this was a young party with a very single issue at the fore of everyone's minds, and agreements on policy often broke down. The government made energy conservation, recycling, and agricultural self-reliance a priority, creating a mass of new jobs in co-operatively run, nationalised, industries. It also pushed forward devolution for Scotland and Wales, along with regional assemblies in England and a focus on the District council level of local government. Britain withdrew from defence agreements with the USA and began the process ofm unilatetral nuclear disarmament. Both policies put extra pressure on a military that was already seeing large cuts to funding. A Minister of Population was introduced for the first time, though for voters the party's polisy of cutting the UK population to 40 million in the next eighty years was sinister, and the post became viewed as a hot potato. Despite strong work done on sex education and abortion. The party was divided on many issues, and some motions on a less discriminatory immigration system and civil rights, only passed with the help of the CPGB's eleven MPs.
During this time, Malvinas was given to the Argentina, and the Chagos Islands were returned to their original inhabitants then occupied by Mauritius after a referendum. Vanuatu and Belize also gained independence. Hong Kong proved a sticking point for the UK government, as they tried to negotiate for China to recognise the New Territories as an area that would come under Hong Kong's independent control. The deal could not be reached, but typified the fears of many British people that Eco was not only isolating them on the world stage, but was also weak.
Increasingly, the government was riven by factional strife which made it hard for the cabinet to control legislation. In 1981 the NF managed to pass a Repatriation Bill, in 1982 they reversed Eco's disastrous cap on child benefit after the second child. By 1983, in a state of terminal decline and unable to pass a Queen's Speech, Tyler called for fresh elections.
1983-1987: Andrew Brons
1983-1985: National Front
1985-1986: Flag Group
1986-1987: Andrew Brons Political Action Task Force
Def: Ecology (Jonathon Porritt), BNP (John Tyndall), Communist Party of Great Britain (Gordon McLennan)
The National Front was elected with a historic landslide which was made even more impressive by the fact that they former leader John Tyndall formed a new party which won 24 seats and split the far-right vote. Problems started almost immediately, with one of Brons' new ministers giving a Nazi salute on entering Downing Street and Transport Secretary Nick Griffin getting accused of being in a sexual relationship with an older man while a teenager. The government courted controversy from the start by keeping the post of Minister of Population, although its focus was more on ensuring the white race had room to breed. Repatriation was expanded, businesses and assets belonging migrants (even ones who stayed) were redistributed. Attacks on ethnic and sexual minorities became common place and when these were protested against, the police came down hard on dissenters. America was granted bases in the UK once again and funnelled money into reversing disarmament.
During the early days of the NF government, football grounds, some breweries, and the Daily Mail spearheaded a recruitment and social reorganisation campaign on behalf of the government, winning them major business opportunities as long as Brons was in power but creating a legacy that has been very hard for them to shake off.
The NF's main problem was that it was made up of three distinct groups. The old style fascists, the left-wing Strasserites, and a rapidly growing and highly organised Political Soldier wing that wanted to take over the party and favoured Eco-style policies tinged with racialist mysticism. Cabinet's secularism and attempts to maintain some party discipline to prevent the overt use of Nazi imagery in parliament caused a rift between Brons and his back benchers and forced them towards the Political Soldier wing, however the older party members could not accept the Political Soldier wing and despite the three way schism of the party, Brons ust about managed to keep control, until his rump party declared bankrupcy and his government, now lacking any loyal back benchers at all, was forced to resign.
1987-1992: Gordon McLennan (CPGB)
Def: Jonathon Porritt (Green), Red Front (Frank Furedi), Brian Marshall (Moderate Labour)
The defeat of the National Front was so extreme that it caused a major power vacuum in British politics. While the Greens gained around 20 seats the big stir was the CPGB gaining 370 and winning the second landslide majority of the decade. Along with the Greens two other parties formed of former enemies of the state also entered parliament. The Red Front were more exteme in their violent attacks on fascists, the Moderate Labour Party had focused on non-violent opposition.
The new government pursued policies of disarmament, removing American forces (again), support for Soviet Union, wide scale nationalisation, industrialisation, and support for third world states. Hong Kong was handed over to China, officially marking the end of the British Empire, the House of Lords was abolished, along with the monarchy, which was seen as politically suspect. The new position of President was largely ceremonial and power remained with Parliament. Football and the popular press were nationalised and supporters of the old regime found themselve flung out of British political life.
While the government could effectively do what it liked, the public were uneasy with the changes they were witnessing and never again would the far-left have this degree of control in British political life.
1992-1997: Michael Meadowcroft (Liberal)
Def: Jean Lambert (Green), Geoffrey Clements (Natural Law), John Bates (SDP)
Meadowcroft's government narrowly defeated the Greens, and the Liberals became the first of the old parties to win mainstream political representation. They had a majority of just ten, but it was enough to push through a new Bill of Rights which included a law that constitutional changes would henceforth be made by referendums only. Post-fascist Britain was still trying to decide what it was in the world, and the period of Communist rule had only delayed this process. The government opened a truth and reconciliation panel and slowly deprivatised the media. Football was still seen as too dangerous, due to the propensity for mob violence with fan groups still dominated by fascists.
Sudden privatisation crossed with a poor world economic situation, the withdrawal of Soviet trade and the rapid terminal decline of the USSR (then the UK's biggest trading partner) caused massive problems for the Liberals. The final nail in the coffin came in 1995 when it was discovered that the Liberals had colluded with the National Front to arrest dissidents and many of the backers they had sold businesses to were in fact former fascists. This, coupled with the rise of a party that took their right wing vote, cost them dearly.
1997-2001: Alan Sked (UKIP)
James Goldsmith (Referendum), David Taylor (Green), Arthur Scargil (Socialist Labour), Michael Meadowcroft (Liberal)
The 1997 General election was won comfortably by parties that supported restoration of the monarchy and greater privatisation but feared the Liberal party's connection with fascism. The Greens, the only party to have consistently held their position in British life, were reduced to 46 seats, the Liberals to just one.
UKIP argued for wide scale privatisation, going so far as to include utilities and the rail services. Their big policy, however, was that they could restore the monarchy without a referendum. Their legislation on this matter was held up in the Supreme Court and, in 1999, by the newly elected President, Derek Wall. They finally passed a bill allowing them to hold a referendum in 2000. Even then, it was sent back from ratification when Derek Wall ruled that the question "Do you want to restore Great Britain as a proud, democratic country?" was deemed too biased. The referendum happened in 2001, by which time, public opposition to UKIP had solidified and the old queen in any case could hardly campaign well, particularly against a young and dynamic President Wall. The Republican side won with 50.6%. Following the referendum, the Opposition Referendum Party folded into UKIP, believing their last hope was to pursue restoration without another referendum.
2001-2010: Caroline Lucas (Green)
2001 Def: Jeffrey Titford (UKIP), Socialist Alliance, Arthur Scargil (Socialist Labour), Nick Griffin (BNP)
2005 Def: Roger Knapman (UKIP), Nick Griffin (BNP), Linda Smith (RESPECT), Robert Kilroy-Silk (Veritas)
The Greens built their landslide majority of the back of Derek Wall's success and their victory heralded the beginning of the end of monarchism as a major idea in the British political consciousness. The new government pushed for renewables and carbon neutrality, along with greater connections with the EU and a very progressive social liberal agenda that included gay marriage, pay equality, and a restoration of Equality legislation. Police forces came under increased scrutiny and many constabularies were broken down and brought under the control of District Councils. The new government engaged in some privatisation, but mostly wielded it as a weapon to get big corporations to make changes. Basic Income was introduced in 2007 to counter the effects of the global recession. However, the rapid worsening of the global economy had a huge impact on Britain's fragile economy.
2010-2015: Nick Griffin (BNP) Coalition with English Democrats
2010 Def: Malcolm Pearson (UKIP), Caroline Lucas (Green), Robin Tilbrook (English Democrat), Salma Yaqoob (RESPECT)
Nick Griffin finally clawed the far-right back into a position of power in 2010. The Greens were reduced to around 60 seats, while UKIP made large enough gains to stay roughly stable. The BNP attempted to run a slick media operation and represented a modernised nationalism, free from past associations with mysticism and the monarchy. But it didn't take long for this to start to crumble. A second Monarchy referendum took place in 2012 and saw 61.1% vote to continue the republic. This harmed the BNP's alliance with the English Democrats, a further blow to the Eng Dems was their failure to secure a unified English parliament in the 2014 referendum.
The BNP's biggest success was to join forces with UKIP to abolish the Supreme Court and the Bill of Rights at the end of 2012. This cleared the way for them to ban gay marriage and abolish all equality legislation. However it also cleared the way for UKIP, Eng Dem and BNP elements to push for restoration of the Monarchy without a referendum. The Bill to do so passed through parliament despite BNP opposition and, embarrassingly, was only stopped by President Jenny Jones.
2015-2017: Natalie Bennett (Green)
Def: Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat), Dave Nellist (TUSC), Clive Peedell (National Health Action), George Calloway (RESPECT)
By 2015, UKIP were seen as utterly discredited for their monomania over the monarchy, and the BNP were worse than worthless. The Greens retook government, but the real shock was the return of an old party. The Liberals and the Old SDP had unified to form what was, in truth, a vehicle for TV presenter Nick Clegg to enter politics. He narrowly failed to form government and grew increasingly disenchanted with politics as the term continued, leading to the failure of his party and his return to presenting Have I Got News For You.
The Greens therefore had relatively little opposition as they set out to fundamentally change British life on a tiny majority. The Equality Act and Gay Marriage were reintroduced, but central to the project was the restoration of the Supreme Court and Bill of Rights. Parliament ruled that as this would enshrine the principle that constitutional changes require a referendum, it would require a referendum, which the Greens lost in 2016. Natalie Bennett announced her resignation the next day, but stayed on as an interim leader while the Greens elected a new leader.
2017-0000: Caroline Lucas & Jon Bartley (Green) Coalition with National Health Action
Def: David Nuttall (UKIP), Clive Peedell (National Health Action), Christian People's Alliance, BNP
While the Greens were hit hard by the referendum loss, the Liberal Democrats had lost their financial backing and had effectively dissolved, and no other party was in a position to challenge them. The Greens did not win a majority, but with the support of the NHA they essentially had a landslide as long as NHS funding rose steeply. This was easily agreed to, and the new "leadership team" used it to justify pulling support for Bennett's nationalisation schemes. The new government is planning to implement STV, a long standing Green party policy that has been impossible due to the need to hold referendums on constitutional changes. It is hoped that this policy will stop the seesaw of parties gaining enough votes to win hundreds of seats one year then disappearing the next, and will restore stability to British politics.
