History Literature / AVeryBritishCoup

''A Very British Coup'' was adapted for television twice: first in 1988 starring [=Ray McAnally=] (winning four Baftas and an Emmy) and later being the "inspiration" for the 2012 drama series ''Secret State''. Chris Mullin also published a sequel, ''The Friends of Harry Perkins'', in 2019.

* EvilLuddite: A scene in chapter one following the main antagonist, Sir Peregrine Craddock, notes that he's so old-school he has never tried to use a computer that can procure classified information on anybody the government is monitoring.

* LandslideElection: One is predicted as the events of the story begin, and it comes to pass ... except Perkins' Labour wins it with a majority of around 100 seats, whereas the inverse was expected to happen.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The Conservative leader looks, acts, and sounds almost exactly like Norman Tebbit, a prominent "Dry" (i.e. hardline anti-nationalisation) Conservative, widely considered to be a possible successor to UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher until he retired from politics in 1987 (to take care of his wife, who was injured in the Brighton hotel bombing).

''A Very British Coup'' was adapted for television twice: first in 1986 starring [=Ray McAnally=] (winning four Baftas and an Emmy) and later being the "inspiration" for the 2012 drama series ''Secret State''. Chris Mullin also published a sequel, ''The Friends of Harry Perkins'', in 2019.

* NotSoDifferent: UsefulNotes/{{NATO}} and the UsefulNotes/WarsawPact, for Perkins, who sees membership in either as equally (in)voluntary.

A 1982 novel by the journalist turned [[UsefulNotes/BritishPolitics Labour politician]] Chris Mullin (who was a key figure in getting the convictions of the "Birmingham Six", six men falsely accused of being [[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles IRA bombers]], overturned), who later spent 23 years as an MP from 1987 to 2010.

A 1982 novel by the journalist turned Labour politician Chris Mullin (who was a key figure in getting the convictions of the "Birmingham Six", six men falsely accused of being IRA bombers, overturned), who later spent 23 years as an MP from 1987 to 2010.

!!This novel contains examples of:

* YourCheatingHeart: The Foreign Secretary's affair with a young journalist (who lives with [[DirtyCommunists a Trotskyist]]) embarrasses the new government and his wife, who is DrivenToSuicide. [[spoiler:The threat that Harry's own pre-premiership relationship with Molly Spence, the fiancée of a businessman to whose company he awarded a government contract while a minister (she later married the businessman), will be revealed to the public is TheLastStraw for him personally. There was no quid pro quo, but conspirators Craddock and Norton from [=DI5=] -- British internal intelligence -- make it clear that they'll let people think there was.]]

''A Very British Coup'' is a thriller about the ascent of Harry Perkins, a former Sheffield steelworker and leader of the Labour Party, to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Perkins is a quite unassuming man with very left-wing views, winning on a platform that includes unilateral nuclear disarmament, renationalisation of industries, and dissolving newspaper monopolies.

* TheMole: There's an anti-Perkins conspirator in the new ministry: the Chancellor of the Exchequer [[spoiler:who takes over as Prime Minister when Perkins is driven to resign]].

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The Conservative leader looks, acts, and sounds almost exactly like Norman Tebbit, a prominent "Dry" (i.e. hardline anti-nationalisation) Conservative, widely considered to be a possible successor to UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher until his retirement from politics in 1987 (to take care of his wife, who was injured in the Brighton hotel bombing).

* TitleDrop: At the end of the novel, when [[spoiler:Perkins' loss of power is discussed, it is remarked that while some people may have been injured in police-instigated rioting, nobody was killed. In Craddock's words, "It was a very British coup"]].

* YourCheatingHeart: The Foreign Secretary's affair with a young journalist (who lives with [[DirtyCommunists a Trotskyist]]) embarrasses the new government and his wife, who is DrivenToSuicide. [[spoiler:The threat that Harry's own pre-premiership relationship with Molly Spence, the fiancée of a businessman to whose company he awarded a government contract while a junior minister (whom she later married), will be revealed to the public is TheLastStraw for him personally. There was no quid pro quo, but conspirators Craddock and Norton from [=DI5=] -- British internal intelligence -- make it clear that they'll let people think there was.]]

* DefectorFromDecadence: Elizabeth Fain is [[BlueBlood the daughter of an earl]] who becomes more sympathetic to Perkins thanks to her relationship with Fred Thompson. [[spoiler:In the epilogue, they're married, and by the sequel they have two young daughters.]]

* FalseFlagOperation: A group of undercover police officers pretend to be [[BombThrowingAnarchists anarchists]] at an anti–nuclear weapons demonstration and smash up some shops, allowing the riot police to go in.

* IntrepidReporter: Fred Thompson, erstwhile of the ''Independent Socialist'', a once-respected paper that's fallen in prestige, leads a hand-to-mouth existence save occasional assignments from Perkins, before and after he becomes PM.

* NextSundayAD: Set in the then future of 1989 and 1990.
** The series is set in 1991 and 1992.

* YourCheatingHeart: The Foreign Secretary's affair with a young journalist (who lives with [[DirtyCommunists a Trotskyist]]) embarrasses the new government and his wife, who is DrivenToSuicide. [[spoiler:The threat that Harry's own pre-premiership relationship with Molly Spence, the fiancée of a businessman to whose company he awarded a government contract while a junior minister, will be revealed to the public is TheLastStraw for him personally. There was no quid pro quo, but conspirators Craddock and Norton from [=DI5=] -- British internal intelligence -- make it clear that they'll let people think there was.]]

* WorkingClassHero: In the sketches of his backstory, Harry Perkins is shown as this, having gone to work at fifteen after his father was killed in an accident and initially [[ReluctantRuler not even wanting to go to Parliament in the first place]].
** Reg Smith is a decided inversion, leading a WorkToRule against the Labour government because he's ''well'' to the right of Perkins politically.

''A Very British Coup'' is a thriller about the ascent of Harry Perkins, a former Sheffield steelworker and leader of the Labour Party, to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Perkins is a quite unassuming man with very left-wing views, winning on a platform that includes unilateral nuclear disarmament, renationalisation, and dissolving newspaper monopolies.

''A Very British Coup'' was adapted for television twice: the first time in 1986 starring [=Ray McAnally=] (winning four Baftas and an Emmy) and was the "inspiration" for the 2012 drama series ''Secret State''. Chris Mullin also published a sequel, ''The Friends of Harry Perkins'', in 2019.

* FalseFlagOperation: A group of undercover police officers pretend to be [[BombThrowingAnarchists anarchists]] at a demonstration and smash up some shops, allowing the riot police to go in.

* IntrepidReporter: Fred Thompson, erstwhile of a struggling paper called ''The Independent Socialist'', leads a hand-to-mouth existence save occasional assignments from Perkins, before and after he becomes PM.

* NextSundayAD: Set in the then future of 1989.

* TitleDrop: At the end of the novel, when [[spoiler:Perkins' loss of power is discussed, it is remarked that while some people may have been injured in police-instigated rioting, nobody was killed and so it was "a very British coup"]].

* YourCheatingHeart: The Foreign Secretary's affair with a young journalist embarrasses the new government and his wife, who is DrivenToSuicide. [[spoiler:The threat that Harry's own pre-premiership relationship with Molly Spence, the fiancée of a businessman to whom he awarded a government contract while a junior minister, will be revealed to the public is TheLastStraw for him personally. There was no quid pro quo, but the senior Ministry of Defence men who obliquely threaten him make it clear that they'll let people think there was.]]

''A Very British Coup'' is a thriller about the ascent of Harry Perkins, a former Sheffield steelworker and leader of the Labour Party, to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Perkins is a quite unassuming man with very left-wing views, winning on a platform that includes unilateral nuclear disarmament, renationalisation and dissolving newspaper monopolies.

Unfortunately, the British establishment are not very happy with this and start to work to remove him from power by covert means...

Adapted for television twice: the first time in 1986 starring [=Ray McAnally=] (winning four Baftas and an Emmy) and was the "inspiration" for the 2012 drama series ''Secret State''.

* DirtyCommunists: The powers that be treat the Perkins ministry as such and are quick to dig up dirt on its members to tar them and their past associates as "Reds".

* TheManBehindTheMan: Perkins has realised since his early days as a Member of Parliament that he and his fellows aren't the true decision-makers in Britain.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The Conservative leader looks, acts, and sounds almost exactly like Norman Tebbit, a prominent Dry and widely considered to be a possible successor to UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher until his retirement from politics in 1987 (to take care of his wife, who was injured in the Brighton hotel bombing).

* YourCheatingHeart: The Foreign Secretary's affair with a young journalist embarrasses the new government and his wife, who is DrivenToSuicide. [[spoiler:The threat that Harry's own pre-premiership affair with Molly Spence, the fiancée of a businessman bidding for a government contract, will be revealed is TheLastStraw for him personally.]]

''A Very British Coup'' is a thriller about the election of Harry Perkins, a former Sheffield steelworker and leader of the Labour Party. Perkins is a quite unassuming man with very left-wing views, winning on a platform of unilateral nuclear disarmament, renationalisation and dissolving newspaper monopolies.

Adapted for television twice: the first time in 1986 starring [=Ray McAnally=] (winning 4 Baftas and an Emmy) and was the "inspiration" for the 2012 drama series ''Secret State''.

* FalseFlagOperation: A group of undercover police officers pretend to be anarchists at a demonstration and smash up some shops, allowing the riot police to go in.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The Conservative leader looks, acts, and sounds almost exactly like Norman Tebbit, a prominent Dry and widely considered to be a possible successor to Thatcher until his retirement from politics in 1987(to take care of his wife, who was injured in the Brighton Hotel Bombing).
* TitleDrop: At the end of the novel, when [[spoiler: Perkins' loss of power is discussed; it is remarked that while some people may have been injured in police instigated rioting, no-one was killed and so it was "a very British coup"]].

** The series is set in 1991 and 1992.

* BritishNewspapers: Extensively mentioned and play a vital role in the plot.

* KnightFever: This is something that Perkins pledges to abolish and which upsets a power union leader who would rather like a peerage.
** [[spoiler: At the end of the novel, he gets it as a reward for helping bring down Perkins via a work-to-rule that causes major power problems]].

* HilariousInHindsight: A number of aspects of the novel would prove ''not'' to be prescient:
** When it was being written, the hard left Tony Benn looked likely to be the next deputy leader of the Labour Party. Benn narrowly lost and in 1983 actually lost his own seat.
** Labour would in fact lose the 1983 election ''very'' heavily and not return to power until 1997, under the very un-Perkins-esque UsefulNotes/TonyBlair.
** If Jeremy Corbyn wins the Labour leadership election, the party will have gone one step further than Perkins - who has Cabinet experience. Corbyn has never held a ministerial brief.
** After his victory, Perkins arrives in London from Sheffield on an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Passenger_Train Advanced Passenger Train]]. The APT would never enter full passenger service and the St. Pancras to Sheffield line is ''still'' not electrified.

** The series is set in 1991 and 1992.

** After his victory, Perkins arrives in London from Sheffield on an Advanced Passenger Train. The APT would never enter full passenger service and the St. Pancras to Sheffield line is ''still'' not electrified.