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I’m writing this article to inform people how the UK political scene got to how it is today, the mishaps and eccentric parties that littered the political playing fields at various times throughout the time I have been in the game. Whilst they never made it big, these parties had an impact in their own ways on that way that the country was run, and many provided hilarious distractions from the mundane routines of business as usual. I hope you enjoy! I’ve tried to be as unbias as I can be, so everyone should find this interesting!

The Right

British Empire Party

I thought I’d start with one of the most obvious ones. The BEP first came to provenance some time last year and immediately became known as a party full of noobs with little or no idea how the game was organised. Initially run by Daniel Thorrold and Dodgy Dude, this party refused to join the proper UK external forums however set up their own independent ones (which were soon spammed by BBH) in a bid to challenge ‘the ruling elite’ however they quickly saw sense and moved over en masse.

Their complete lack of policies was one that was laughed at and scorned, with months without any real direction in the party except ‘invade Africa etc’ they finally released a list that was mediocre at very best, and were still the butt of many jokes within the UK community. Weak leadership and the defections of the big players soon lead the party into decline with JvB politically taking over the party under the now infamous ‘MAOR LIONZ’ slogan. This lead the party into a period of rapid decline, however it still did not drop out of the top 5, mainly because of the weakness of the sixth place party (more on that later) . The party was then taken over by Craig Rossiter who imposed his Emma Watson fascination on the party, before it was eventually handed over to the FDP for their short sighted PTO.

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Free Democratic Party

The FDP was founded in September 09 by Arthur Wellesley, a well known figure in the UK community as a breakaway group from the UKRP (biggest right wing party) this fledgling party was soon joined by a host of high profile community members and initially based its campaigns on being pro-Lords at a time when fierce debate was raging about the future of that particular house. Roadrunnerspeed, a community member who once took the country to ransom through stealing the treasury, and then pocketing the 300g he didn’t return was one of the forerunners in Wellesley’s new party. His technical API skills helped establish the party and provide it with a comprehensive set of tools to be used to gather information. His mass of orgs and the money that the pair had between them was used to finance a long and expensive campaign to swing public opinion in favour of the Lords.

The jump of many from all corners of the political spectrum, including Scipio from the PCP and Hassan from TUP attracted a flock of new members, eager to get in with the crowd. However, whilst the party produced fresh new talent such as Tom Morgan (MoD) and Aelar (MoFa), the steady drip of new people dried up as the party stagnated into sixth place. The party that once had the potential to take on the major parties slowly grinded to a halt only propped up by a few key players that kept it running for months but gave the impression of it vaguely functioning.

The last clutches at straws came about a week ago, when they announced they were taking over the BEP. This was met by outrage by the general public of the UK and was generally really bad publicity for a party struggling for members. However, the most crushing and amusing blow to the party was that Arthur personally came out an denounced the plan, effectively stopping any attempt to put the party back together dead in its tracks. After about 6 months, the FDP finally dissolved and the members predominantly moved back to the United Kingdom Reform Party.

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British Patriots

This was a party that was formed last summer by racist and far right troublemaker Billy Bright. This was a man who had recently rejoined the game and provoked strong feelings from certain members of the community, who drew upon racist comments he had brought about against several community members (including Hassan) when he had played the game previously. He felt that we had betrayed our ‘allies’ the United States in joining PEACE and came out and publically denounced the government and all of the major parties.

His aggressive and bullying tactics earnt him a terrible reputation as both a troll and as an American puppet, determined to undermine the will of the British people and to ‘overthrow the corrupt state’ However, after a month or so public interest in his insane plans drew to a close and his attempts simply weren’t funny anymore, leaving him shunned by the majority of the community with no real power, so he simply left the game. The party then swiftly collapsed and was taken over and now appears in a different incarnation (it potentially was the FDP, I can’t quite remember)

Central

Movement for Democratic Unity

Now this was a party I had the pleasure of being greatly involved in when I was in my erep youth, and it was a party that stood up and challenged the mainstream UK political systems and its ideals. We had members from all sides of the political spectrum working together, primarily to get rid of the House of Lords because it was deemed to be undemocratic and unnecessary. The party soared into the top 5, initially backed by big UK players such as Big Boy Bulley, the founding member of the paratroopers.

However, the rescue trip to the Philippines in March 09, led by BBB could be seen as the start of the collapse of the party. A big group of us, including prominent MDU members went over to the Philippines to try and help they rebuild their country after it had been ravaged by PTOs. It was a great success however it left the party strapped of talent and without the drive it began to fall apart.

A turn to the right was proposed and the ‘Forward Britain!’ experiment was one that failed and saw the MDU fall out of the top 5, fading into obscurity until several months later when thehorseltd tried to restore the party but unfortunately failed to gain the support of the electorate and could not break into the top 5 again, much like the problems that faced the FDP.

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The Left


Liberal Social Democrats

This was a party (like the left wing version of FDP really) that was founded by a few big names and gained massive support within the first few months of its existence. LSD (get it now? 😛) as it was known was mainly driven by Hassan Pesaran and HazzN, the latter who was disillusioned by the new direction The Unity Party was taking under Iain Keers (I remember having a very bitchy conversation with HazzN about Iain one night via PM, which was amusing) The main focus on this party was the policy of ‘Fortress Britain’ which if I remember correctly was the policy of creating a nation that was an impenetrable fortress of Q5 hospitals that would allow our citizens to do maximum damage in a war. We now know that that policy is flawed and fortress regions are the way forward, but back then it was a major selling point.

However, like the FDP (although this came way before) it soon lost focus as HazzN (the parties frontrunner) went to the Philippines and left the party leaderless and it soon faded into obscurity, failing to ever breakthrough to a top 5 spot before a small but determined group allied themselves with the renewed MDU under thehorseltd (see above) in an attempt to boost members and to secure that vital spot in the top 5. However as you already know, this mainly failed and most of the members defected back to TUP, a party which many of them had started. Of course, by this point TUP was in a much stronger position and was well on it’s way to securing congress and presidential domination of the UK, so it looked like Keers had the right idea after all.

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Pressure Groups

Free Britain was a group that ran through an org, although it was no secret that it was run by Jacen Malore (TUP congressman for NI) and provided in depth political commentary challenging the membership of the UK into PEACE. However, it did so through intelligent journalist and not the brash form of tabloid rubbish forced upon the public by the British Patriots. The group was marred with controversy as Wingfield and Detriot34, two of the writers were formed American citizens and were suspected by the British administration of being spies within congress. However, the group persisted and succeeded in its goal of fostering conversation on the UK’s foreign policy. However, it soon ran into inactivity with articles becoming less and less frequent, and fewer votes to match. Like many of the political parties featured, the group simply faded into obscurity.

The European Liberation Front on the other hand, was much more successful at keeping their identity hidden. The org, which launched attacks at the British administration for the switch in allegiances to PEACE, was the source of much debate and speculation. We gossiped and debated for ages who the potential writer was, until he revealed himself as a European that had taken particular interest in UK affairs. However, he was a competent journalist that worked hard to put his point across, however his articles slowly losing interest as the same lines were recycled over and over. Both the ELF and Free Britain were evidence of people standing up for what they believed in, however public opinion was against them and ultimately, there is nothing you can do in the face of overwhelming public opposition.

Conclusion

I hope you have enjoyed my review of the parties that stood apart from the mainstream in the UK, but ultimately failed. They provided a rich diversity to a nation that at one point was simply stagnant in terms of politics. These parties created some of the best well known and able personalities within the UK, both now and in the past. It is a testament to the UK political community that these parties thrived under tough conditions, however the drive and ambition required to push the parties forward ultimately did not materialise.

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Thanks,
IndieKid