A Very British Coup: The novel that foretold the rise of Corbyn

A left wing candidate is elected after a hard fought campaign by his right wing rivals, leaving the latter in a state of a shock. That is the beginning of A Very British Coup, Chris Mullin's 1982 novel that later inspired the first rate miniseries of the same name produced six years later. The novel is a cautionary tale of left wing British Prime Minister Harry Perkins whose radical policies lead to members of the right wing establishment trying to bring him down. The result makes for intriguing reading almost thirty years later.

The novel has a strong sense of reality to it. Following Perkins election in the first chapter, Mullin creates Perkins back-story and that of the events leading to the election itself, creating not only a plausible character in the form of Perkins but an intriguing alternate of 1980s UK as well. From the opening chapters, a battle of wills begins between Perkins Labour government and those both in the Establishment , the UK right wing and the US government. What follows includes attempts to undermine the UK economy, a strike that threatens to leave the UK without power and a political battle to US military bases and nuclear weapons out of the UK. In a mere 200 odd pages, Mullin's novel presents a intriguing and plausible tale of a nation under siege from within.

Not that A Very British Coup is a perfect novel. Mullin's plot is excellent and moves on with great speed all right. The trade off is the characterizations that, with the exception of Perkins, seems to be cardboard if not one dimensional most of the time. The American characters in particular are just that, especially the President who is clearly a version of Ronald Reagan which doesn't quite work. Other characters are given long introductions and they appear for only a matter of a few pages before disappearing, never to be seen or heard from again. Much of the novel's dialogue is rather wooden especially with more cardboard and one-dimensional characters. The ending also is a problem as the novel ends not with a bang but a whimper and does so rather suddenly with little warning. Both of these areas are places where the miniseries version is an improvement and both hurt the novel's realism considerably.

The result of all this makes A Very British Coup an intriguing read. It is well paced and feels quite realistic in its deception of a now alternate 1980s UK though it is hampered significantly by both weak characterizations and a rushed ending. It is still an intriguing read though because it still carries weight today. For at its heart A Very British Coup carries an important and time less message: the greatest enemy of a democracy is not from without but from within. It's a message we shouldn't ignore.