Arransian Political History7. 1998-2006 Given Arransia’s healthy economic performance between 1994 and 1998, it came as something of a surprise that Robert Knox’s Liberal government was narrowly defeated by Labour under Gordon Bell (b 1943) in 1998. However, the electorate was influenced by concerns that economic success was leading to too much emphasis being put on purely financial factors, and that the country’s distinctive identity was being eroded. The somewhat unsavoury scandal involving the Liberal Trade and Industry Minister Jonathan Grier (b 1941) early in 1998 did not help the government either, although there was no suggestion that Knox or his other senior ministers were implicated. Bell’s government was a mixture of old and new. The Foreign Ministry went to Henry Coulter (b 1937), who was a veteran of Methuen’s adminstration in the late 1980s, while his contemporary William MacFarlane (b 1939) became Finance Minister. The younger generation was represented by David Aitcheson (b 1952) as Minister of Home Affairs, while the even younger Edward Douglas (b 1957), the future leader, became Minister of Culture, a position in which he had a good opportunity to make a name for himself. Bell’s cabinet was also notable in including Arransia’s first openly gay cabinet minister, Mark McKellar (b 1948) as Minister of Health. This appointment provoked a certain amount of unsavoury comment on the opposition benches, but in fact he proved to be a competent and self-effacing minister. It was on the cultural front that this government made most impact. In the mid-1990s there was much concern about the Brunswickian satellite broadcaster BSB buying up the rights to major Arransian sporting events. In response to this, Douglas introduced a list of “Reserved Events” which had to be made available to terrestrial television in Arransia. This went considerably further than its UK equivalent and included all home football, cricket and rugby internationals, domestic cup finals in these sports, and various events in golf, athletics, horse-racing, motor-racing and the popular Arransian pub sports of snooker and darts. Douglas was careful, however, to allow all existing contracts to reach their scheduled end. This brought complaints that Arransia was violating the principles of free trade, but Douglas was adamant that the country was entitled to do what it liked with its own sporting events, and in the event the satellite broadcasters have actually acquired the rights to a lot of other sport, much of which was never shown on terrestrial television anyway. The sports’ governing bodies were also unhappy about the potential loss of revenue, but the measure proved extremely popular with the public, and indeed something similar, although less far-reaching, was later adopted in Brunswick. Douglas also took significant steps to promote tourism in Arransia, with the national tourist board for the first time showing television adverts in Brunswick. This of course led to a certain amount of Brunswickian sniggering, but the publicity this generated was highly beneficial. He also increased the powers of National Park authorities, and instituted a “Beautiful Arransia” initiative to put power lines underground and rid the country of eyesores resulting from Arransians, with their reluctance to throw anything away and love of mechanical tinkering, accumulating unsightly collections of rusting motor vehicles and fishing vessels. Following the controversy of 1997, the government set up an official enquiry into the whaling industry under the chairmanship of Professor Roy Simmons, a well-respected Brunswickian marine biologist. This was seen in some quarters as a pretext for banning the trade, but in fact the terms of reference were cleverly set so the enquiry had to consider specifically whether the whale species were endangered, and to what extent whales felt pain. Simmons, although someone who in the past had criticised the whaling industry, had a rigorous academic approach and did not suffer fools gladly. Eventually his enquiry concluded that there was no danger to the whale species, that whales felt no more pain than any other hunted animals, there was no convincing evidence that whales were more intelligent than cows or pigs, and opposition to whaling was largely based on sentimentalism. The whalers felt thoroughly vindicated and have since gone from strength to strength, investing in a number of new ships, whereas previously their fleet was distinctly dog-eared. The launch of the new factory ship, the Nimrod, at Goodson’s shipyard at Ince in 2002, did attract a substantial demonstration, but this was outweighed by a counter-demonstration from the maritime community. Roy Simmons, now retired, is retained as a well-paid consultant by the whaling industry. Golsingby is now a place where the conspicuous display of wealth is very evident in the jewellers’ shops on the main street and the spread of hacienda-style bungalows on the outskirts. The three familes who have traditionally controlled the whaling business, and Arransian ocean salvage – the Becks, Gillespies and McDownies – have done very well indeed. The current MP for the North Harkness constituency, including Golsingby, is George McDownie, who is nominally a Liberal, although possessing some distinctly robust views. May 2001 saw a major naval review at Beadnell to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the Battle of Ugglesby Head. This was attended by warships from 25 other countries, including a destroyer from Orestina, which was good news in view of the tension between the two countries during the 1990s. It was also notable for being a rare occasion when one of the Brunswickian nuclear supercarriers, BRS Republic, was seen alongside the Queen Margaret, although they were moored at opposite ends of the harbour. In the event, the C-in-C of the Brunswickian Navy, Admiral Paul Everett (b 1940) made what was felt to have been the keynote speech of the occasion. One of his remote ancestors had lost his life at Ugglesby Head, and his father had been a junior lieutenant on the Marblehead in 1943 (fortunately surviving the battle), but he was very gracious in saying that Ugglesby Head had made it clear to Brunswick and the wider world that Arransia was a naval power to be reckoned with, that over the years they had been brave and determined adversaries, and, in more recent years, staunch and dependable friends. Despite the uncertainty over the replacement of the Queen Margaret, the sight of Beadnell harbour filled with a multinational armada of warships was regarded by most Arransians as very heartening. Following this, the Queen Margaret was taken into dockyard hands for the somewhat quixotic project of spending $15 million on alterations to the supposedly life-expired ship to be able to operate the new F-17 fighters. However, a thorough survey established that with careful maintenance she should be able to remain in operation for another ten years, and it was hoped that by then a replacement could have been obtained. The government introduced an “Industrial Leaders” programme to give targeted assistance to sectors in which Arransia had a competitive advantage – specifically shipbuilding, heavy and precision engineering, and some aspects of chemicals, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. This was a sensible recognition that rather than trying to compete across the board, it made sense for Arransia to concentrate on what she was good at. The corollary was an acceptance of Brunswickian domination of the country’s growing electronics industry. However, this is something that was continued little changed under the succeeding Liberal government, and in 2005 there was much self-satisfied chuckling when a Brunswickian Sunday newspaper revealed in shock that most of Brunswick’s state-of-the-art weaponry was critically dependent on Arransian manufactured components. There was also a successful attack on flag-of-convenience shipping, which had long been a bugbear of the Arransians. Since the early 19th century, shipping in the Sleeve had been regulated by an international body called the Sleeve Convention, with Arransia and Mayenne rotating the chairmanship, and Brunswick, Denhulme, Colmar and Skania also being members, with Serenity and Almeria having later gained associate status. In 1999 a moderate Socialist government was elected in Mayenne which showed more interest in trade relationships with Arransia and Brunswick. It did not take much for the Arransians to persuade them to agree to introduce a measure under which any shipping trading between the eight countries was required to pay at least the minimum wage applying in one of them. This was agreed, albeit somewhat reluctantly by the Brunswickians, and virtually eliminated flag-of-convenience cabotage between the eight. This was a good example of the results that could be gained by a more collaborative approach to foreign policy, and indeed the Sleeve Convention has gone on to become an embryo trade pact between the eight counties. Oddly, in 2005, Waldenberg, even though a land-locked country, was admitted to membership. In transport, Labour belied its previous anti-road reputation by approving the upgrade of the A1 Expressway between Danby and Stainton to dual 3-lane standard with hard shoulders, involving new off-line alignments in places. This was the biggest civil engineering project ever undertaken in Arransia, although arguably in its day the construction of the railway between the same two cities in the 1840s had been more significant. With completion due in June 2007, it promised to give Arransia a major spine road that was equal to the standard of a Brunswickian trunkway. This period also saw the Arransian section of the main railway line from Danby to Ynysforgan upgraded to 200 km/h running, allowing an express time between Danby and Aubourg of four and a quarter hours. The creation of new Charter Schools was suspended and those that existed subjected to closer local authority control, but otherwise the government did not make any major education reforms. Although Bell’s government carried out a number of useful and popular reforms, it came unstuck on the economy. MacFarlane was a somewhat unimaginative Finance Minister, and suffered from the fact that the global economy went into a mild recession. He increased social benefits for poorer working families, but this coincided with a fall-off in tax revenues and he was forced to increase both taxes and interest rates. He raised the top rate of income tax from 30% to 35%, which Lorna Bradshaw (b 1949) was able to gleefully point out actually ended up producing no more revenue. He also considerably increased the tax on tobacco, which historically had been substantially below that in Brunswick. There was a small rise in unemployment, and the squeeze on household incomes was reflected in the fact that new car purchases, always a reliable barometer of the economy, fell from 283,000 in 1997 to 234,000 in 2001. Knox was 63 in 1998 and understandably did not wish to stay in harness to contest the next election, so stood down in the Autumn of that year. Most observers expected the Liberal leadership to pass to Andrew Gemmill (b 1945) who had been a successful Education Minister and had competently held the trouble-prone Home Affairs portfolio. However, to some surprise he was narrowly defeated in the leadership election by Lorna Bradshaw, who thus became the first female leader of a major party in Arransia. While a dull and uncharismatic public speaker, she had a strong reputation for economic competence and was also adept at handling the mix of strong personalities in the upper echelons of the party. She was able to maintain a strong attack on the government over their indifferent economic record, at one point accusing MacFarlane of not knowing what he was talking about. By early 2001 the Liberals had established a consistent although narrow lead in the opinion polls. The economy became the major issue in the 2002 election campaign, and the Liberals gained a working majority, gaining 150 seats to 139 for Labour and 7 Independents. The difference on first preference votes was about 120,000. 5 of the 7 Independents were MPs of a distinctively left-wing cast representing run-down mining and textile-working constituencies, elected with the help of Brunswickian hippy colonists. Lorna Bradshaw thus became Arransia’s first female Chancellor, and indeed Brunswick was yet to have a female President. An economist by training, she had been a conspicuously successful Finance Minister during Robert Knox’s second term of office which was what had propelled her to the leadership of the Liberal Party. She was an intelligent and articulate politician who was never known to put her foot in her mouth, but was widely thought of as humourless and lacking charisma, often being viewed as lecturing the Arransian people in a headmistresslike manner. However, the fact that she had had two children in her early twenties, and another two (with the same husband) in her late thirties did suggest a more human side, and her two older children, Jonathan and Alison, neither of whom had sought a career in politics, spoke very highly of her. Arransia’s lack of population growth had become a major issue in the 2000s, and on several occasions she expressed the opinion that she had managed to combine having four children with achieving high political office, so she didn’t see why other Arransian women had a problem, something that often did not go down too well. She was married to Dan Bradshaw, whom she had met at Aldminster University in the late 60s, and who had risen to be the senior partner of one of Arransia’s leading accountancy firms, so the family were not short of money, and she was sometimes mildly lampooned for her love of expensive Mayonnaise haute couture. She was also the first Arransian leader to admit to having experimented with cannabis in her youth, although making it clear that she had only tried it a few times and never enjoyed the effect. She had been at university in the late 1960s but was never involved in any of the student protests of the time. Nevertheless there are striking pictures of her from this era with long ash-blonde hair hanging below her waist and a miniskirt finishing not far below that. In her mid-50s she remained a very smart and well turned-out woman. The main members of her ministerial term were Andrew Gemmill again at Home Affairs, Matthew Thomson (b 1954), who had been her deputy in the 1990s, as Finance Minister, and the experienced Donald McWhirter (b 1942) as Foreign Minister. Another notable appointment was that of the forthright and combative Peter Hough (b 1957), who was married to Patrick Scullion’s granddaughter, as Minister of Transport. Something of an irritation for this government was the presence of a trio of Liberal elder statesmen, Robert Knox, Adam Sinclair and Daniel Clarkson who, while well-meaning enough, always gave the impression of looking over the Cabinet’s shoulders. The humorous and irreverent Sinclair became a particular chat-show favourite. Although on economic issues she was, in Arransian terms, an unashamed free-marketeer, on social issues Lorna Bradshaw was very much on the “liberal” wing of the Liberal Party, and was a close personal friend of Jenny Porter (b 1943) – indeed her son Jonathan had married Jenny Porter’s daughter Suzanne in 1999. In 2002 she made the unexpected move of appointing Jenny Porter as Ambassador to Brunswick – in view of Arransia’s geopolitical situation, a very important office, and one that historically had tended to be underestimated by Arransian leaders. The photogenic, witty and articulate Ms Porter immediately became a popular interviewee on Brunswickian television, and was very successful in raising Arransia’s profile and improving its image. However, one Brunswickian newspaper commented that “on the one hand we see Ms Porter telling us that Arransians are nice, friendly, mildly eccentric people, but at the same time there are grim-faced bastards murdering whales in the Southern Ocean”. Not surprisingly, Andrew Gemmill pointed out that many of Arransia’s historical achievements had been based on the activities of “grim-faced bastards”. Lorna Bradshaw went on record as saying that, while she recognised many people found the whaling trade somewhat distasteful, Professor Simmons’ inquiry had established there were no valid grounds to ban it, and as far as she was concerned it was a legitimate industry and the government would ensure those involved in it would be able to go about their business without harassment. 2002 saw the no-nonsense Admiral Colin Smillie (b 1939) retire as Admiral of the Fleet, to be replaced by Philip Leslie (b 1951), who was the hereditary Earl of Howick. Leslie was a wily, politically astute man who was felt to be the ideal candidate to deal with the various controversial procurement issues confronting the Navy. He was also known for being a vain man who was always keen to see his dress uniform in immaculate condition. However, he had a very good record as a destroyer captain and admiral of the destroyer squadron and was universally considered the best candidate for the job. In late 2002, two new warship projects were approved that were regarded by some critics as pandering to the Navy’s wish-list. The first was HMS Triumph, described as an “amphibious command cruiser”. This was something that was similar to an existing Brunswickian vessel, and intended to combine a command facility with a shore bombardment capability. She was to displace 13,000 tons, with two quick-firing 6-inch guns with a range exceeding Great War battleships, and an extensive helicopter deck. Completion was planned for early 2007. It was also pointed out that her expansive public rooms would allow her to serve as a royal yacht ¹. Second were a pair of “long-range patrol frigates”, HMS Rainbow and HMS Garland. These were 5,800 ton vessels with diesel engines for maximum endurance, with the intention to provide protection for Arransian shipping and fishing operations in distant waters, and to act as an autonomous “ship of force” in remote locations. Apparently, after the 1997 operation to protect the whaling fleet, the thoughtful Captain Moncrieffe had returned and said to the Admiralty “what we really need for that kind of operation is something like this.” They had a wide range of offensive capabilities and also mounted a 125-foot, 40-knot cutter. The first of them, HMS Rainbow, entered service in March 2006 and was widely praised as an ideal vessel to deal with the varied, asymmetric threats of the current world environment. In 2004 the RNAS took delivery of six Brunswickian C-62 aircraft, a long-range, wide-bodied, four-engined jet transport that was capable of flying 8000 miles without refuelling and also landing on short airstrips. These replaced elderly 1960s turboprop freighters and represented a significant enhancement of the Navy’s capability to mount out-of-area operations. The RNAS also continued to lease a pair of the even larger C-55s, which could carry a main battle tank. Although Peter Hough was a strong supporter of new road construction, relatively few new Expressway sections were approved during this government, as the cost of the A1 upgrading continued to take a large slice of the budget. One that was given the go-ahead was the “Porcupine Gap”, the eight-mile stretch of the A3 between Sandscale and Bainbridge that represented the last single carriageway section between Danby and the Tri-Cities. However, this road crossed ancient heathland containing some rare habitats, and the environmental lobby chose to make it a test case. By 2004 there was a substantial protest camp on the site, and protesters were regularly being dragged out of the path of bulldozers by the police. Eventually, in August of that year, the camp was forcefully broken up in the largest co-ordinated police operation ever undertaken in Arransia, which became known as the “Battle of Burrows Dip”. This involved over 2,000 officers from several county forces (Arransia’s total police establishment being about 21,000) and, while no Marines were used, RNAS aircraft smoke-bombed the site beforehand in a manner that (calculatedly) caused extreme panic and allegedly caused one pregnant woman to miscarry. Seven people were convicted on conspiracy charges and received prison sentences of up to six years, while over 200 were either deported or given severe injunctions not to come within 20 miles of the project.. The government were widely condemned for using heavy-handed tactics , but Hough and Gemmill were absolutely unrepentant, and it seems that further trouble has been largely defused. The Battle of Burrows Dip had lasting political effects, as many people, even though they supported the construction of the road and had no truck with the protesters, felt that the way the camp was dealt with was over-the-top and un-Arransian. The sight of jet aircraft attacking a ground target within the country produced a distinct feeling of unease, which was not helped when one of the pilots gave an interview in which she gave the impression it had been seen as a lark. It is likely that this will be frequently brought up during the 2006 election campaign and used by Labour as an example of the Liberals’ failure to maintain good order in the country. In education, the programme of Charter Schools was revived, although the take-up continued to be relatively slow. A long-term plan was announced that ultimately would see all publicly-run schools become independent, self-governing bodies, with funding following pupils, and the counties reduced to general oversight and being a provider of last resort. It was very notable that both private and Church schools tended to produce much better results than county ones, even when there was no differential in funding or the social mix of entrants. However, this scheme was condemned as divisive by Labour, who undertook to scrap it in their 2006 election manifesto. Economic performace was to some extent helped by an upturn in the world economy, but even so Thomson – no doubt closely advised by Lorna Bradshaw – produced an impressive performance. Economic growth was 3% in 2003 and 2005, and a heady 4.5% in 2004. The higher rate of income tax was restored to 30%, with no loss in revenue, and the corporation tax regime dramatically simplified. In 2005, car sales exceeded 300,000 for the first time. A dramatic symbol of Arransian economic success was the acquisition in 2003 by Crichton Chemicals of the giant chlorine plant at Elko in Brunswick, which was the largest non oil-related chemical plant in Sabrantia. True, its Brunswickian owners had decided to dispose of it as a capital-intensive, low-margin business, but Crichtons had been very successful in the efficient management of “rustbelt” bulk chemical operations, and this has certainly been the case here. By 2006, over 250,000 people in Brunswick were working for Arransian-owned companies. There was, on the other hand, a lot of disquiet about the Brunswickian takeover of the Bowdens supermarket chain in 2004, which was the third biggest in Arransia and had a strong presence across the north of the country. The government advised AMC, the motor manufacturers, that the high tariffs on motor imports would have to be greatly reduced over time, which prompted them in 2006 to make a controversial alliance with the Mayonnaise Charnier company to develop new models. British people would find the idea of Lorna Bradshaw, the prime minister of a country somewhat more protectionist than France, lecturing her fellow citizens on the benefits of free trade somewhat amusing. Arransia’s economic success prompted a further wave of books and articles making favourable comparisons with Brunswick. One academic book specifically praised the Arransian mixed-economy model as preferable to Brunswick’s more avowedly capitalist approach. Another then dismissed this as a history of muddle and expediency from Arransian finance ministers, making the point that Ralph Brereton, the most successful Finance Minister in the country’s history, was a classical scholar with no specific economic expertise. Then yet another said that muddle and expediency actually worked better than grand plans. What was quite clear was that Arransia, while on most measures not quite as prosperous, could now economically look Brunswick in the eye. Arransia as a whole was certainly better off than some parts of Brunswick. There was also a wave of national soul-searching about how much it was desirable for Arransia to surrender her identity in the pursuit of prosperity. This was a new development, as the general feeling in the past had been to get on with things and ignore anything philosophical. Part of this was a feeling of concern about the growing influence of Brunswick. This prompted much debate, without any great influence on political policy, although it did eventually have resonances in the 2006 election campaign. While there remained much casual sniping at Brunswick in daily life, this was greatly reduced from the situation in the 1950s and 60s. It was significant that Admiral Leslie was married to a Brunswickian², which tended to defuse any extreme anti-Brunswickian sentiment in the armed forces. There was growing concern about Arransia’s slow rate of population growth. Since 1949, the population of Brunswick had grown from 72 to 80 million, a rise of 11.1%, whereas Arransia had only grown from 12.7 to 13 million, a mere 2.3%. Brunswick had seen significant immigration from her former colonies, but even setting this aside Arransia still had a lower birth rate. Lorna Bradshaw, as mentioned above, had lectured her fellow Arransian women on this topic, but this did not go down too well. In 2004, somewhat against Liberal principles, Thomson introduced $500 “baby grants” for every second and above baby born to an Arransian citizen. The government also extended a welcome to suitably qualified immigrants from Rolvia and some of her former satellite states, especially Gorania, who presumably would not be put off by Arransia’s cool and windy climate. By 2006, Arransia had maybe about 50,000 citizens descended from immigrants from the Terrapin Islands, and around 40,000 from Eastern countries mainly engaged in the restaurant trade, but in general the climate deterred those from tropical zones – Brunswick by this time had over 2 million people of similar descent. In late 2004, King Malcolm VII was diagnosed with bowel cancer, and needed to have major surgery. There was widespread concern that he might not survive this, but he did, although evidently rendered very frail. His daughter, Princess Fiona, had gained a reputation for being somewhat wayward, and had gone through a succession of apparently unsuitable boyfriends, followed by a period in 2001-02 of closeting herself almost as a recluse in the royal hunting lodge at Spynie. In 2005 she became involved in a relationship with Alex Morton, lead singer of the Arransian rock band Lost Patrol, and in August it was announced she had become pregnant by him. While this may have caused concern he was in fact a serious and intelligent individual with a strong Christian faith, and some of his band’s songs were in an indirect way expressive of Arransian patriotism. A wedding was arranged for October, and passed off very successfully, with a marked absence of military pomp. A healthy baby, christened Peter, was born the following March. Although a princess and a rock star may seem an unlikely couple, in fact the marriage seems to work well, and Alex Morton is widely regarded as a very suitable consort. King Malcolm’s health has shown a continued improvement since the beginning of 2005, although he has now officially delegated many of his formal duties to Fiona. In 1949 the southern part of the county of Holburn had been ceded to Brunswick as part of the peace treaty. At the time, this was regarded as an economically marginal area that was as much Brunswickian as Arransian in character, and for many years the transfer has accepted as a fait accompli. However, South Holburn had suffered badly in the 1970s recession, and this had prompted a growing movement to return it to Arransia, with many symbols of Arransian identity being displayed. Initially, Arransian politicians had been wary of any association with this, but after the turn of the century, the movement seemed to become more deepseated, and a trickle of MPs – more Labour than Liberal, as the Arransian part of Holburn was a Labour stronghold – began to speak out in favour of Brunswick holding a referendum on sovereignty. By 2004 both Bradshaw and Douglas had officially stated their support for a referendum. In November 2005, the long-serving President of Brunswick, Arnold Jackson, was defeated by Simon D’Arcy of the Social Reform Party, who had pledged to hold a referendum in South Holburn. This duly took place the following January, and resulted in a clear, although not overwhelming, majority for returning to Arransia. Following this, D’Arcy for a moment appeared to have second thoughts, but in a day of tough negotations with Lorna Bradshaw and her senior ministers he eventually agreed to the transfer of sovereignty. This duly took place on the 24th of February, something that was greeted with a sense of quiet but profound satisfaction throughout Arransia, although it could not really be credited to either of the main parties. South Holburn was a depressed area that was likely to be something of a drain on the Arransian public finances for some years to come, although it did contain significant coal reserves. A development agency was set up to promote industry and reintegrate the area with the rest of Arransia. The Queen Margaret undertook a lengthy and successful world cruise in 2004, without anything untoward happening, but there remained a worrying lack of progress, and general silence, on the issue of her replacement. However, in 2005 Admiral Leslie had meetings with both Lorna Bradshaw and Edward Douglas and presented to them the possibility of building a new aircraft carrier, somewhat smaller than the Queen Margaret, based on using an adaptation of the F-17 fighters as strike aircraft. Both accepted that the Navy had come up with a reasonable and achievable plan and gave a commitment in principle that they would approve the scheme, although in 2006 both party manifestos only stated that they would “pursue plans for an affordable and effective replacement for the Queen Margaret”. After his narrow defeat in 2002, Gordon Bell expressed his desire to stay on as Labour leader, as he would still be a few months short of 63 in 2006. However, he was challenged by Edward Douglas, who argued that Labour had repeatedly been let down by a feeling that it was not as economically competent as the Liberals, and flaky on defence, and that had to change if the party was to be able to make meaningful changes in Arransia. This was the only formal challenge to an established party leader in post-war Arransia. After a somewhat bitter campaign, Douglas was elected by 70-67, with two abstentions. He shared Bell’s wit and articulacy, but was obviously a more driven and less affable man. He quickly moved to change the personnel at the top, appointing David Aitcheson as his finance spokesman and Stuart Logan (b 1960) as defence spokesman. Douglas was successful in establishing an image of Labour being a more credible and serious party, and proved an effective opponent to Lorna Bradshaw in Parliament (although Arransia does not have set piece duels along the lines of Prime Minister’s Questions). He was undoubtedly the most right-wing leader in the history of the Labour Party (Rostron probably coming second) and some critics even accused him of adopting Conservative themes. While there remain areas of significant difference, particularly over education policy, overall there has been a convergence between the views of the two main parties, in that both, broadly speaking, wish to promote economic efficiency without sacrificing national identity and distinctiveness. It is more a question of emphasis rather than any great ideological gulf. Although Arransians are famously fond of a good argument, the country has managed to avoid any major internal conflict since the coal crisis of the 1980s, and today can be regarded as a stable and prosperous nation that is “happy in its own skin”. The 2006 election was scheduded for May, and the campaign started in late April with the two parties neck-and-neck in the opinion polls. There were genuine concerns that a “hung Parliament” would result, for the first time in post-war Arransia.
¹ In the pre-war era, Arransia had possessed a luxurious royal yacht, the 4,500-ton Queen Isabella, built in 1906, but she had been irreparably damaged in the war and the King had not sought to replace her as he felt this would be perceived as extravagant.
² Admiral Leslie’s wife, Helen Keyes, would in fact have been the daughter of a Marquis had the Brunswickian aristocracy been still in official existence, so this could not have been regarded as a democratic gesture.
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