The Last Stand?
On the street, the air of the situation was deteriorating quickly. The territorial army units holding back the tide of the popular movement, headed by Baldwin, MacDonald, Chamberlain, Eden and Simon were failing at their objective, and only the orders of Sir Bernard Clipton, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland could salvage the situation. Gort, hard pressed and anxious to see what was done right for Britain, was torn between the loyalty of the government, and the tide of popular support, thrust forward by the former government. He replied to Sir Bernard, his voice spiriting away through the telephone wires to the now empty cabinet room. ”I regret to inform you Prime Minister, that I cannot carry out that order. I will not order the murder of my fellow countrymen. I am sorry Prime Minister, but I cannot command my lads to open fire on our own people.” Sir Bernard gently placed the telephone down on, and began awaiting the inevitable. The cabinet room, now empty and stinking of stale smoke, everything that had been accomplished was now in doubt. The future of Britain hung in the balance now, however Sir Bernard could not ignore the fact that he had lost the last roll of the dice. His glorious, if short lived innings about to be closed. The last standing member of the establishment, about to be clean bowled.
In a changing of the guard, the old national government walked into the Cabinet room, to see a lost, if still proud man, simply sitting quietly facing the window. Sir Bernard ignored them, running through the events of the past year, the good, the bad and the unfair. His mind began to boggle, yet he maintained a stiff upper lip throughout. The trying days in Mesopotamia, the campaigns in Iberia, the formation of the LAN, the Churchill Cabal and the war still raging against Italy. The almost fatal attack by the BUF, the failed rebellion by the Black shirts on the very streets of London, the same streets the scene of mass protest almost a year on.
Inside the cabinet room, stood the new and old governments. Nothing was said, the end inevitable. Eden walked over to Sir Bernard, and merely asked him to accompany them to the palace to seek his resignation from the King. Bernard humbly agreed. As the party left the cabinet office into the street, the crowds cheered widely. Although during its time, the establishment had garnered much support and popularity, the population had showed that it was unwilling to commit to a long foreign war, in which British interests were not clear. Although the proposition of trying the establishment for treason, a capital crime punishable by death was turned down, for it would merely split the nation once the fury of change had subsided, and after all, Britain was still engaged in war with the Spanish rebels the entire nation of Italy, so it was decided that the members of the establishment would be posted away to far off posts, so they could quietly fade away, to be pieced together by historians, academics and biographers.
The establishment had risen and now fallen. Its members dispersed, fading into obscurity and Britain was being led into a new age. However, the slate would not be wiped clean, it was impossible. The lasting effects of the changes to both the military and political structures of Britain could not be undone in a matter of seconds. New research into the military would give Britain a led against possible foe, particularly in the fields of rocketry and the emerging fields of splitting the atom, as well more conventional weapons such as aeroplanes and tanks. However the future of Britain would not be easy, for she faced many problems at both home and abroad. Problems resulting from the Home and Foreign policy of the establishment would become an endemic problem, with the relationship with France damaged very badly, and it would be years before any reconciliation could be maintained before either side began to have reservations about any possible agreement. Sir Bernard was quietly dispatched as governor of Hong Kong, a position in which he languished in until his death in 1962. During his governance from Hong Kong, he saw many governments pass and come, and almost to the day, the established took power in 1935, so Sir Bernard Clipton, the man who had seen the establish rise and fall, died in his sleep, amidst his family, the surviving members of the establishment who had been with him. It was the end of the establishment, and although it was always rumoured, his last words were ”Don't trust the frogs, I did do the right thing didn't I?”
After the fall of the establishment, the situation was much stabilised, with the national government returning to govern the nation and Empire. Britain had seen many turbulent times in the past, but between December 1935 and July 1937, Britain had been thrown around, but she had still survived the trauma. In the grand scheme of human existence, those years would barely mark a blip on the horizon, and in the history of the world, it would sometimes barely count as a footnote to the more important events of the world. Although the effects would last for some years, the establishment had risen and retreated, as they always do, but in the mind of Sir Bernard Clipton, he had done was was right for Britain, and Britain should always be in the right, for Britain and her Empire would always have there place in the sun, even if the people who fought and maintained it, did not.
Well everyone, thats was the final update to the Rise of the Establishment. I will now follow it up with a Character Review (both British and non British), followed by a few postambles concerning the history of the world, on a country by country basis, in explaining some of the decisions and acts that carried on throughout the world. I thank every single one of for the support that has been displayed by you all during the course of this AAR. In the bookshop (see link in my sig) I will be compiling an edited edition of the establishment, which will be available in both posted form, and in PDF. Once again I thank you, and I hope you enjoyed it as much I have.
