Primus Inter Pares - October 2015 General Election

[Lumine]

September 2015 – Burnham on the warpath

Prelude: Fresh from victory at the EU Referendum and with New Deal floundering, Prime Minister Burnham calls an early election to cement his majority and consolidate his hold over the Labour Party after almost four tough years in government. Can Johnson or the minor parties stop Labour this time?

Labour Party: Battered by the hardships of a mixed government but confident in victory is Prime Minister Burnham, running on a stronger pro-Europe stance, an economic agenda designed to reactivate the economy through a new stimulus spending programme and further measures in social policy, Burnham is hoping to seize disaffected voters from the Greens and New Deal back to Labour, and has spent a long time attacking Wolfe and Berry as "ineffective".

Conservative Party: Having taken the Tories towards firm Euroscepticism but coupled with a social-liberal, One Nation Tory approach, Boris Johnson is attempting to put together a populist campaign to reach Number 10, running on Euroscepticism, a liberal social policy, a more interventionist approach to reactivate the economy, and tough stances on crime and immigration. Supported by the Farage wing of New Deal (who defected to the Tories), Johnson also expects to consolidate the Conservatives as sole Eurosceptic but sensible choice.

Lib Dem: Running a more centrist campaign this time, the Lib Dems under Ed Davey has moved the Lib Dems towards his own brand of "radical centrism", promoting economically liberal, socially liberal and staunchly pro-Europe policies to re-energize his party. Hoping to bring back the Lib Dems to a good result, Davey has gambled on the Referendum result by advocating more integration into Europe and support for the Euro, hoping to lead the most pro-Europe party.

Reform: David Miliband leads the social-democrats in Reform aiming to become the voice of the center-left, which he argues has been neglected by the left-wing radicalism of Burnham. Reform is therefore running on a "third way" platform of social justice, an interventionist and humanitarian foreign policy, government decentralization, and emphasis on a more "modern" Britain.

New Deal: In chaos after the departure of Kilroy-Silk and the defections of Nigel Farage (to the Tories) and Gisela Stuart (to Labour), the "rump" New Deal is led by Acting Leader Steven Woolfe, who is determined to prove Burnham wrong on the demise of the party. Woolfe has moved New Deal slightly leftwards to outflank Burnham, running on a platform of "social justice and social mobility" aimed at the Labour-voting working class combined with the anti-establishment, Eurosceptic and tough on immigration rhetoric previously used by the party.

Green Party: Determined to succeed this time around, Berry has gathered experience to lead her party again. Constantly attacking Burnham for not going far enough on left-wing policies (and still pro-European), Berry runs again on a radical environmentalist and pro civil-liberties platform, alongside their constant pacifism, anti-nuclear weapons views.

Three days for this one, info on the Burnham Premiership can be found in the main thread.

[Intell]

Did Burnham intervene in Iraq as was implied in the write-up for the Burnham ministry? If yes, which parties oppose such intervention.

[White Trash]

New Deal. But I'm surprised that Woolfe is leading a more leftward New Deal.

[Dereich]

What does "euroscepticism" by the Tories and New Deal mean in terms of policy proposals in the aftermath of an overwhelming Remain win?

[Lumine]

Did Burnham intervene in Iraq as was implied in the write-up for the Burnham ministry? If yes, which parties oppose such intervention.

No boots on the ground, but a sustained bombing campaign in 2012 which made matters worse on Iraq (Eagle pushed for a land invasion, and ended up resigning) and the Middle East. Conservatives, Reform and New Deal supported it and argued for more intervention, Greens and Lib Dems opposed it.

New Deal. But I'm surprised that Woolfe is leading a more leftward New Deal.

Mostly because how different the background would be for politicians like him. In this world Woolfe would have joined a party that was Eurosceptic, but far more into the left than UKIP. He also argued for UKIP to go for the hunt on Labour voters, so he seemed a perfect pick for the moment.

What does "euroscepticism" by the Tories and New Deal mean in terms of policy proposals in the aftermath of an overwhelming Remain win?

Both respect the result of the referendum, so they have to focus on the relationship to Europe. New Deal is taking a more obstructionist approach of denying any overture, whereas the Conservatives are focusing on trying to reform the EU to reduce freedom of movement and are opposing any further transfer of powers at all.

[Intell]

Greens, no war, no bombings!

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

I'm still for New Deal.

Woolfe > BoJo

[MAINEiac4434]

Sticking with Labour.

[Dereich]

Lib Dem, easily.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Sticking with Labour.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Labour it is.

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

Easy vote for the Johnson-led Tories. Bummed Remain won the EU referendum though

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

I voted David Miliband, in the hope that a string showing for Reform and a leadership election in Labour could result in an Ed vs David battle.

[Kingpoleon]

Liberal Democrats. Johnson and the Greens surprisingly appear to be taking former LD voters.

[RFayette]

New Deal, I guess

[Maxwell]

wtf are these results

[Lechasseur]

Easy vote for the Johnson-led Tories. Bummed Remain won the EU referendum though

This

[DavidB.]

New Deal sounds perfect to me

[PPT Spiral]

New Deal sounds perfect to me

Truly. It's a beautiful thing.

[Lumine]

New Deal sounds perfect to me

Truly. It's a beautiful thing.

I'm actually fascinated by the support from different sides New Deal has seen on the TL so far, particularly since it's a left-wing party on many aspects.

Seems I'll have to retcon one or two details on the backstory, Woolfe is doing very well!

[White Trash]

New Deal sounds perfect to me

Truly. It's a beautiful thing.

I'm actually fascinated by the support from different sides New Deal has seen on the TL so far, particularly since it's a left-wing party on many aspects.

Seems I'll have to retcon one or two details on the backstory, Woolfe is doing very well!

The coalition supporting New Deal makes sense to me. In this election it is the only party with socially conservative leadership, which brings in a decent amount of the forum. In addition the party is economically leftist enough to keep from alienating folks like me.

[PPT Spiral]

How much longer are you planning on running this TL, by the way, Lumine?

[Phony Moderate]

I suppose Labour have now stolen the label of 'the natural party of government' from the Tories in this TL, given how they even managed to win under Livingstone.

[Lumine]

I suppose Labour have now stolen the label of 'the natural party of government' from the Tories in this TL, given how they even managed to win under Livingstone.

Certainly, they are seen as that by now.

How much longer are you planning on running this TL, by the way, Lumine?

If it is a strong majority government it seems pointless to go to 2020, so I was thinking of an epilogue after this. If the result is a hung parliament of sorts I might do another GE, but we're either at end or very close to that.

[White Trash]

Just a few more votes for New Deal!