Top 10 Line of Succession timeline

 6th February 1952-26th February 1959 (the death of Princess Alexandra)

1. Prince Charles (The Queen's first child and son)

2. Princess Anne (The Queen's second child, daughter)

3. Princess Margaret (The Queen's sister)

4. Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (The Queen's father's younger brother, The Queen's uncle)

5. Prince Richard (Prince Henry's son, The Queen's cousin)

6. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (The Queen's cousin, son of Prince George, a younger brother of the Queen's father)

7. Prince Michael of Kent (The Queens cousin, younger brother of Prince Edward)

8. Princess Alexandria (The Queen's cousin, younger sister of Prince Edward)

9. Princess Alexandra (The Queen's great grandfather's oldest daughter's oldest child)

10. Duke James of Fife (The Queen's great grandfather's second daughter's oldest child's oldest child)

26th February 1959-19th February 1960 (The birth of Prince Andrew)

1. Prince Charles (The Queen's first child and son)

2. Princess Anne (The Queen's second child, daughter)

3. Princess Margaret (The Queen's sister)

4. Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (The Queen's father's younger brother, The Queen's uncle)

5. Prince Richard (Prince Henry's son, The Queen's cousin)

6. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (The Queen's cousin, son of Prince George, a younger brother of the Queen's father)

7. Prince Michael of Kent (The Queens cousin, younger brother of Prince Edward)

8. Princess Alexandria (The Queen's cousin, younger sister of Prince Edward)

9. Duke James of Fife (The Queen's great grandfather's second daughter's oldest child's oldest child)

10. King Olav V of Norway (The Queen's great grandfather's fourth daughter's oldest child)

19th February 1960-3rd November 1961 (birth of David Armstrong Jones)

1. Prince Charles (The Queen's first child and son)

2. Prince Andrew (The Queen's third child and second son)

3. Princess Anne (The Queen's second child, daughter)

4. Princess Margaret (The Queen's sister)

5. Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (The Queen's father's younger brother, The Queen's uncle)

6. Prince Richard (Prince Henry's son, The Queen's cousin)

7. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (The Queen's cousin, son of Prince George, a younger brother of the Queen's father)

8. Prince Michael of Kent (The Queens cousin, younger brother of Prince Edward)

9. Princess Alexandria (The Queen's cousin, younger sister of Prince Edward)

10. Duke James of Fife (The Queen's great grandfather's fourth daughter's oldest child's oldest child)

3rd November 1961-26th June 1962 (birth of George Windsor)

1. Prince Charles (The Queen's first child and son)

2. Prince Andrew (The Queen's third child and second son)

3. Princess Anne (The Queen's second child, daughter)

4. Princess Margaret (The Queen's sister)

5. Viscount David Armstrong Jones (The Queen's sister's oldest child and son)

6. Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (The Queen's father's younger brother, The Queen's uncle)

7. Prince Richard (Prince Henry's son, The Queen's cousin)

8. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (The Queen's cousin, son of Prince George, a younger brother of the Queen's father)

9. Prince Michael of Kent (The Queen's cousin, younger brother of Prince Edward)

10. Princess Alexandria (The Queen's cousin, younger sister of Prince Edward)

26th June 1962-10th March 1964 (birth of Prince Edward)

1. Prince Charles (The Queen's first child and son)

2. Prince Andrew (The Queen's third child and second son)

3. Princess Anne (The Queen's second child, daughter)

4. Princess Margaret (The Queen's sister)

5. Viscount David Armstrong Jones (The Queen's sister's oldest child and son)

6. Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (The Queen's father's younger brother, The Queen's uncle)

7. Prince Richard (Prince Henry's son, The Queen's cousin)

8. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (The Queen's cousin, son of Prince George, a younger brother of the Queen's father)

9. George Windsor, Earl of St. Andrews (Prince Edward's oldest son)

10. Prince Michael of Kent (The Queen's cousin, younger brother of Prince Edward)

10th March 1964-1st May 1964 (birth of Sarah Armstrong Jones)

1. Prince Charles (The Queen's first child and son)

2. Prince Andrew (The Queen's third child and second son)

3. Prince Edward (The Queen's fourth child and third son)

4. Princess Anne (The Queen's second child, daughter)

5. Princess Margaret (The Queen's sister)

6. Viscount David Armstrong Jones (The Queen's sister's oldest child and son)

7. Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (The Queen's father's younger brother, The Queen's uncle)

8. Prince Richard (Prince Henry's son, The Queen's cousin)

9. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (The Queen's cousin, son of Prince George, a younger brother of the Queen's father)

10. George Windsor, Earl of St. Andrews (Prince Edward's oldest son)

1st May 1964-10th June 1974 (death of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester)

1. Prince Charles (The Queen's first child and son)

2. Prince Andrew (The Queen's third child and second son)

3. Prince Edward (The Queen's fourth child and third son)

4. Princess Anne (The Queen's second child, daughter)

5. Princess Margaret (The Queen's sister)

6. Viscount David Armstrong Jones (The Queen's sister's oldest child and son)

7. Sarah Armstrong Jones (The Queen's sister's second child)

8. Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (The Queen's father's younger brother, the Queen's uncle)

9. Prince Richard (Prince Henry's son, The Queen's cousin)

10. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (The Queen's cousin, son of Prince George, a younger brother of the Queen's father)

10th June 1974-10th October 1974 (birth of Alexander Windsor)

1. Prince Charles (The Queen's first child and son)

2. Prince Andrew (The Queen's third child and second son)

3. Prince Edward (The Queen's fourth child and third son)

4. Princess Anne (The Queen's second child, daughter)

5. Princess Margaret (The Queen's sister)

6. Viscount David Armstrong Jones (The Queen's sister's oldest child and son)

7. Sarah Armstrong Jones (The Queen's sister's second child)

8. Prince Richard (Prince Henry's son, The Queen's cousin)

9. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (The Queen's cousin, son of Prince George, a younger brother of the Queen's father)

10. George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews (Prince Edward's oldest son)

10th October 1974-15th November 1977 (birth of Peter Philips)

1. Prince Charles (The Queen's first child and son)

2. Prince Andrew (The Queen's third child and second son)

3. Prince Edward (The Queen's fourth child and third son)

4. Princess Anne (The Queen's second child, daughter)

5. Princess Margaret (The Queen's sister)

6. Viscount David Armstrong Jones (The Queen's sister's oldest child and son)

7. Sarah Armstrong Jones (The Queen's sister's second child)

8. Prince Richard (Prince Henry's son, The Queen's cousin)

9. Alexander Windsor, Earl of Ulster (Prince Richard's oldest son)

10. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (The Queen's cousin, son of Prince George, a younger brother of the Queen's father)

15th November 1977-15th May 1981 (birth of Zara Philips)

1. Prince Charles (The Queen's first child and son)

2. Prince Andrew (The Queen's third child and second son)

3. Prince Edward (The Queen's fourth child and third son)

4. Princess Anne (The Queen's second child, daughter)

5. Peter Philips (Princess Anne's oldest child and son)

6. Princess Margaret (The Queen's sister)

7. Viscount David Armstrong Jones (The Queen's sister's oldest child and son)

8. Sarah Armstrong Jones (The Queen's sister's second child)

9. Prince Richard (Prince Henry's son, The Queen's cousin)

10. Alexander Windsor, Earl of Ulster (Prince Richard's oldest son)

15th May 1981-21st June 1982 (the birth of Prince William)

1. Prince Charles (The Queen's first child and son)

2. Prince Andrew (The Queen's third child and second son)

3. Prince Edward (The Queen's fourth child and third son)

4. Princess Anne (The Queen's second child, daughter)

5. Peter Philips (Princess Anne's oldest child and son)

6. Zara Philips (Princess Anne's second child and daughter)

7. Princess Margaret (The Queen's sister)

8. Viscount David Armstrong Jones (The Queen's sister's oldest child and son)

9. Sarah Armstrong Jones (The Queen's sister's second child)

10. Prince Richard (Prince Henry's son, The Queen's cousin)

21st June 1982-15th September 1984 (birth of Prince Harry)

1. Prince Charles (The Queen's first child and son)

2. Prince William (Prince Charles' first child and son, grandson of the Queen)

3. Prince Andrew (The Queen's third child and second son)

4. Prince Edward (The Queen's fourth child and third son)

5. Princess Anne (The Queen's second child, daughter)

6. Peter Philips (Princess Anne's oldest child and son)

7. Zara Philips (Princess Anne's second child and daughter)

8. Princess Margaret (The Queen's sister)

9. Viscount David Armstrong Jones (The Queen's sister's oldest child and son)

10. Sarah Armstrong Jones (The Queen's sister's second child)

15th September 1984-8th August 1988 (birth of Princess Beatrice)

1. Prince Charles (The Queen's first child and son)

2. Prince William (Prince Charles' first child and son, grandson of the Queen)

3. Prince Harry (Prince Charles' second child and son)

4. Prince Andrew (The Queen's third child and second son)

5. Prince Edward (The Queen's fourth child and third son)

6. Princess Anne (The Queen's second child, daughter)

7. Peter Philips (Princess Anne's oldest child and son)

8. Zara Philips (Princess Anne's second child and daughter)

9. Princess Margaret (The Queen's sister)

10. Viscount David Armstrong Jones (The Queen's sister's oldest child and son)

8th August 1988-23rd March 1990 (birth of Princess Eugenie)

1. Prince Charles (The Queen's first child and son)

2. Prince William (Prince Charles' first child and son, grandson of the Queen)

3. Prince Harry (Prince Charles' second child and son)

4. Prince Andrew (The Queen's third child and second son)

5. Princess Beatrice (Prince Andrew's oldest child and daughter)

6. Prince Edward (The Queen's fourth child and third son)

7. Princess Anne (The Queen's second child, daughter)

8. Peter Philips (Princess Anne's oldest child and son)

9. Zara Philips (Princess Anne's second child and daughter)

10. Princess Margaret (The Queen's sister)

23rd March 1990-8th November 2003 (Birth of Louise Windsor)

1. Prince Charles (The Queen's first child and son)

2. Prince William (Prince Charles' first child and son, grandson of the Queen)

3. Prince Harry (Prince Charles' second child and son)

4. Prince Andrew (The Queen's third child and second son)

5. Princess Beatrice (Prince Andrew's oldest child and daughter)

6. Princess Eugenie (Prince Andrew's second child and daughter)

7. Prince Edward (The Queen's fourth child and third son)

8. Princess Anne (The Queen's second child, daughter)

9. Peter Philips (Princess Anne's oldest child and son)

10. Zara Philips (Princess Anne's second child and daughter)

8th November 2003-17th December 2007 (birth of James Windsor)

1. Prince Charles (The Queen's first child and son)

2. Prince William (Prince Charles' first child and son, grandson of the Queen)

3. Prince Harry (Prince Charles' second child and son)

4. Prince Andrew (The Queen's third child and second son)

5. Princess Beatrice (Prince Andrew's oldest child and daughter)

6. Princess Eugenie (Prince Andrew's second child and daughter)

7. Prince Edward (The Queen's fourth child and third son)

8. Lady Louise Windsor (Prince Edward's oldest child and daughter)

9. Princess Anne (The Queen's second child, daughter)

10. Peter Philips (Princess Anne's oldest child and son)

17th December 2007-22nd July 2013 (birth of Prince George)

1. Prince Charles (The Queen's first child and son)

2. Prince William (Prince Charles' first child and son, grandson of the Queen)

3. Prince Harry (Prince Charles' second child and son)

4. Prince Andrew (The Queen's third child and second son)

5. Princess Beatrice (Prince Andrew's oldest child and daughter)

6. Princess Eugenie (Prince Andrew's second child and daughter)

7. Prince Edward (The Queen's fourth child and third son)

8. Viscount James Windsor (Prince Edward's second child and oldest son)

9. Lady Louise Windsor (Prince Edward's oldest child and daughter)

10. Princess Anne (The Queen's second child, daughter)

22nd July 2013-2nd May 2015 (birth of Princess Charlotte)

1. Prince Charles (The Queen's first child and son)

2. Prince William (Prince Charles' first child and son, grandson of the Queen)

3. Prince George (Prince William's first child and son, great-grandson of the Queen)

4. Prince Harry (Prince Charles' second child and son)

5. Prince Andrew (The Queen's third child and second son)

6. Princess Beatrice (Prince Andrew's oldest child and daughter)

7. Princess Eugenie (Prince Andrew's second child and daughter)

8. Prince Edward (The Queen's fourth child and third son)

9. Viscount James Windsor (Prince Edward's second child and oldest son)

10. Lady Louise Windsor (Prince Edward's oldest child and daughter)

2nd May 2015-23rd April 2018 (birth of Prince Louis)

1. Prince Charles (The Queen's first child and son)

2. Prince William (Prince Charles' first child and son, grandson of the Queen)

3. Prince George (Prince William's first child, great-grandson of the Queen)

4. Princess Charlotte (Prince William's second child)

5. Prince Harry (Prince Charles' second child and son)

6. Prince Andrew (The Queen's third child and second son)

7. Princess Beatrice (Prince Andrew's oldest child and daughter)

8. Princess Eugenie (Prince Andrew's second child and daughter)

9. Prince Edward (The Queen's fourth child and third son)

10. Viscount James Windsor (Prince Edward's second child and oldest son)

23rd April 2018-6th May 2019 (birth of Archie Mountbatten-Windsor)

1. Prince Charles (The Queen's first child and son)

2. Prince William (Prince Charles' first child and son, grandson of the Queen)

3. Prince George (Prince William's first child, great-grandson of the Queen)

4. Princess Charlotte (Prince William's second child)

5. Prince Louis (Prince William's third child)

6. Prince Harry (Prince Charles' second child and son)

7. Prince Andrew (The Queen's third child and second son)

8. Princess Beatrice (Prince Andrew's oldest child and daughter)

9. Princess Eugenie (Prince Andrew's second child and daughter)

10. Prince Edward (The Queen's fourth child and third son)

6th May 2019 - Present

1. Prince Charles (The Queen's first child and son)

2. Prince William (Prince Charles' first child and son, grandson of the Queen)

3. Prince George (Prince William's first child, great-grandson of the Queen)

4. Princess Charlotte (Prince William's second child)

5. Prince Louis (Prince William's third child)

6. Prince Harry (Prince Charles' second child and son)

7. Archie Mountbatten-Windsor (Prince Harry's child)

8. Prince Andrew (The Queen's third child and second son)

9. Princess Beatrice (Prince Andrew's oldest child and daughter)

10. Princess Eugenie (Prince Andrew's second child and daughter)

Doctor Who: most prolific Directors per Doctor

 Top 3 for each doctor (done by stories, then episodes, then seasons, then run time)

Director

William Hartnell:

1. Richard Martin: 3.93 stories (20 episodes)

2. Christopher Barry: 3.57 stories (14 episodes)

3. Douglas Camfield: 3.5 stories (22 episodes)

Patrick Troughton:

1. David Maloney: 3 stories (19 episodes)

2. Morris Barry: 3 stories (13 episodes)

3. Douglas Camfield: 2 stories (14 episodes)

Jon Pertwee:

1. Michael E Briant: 4 stories (20 episodes)

2. Barry Letts: 3.71 stories (19 episodes)

3. Paul Bernard: 3 stories (16 episodes)

Tom Baker:

1. David Maloney: 4 stories (20 episodes)

2. Michael Hayes: 3 stories (14 episodes)

3. Pennett Roberts: 3 stories (12 episodes)

Peter Davison:

1. Fiona Cumming: 4 stories (16 episodes)

2. Ron Jones: 4 stories (12 episodes)

3. Peter Moaffat: 3 stories (9 episodes)

Colin Baker:

1. Peter Moaffat: 2 stories (7 episodes)

2. Ron Jones: 1.29 stories (6 episodes)

3. Graeme Harper: 1 story (2 episodes)

Sylvester McCoy:

1. Chris Clough: 4 stories (12 episodes)

2. Alan Wareing: 3 stories (10 episodes)

3. Andrew Morgan: 2 stories (8 episodes)

Paul McGann:

1. Geoffrey Sax: 1 story (1 episode)

Christopher Eccleston:

1. Joe Aherne: 4 stories (5 episodes)

2. Keith Boak: 2 stories (3 episodes)

3. Euros Lyn: 2 stories (2 episodes)

David Tennant:

1. Graeme Harper: 8.33 stories (12 episodes)

2. Euros Lyn: 7 stories (9 episodes)

3. James Strong: 5 stories (7 episodes)

Matt Smith:

1. Nick Hurran: 5 stories (5 episodes)

2. Saul Metzien: 5 stories (5 episodes)

3. Toby Haynes: 3 stories (5 episodes)

Peter Capaldi:

1. Rachel Talalay: 4 stories (7 episodes)

2. Douglas MacKinnon: 4 stories (4 episodes)

3. Ed Bazelgate: 3 stories (3 episodes)

Jodie Whitaker:

1. James Childs: 4 stories (4 episodes)

2. Jamei Magnus Stone: 3.5 stories (5 epsiodes)

3. Nida Manzoor: 2 stories (2 episodes)

Doctor Who: Most Prolific Writers by Doctor

Top 3 for each doctor (done by stories, then episodes, then seasons, then run time)

Writers 

William Hartnell:

1. Terry Nation = 5.5 stories (32 episodes)

2. Dennis Spooner = 3.5 stories (20 episodes)

3. David Whitaker = 3 stories (10 episodes)

Patrick Troughton:

1. David Whitaker = 4 stories (25 episodes)

2. Kit Pedler = 4 stories (22 epsisodes)

3. Mervyn Haisman & Henry Lincoln = 3 stories (19 episodes) - both wrote all episodes together

Jon Pertwee:

1. Malcolm Hulke = 5.86 stories (37 episodes)

2. Robert Sloman & Barry Letts = 4 stories (24 episodes) - both wrote all episodes together

3. Robert Holmes = 4 stories (16 episodes)

Tom Baker:

1. Robert Holmes = 8 stories (34 episodes)

2. Bob Baker = 6 stories (24 episodes)

3. Dave Martin = 5 stories (20 episodes)

Peter Davison:

1. Eric Saward = 5 stories (15 episodes)

2. Peter Grimewade = 3 stories (12 episodes)

3. Terence Dudley = 3 stories (8 episodes)

Colin Baker:

1. Eric Saward = 2.07 stories (5 episodes)

2. Robert Holmes = 1.36 stories (8 episodes)

3. Pip and Jane Baker = 1.36 stories (7 episodes)

Sylvester McCoy:

1. Stephen Wyatt = 2 stories (8 episodes)

2. Ian Briggs = 2 stories (7 episodes)

3. Ben Araronvitch = 2 stories (7 episodes)

Paul McGann:

1. Mathew Jacobs = 1 story (1 episode)

Christopher Eccleston:

1. Russel T Davis = 6 stories (8 episodes)

2. Steven Moffat = 1 story (2 episodes)

3. Robert Shearman = 1 story (1 episode)

David Tennant:

1. Russel T Davis = 20 stories (26 episodes)

2. Steven Moffat = 3 stories (4 episodes)

3. Gareth Roberts = 3 stories (3 episodes)

Matt Smith:

1. Steven Moffat = 17 stories (20 episodes)

2. Mark Gatiss = 4 stories (4 episodes)

3. Chris Chibnall = 3 stories (4 episodes)

Peter Capaldi:

1. Steven Moffat = 17.5 stories (21 episodes)

2. Jamie Mathieson = 4 stories (4 episodes)

3. Peter Harness = 3 stories (4 episodes)

Jodie Whitaker (so far)

1. Chris Chibnall = 12 stories (14 episodes)

2. Vinay Patel = 2 stories (2 episodes)

3. Peter McTighe = 2 stories (2 episodes)

Where Next for the Lib Dems?

The 2019 General Election spelt disaster for the Liberal Democrats. Despite an increase in the vote share, they had a net loss in seats, losing their newly elected Jo Swinson to the grip of the SNP. The campaign started with the always unrealistic mantra that Jo Swinson was running to be the next Prime Minister and ended in the party once again trying to find purpose in the ever-changing political landscape. As the leader of the Liberal Democrats requires to be an MP, Swinson resigned, and now, slightly later than billed due to the Coronavirus pandemic, two candidates are fighting it out to be the replacement; Ed Davey and Layla Moran, both offering an alternative future to Britain’s third party.

Ed Davey is the current co-acting leader of the Liberal Democrats, having previously being the deputy leader under Swinson after she defeated him the July 2019 leadership election following Sir Vince Cable’s retirement. Davey is of the Clegg era ‘Orange Book’ Lib Dem, a believer in the political  equidistance of Labour and the Conservatives. Davey’s vision of the future is returning to the Clegg days, having a socially left and economically right stance, with particular focus on the environment in policy. Davey is a critic of social democracy, the raison d’etre of the Labour Party, but also of the anti-internationalist agenda of the current Conservative Party. The election of Davey would offer a return to the old traditional Liberal Democrats, people located in areas like the South West of England that would always vote Lib Dem. The issue with this statement though is that following the collapse of the Liberal Democrat support base in the 2015 general election, after the party’s coalition with the Conservatives, this support base, the voters that always vote Lib Dem, have dwindled into the abyss. Davey’s association with the coalition of which he was Energy Secretary will haunt him and subsequently his party under his leadership, a blocker in another attempt to make the Liberal Democrats relevant again. However his approach could sustain liberal Conservatives that continue to be annoyed with the somewhat blasé attitude of Boris Johnson and his anti-European stance, but it is unlikely that centrist Labour voters will remain with the party following Keir Starmer’s election of leader of Labour, as he will be closer to their political outlook than that of the centre-right leaning Davey. Thus, Davey’s approach will find it difficult to liberate the Liberal Democrats from their small number shackles by appealing to their now non-existent traditional voters, still haunted by the coalition Davey was part off.

Lalya Moran, education secretary is the other contender of the race to be the next Lib Dem leader. Moran was a critique of the Liberal Democrat revoke policy of Swinson and wishes to spread the party’s mantra from the sole European rhetoric that briefly served the party well under the beginnings of the Swinson leadership. Moran’s main selling point in her campaign is that she does not have the links that Davey has to the coalition. Having been an MP since 2017 she stands the best chance of ridding the party of this dark shadow that even in the catacombs of Brexit they could not escape. Moran’s campaign has also been targeting the concepts of education and political culture. She has been engulfed in the recently reawakened culture war following the incredibly sad and brutal murder of George Floyd in America and the questions surrounding the legacy of the British Empire and the status of the Police that has followed. This ‘woke’ agenda of Moran could see the Liberal Democrats gain more support from the so-called ‘Liberal Left’ (although the term liberal is not appropriately attributed to the group as the term is contradictory when used in the same field as ‘cancel culture’ amongst other view points), especially after Keir Starmer has been somewhat distanced at times in his approach to the Black Lives Matter movement as to be careful to regain the socially conservative red wall working class that has been lost to the Conservatives in the recent general election. The ‘woke’ agenda however has the potential to alienate the more liberal Conservatives gained in the last election, who although not keen on the leadership of Boris Johnson, do not wish to be tangled in identity politics. Thus, Layla Moran’s leadership also has its struggles with regaining prevalence, whilst gaining attention from the Twitter left, her style risks losing other potential voters who find themselves on the other end of the so-called ‘culture war’.

The battle of the future of the Liberal Democrats seems to be shaped as a return to the old or start afresh, go closer to the centre or lean more to the centre-left of where the party originates from. The return to the equidistance of which Davey supports was when the party was most successful, gaining over 50 seats, but the subsequent coalition has tarnished this approach. Moran’s starting anew allows the Liberal Democrats to breath again after five years of being tied up to their part in austerity and tuition fee increase. Davey’s approach will lose Labour centrists that turned to the party to avoid a socialist government of which Corbyn was offering, and Moran’s will lose the globalist Conservatives that Boris Johnson has fended off, albeit not the same extent as Corbyn had with those from his party. Davey’s approach could bring back the traditional voters form the South West and Moran’s approach could bring the Twitter Left to her party, but both are hard to measure. What can be measured however is who is currently voting Liberal Democrat and which leader is likely to sustain the most, crucial before they try and expand their electoral support. The question could thus be posed as ‘How many voters that turned to the Liberal Democrats in 2019 were Labour supporters and how many were Conservatives?’. According to YouGov, of the Liberal Democrat support in 2019, 9% were former Labour Voters and 7% were former Conservative voters, suggesting that Davey’s approach has more to lose at first glance. However, although difficult to know for certain, polls indicate that one of the main reasons for voters to abandon Labour to the Liberal Democrats was due to Corbyn as well as a stricter remain message regarding Brexit. The issue of Brexit has been more-or-less electorally sorted as has the issue of Corbyn, whilst on the other hand the Conservatives are still under the same leadership with a similar agenda post-Brexit as to the election of message of ‘getting Brexit done’. This would suggest that Moran may well lose these Labour votes anyway, although as stated she could gain different left-leaning associates who feel Starmer is not pushing for social equality enough. It is also important to note that 15% of the Liberal Democrat support came from the Greens, vocal critics of the Liberal Democrats’ role in the coalition and thus it is unlikely that they will support Davey, who served as a Cabinet secretary in the coalition and still defends its record. Thus, looking at electoral data, despite Davey returning to a once successful strategy, Moran looks like she may do the best out of the two, however she too is unlikely to put the Liberal Democrats back on the political map in any meaningful way.

Polls seem to indicate that Davey is set to win the leadership, having already gained more support from Liberal Democrat MPs than Moran (5-3), but either way the Liberal Democrats are set to be a long way from achieving their heights that they once had in the age of Cleggmania and ‘I agree with Nick’.

Politics of the 2010's - a summary

Do you ever take a look back at life and think, “What on Earth happened there?” Well that’s the politics of the 2010s for you. At the beginning of the decade we had Gordon Brown as Prime Minister, leading a Labour government, at the end we have a government led by a man who at the start of the decade was best known for being stuck on a zip wire and for rugby tackling a small boy (good PM material right?) So please read on as I take an oversimplified but comprehensive look back to one of the most momentous political decades that the United Kingdom has had since the end of the Second World War… 

So 2010. We were two years on from the financial crash, we had Gordon Brown in Downing Street, preparing to enter a general election (that he should have called three years before to have a better chance of winning…) against David Cameron and Nick Clegg. Politics was very much, much of muchness back then. Brown, Cameron and Clegg were essentially all from the same draw – they were all centrists, and you know what they say, never trust a centrist. In hindsight though, trusting centrists is probably the way to go to avoid, well to avoid now. 

Britain was in the recovering phase of the financial crash, but thank goodness we had the economic genius of Brown who managed to save the world, I mean the banks. Brown handled the crises exceptionally it has to be said, he acted quickly and swiftly, nationalised the Northern Rock bank to save it from collapsing and led a global summit, telling them what to do, which was nice of him as his over-deregulation of the banks was part of the cause of the problem, fulfilling Labour’s tradition of damaging the economy. In fairness though, Brown was an excellent Chancellor of the Exchequer, and it was incredibly unfortunate that his area of expertise is what ultimately led to his election defeat, that and calling an old woman a ‘bigot’ and an inability to smile on cue. 

Brown as a Prime Minister was one who never stopped. I’m not sure he ever slept. He was constantly working and shouting and working some more. He wanted to know everything at all times. He made his office into some kind of news room. Brown was a lot more collective than Blair in his approach to leadership but was very tribal. He not only he hated the Tories, but he also hated the left of his party (hello Corbyn). It wasn’t just ideological. Brown also hated anyone who had even been in the same room as Tony Blair. He also had running feuds with MPs in his own party for so long that he had forgotten why he didn’t like them. They probably shook Blair’s hand or something once. 

Brown did fall into some mishaps along the way. He tried to distance himself from Blair and the Iraq War, even though Brown was in Blair’s cabinet as his number two for the whole of the 10-year premiership. Brown’s fear of looking left wing meant that sometimes he would dabble so close to the other side that Cameron’s Tories seemed more left wing. It was the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats who supported the Gurkhas and Cameron even opposed some tax cuts that Brown was proposing. Brown was ultimately good in a crisis, be it foot and mouth, terrorist attacks or the financial crash. Despite this, the public looked at him next to Cameron and Clegg and thought, “I’m not voting for this piece of cardboard who has drained our economy” and they voted Labour out of office (at this rate forever). 

But enough of Brown before this piece becomes as boring as him. The election of 2010 resulted in a hung parliament, the first one since 1974. Clegg was the man to get onside. Clegg had all the power. Nick Clegg is the political definition of hero to zero. The papers actually referred to him as the new Churchill in 2010 … that aged well. Despite leading the polls, and Gordon Brown constantly saying “I agree with Nick” on practically everything, Clegg actually lost seats. That’s a little Lib Dem tradition that carries on as the decade unfolds. The Liberal Democrats were born from the Labour Party after the moderates decided that Michael Foot’s slightly right of Marx’s manifesto was politically suicidal and formed the Social Democrats, which merged with the dying Liberals. In hindsight, Clegg should have done something with Labour, Brown’s Labour was closer to the Liberal Democrats than Cameron’s Conservatives, however, this wouldn’t have brought Clegg power. Clegg wanted that power. He started playing Labour and the Tories. He even forced Brown to resign, saying that was the deal breaker into them going into bed with Labour, and then said “nah” and went to fellow public school homie, Cameron where they reminisced about the days where they could have Year 9s as their own personal slaves. This deal breaker was what made Clegg, and the Lib Dems non-existent by the end of the decade. 

After Brown went to see the Queen for the last time, Cameron was rushed in. Cameron, a pig enthusiast, restarted the days were the landed gentry ruled the country. Cameron didn’t win the election outright, but he managed to put the Conservatives on a path that has seen their vote share increase election by election. In the 1990s the Conservatives had practically fallen apart. They were all white old rich men who were arguing about Europe (not anymore though right?), which at that point, nobody cared about, but the backbench cronies, lead under the opposite of man of the people, Ian Duncan Cough, a previous leader of the party. The Conservatives were so out of touch in the 90s, that Blair was able to genuinely believe that he was some kind of Messiah. Cameron solved this issue by making the British public believe that he actually didn’t want to kill all the poor. Europe was still dangling away at the back, and of course as we now know, the Tory problem became Britain’s problem.

The Cameron-Clegg Coalition’s main focus was to try and find money, because Labour had spent it all. There was an actual note left in Number 10 saying “Sorry, there is no money left”. Cameron and Clegg had to cut public funding, and they did not do it moderately. Cuts were occurring everywhere, only the NHS was safe, which continued to get more money. These cuts later allowed Boris Johnson to have some popular policies of just bringing everything back that his predecessors got rid of. Managing the books is something the Conservatives normally do well at, and it is debatable how successful the policies of the coalition were, but we do know that for now at least, Britain can actually spend some money (or at least we are doing it anyway), so there must have been some good somewhere in the mess of austerity. Let’s forget the fact that government borrowing that was meant to be cut has now doubled in the last 10 years…

The coalition was also responsible for the Fixed Terms Parliament Act, the biggest political joke until Change UK. The idea of this was to ensure that neither Cameron nor Clegg pulled the plug on their coalition, allowing Cameron ultimately to take most of the duvet. The Fixed Terms Parliament Act was meant to stop Prime Ministers from holding election when they want to, under the royal prerogative powers given to them by the Queen. The Act ensures that there can only be an election every 5 years. Since the 2011 Fixed Terms Parliament Act there were 3 elections before 2020, so you can clearly see that it worked well. The Fixed Terms Parliament Act was the only thing that allowed Boris to remain PM even though he wanted a general election, and had the opposition been united, could have resulted in alternative government. More on this later.

On the other side of the benches, Labour had to choose a new leader. Will it be someone charismatic, a centrist who insists on high fiving members of the public like he is in some kind of boy band? No, it’s not another Blair, its Wallace from Wallace and Grommit. Ed Miliband running for Labour leadership took the old age feud of the Labour Party to a whole new level, because now it was brother vs brother. David Miliband, Brown’s foreign secretary, had been a favourite for a while for MPs and members but “Red Ed” was beloved by the trade unions and they got him in. Ed Miliband then went around distancing himself from Blair and Brown, despite the fact that they actually were mostly successful in their aims and started flirting with the proper left. This is not what brought him down though, oh no. It was that bacon sandwich. Miliband was unable to eat a bacon sandwich, so the British Public said, no you are not “tough-a-nut” and told him to take his Edstone and bog off.

In case you have not been conscious this last decade, referenda started to become a thing, and probably died this last decade as well. Firstly, in 2011 with the Alternate Vote referendum. This was about First Past the Post. Everyone cares about FPTP right? Well, it turns out, only 42% care enough to actually vote in a referendum on it. This came about because the Liberal Democrats were fed up that they got less seats than their proportional vote share. This was in the days when the Liberal Democrats actually valued democracy, and their cause was justified. First Past the Post is undemocratic, there is no question about that, and smaller parties are hard done by in the system. It does have its merits though, as it actually allows governance, a luxury that many European nations don’t have. This could be an article in itself so I won’t delve into any more of the arguments but ultimately the public wanted to keep First Past the Post, probably because they didn’t understand what AV was, because most of the British Public didn’t do Government and Politics for A level.

The other referendum in the coalition government was the Scottish independence referendum. This was everyone vs Salmond and Sturgeon, oh and Sean Connery. Scotland joined the UK in 1707, and now 300 years on, some of them had had enough. They didn’t like the fact that they got more money from England than they gave in, they didn’t like the fact they were overrepresented by MP per person in the House of Commons and they didn’t like the fact that they could vote on English laws, but English MPs couldn’t vote on Scotland laws. What they did like was the St. Andrews’ cross and independence, whatever the cost. The referendum was granted due to the growing political pressure after the SNP won a majority in Holyrood. This referendum was, everybody with me, “a once in a generation vote” (by the way a generation is longer than 6 years). The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Labour (who had a position on this issue back then) all supported Scotland remaining, and the SNP supported an independent Scotland. The Scottish decided that they wanted to be Scottish and British and European (oh wait) and voted 55% to stay in the union. Everyone accepted the result and that was that … But not for long, because one of the factors for why some Scots decided to vote to stay in the UK was because they were told that they could not be members of the European Union if they voted to leave. Basically, as per most things, anything that was achieved was undone on 23^rd June 2016. In seriousness, this is a legitimate concern, and one that will have to be addressed at some point. Boris has put it under the carpet for now, but Nicola Sturgeon is not someone who you can easily hide, as the BBC loves her.

Now before we move onto the next election of the decade, we have to start talking about UKIP. UKIP before this decade were just ‘a bunch of fruit cakes, loonies and closet racists’ in the words of David Cameron, and now there are a bunch of fruit cakes, loonies and open racists (the current leader, Patricia Mountain (come on, of course you know Patricia Mountain!) actually said “other racist parties” in an interview). In between these two stages, UKIP gained a following because of Nigel Farage, the only major politician to survive this turbulent decade of events. UKIP won the European Elections in 2014, and two by-elections. Ian Duncan Smith must have been having a field day because now the people of the UK actually started talking about Europe. The old arguments of unelected bureaucrats taking our fish was replaced with the immigrants. You name it, the immigrants could be blamed. This bothered Cameron, because although he didn’t really like the EU, he wasn’t a massive fan of racism, which was a problem for him, because some people in his party quite liked it. The Conservatives normally won the European Elections but now they were third. Cameron was worried that UKIP could result in him losing his power in 2015, so inserted the pledge to have a referendum on the issue in his manifesto so he could win it and shut them up. He’d already got his preferred choice in two referendums.

So here comes the 2015 general election and Cameron defied everyone and won it outright. The few Conservative voters who decided to get on the “Keep ‘em out” brigade of UKIP were replaced by the right leaning Liberal Democrats who thought that voting Conservative and Liberal Democrat were essentially the same after Clegg sold his party out by backing the rise in tuition fees. They fell victim to the ‘black widow affect’, where any good policy was placed to the Tories, and any bad policy was put on the Lib Dems. The Liberal Democrats did betray their members with tuition fees but they did do solid work behind the scenes, such as the prevention of child benefit cuts, but this was not seen by the public who just like to get on one big angry band wagon. The other Lib Dems decided to back Labour, which also lost supporters to UKIP. The Liberal Democrats were obliterated. They went from 57 MPs to 8. The Liberal Democrats became essentially, Nick Clegg and his dog. You could count the number of Liberal Democrats on your hands, and they were just in government! The election also saw the Green Party come to the attention of the media, although at this stage the climate crises didn’t matter because of ‘em immigrants. The SNP thought they would have a go at making Scotland a single party state by taking all but three of the seats in Scotland. Cameron’s surprise majority meant that he had to follow through with his pledge of allowing a referendum on Europe. 

With a second Labour defeat (plenty more to come), Ed Miliband resigned as leader of the Labour Party. The race to succeed him looked to between Andy Burnham and Yvette Cooper, but to balance all factions of the party, a group of Labour MPs decided to nominate Jeremy Corbyn, a decision that Margaret Beckett later said was the biggest mistake of her political career because he went on to win, with the help of Conservative supporters joining Labour and voting for him. Tony Blair had introduced moderate politics, politics of the centre, right wing economics with left wing social policy. Corbyn is someone who thinks he is in 1917 Russia and there needs to be an October revolution. In fact, the two could not be more opposite despite being from the same party. Blair was likeable, Corbyn is unlikeable, Blair was charismatic Mr Establishment, Corbyn is uncharismatic Mr Backbench, Blair knows what the people want, Corbyn appears to not, Blair likes to kill innocent Iraqi citizens, Corbyn does not. Corbyn and his former lover Diane Abbott had been on a motorcycle trip around Communist Europe, and instead of seeing it and thinking, “Gosh, there are lot of poor people here, that’s not good”, they thought “let’s bring this to the UK”. Now, Corbyn is not a communist, but he does believe the state should own the internet, so think of that what you will. Corbyn is on the left of the party, as far as you can possibly go and ironically had spent much of his time in politics voting against his own party and teaming up with the Tories on matters of the EU and free-trade; he now had to lead it. Thing is, as most Labour MPs are not as extreme as him and don’t hang out with terrorists, this was not going to ever be easy for “Zionists have no sense of English

With the Liberal Democrats hanging onto Parliament by a thin as a piece of string, Clegg resigned, leading a grand total of 7 people that could replace him. The Liberal Democrats selected Tim Farron, an evangelical Christian who thinks Gay sex is a sin, so he fitted in very well with the rest of the liberals, he later wanted to ignore the result of the EU referendum, so he was also a great democrat. Farron did, in credit, realise that he wasn’t best fit to lead a party where he opposes both of its named parts and did later resign. 

Still reading? Good because everything so far has been background reading to what is yet to come. So as mentioned, Cameron gained a majority, and so the promised referendum now had to occur. Cameron was riding high, winning an election and a referendum and thought that he could win the next one. First though, he decided to enter negotiations with the EU commission to change the relationship between the country and power bloc. He got promises that the UK would never have to join the Euro or some kind of United States of Europe, but that was about it. He whizzed off around Europe and achieved nothing whilst pretending he had got some kind of golden deal. It was this position that was going to go up against Leave. 

This referendum was to be an all-out political war. This wasn’t Conservative vs Labour, this was Stronger in Europe vs Vote Leave. Traditional party politics went out the window in the Spring of 2016 and did not return until the end of the decade. Most politicians backed remain, some more enthusiastically than others, however, no one wanted to take the mantlepiece of leading the remain side because for some reason it wasn’t perceived to be ‘cool’. Cameron decided to take the lead whilst Corbyn decided to not really do anything at all. Maybe this was because he actually supported leave, as he had voted against the European Union in every single bill that had ever gone to the House of Commons regarding it. Britain Stronger in Europe had a load of big beasts supporting it. Cameron, Osborne, Caroline Lucas, Danny Alexander, Damien Green and Lord Mandelson led the campaign with far more widespread following. Vote Leave was at first lacking in its big beasts. Michael Gove and Gilesa Stuart became the leaders of Vote Leave, one from Conservatives and one from Labour. Vote Leave also contained members of moderate UKIP supporters (if they exist) and Green Party supporters. Boris Johnson’s backing for Vote Leave made them have their real personality. Boris was never a hardline Eurosceptic, but he felt that the political tide was on the march for leave, and even if they lost, it would do him good to back stab his friend Cameron and replace him as king of the Tories later on. Vote Leave had one problem in campaign strategy. They had Nigel Farage and the fruitcakes to deal with. ‘Sensible’ Eurosceptics, the ones that cared about the fish, were worried about Farage and his gang who cared greatly about ’em immigrants and worried it would tarnish their image, so Farage was not allowed to be part of the Vote Leave campaign. Farage therefore founded his own movement, Leave.EU. This allowed the dodgy racist campaigns to be done, without it looking bad on members of Parliament. Not that the main campaign was guilty of any misgivings, need I say more about that bus… 

The referendum was dirty on both sides, as Andrew Neil puts it, both were playing on illogical arguments. Not everyone in Britain was going to die if we left the EU, and likewise Britain was not under some kind of imperial rule from Brussels. What really was awful about the campaign was the brutal murder of Jo Cox, Labour MP for Batley and Spen. Cox was a good human being who ultimately gave her life to fight for the causes she believed in. The referendum had spun anger into Britain, and it claimed lives.

Then came the big decider, on 23^rd June 2016, Britain became the first country to vote to leave the European Union. All political parties accepted the result, and the process to begin to leave was about to begin. However, first their needed to be some party management. Cameron took one look at the mess he created and decided to do a runner to the tune of Winnie the Pooh. It was like damaging a house at a party and not doing anything to help clear up. On the other side of the commons chamber, Labour, a generally more passionate EU supporting party at the current time, were furious that their leader had done very little to support the movement and allowing the referendum to be seen as a Tory civil war rather than everyone vs the political fringe.  

With Cameron off to put his trotters up, the race to succeed him began. With Osborne also selling his credentials to Brussels, he was no longer in the running to be Cameron’s successor as it had been suspected. It was now between Boris and May. Theresa May had kept her head oddly quiet during the campaign, backing remain but doing very little to support it (I wonder why?). The battle between Boris and May of course though never happened. Gove, in his extreme wisdom, decided to knife Boris 40 minutes before nominations close and run himself, despite being Boris’ campaign manager. Boris therefore decided not to run because of the split support between the two. May wiped the flaw with the opponents, including Gove, with Leadsom being the last surviving competitor against her, but she dropped out because she got lampooned by saying that she would make a better PM because she had children (10/10 logic there). 

Labour started turning on their leader. Corbyn had a confidence motion and only 40 of his MPs backed him out of 232. The Parliamentary Labour Party now had to pick their challenger and they decided to pick… Owen Smith. Yes, Owen Smith, the well-known Labour MP. The Labour Party managed to challenge the uncharismatic Corbyn with someone even more insufferable. Corbyn managed to secure his position with an even larger landslide and then continued his drive to make the Labour Party a little less red rose and a little more hammer and sickle. 

So, Theresa May was now in charge of the Conservatives and was responsible for triggering Article 50, which was backed by the Conservatives and Labour and to negotiate with the EU. May sacked Osborne and appointed Boris Johnson as foreign secretary. Boris would later go on to make a right old pig’s ear of the whole thing and incredibly fulfil his outward persona as a blundering idiot who called the President of Turkey something that nearly rhymes with Ankara. The Brexit negotiations became a total and utter nightmare. Vote Leave was such a coalition of chaos (if you pardon the pun) that no one could agree what the definition of leave meant. Do we remain in the customs union? Do we follow the European Court of Justice etc etc? Brexit means Brexit. May knew that there were going to be some difficulties in finding a deal that pleases everyone, with even a small rebellion resulting in a defeat as she only inherited a majority of 4 from Cameron. With polls as high as 50% for the Tories and Labour mellowing in the background, May called an election. The worst decision she could possibly make.

The 2017 General election was the biggest turnaround ever. May committed political suicide. The campaign based themselves on May and her ‘strong and stable’ leadership. Thing is you can’t base a campaign around someone’s personality if they have no personality. May didn’t even turn up to TV debates. On the other side of the things, Corbyn was no longer this jumped-up Marxist but was now cool. He even had his own chant. People actually liked him. He went to Glastonbury thus socialism must be brilliant, much better than dancing to ABBA. The Liberal Democrats were in there somewhere, as were UKIP but no one paid attention to them. This election was meant to be the Brexit election, but Labour successfully made it about all the things the Tories had damaged since they came into office. The result of the election was May losing her majority, being short of 9 seats, and having to rely on the DUP.

The DUP are the crazy party from Northern Ireland. Imagine a party of Jacob Rees-Moggs with Irish accents and that’s the DUP. To get anything through the House of Commons, May had to rely on their backing and in return she had to give them a lot of money. In normal circumstances, the DUP are irrelevant, like the Lib Dems, but now they had a say. They had to be won over. Brexit had to be the Brexit they wanted, but also it had to be the Brexit of the EU-cuddlers like Anna Soubry and Dominic Grieve. 

Elsewhere, the Lib Dems gained a new leader. The young, vibrant liberal party now had a 70-something-year-old Vince Cable in charge. UKIP also changed leaders. After Nuttall, they went to Henry Bolton, who had an affair with a racist, and then he was replaced by Gerald Batten, a racist who then was replaced by Dick Braine who was also a racist who was sacked for corruption. UKIP, as ever, is a barrel of laughs. One of their members literally said they were the Black Death. You can’t make that stuff up. At least they are being honest…

Brexit went ahead and eventually May got a deal, the Chequers agreement. Despite the whole cabinet agreeing to it, David Davis and Boris Johnson later resigned over it. It looked like a challenge to May might happen, but why would you want to be the captain of a sinking ship. Then the withdrawal agreement came through and Dominic Raab and Esther McVey jumped ship. Rees-Mogg then challenged May in a vote of no confidence, which she won 200-117, so a close one but a lot more secure than Corbyn’s in 2016. She was walking on thin ice, and everyone, friend or foe, were willing to take a pickaxe to her. 

February 2019 saw the creation of the Independents, I mean the Independent Group, I mean Change.org, I mean Change UK – the Independent Group. 8 members of Labour were fed up of Labour not opposing Brexit and others like Luciana Burger did not feel safe due to antisemitism. 3 Conservatives also were opposed to Brexit and joined the party. This was a coalition of stopping Brexit, but they did not have the tarnished image of the Lib Dems. Instead they had nothing. They didn’t even have a leader. They just sort of sat there and did nothing. The fact that they had nothing in common other than disliking Brexit, including the fact they disagreed on what to do, showed the fact that this splinter group was going to be just like the rest of them in history, a fizzled out waste of time that are exciting for mere blink of an eye. 

Then came the first meaningful vote on the deal. The biggest defeat in the 800-year history of British parliamentary democracy. It was a whopping 432-202 defeat. Theresa May had lost people on all fronts. Both remainers and leavers were celebrating on Parliament Square. May did not receive the backing of the Tory remainers led by Grieve, nor the leavers under Rees-Mogg. The DUP did not back it. Labour, except for three MPs, did not back it. The Lib Dems, SNP, Plaid Cmyru all did not back it out of principle that they did not think that we should even have a deal anyway because the EU is awesome and is the saviour to all our problems. With the vote going through, it meant no deal, because no deal is better than a bad deal. Though of course no one actually believes that, so we extended the deal (oh wait, some actually do believe that not having a deal is actually a good thing – don’t listen to those experts remember). 

Then a second meaningful vote came, then a third, each doing slightly better than the last, but still making May look like a zombie as well as a robot. She was trying to bake a cake before actually having all the ingredients. May wanted to please everyone, but no one could agree on what they wanted. They all knew what they didn’t want but not what they wanted. Every indicative vote that came through saw the noes have it. There was not one consensus. May was stuck. She had set out red lines. Red lines that could not be crossed. She tried reaching out to the opposition to find a deal but found that hard as there was no deal better than staying in the EU for the majority of them. May’s final manoeuvre to allow a vote for a people’s vote on her deal for the forth meaningful vote was enough for her party and they began to try and oust her, breaking their own rules. One thing to note about the Tories – they are their own worst enemies. More leaders of the Conservatives have been bought down by those behind them than those opposite them. They are vultures who gobble each other up, and now it was almost May’s turn, but something got in the way first.

As we were still in the European Union we had to enter into the even more pointless contest of the European Elections. UKIP had self-destructed with minor racists abandoning the Islam-obsessed Gerald Batten’s leadership and Farage formed the Brexit Party – the Nigel Farage show. All the old favourites from the crazy fringes of politics were coming out to play like Ann Widdecombe and the actual communist (not Corbyn style leftie, but proper Marx loving fanatic) Claire Fox. The Brexit Party sort of came out of nowhere and topped the polls. The Liberal Democrats came second. Labour third. Greens fourth and the Tories a mere 5^th. With securing just over 10% of the vote it was the worst electoral defeat for the Conservatives since 1834 – and the mention of those corn laws was something I imagine no political pundit would have guessed at the beginning of the decade. Before the announcements on who won, May had already done her resignation speech in advance. May was gone in June and it was now time to find a successor. 

Firstly, it’s important to talk about the other parties before going to the big Tory beast. UKIP, who had topped the 2014 European Elections, now came sixth and lost all their seats. They are now practically non-existent and politically insignificant to the point of them just being a bunch of angry racists who think Farage doesn’t hate Muslims enough. Change UK went into meltdown and the splitters split. Anna Soubry believed that they actually had a chance despite coming seventh and carried on, whilst the others thought that the Liberal Democrats actually did quite well as people had temporarily forgotten the fact that they had sold their voters in favour of power in the coalition. The Green Party did well out of Extinction Rebellion, but as ever, the people got bored of the fact the world was literally roasting, and the Greens success was only temporary. It is a wonder how hot its going to have to get before the climate emergency does become a chief concern. The Liberal Democrats replaced Vince Cable with a far younger and party-image fitting, Jo Swinson, someone who had dodgy dealings with fracking companies but that can be overlooked for the overarching value that Britain must remain in the European Union. Liberal Democrats became a hot spot for left-leaning Europhiles that didn’t like Marx and for rich old Tories that wanted to easily access their holiday home in Nice.

Labour were in a mess when it came to the European elections, but that is a given nowadays. The leadership were insisted that they were committed to a Brexit deal, a different Brexit deal to the failed one that May had negotiated. At the same time, people like Lord Adonis were saying that Labour were party for remain. So which one was it? Thing is no one knew, not even the Labour Party, not even the cabinet. The key thing that happened here is that the Liberal Democrats took the remain mantle piece, and Labour now saw them as they key ones to upseat, which it turns out means they abandoned their leave voters. Labour have been a coalition of London Metropolitan Remain loving middle classes and Northern Working Class Britain Monarchy enthusiasts and after a century, this was starting to crumble away, all as a result of the big wrecking ball of politics, Brexit. Labour decided from this point that a people’s vote was the way forward, which in turn made the Liberal Democrats go even more pro-European…

The Conservatives were however more in a mess and May, although she had been politically dead for good few months, finally bowed out. And now it was time for another Conservative leadership contest. Despite May having an almost impossible task, it seemed anyone who had even turned up to a Conservative Party Conference felt they could do a better job. People like Kit Malthouse and James Cleverly, neither of which had got particularly far in politics joined in. Sam Gyimah decided he was going to run advocating a second referendum. Dominic Grieve probably egged him onto do it as a sort of funny joke because it couldn’t have been serious. Andrea “I’m a better leader because I’m a mother” Leadsom had another pop too. Of course, there is the new Blair wannabee, Rory Stewart, someone so fantastical that he can take a selfie without using his hands. Stewart went around campaigning to members of the public, despite the fact – and this is one of the biggest complaints about the whole leadership process – they had no say.

The final three got down to Gove, Hunt and Johnson. The final two were looking to be Gove and Johnson but to avoid a Vote Leave civil war, Theresa In Trousers Hunt got in there. Boris Johnson, known for his cavalier attitude to the truth, was trusted by Tory party members to lead the party. Many of May’s former allies now became the very rebels that Boris himself was part of.

Now it was crunch time (as if it wasn’t before). Johnson had pledged to die in a ditch if Brexit did not happen on 31^stOctober.  He said this standing in front of army of police as if he was part of some sort of authoritarian regime, of which he would deny, by subsequently shutting parliament down illegally. Parliament had to return as the courts had ruled it so, and the Remain MPs united to block a no-deal exit. Boris decided to kick out 21 Conservative MPs from his party for backing the rebel amendment, including former Chancellors, Kenneth Clarke and Philip Hammond and Winston Churchill’s grandson, Sir Nicholas Soames. Yes, Philip Hammond, previously known for his love of spreadsheets (me too, Phil, me too) had now become a fiery no-nonsense rebel. The remain side now had the potential numbers to force through a people’s vote, but because the Lib Dems and Change UK (which still existed at this point) did not like Magic Grandad Corbyn, they could not unite. Then came the election.

The 2019 General Election was dubbed the Brexit Election. This was a clear Brexit message from the Tories, a clear Stop Brexit from the Lib Dems and a clear ‘we will renegotiate a Brexit deal with the EU in 3 months and have another referendum, which we will definitely respect this time, in 6 months’ policy from the Labour Party. Labour’s manifesto became a wish-list and the Tories pledged to reverse all the  damage they had caused to the country in the last 10 years and can now suddenly spend all the money that they said they could not spend for all their previous years in government. They appealed to the traditional leave seats of Labour and promised them bread and butter policies like more police officers and nurses, though some dubious statistics were involved. Boris Johnson got a landslide victory, the Labour party got their worst defeat since the 1930’s and the Liberal Democrats lost their leader. Jo Swinson, who said she could be a PM, lost her seat to the SNP, and Nicola Sturgeon was certainly happy about that. 

Following the election, Boris Johnson assembled a series of noblisse oblige polices, the most left wing Tory manifesto of memory (but still including cabinet ministers who like the death penalty), Corbyn finally decided to bow out and the Liberal Democrats don’t know if there is enough of them to have a leader.

So, there we have it, 10 years of absolute political mayhem. With the coronavirus causing the worst health and economic crises for 100 years, the next decade is likely to be very interesting indeed.

 Felix Hawes with format edits by Thomas Gregory

Also available on the Political Natter website: https://politicalnatter.wordpress.com/2020/06/16/long-read-a-satirical-journey-through-the-2010s/

Doctor Who Recurring Characters: Updated #4

Please Note that characters that appear in prequels/minisodes of an episode are counted as part of the episode

Season 1

1st Doctor = 42 episodes
Ian Chesterton  = 42 episodes
Barbara Wright = 42 episodes
Susan Foreman = 42 episodes

Season 2 

1st Doctor = 39 episodes
Ian Chesterton = 35 episodes
Barbara Wright = 35 episodes
Vicki = 30 episodes
Susan Foreman = 9 episodes
Steven Taylor = 5 episodes
The Meddling Monk = 4 episodes
Queen Elizabeth I = 1 episode
William Shakespeare = 1 episode

Season 3

1st Doctor = 44 episodes
Steven Taylor = 40 episodes
Dodo Chaplet = 19 episodes
Vicki = 8 episodes
Katarina = 5 episodes
Ben Jackson = 4 episodes
Polly = 4 episodes
Malpha = 4 episodes
The Meddling Monk = 3 episodes

Season 4 

2nd Doctor = 37 episodes
Ben Jackson = 33 episodes
Polly = 33 episodes
Jamie McCrimmon = 29 episodes
1st Doctor = 8 episodes
Victoria Waterfield = 6 episodes

Season 5 

2nd Doctor = 40 episodes
Jamie McCrimmon = 40 episodes
Victoria Waterfield = 34 episodes
Proffesor Edward Travers = 12 episodes
Tanya Lernov = 6 episodes
Zoe Heriot = 5 episodes
Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart = 5 episodes
The Great Intelligence = 2 episodes

Season 6

2nd Doctor = 44 episodes
Jamie McCrimmon = 44 episodes
Zoe Heriot = 44 episodes
Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart = 7 episodes
Sergeant Benton = 5 episodes
Chancellor Goth = 1 episodes

Chancellor Socra = 1 episode

Adelphi = 1 episode 
Tanya Lernov = 1 episode

Season 7

3rd Doctor = 25 episodes
Liz Shaw = 25 episodes
Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart = 25 episodes
Sergeant Benton = 9 episodes

Season 8

3rd Doctor = 25 episodes
Jo Grant = 25 episodes
The Master (Delgado) = 22 episodes
Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart = 21 episodes
Captain Mike Yates = 19 episodes
Sergeant Benton = 17 episodes
Corporal Bell = 5 episodes

President Pandad IV = 2 episodes

Chancellor Socra = 2 episodes
Time Lord Technician = 2 episodes

Adelphi = 1 episode

Season 9

3rd Doctor = 26 episodes
Jo Grant = 26 episodes
The Master (Delgado) = 12 episodes
Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart = 9 episodes
Sergeant Benton = 8 episodes
Captain Mike Yates = 6 episodes
Alpha Centauri = 4 episodes

Season 10

3rd Doctor = 26 episodes
Jo Grant = 26 episodes
Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart = 10 episodes
Sergeant Benton = 7 episodes
1st Doctor = 4 episodes
2nd Doctor = 4 episodes
Omega = 4 episodes
The Master (Delgado) = 4 episodes
Chancellor Socra = 4 episodes

President Pandad IV = 4 episodes
Time Lord Technician = 4 episodes
Captain Mike Yates = 3 episodes

Season 11

3rd Doctor = 26 episodes
Sarah Jane Smith = 26 episodes
Captain Mike Yates = 12 episodes
Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart = 10 episodes
Sergeant Benton = 8 episodes
Alpha Centuri = 6 episodes
4th Doctor = 1 episode

Season 12

4th Doctor = 20 episodes
Sarah Jane Smith = 20 episodes
Harry Sullivan = 20 episodes
Davros = 6 episodes
Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart = 4 episodes
Sergeant Benton = 4 episodes

Season 13

4th Doctor = 26 episodes
Sarah Jane Smith = 26 episodes
Harry Sullivan = 7 episodes
Sergeant Benton = 7 episodes
Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart = 4 episodes

Season 14

4th Doctor = 26 episodes
Leela = 14 episodes
Sarah Jane Smith = 8 episodes
The Master (Pratt/Beevers) = 4 episodes
Chancellor Goth = 4 episodes
Boruca  = 4 episodes

President Pandad IV = 1 episode

Season 15

4th Doctor = 26 episodes
Leela = 26 episodes
K9 = 18 episodes
Boruca = 6 episodes

Season 16

4th Doctor = 26 episodes
Rommana I = 26 episodes
K9 = 21 episodes
The White Guardian = 3 episodes
The Black Guardian = 1 episode

Season 17

4th Doctor = 20 episodes
Rommana II = 20 episodes
K9 = 13 episodes
Davros = 4 episodes

Season 18

4th Doctor = 28 episodes
Rommana II = 20 episodes
Adric = 20 episodes
K9 = 15 episodes
Nyssa = 6 episodes
Tegan Jovenka = 4 episodes
The Master (Pratt/Beevers) = 4 episodes
The Master (Ainley) = 3 episodes
5th Doctor = 1 episode

Season 19

5th Doctor = 26 episodes
Nyssa = 26 episodes
Tegan Jovenka = 26 episodes
Adric = 22 episodes
The Master (Ainley) = 8 episodes

Season 20

5th Doctor = 23 episodes
Tegan Jovenka = 22 episodes
Nyssa = 16 episodes
Turlough = 15 episodes
The Black Guardian = 12 episodes
Boruca = 5 episodes
Castellan Jericcho = 5 episodes
Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart = 4 episodes
The Master (Ainley) = 3 episodes
Kamelion = 2 episodes
The White Guardian = 2 episodes
1st Doctor = 1 episode
2nd Doctor = 1 episode
3rd Doctor = 1 episode
4th Doctor = 1 episode
Susan Foreman = 1 episode
Sarah Jane Smith = 1 episode
K9 = 1 episode
Rommana II = 1 episode
Rassalon = 1 episode

Season 21

5th Doctor = 24 episodes
Turlough = 18 episodes
Tegan Jovenka = 14 episodes
Peri Brown = 12 episodes
6th Doctor = 5 episodes
The Master (Ainley) = 4 episodes
Kamelion = 3 episodes
Davros = 2 episodes
Lytton = 2 episodes

Season 22

6th Doctor = 13 episodes
Peri Brown = 13 episodes
2nd Doctor = 3 episodes
Jamie McCrimmon = 3 episodes
Lytton = 2 episodes
Sil = 2 episodes
The Master (Ainley) = 2 episodes
The Rani = 2 episodes
Davros = 2 episodes

Season 23

6th Doctor = 14 episodes
Inquisitor Darkel = 14 episodes
The Valeyard = 14 episodes
Peri Brown = 8 episodes
Sabalom Glitz = 6 episodes
Mel Bush = 6 episodes
Sil = 4 episodes
The Master (Ainley) = 2 episodes

Season 24

7th Doctor = 14 episodes
Mel Bush = 14 episodes
The Rani = 4 episodes
Ace = 3 episodes
Sabalom Glitz = 3 episodes
6th Doctor = 1 episode

Season 25

7th Doctor = 14 episodes
Ace = 14 episodes
Davros = 1 episode

Queen Elizabeth II = 1 episode 

Season 26

7th Doctor = 15 episodes
Ace = 14 episodes
The Master (Ainley) = 4 episodes

Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart = 4 episodes 
8th Doctor = 1 episode

Series 1

9th Doctor = 13 episodes
Rose Tyler = 13 episodes
Jackie Tyler = 6 episodes
Micky Smith = 6 episodes
Jack Harkness = 5 episodes
Blon Fel Forch Pasameer Day Slitheen = 3 episodes
Adam Mitchell = 2 episodes
The Face of Boe = 2 episodes
Harriet Jones = 2 episodes
Trinity Wells = 2 episodes
Lady Cassandra = 1 episode
Charles Dickins = 1 episode
Toshiko Sato = 1 episode
10th Doctor = 1 episode

Series 2

10th Doctor = 14 episodes
Rose Tyler = 14 episodes
Micky Smith = 8 episodes
Jackie Tyler = 6 episodes
Parrelel Pete Tyler = 3 episodes
Jake Simmonds = 3 episodes
Dalek Sec = 2 episodes
Dalek Thay = 2 episodes
Dalek Caan = 2 episodes
Dalek Jast = 2 episodes
Harriet Jones = 1 episode
Trinity Wells = 1 episode
Jason Mohammad = 1 episode
Lady Cassandra = 1 episode
The Face of Boe = 1 episode
Novice Hame = 1 episode
Sarah Jane Smith = 1 episode
K9 = 1 episode
Queen Elizabeth II = 1 episode
Donna Noble = 1 episode

Series 3 

10th Doctor = 14 episodes
Martha Jones = 13 episodes
Francine Jones = 5 episodes
Tish Jones = 4 episodes
Leo Jones = 4 episodes
Clive Jones = 3 episodes
Jack Harkness = 3 episodes
The Master (Simm) = 3 episodes
Dalek Sec = 2 episodes
Dalek Thay = 2 episodes
Dalek Caan = 2 episodes
Dalek Jast = 2 episodes
Miss Dexter = 2 episodes
Lucy Saxon = 2 episodes
Queen Elizabeth I = 1 episode
William Shakespeare = 1 episode
The Face of Boe = 1 episode
Novice Hame = 1 episode
Trinity Wells = 1 episode
Donna Noble = 1 episode
Sylvia Noble = 1 episode
Nerys = 1 episodes
Oliver Morgentstan = 1 episode

Series 4 

10th Doctor = 19 episodes
Donna Noble = 15 episodes
Wilfred Mott = 9 episodes
Sylvia Noble = 8 episodes
Rose Tyler = 7 episodes
Martha Jones = 6 episodes
Ood Sigma = 4 episodes
Trinity Wells = 4 episodes
Sarah Jane Smith = 3 episodes
Luke Smith = 3 episodes
Jack Harkness = 3 episodes
Jason Mohammad = 3 episodes
Alonzo Frame = 2 episodes
Sally - 2 episodes
Captain Harris = 2 episodes
River Song = 2 episodes
Captain Magombo = 2 episodes
Davros = 2 episodes
Dalek Caan = 2 episodes
Mr Smith = 2 episodes
Lanto Jones = 2 episodes
Gwen Cooper = 2 episodes
Francine Jones = 2 episodes
Jackie Tyler = 2 episodes
Micky Smith = 2 episodes
The Master (Simm) = 2 episodes
Rassalon = 2 episodes
5th Doctor = 1 episode
Queen Elizabeth II = 1 episode
Harriet Jones = 1 episode
K9 = 1 episode
The Shadow Architect - 1 episode
Oliver Morgenstan = 1 episode
Lucy Saxon = 1 episode
Nerys = 1 episode
11th Doctor = 1 episode

Series 5

11th Doctor = 13 episodes
Amy Pond = 13 episodes
Rory Williams = 7 episodes
River Song = 4 episodes
Winston Churchill = 3 episodes
Liz 10 = 2 episodes
Edward Bracewell = 2 episodes
Malokeh = 2 episodes
Vincent Van Gogh = 2 episodes
Dannyboy = 1 episode
Craig Owens = 1 episode
Sophie Owens = 1 episode
Dorium Maldalover = 1 episode
Brian Williams = 1 episode

Series 6

11th Doctor = 14 episodes
Amy Pond = 14 episodes
Rory Williams = 14 episodes
Madam Kovarian = 7 episodes
River Song = 6 episodes
Canton Eleware III = 3 episodes
Captain Avery = 2 episodes
Toby Avery = 2 episodes
Dorium Maldalover = 2 episodes
Captain Carter = 2 episodes
Charles Dickens = 1 episode
Winston Churchill = 1 epiosde
Dannyboy = 1 episode
Madam Vastra = 1 episode
Strax = 1 episode
Jenny Flint = 1 episode
Craig Owens = 1 episode
Sophie Owens = 1 episode
Malokeh = 1 episode

Series 7

11th Doctor = 17 episodes
Clara Osworld = 12 episodes
Amy Pond = 6 episodes
Rory Williams = 6 episodes
Artie Mainland = 4 episodes
Angie Mainland = 4 episodes
The Great Intelligence = 3 episodes
Strax = 3 episodes
Madam Vastra = 3 episodes
Jenny Flint = 3 episodes
Brian Williams = 3 episodes
Kate Lethbridge Stewart = 2 episodes
River Song = 2 episodes
Dave Osworld = 2 episodes
War Doctor = 2 episodes
1st Doctor = 2 episodes
2nd Doctor = 2 episodes
3rd Doctor = 2 episodes
4th Doctor = 2 episodes
5th Doctor = 2 episodes
6th Doctor = 2 episodes
7th Doctor = 2 episodes
8th Doctor = 2 episodes
9th Doctor = 2 episodes
10th Doctor = 2 episodes
12th Doctor = 2 episodes
The General = 2 episodes
Inspector Gregson = 1 episode
Susan Foreman = 1 episode
Ohila = 1 episode
Queen Eilzabeth I = 1 episode
Osgood = 1 episode
Zygon Osgood = 1 episode
Grannie Osworld = 1 episode

Series 8 

12th Doctor = 12 episodes
Clara Osworld = 12 episodes
Danny Pink = 10 episodes
Missy = 7 episodes
Courtney Woods = 3 episodes
Mr Armitage = 3 episodes
Seb = 3 episodes
Madam Vasta = 1 episode
Strax = 1 episode
Jenny Flint = 1 episode
Inspector Gregson = 1 episode
11th Doctor = 1 episode
Rusty = 1 episode
1st Doctor = 1 episode
Rigsy = 1 episode
Grannie Osworld = 1 episode
Kate Lethbridge Stewart = 1 episode
Zygon Osgood = 1 episode
Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart = 1 episode
Santa Claus = 1 episode

Series 9 

12th Doctor = 14 episodes
Clara Osworld = 12 episodes
Ashilda = 4 episodes
Kate Lethbridge Stewart = 3 episodes
Davros = 2 episodes
Missy = 2 episodes
Ohila = 2 episodes
Jac = 2 episodes
Osgood = 2 episodes
Santa Claus - 1 episode
Danny Pink = 1 episode
The Shadow Architect = 1 episode 
Rigsy = 1 episode
Rassilon = 1 episode
The General = 1 episode
River Song = 1 episode
Nardole = 1 episode

Series 10

12th Doctor = 14 episodes
Nardole = 14 episodes
Bill Potts = 13 episodes
Missy = 6 episodes
Moira = 2 episodes
Sentient Puddle = 2 episodes
Penny = 2 episodes
The Master (Simm) = 2 episodes
1st Doctor = 2 episodes
Alpha Centauri = 1 episode
Ben Jackson = 1 episode
Polly = 1 episode
Rusty = 1 episode
2nd Doctor = 1 episode
Clara Osworld = 1 episode
13th Doctor = 1 episode

Series 11

13th Doctor = 10 episodes
Graham O'Brien = 10 episodes
Ryan Sinclair = 10 episodes
Yasmin Khan = 10 episodes
Tzim' Sha = 2 episodes
Hakim Khan = 2 episodes
Sonya Khan = 2 episodes
Naija Khan = 1 episode
Ramush Sundar = 1 episode
Gabriel = 1 episode

Series 12

13th Doctor = 11 episodes
Graham O'Brien = 11 episodes
Ryan Sinclair = 11 episodes
Yasmin Khan = 11 episodes
The Master (Dhawan) = 4 episodes
Ashad = 3 episodes
Sonya Khan = 3 episodes
Hakim Khan = 2 episodes

Naija Khan = 2 episodes
Tibo = 2 episodes
Pol-Kon-Don = 2 episodes
Jack Harkness = 1 episode
Ramush Sundar = 1 episode
Gabriel = 1 episode