The Ultimate Question 3.0

American politics. Be general or be specific, but what's going on?

Also, you mentioned a Tobin Tax, how's the campaign for/against that going?

Basically, there was no 9/11, War on Terror or Iraq. Bush won re-election in 2004, economic crisis hit and President Hillary Clinton is facing re-election against Romney, Clinton doesn't have that Obama or Bill Clinton popularity but is still outpacing Mittens.

The Tobin Tax campaign in Britain IOTL is supported by the Guardianistas and some of the Harpies (people who don't like Cruddas' socially conservative lines on some issues, especially European referendum) but the Shadow Chancellor (Darling) and Cruddas are playing the "if everyone else does it as well" card while Hague renegotiation has killed the idea of Britain joining anything but a world-wide Tobin Tax.
 
What was the result of the 2009/10 election?

Some context will be needed first. The 2010 election for Labour went bad for three reasons, the first was that the old "keep the Tories out" wasn't as convincing to the less happy with New Labour since they began to see it as just like the Tories, especially with Milburn and Hutton's (granted Darling was the Minister of Finance and could have done more but people still saw the Chancellor as, well, the Chancellor) plan for stimulus "with proper books" which meant very high tax rises with high spending and decreased popularity, the second was that the LibDems under Charles Kennedy were convincing more and more left of Labour voters to go to them as was IRP with the socially conservative Labour and the Tories ran a much better campaign while there were a lot of "Labour Socialist" candidates. The deficit is less of a concern with Blair decreasing Brown's spending but only enough for it not be "We are the next Greece" and more "I think we're nearing crisis levels" on the Tory side.

2010 General Election

Conservative Party (William Hague): 302 seats (+106 seats
Labour Party (Alan Milburn): 240 seats (-126 seats)
Liberal Democrats (Charles Kennedy): 45 seats (+12 seats)
Independent Referendum Party (Tim Congdon): 35 seats (+19 seats)
Other Parties (N/A): 32 seats (+7 seats)


The Coalition Agreement between Conservatives and the IRP included a 2013 EU membership referendum, most others difference involved an agreement for a 2011 referendum of some type of electoral reform in exchange for supply and confidence from the LibDems, while the Tories and IRP realised they shared a lot on common and by early 2012, the IRP and Conservatives will be merging while some "extremists" will be joining UKIP.
 
"Ms Speaker, will the Prime Minister not admit that his party is divided and unable to move on welfare reform, if the comments of the member of Bolsover were not enough for him?"

"Ms Speaker, I would like to say that while every party has rebels, something the Leader of the Opposition knows quite well about, this party is united behind the principle of welfare reform, if the party opposite has a different policy or one that is better, please let the government know about."

*A mixture of cheering and a few jeers*

"Order in the House! The Right Honourable Member for Richmond Yorks."

"Ms Speaker, I would just like to be the one who congratulates the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Social Security for finally seeing reality and adapting welfare to match the needs of the British people (signs of jeering from both sides of the benches). But considering the size of the rebellion on his own side, may I be the first to invite the two over to the Conservative benches, although they may need to give up their jobs? (uproarious laughter)

"Ms Speaker, while I appreciate the Honourable Member's offer, I'll stay in the party that offers consistent growth and lower unemployment."

"Ms Speaker, considering all of these factors started under Conservative rule, I must thankfully accept the Prime Minister's praise for the last government."


Exert of a Parliamentary Debate; 1998

Very slight nitpick, the form of address for a female speaker is "Madam Speaker", or at least that's what Boothroyd insisted on.
 
Very slight nitpick, the form of address for a female speaker is "Madam Speaker", or at least that's what Boothroyd insisted on.

Just fixed that.

Anyway, while I'm here, one thing I did that no one really noticed was the idea of the IRP being the Reform Party to the Conservative's PC Party only with the latter consuming the former instead of the other way around.
 
great time line and thank you for getting rid of Eric Joyce that alone will get you a drink anywhere in Falkirk. :D

Thanks, always nice to see praise for hard work.

Eric Joyce is one of the casualties of the Socialist Coalition, he had a very small majority in the by-election and the vote splitting meant that he was unlucky enough to lose his chance of winning the by-election, however, the Labour vote soon came roaring back in 2001 as turnout increased and Falkirk got stuck with him. :eek:
 
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