30 years of A Very British Coup
Written during the gloomy days of the early Thatcher era, Chris Mullin’s A Very British Coup has since inspired two Channel 4 dramas series: a 1988 series adapted by Alan Plater and the current Gabriel Byrne starrer The Secret State.
The last so far has shown only a slight resemblance to Chris Mullin’s novel. But thirty years after it was first published, A Very British Coup remains one of the finest political novels ever written.
The story is set in what was then the future: 1989. The General Election has ended with an amazing shock result: Labour led by former Sheffield steelworker Harry Perkins has swept to power in an unexpected popular landslide. The result is a clear mandate for a truly radical agenda which proposes “consideration to be given” to withdrawal from NATO, an end to the nuclear deterrent and to UK membership of the then Common Market, abolition of the House of Lords, public schools and much more....
http://chrishallamworldview.wordpress.com/2012/11/20/thirty-years-of-a-very-british-coup/