Background to “G1: The Guardians” #2

The State of Britain: The End Of It All

Immediately following the total collapse of the fledgling Confederation of Europe (CE), many individual nations were thrown into dreadful turmoil.In Britain’s case, Scotland and Wales immediately declared themselves fully independent.  The Republic of Ireland, which had somehow come off very lightly, moved forces of army and  police into the old British Province of Northern Ireland, which had plunged into a bloody chaos.  The Irish Union (IU) was born.  On the British mainland, the sitting government was swept away, along with the system which had survived for centuries.  A new, more compact, and more accountable, Government was established.  Unfortunately, the snowball effect was in full flow and even this did nothing to stop the chaos which gripped the nation.

As violence spread unchecked, the vast Irish population of Liverpool came together and seceded from Britain, applying to join with the IU.  The request was granted, even as the ‘British’ Government met with a total lack of co-operation by its armed forces.  Decades of cuts and then the final betrayal (as the armed forces saw it) of the Nation and of themselves to the ‘European Experiment’, left, for example, just a single Army Division.  Not only were they inadequate to deal with the growing emergency, previous Governments had eroded the civil police to a pale shadow of itself.  The Government simply didn’t have enough armed resources to respond to the endemic rioting, let alone Liverpool’s secession.  When nothing happened to Liverpool, the Isle of Man also moved into a close association with the IU.

Restoration

Perhaps the unhappiest aspect of Liverpool’s secession was the forcing of those opposed to the act into what became known as the Everton Enclave.  This was, in effect, a ghetto filled with all those unwanted by the new Irish County Liverpool.  It was to be nearly seven full years before negotiations were finally concluded to permit the newly established Realm of England access via the Everton Corridor.  This corridor was achieved only by the surrender of three other towns with an Irish majority citizenry.  The political  fallout resulted in not only the sitting Government falling, but the Chief Minister (CM), Sir Arthur Pangbourne, was assassinated.  The new CM was no surprise.  Roberta Harcourt Churchill had been working on both the restoration of public order and the establishment of a strong Government.  She won a landslide victory, gaining some eighty-two per cent of the vote in an Emergency General Election.  Churchill immediately acted upon her declared manifesto.  The existing governmental services were swept away and replaced by a new structure that made oversight far easier and put an end to the endemic corruption which had plagued the services.  At the same time, recruits from around the world, all British expatriates, flooded into the Armed Forces.  Churchill’s agents had assembled these men and women during the preceding five years, promising them a far better future than the primary employment most had entered: mercenaries.  A Royal Charter was also issued, signed by Queen Margaret, which guaranteed the preservation of all the Armed Forces, with no right of Government to dictate to them on any issue.  The Armed Forces were also renamed, becoming: the Royal Guard (Land), the Royal Shield (Air) and the Royal Maritime (Navy).  Field Marshall Lord Aiden Eustace Linton was appointed as Royal Chief Martial, effectively the supreme commander with only the reigning monarch (theoretically) able to overrule or pass orders to him, and his successors.

The Churchill regime proved very effective, if often almost brutally so.  The numbers of civil police were swollen by a combination of new recruitment campaigns and the introduction of many ex-police and ex-military.  It would be a crime against Truth to say that the people were happy, but they were ready to accept the almost tyrannical Government if it meant the ending of chaos.  It also became a matter of pride when another Region (rural areas) or Municipality (urban areas) succeeded in earning the right to be placed on the Roll of Honour, held in the throne room of Windsor Palace.  Each such entry was given a symbol, which was then added to all official Royal Standards.   To achieve such honour, violence and rebel activity had to fall to below five per cent in the whole Region or Municipality.

There have been five other CMs since R H Churchill.  Her descendant, William Hartwell Churchill is the current CM.  He has begun to relax some of the draconian measures and methods employed prior to his taking office.

Throughout all of this upheaval, the Guardians have pursued their mission without hindrance, thanks to the protection afforded by an unnamed individual in government, who appears to have a talent for retaining a position of considerable influence and power whatever the political situation.

Copyright © Steve K Smy, 2013.  All rights reserved.