Prime Minister Boris and Other Things that Never Happened

Political Counterfactuals

by Duncan Brack (Editor), Iain Dale (Editor)

History resting on a hair's breadth … a man dies rather than lives, an election is lost rather than won, one minister is appointed, another dismissed, a coalition is joined, or not. Enter a world of political counterfactuals, twenty-two examinations of things that never happened - but could have. In this book a collection of distinguished commentators, including journalists, academics, former MPs and special advisers, consider how things might have turned out differently throughout a century of political history - from Lloyd George and Keynes drowning at sea in 1916 right through to Boris Johnson becoming Prime Minister in 2016. Scholarly analyses of possibilities and causalities take their place beside fictional accounts of alternate political histories - and all are guaranteed to entertain and make you think.

Genres: Politics

366 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2011

About the author

Duncan Brack was the British Liberal Democrat Party's first Policy Director and between 2010-12 was a special advisor in the Department of Energy and Climate Change. He is currently an independent environmental policy researcher and an Associate Fellow of Chatham House. He is editor of the Journal of Liberal History.

Reviews

[Giles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love counterfactual books so much they really should represent a new category on my shelf. This is the third in Iain Dale's series focussing mostly, though not exclusively, on British Politics. As ever some entries are a little too esoteric and one or two a little too dry however they are all deserving of a read even if you think you could not care less about Stanley Baldwin. The stand outs for me are the Hillary Clinton winning the 2008 Dem nomination over Obama chapter, Red Ken terrifyingly winning this year's London Mayoralty and the sublime 'What if Maggie Had Settled the Miners' Strike in 1984' - the last being about the most fun I have had reading a short story for as long as I can remember.

[Ipswichblade · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 star read a book of what ifs in the political world through a series of essays. As usual some better than others but no bad ones

[Mark Healey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fabulous book of alternate political history (and one future) which really gives you reason to think.

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got very bored by the end.

[Josh Morton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not particularly a major fan of alternate history novels but this one does it well enough. The short story aspect of each scenario being about 10 pages eliminates any filler seen in many larger alternate history novels and allows the author to focus solely on the scenario and not any plot. The scenarios are very good being interesting enough while also staying unique with a particular focus on 20th century British politics. The story’s could’ve likely been assisted by 5 or so extra pages but this is overall a solid alt-hist anthology.

[Laurence · Rating 4 out of 5]

This style of writing is always enjoyable, and it was good to read a few years after publication with the knowledge we have know of what developed.
The overall conclusion of many of these seems to be that not much would have changed if one key thing had been different, particularly around the coalition government.

[Simon J Alvey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Counterfactual history is nonsense but it can be entertaining nonsense. This was often written tediously, showing too much partisanship and desire to justify the exercise. Only a few of the essays were believeable or analytically interesting.

[Beorn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book up out of casual intrigue at the premise the book sold me of how would the world be different if certain events had or hadn't happened.

It transpired though that this book is far more interested in the intricacies and nuances of what would happen on a political level to MPs much more than it would change life for ordinary people.
It has to be said as well that unless you're very much interested in or knowledgeable about the history of British politics, there's a lot of this that will go over your head.
For example, rather than dissecting the effect on the population if Britain hadn't entered the EEC when it did, it contents itself imagining the political machinations and weaving behind the doors of Whitehall & Westminster.

In other words, unless you're someone that works in politics, is studying it in education or has some other deep involvement in twentieth-century British politics, there isn't much here to interest you and what there is, is often written in such a staid, nonchalant manner that you have to work for it to even hold your interest.

Politicos will love this book, everyone else - casual readers, activists, and history lovers - will just be plain bored.