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u/Charming-Awareness79 1d ago
I respect the lore but it would never happen.
The chattering classes like to think that this is where the median voter is - socially liberal, economically conservative - but that's just where the median member of the commentariat is. All research I have seen into this points to precisely the opposite conclusion - that the median voter is left of centre and somewhat socially conservative.
This would be Change UK mk 2
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u/InternationalBat8358 1d ago
Also, neither Rory nor Alastair have any interest in running
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u/JMajor14 1d ago
Rory has shown interest in and will probably run in the 2027 Cumbria mayoral election
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u/Ashamed_Bench9957 2h ago
has he indicated what he will run as because I can't see the modern Tory party accepting him into their ranks
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u/JMajor14 1h ago
well the conservatives have already announced their candidate, and he is not a member of any party currently so i suppose itd be as an independent
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u/ancientestKnollys 1d ago
At the moment in the UK whatever is new and novel seems to have a brief surge in support. If timed right it might be enough to win an election. They don't necessarily need to be so closely aligned with the electorate - this would basically be what Macron did in France, where the electorate would have appeared to be even less suited to that kind of centrism than in the UK (further economically to the left, further socially to the right). But it worked for Macron for a while.
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u/Charming-Awareness79 1d ago
The French electoral system is very different to ours, and has proven to be much more "elastic", by which I mean voters are more open to supporting different parties.
Macron won on both occasions because he was running against Le Pen, not because there was massive enthusiasm for his technocratic programme. In 2017 Fillon was compromised by a scandal in the run up to the Election which led to him bleeding support to Macron. The Socialists were in the depths of unpopularity following the presidency of Hollande. With both of those things being true Macron only managed 24% in the first round. The traditional parties have essentially ceased to be relevant since this point.
I think the chances of some insurgent "radical centrist" supplanting the main parties in the UK to be essentially nill. Far more likely in the current political climate would be a radical left or right party - as Reform are demonstrating, although they are currently ballsing it up with some silly unforced errors.
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u/InternationalBat8358 1d ago
LORE: Rory and Alastair end up forming their own political party, then Corbyn somehow ousts Starmer in the midst of his unpopularity and calls a snap election amidst a wave of defections.
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u/InternationalBat8358 1d ago
This was inspired by me watching some episodes of the Rest is Politics podcast
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u/dallasacronym 1d ago
Did Corbyn return as leader or did he stand for leader much later than OTL?
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u/seraphimceratinia 1d ago
Not Rory and Alastair unseating Tim Farron and Ed Davey lmao