Chapter 1599: If you win, you counter-attack
With a new official in office, to celebrate Margaret Thatcher’s re-election, Alan Wilson was chairing a meeting of departmental permanent undersecretaries to see what kind of changes could be made to the Prime Minister.
“It seems that never since the war have the Conservatives gotten such a huge victory.” Alan Wilson smirked at his colleagues as he referred to the election results that had just come out, “It’s especially clear how important a victory in a war can be for society.”
“And I wonder what the point of the Social Democrats’ existence is? Just six seats though, Labour must have lost more than six positions because of the nonsense of these ex-ministers.”
Armstrong commented in a nonchalant manner, “The Conservative Party won a big victory of more than sixty seats, and the next five years in power are considered consolidated. But in terms of the balance of the country, this isn’t good either.”
The UK has a relative majority vote counting system, quite similar to the current winner-takes-all system of Electoral College votes in the states in the US.
That is, a candidate can win a seat in a constituency even if he or she does not receive more than half of the votes, as long as he or she receives even just one more vote than the other candidates, or in the United States, the entirety of the state’s Electoral College votes, with no need for a repeat election.
It is therefore common for the person elected to be elected to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom as the representative of the whole constituency, although he or she has received more votes than the second-place finisher, but fewer than the total number of votes received by the other candidates, i.e., he or she can be elected despite the disapproval of the majority of the electorate.
It is important to recognize that the emergence of the Social Democrats has certainly diverted a large number of Labour votes, and the UK is considered a solid two-party state, not in name but in fact.
This political environment is benevolent, and the presence of too many parties within a country is not really a good thing; it is too easy for foreign powers to find proxies if too many parties exist.
For example, the United Kingdom also has a Green Party, which advocates complete denuclearization from the standpoint of environmental protection and the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the North Atlantic Treaty and the European Community.
This party, inspired and encouraged by the fact that the Greens of the Federal Republic of Germany had seats in parliament, also put forward a list of one hundred candidates.
Alan Wilson, after much consideration, decided to give the control of this party to his own daughter, Pamela, to do, his own daughter to do well at least he can control, free to develop will not know what will happen, in case it becomes a jellyfish brain concentration of the party, he also good for defense and control.
Too many parties will certainly consume the national strength, precisely the European side of the parliamentary system is also easy to breed such a situation.
For example, during the Cold War, Italy was also a de facto two-party state, with the opposition party being the Italian Communist Party (PCI), whose opponents formed the Catholic Democratic Party (PDC) to prevent the PCI from discoloring Italy.
After the end of the Cold War, the existence of the Catholic Democratic Party also disappeared, since then Italy has never appeared more than half of the party, every election is a coalition government, the frequency of the change of the prime minister and the Japanese and Japan a moment, Italy has also become almost kicked down the United Kingdom of the European powerhouse, turned into a representative of the European pigs.
Italy is in a way a foretaste of Germany’s traffic light combinations, and the UK is still less prone to that, especially as the House of Lords is also becoming more and more present.
“Oh yes, get me the list of this year’s ordinations a little later.” Alan Wilson tapped his head to remind Armstrong, and then went on to discuss the impact of the General Election on the Civil Service, which was still open for discussion.
John Hunter mentioned the immigrant voting tendencies this year, with non-white voters putting up twenty-three candidates, five of whom were put forward by the National Federation of Minority Organizations. The Federation is an alliance of Asian immigrants. They are also attempting to take a seat in the legislature.
“The head of this federation is Othman Khan, right, the son of Ali Khan, the former Maharaja of Hyderabad, and brother of the present Sultan of Sabah. In a certain sense represents the interests of the Asian territories. Oh, and how about we get Ian Smith into this organization as well?”
Alan Wilson gave his suggestion, “The people of the royal territories should rightfully participate in the midst of the campaigns for the local elections to get the government to face up to the rights of the several overseas territories. Ask him if he’s interested.”
After discussing the details of the general election, Alan Wilson went to 10 Downing Street to express his congratulations on the reelection of Margaret Thatcher, who, in more than two decades of sparring in British politics, had developed a deft, eloquent tongue that spoke long and half-heartedly. No longer the campus Conservative Party chairman of the year, was played in the palm of the hand.
But none of this works for Alan Wilson, who is immune to the eloquence of female prime ministers and even wants to engage in a bit of verbal sparring at times.
Alan Wilson brought out the Ministry of Defense’s draft for strengthening Britain’s military, which included, among other things, plans for the justification and construction of a new aircraft carrier and the establishment of a network for national electronic communications both of which cost money, which instantly diluted Margaret Thatcher’s mood for victory, “Don’t we have enough military power?”
“Considering that two Eagle Classes have just been sold to the Kingdom of Iraq, the warships available can only be described as poorly equipped in terms of the Royal Navy’s arrangement from Gibraltar to the Fragrant River.” Alan Wilson took out the prepared wording, “Eight to nine aircraft carriers can defend the current global interests of the United Kingdom, didn’t the Prime Minister of this election say? To firmly defend Britain’s dignity as a great power and strengthen the military?”
“Aren’t there still Centaurs available?” Mrs. Thatcher thought to herself I’m just saying it casually, why are you still taking it seriously.
“Centaurs can not be used, there is also the size of the British Royal Navy, as early as between a very early time there has been a discussion, to be maintained in a way to reach a standard, this standard is the Royal Navy plus the Red Navy, the strength should be greater than the United States Navy.”
Alan Wilson said this, looked at Mrs. Thatcher’s shocked expression and said, “Of course, you don’t know, you were the chairman of the campus Conservative Party at that time, and you were still far from the level of discussion.”
“I’m Prime Minister now.” Mrs. Thatcher, like a cockatoo, reacted visibly to the proprietary term of Campus Conservative Party Chairman, it’s been so many years, it’s always brought up again and again, does she really think that she doesn’t have the temperament to remove the Secretary General of the Cabinet?
The reasoning is such a reason, Alan Wilson still elaborated his own reasoning, “the British Empire from a position of strength, and the United States to become a firm ally. Once there is no position of strength, it is just a follower. To be an enemy of the United States is dangerous, and to be a friend of the United States is fatal, this is what Kissinger said. You see the French don’t listen to the US either, and the US has always tolerated it, so there are times when following too closely and wasting one’s unity value is not in Britain’s interest.”
“And Prime Minister, you will soon see what America will do to its allies, I see Germany and Japan as being quite dangerous. These two countries have a large American military presence within them and are essentially defenseless against the U.S. You don’t think that one Latin America is enough to replenish America’s blood, do you? It’s simply not enough.”
If you compare Germany and Japan, during the Cold War these two countries were half-assed, and after the end of the Cold War Germany had a bit more freedom than Japan. Because after the withdrawal of Soviet troops in the GDR, and the Germans relocated their capital from Bonn to Berlin, there were no U.S. military bases in the Soviet theater of operations, so Germany did have some breathing room.
However, it was just a little more breathing room, in essence, as long as the U.S. Army pushed a little harder, Germany still had to listen to the Americans.
Take this time the Panshin missile arrangement and nuclear disarmament negotiations, the German Chancellor Kohl is firmly opposed to Reagan to radicalize the situation in Europe, and want to live in peace with the Soviet Union. Was the opposition useful?
Alan Wilson used Kohl’s firm opposition, and then still agreed with the United States to explain to Margaret Thatcher, “In essence, Germany is really not much different from the colonies, Japan is the same way, and now that the United States economy is in trouble, these two countries are the best target to start. Otherwise, how about I make a bet with the Prime Minister, with three years as the boundary, the United States will definitely let these two countries overly economic interests, to alleviate the problems arising from the American economy.”
“If I win, I’ll remove you from your post.” Mrs. Thatcher exasperatedly stared into the man’s eyes, “Are you going to make a show of gladly accepting it then.”
“It’s not good to be overconfident. If I win?” Alan Wilson was equally furious with the reverse output, “You should back off three times when I need to, like Aladdin’s Lamp. Well, the construction of the communications network and the aircraft carrier building program will be two of them, and I’ll think about the remaining one.”
Currently all four countries, Britain, the United States, France and Germany, are governed by right-wing politicians, all of whom are committed in their own way to the unity and strength of the Western Union.
President Reagan, it seems, is determined to seek re-election. If he too is elected, all four of the West’s major leaders will be in power in the crucial years ahead. They all share a common philosophy, no matter how much they disagree on economics.
Compared to the free world side, and looking at the Soviet Union with its enemies in Moscow, this is a stark contrast to decades later, not to mention the leaders of Germany and France, the female Prime Minister and the sleeping king of the United Kingdom are clearly not candidates in the middle of the political spectrum, and the king of the understanding may be considered a friend in the trenches.
Alan Wilson still have things to do, this time or let Mrs. Thatcher happy happy, accept the other countries’ leaders congratulations, as well as counterattack.
Counter-attacking in victory and holding grudges in defeat, Thatcher would not forget that many of the previously disloyal Cabinet ministers were not reliable, especially when compared to the Cabinet Secretaries who had supported her.
Frances Pym, who had been Conservative Governor General, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Secretary of State for Defense, Speaker of the House of Lords and Foreign Secretary, among other illustrious positions.
The day after the election, Prime Minister Thatcher got right to the point and said to him, “Frances, I need a new Foreign Secretary.” Pym was thus relieved of his post as Foreign Secretary and inexorably whisked away to a prestigious backbench seat as a Member of Parliament.
William Whitelaw, deputy leader of the Conservative Party and a patriarchal heavyweight of the Prime Minister’s administration, was conceded the post of Home Secretary in favor of the Speaker of the House of Lords. His legacy was taken over by a younger man.