I read the Stand while I was in Kenya, alright?
Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
1990-1997: John Major (Conservative)
1992 (Majority) def. Neil Kinnock (Labour), Paddy Ashdown (Liberal Democrats), David Trimble (UUP)
1997-2001: Tony Blair (Labour)
1997 (Majority) def. John Major (Conservative), Paddy Ashdown (Liberal Democrats), David Trimble (UUP)
2001: Margaret Beckett (Labour)
2001: Jack Straw (Labour)
2001: Geoff Hoon (Labour leading National Government)
Presidents of the Scottish Independent Republic
2001-: Jim Sillars (New Scotland)
Chief Secretaries of the United Republic of the New Society
2001-: Royston Flude (One People)
Prime Ministers of the Reconstructed United Kingdom of Great Britain (Liverpool Zone)
2001-: Mike Watson (Unity)
2002 (Coalition with New Democracy and Trust) def. Edwina Currie (New Democracy), Susan Penhaligon (Trust)
The origins are unknown, some have rumoured it to be a secret project by the army while others took to blaming the EU, but for some reason or another, a violent mutated strain of the Foot-and-Mouth disease caught the British government off guard in early 2001. Blair, already somewhat stressed at having to deal with the culling of sheep and cattle, was livid at the news that thousands of people living in rural areas across the country were infected. And some of those people, unbeknownst to Blair, had been in London, infecting who knows how many there. Quickly, flights were cancelled, roads monitored, but it was to no avail. The government introduced emergency measures such as "detention" for journalists who published on the failure to control the disease and mass deposal of bodies once people began dying. Authority quickly diminished as local councils attempted to take control of the situation, with predictably limited success. Blair himself was infected while flying out to Cumbria and the torch had to be passed to Beckett, who surpassed Canning as the shortest serving prime minister when she dropped dead two days later. Jack Straw wouldn't fare much better, and the barely known Geoff Hoon cobbled together a National Government as the Royals hunkered down in Canada, having already lost Andrew. Hoon was trying to patch things together when he made the unfortunate decision to shake hands with a flustered looking ex-farmer. Anarchy quickly overtook Great Britain, and for one man, this was news most great. Royston Flude, a simple businessman, quickly became known as the Walkin' Bloke and struck a menacing figure in his tweed overcoat and pipe. Operating out of the ruins of Manchester, he cobbled together a surprisingly workable new society, with him as the figurehead. Some figured him for the Antichrist, but he sure got the bins collected. Meanwhile, survivors of the virus who weren't on Flude's side set up camp in Liverpool, hoping to gather enough resources to put him to pasture as reports of old-style Hung, Drawn, and Quarterings going on reached Merseyside. Futhermore, up north, the remnants of the SNP pulled for a UDI and as the government essentially collapsed, were met with little opposition. There appears to be some trouble with oil and removal of bodies, but things are going somewhat swimmingly in comparison with England. Flude's ambitions are growing, and it appears his desire for a spar with the forces of the Liverpool Zone will come to fruition...