The Shieldwall and its future October 5024
FORT WILLIAM, ORANGE — The past two years have seen nothing short of a revolution in Luthorian politics: first, running against a set of parties all in favour of a republic following the one-election ban of the White Rose, the ‘Three weeks to save the Empire’ movement found itself only four seats short of a majority less than a month after being established. The Liberals, in return for a few economic concessions, opened the doors of government to the party. Then, just a short while later, vacancies saw it assume an outright majority in the Diet. While it maintained an all-monarchist, ostensibly big-tent façade until reforming into the Luthorian Shieldwall of the National Restoration last month, its full political allegiances were plainly obvious and no obstacle to the party’s historic success.
With the White Rose’s ban having expired (and an inquiry into the circumstances in which it was imposed underway in the Diet), it is inevitable that the Shieldwall will fall back from its high-water mark come the fall of 5027 – when the prime minister has made it abundantly clear that the next election will be held, and no sooner, keen to make the most of the unrivalled opportunity he has been given. Beyond then, though, the new party has managed to build a winning coalition that could see it take on the same ‘natural party of government’ role as the Socialists and Alliance before it and remain firmly in the driving seat of a Luthori not just maintained but renewed in its vision.
Working-class Fort William, having assumed virtual self-governance in the aftermath of the general strike but still the hotbed of loyalism so exemplified by Attridge ninety years ago, backed Mr Langley in a landslide two years ago despite his ambiguous economics beyond a vague commitment to ‘Luthorian interests’. The Shieldwall’s embrace of a corporatist, semi-syndicalist economic programme will now prove an enticing offer to these voters, giving them a reason to continue supporting the party now that the imminent threat of republicanism has passed.
In the countryside, where the squires exercise vast networks of patronage and have many hundreds of votes in their pockets, the Shieldwall will be able to build up their margins for as long as they can convince those power brokers to back them over the only alternative on the right, the White Rose. Given that party’s long association with the ‘grand aristocracy’, which has seen it for many centuries function as little more than a political vehicle for the Weston and Stinson families, absent a major change in the political landscape of the right the Shieldwall can be confident of their position.
Most importantly, the new Luthori of the Shieldwall is one where the party can market itself as, having built it, being best able to manage it. As the only party fully committed to the new status quo, the Shieldwall is in the perfect position to win those many voters who seek not change but stability and good government: a powerful section of the electorate, as the last election proved.