“It terrifies me, the fragility of these moments in our lives.”
Monday 4 June 2018
Prophecy I wonder? Now is your time to go to Hell
“For weeks all opinion polls and all responsible commentators had been
predicting that there was no hope of the Labour Party being elected on a
programme like this. Ever since Harry Perkins had been chosen to lead
Labour at a tumultuous party conference two years earlier, the popular
press had been saying that this proved what they had always argued –
namely that the Labour Party was in the grip of a Marxist conspiracy.
Privately the rulers of the great corporations had been gleeful, for
they had convinced themselves that the British people were basically
moderate and that, however rough the going got, they would never elect a
Labour government headed by the likes of Harry Perkins.”
A Very British Coup is a 1982 novel by British politician Chris Mullin. The novel has twice been adapted for television. The first version, also titled A Very British Coup in 1988 and 2012, the Secret State, was "inspired" by the same novel.[1][2]
Plot
Harry Perkins, is the left-wing Leader of the Labour Party and Member of Parliament for Sheffield Central. Beating all the odds, Harry becomes Prime Minister and he sets out to dismantle media monopolies, withdrawal from NATO, unilateral nuclear disarmament,
and create an open government. Many people in the media, in financial
services, and in the intelligence services, are deeply unhappy with
Harry's win and his policies, and they unite to stop him by any means.
The book was written in 1981, at a time when Tony Benn looked likely to become deputy leader of the Labour Party which at the time was strongly challenging the government of Margaret Thatcher in the opinion polls. It also has strong echoes of the persistent rumours that have circulated over the years
about attempts by members of the British security services, and other
wings of the British Establishment, to undermine and depose Harold Wilson's Labour government of the mid-1970s.[3] This first became widespread public knowledge around 1986 with the controversy over Spycatcher, after the publication of the novel but before the broadcast of the TV version. The story also has echoes of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis in which there was alleged CIA involvement to remove a government proposing to close US military bases on Australian soil.
Editions
The novel was published by Serpent's Tail, and was re-released in 2010, with a new sub-title "A Very British Coup: The Novel that Foretold the Rise of Corbyn".
The 2012 four-part Channel 4 series, Secret State, was "inspired" by the same novel.[5] Starring Gabriel Byrne, this version was written by Robert Jones.[6]
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