Alexis Tsipras greets supporters in Berlin before a meeting with Angela Merkel. Demotix/Florian Boillot. All rights reserved.The novel A Very British Coup was written by the Labour MP Chris Mullin in 1982. Inspired by Tony Benn’s candidacy to become Deputy Leader, it tells the story of Harry Perkins, a working class, left-wing leader of the party, winning the 1991 elections. The Labour manifesto promises to break up media monopolies, withdraw from NATO and the EU, remove American military bases, abolish the House of Lords and public schools and introduce true open government.
To avoid the conditions of the IMF, the government agrees a loan with the Soviet Union. The fearful establishment organizes an elaborate conspiracy. Media magnates, top civil servants, the financial world, the MI5 and the CIA conspire to stop the government. The stock market and the pound fall dramatically, firms close factories and relocate overseas, a bank run is orchestrated. Extramarital affairs and youthful misdemeanors are plastered all over the papers. Eventually after an accident in a nuclear plant, probably engineered by the conspirators, the government resigns.
In 1997, Turkey experienced a real postmodern coup. The Turkish Security Council published a memorandum on the Army website asking the government to change its policies. Within a couple of days the Erbakan government resigned and his party was dissolved. The resentment against the Army and the deep state eventually led to the repeated victories of Erdogan, Erbakan’s political heir. Sometimes conspiracies work against the conspirators.
