Chapter 751: Hung Parliament
Just as Britain was about to face a general election, an extremely sensational event occurred in the Gulf of Mexico near the United States.
This is the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
On the evening of April 20, local time, the "Deepwater Horizon" platform hired by British Petroleum Company for drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico exploded due to a methane leak and caused a fire. The entire drilling platform quickly Just caught in the flames...
Although most workers were evacuated by lifeboats or rescued by helicopters, at the end of the day, 11 workers were still missing and presumed dead in the explosion.
After that, multiple ships worked hard to extinguish the fire, but failed. Finally, the "Deepwater Horizon" platform sank on the morning of April 22 after burning for about 36 hours.
If we get here, although it caused many casualties, it can only be regarded as a safety accident. What is even more serious is that on the day the "Deepwater Horizon" platform sank, it was discovered that the platform was The Macondo oil well where the drilling operation was being conducted began to leak crude oil...
According to the investigation report later released by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, it was believed that the problem with the cement used to strengthen the oil well was the result of a crude oil leak. The main reason is that before the oil spill, the Macondo oil well had problems such as budget overruns and abnormal monitoring equipment. When implementing the oil well cement project, British Petroleum Company and Halliburton Company reduced the amount of cement injected into the oil well to Save money and cause problems with oil well safety.
Barron knew that this incident would cause very serious losses to both the local environment and British Petroleum Company.
In his previous life, the British Petroleum Company did not count the huge expenditures during the oil spill. A few years later, it was required to spend a total of nearly 19 billion US dollars over 18 years to deal with the oil spill. compensation for the losses caused in this incident.
It can be said that since this incident occurred, countless media have been reporting on the incident every day. Even at the beginning, they completely suppressed the news of the British election...
Because of this incident, the United Nations Energy groups and Colo Petroleum Company have also begun to inspect their own and hired drilling platforms, and require platforms that do not meet safety requirements to enter the shipyard for rectification and repair.
After all, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was too serious. It was later estimated that the total losses caused by the local American and British oil companies exceeded US$60 billion!
…
“Your Royal Highness, I met Mr. Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party yesterday…”
As Barron's public relations consultant, Annabella Nolan became his representative to mediate between various factions when the general election was about to begin and it was not convenient for Barron to meet with some people in person. .
She said:
"Mr. Clegg is very happy to deepen the relationship with us and hopes to have the opportunity to meet you in person."
"He is A smart man..."
Barron said with a smile:
"In this general election, it is very likely that the Liberal Democratic Party will become the party that is favored."
Indeed, as Barron said, after the British general election begins on May 6, the House of Commons will be dominated by the upper house. The 646 seats in a general election increased to 650 seats, which are now facing competition.
However, in the final result, the Conservative Party won 307 seats, the Labor Party won 255 seats, and the Liberal Democratic Party, the third largest party in Britain, won 59 seats.
This means that no single party has won more than half (325 seats) of the 650-seat House of Commons.
The bad news for the Conservative Party, which has the most seats in parliament, is that their seats do not reach more than half (at least 326 seats), so there will be a "hung parliament"...
The so-called hung parliament means that in the British general election, no party obtains more than half of the seats. Then there will be a situation of "unmajority parliament". According to relevant British laws and practices, it can only end up with the parliament. Another party forms a coalition government so that their share of the House exceeds 50%.
Prior to this, there have been a total of 4 "hung parliaments" in British history. This time will be the fifth time. The good news is that with the seats obtained by the Labor Party, even if it forms a coalition government with the third largest party, the Liberal Democratic Party, its total seats will not reach 326 votes. Therefore, the only option at present is to join the Conservative Party led by Cameron. The Liberal Democratic Party negotiated to form a coalition government, thus reaching the legal seats.
In this case, the Conservative Party naturally needs to make some concessions to the Liberal Democratic Party, but because only they can successfully form a coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party, they will not make too many concessions. interests...
The final result was that Cameron and Liberal Democratic Party leader Nick Clegg reached an agreement, and the two parties jointly formed a cabinet, with Cameron as prime minister and Nick Clegg as deputy prime minister. .
It is worth mentioning that in this general election, Joe Harriman also successfully entered the House of Commons and became a member of the House of Commons.
And after Cameron took office, in the list of cabinet members announced, Joe Harriman also successfully became the Minister of Women and Equality Affairs.
At this point, she has also become the youngest female cabinet minister in British history and has attracted much attention.
......
"Mr. Brown, I wonder what your plans are after this?"
On May 11, Brown officially resigned as prime minister, and Cameron took over. After that, Barron also met with him specifically.
“After?”
Brown’s expression didn’t seem to have changed much, but Barron could still see a trace of loss in his eyes:
"Maybe I will do some charity work, or restart my academic work."
"Don't you plan to continue to seek other positions?"
Brown shook his head and said:
“I don’t plan to work in those companies. In fact, I want to do something that can exert my own value...”
This is Barron’s point. I believe that Brown does not value money in terms of money. In Barron's previous life, Brown later did not make money by becoming a "consultant" for certain companies and giving speeches like Blair did before. He was very low-key. one person.
"I have an opinion here. I wonder if you are interested?"
When Barron met with him and brought up this topic, Brown had some guesses.
However, what he guessed at the time was that Barron was preparing to hire him as one of his "consultants." However, after his statement just now, Barron's words now certainly rule out such a possibility.
So he was a little curious:
"What do you mean?"
"I think you can try to compete for the chairmanship of the International Monetary Fund."< br>
(End of this chapter)