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ooc: I've written quite bit of this already, but it's fairly rough at the moment I just wanted to get it out there - the plan will be to revise extensively as it continues.
Second Kingdom Come
Westminster Hall, London, 1879. The Right Honourable Bill Lovett Esq. former First Secretary for Popular Education and Social Good gently placed his cup and saucer back on the occasional table and rested his head, before closing his heavy eyes. His friend and deputy for many years, Frederick Chapman leaned forward cautiously, Bill was clearly exhausted and frankly who wouldn’t be after 79 years of fighting to create the good society? Bill’s eyes opened wide. “sorry old friend, must have drifted off for a moment. Now where were we?” Fred smiled indulgently. “India, though not literally of course.” “Ah yes. And what has the committee decided to recommend to the House?” “Full independence as a federal state within the Commonwealth and with the Queen, God bless as head of state.” “Good.” A few miles away the daily Edinburgh run arrived in a blast of whistles and a cloud of steam at Mornington. One of the passengers who disembarked from a third class carriage was an earnest faced young man who already carried the wear and tear of someone who had spent a good few years toiling underground. James Hardie was the newest Christian Democrat MP in the House, elected just two weeks before at the by-election in Lanarkshire; and at just 23 he was also now the youngest MP in the twenty nine years of the Second Kingdom. Hardie’s face broke into a smile as he saw his friend and confidant Wullie Gallacher waiting just beyond the platform gates, Wullie had already been in the capital for two days arranging lodging and registering them both with the police, and as James was about to find out had already placed a story about him with the Poorman’s Guardian and organised a meeting of the local branch of the Friends of the Mineworkers. Getting elected as a Christian Democrat in Lanarkshire was the easy bit, now the hard work would begin.