There was no single issue or event that inspired me to write “Kingdom Come”. Instead, there were a number of issues or events that led me to put pen to paper (or rather keyboard to computer).

First and foremost has been the relationship between England and its Celtic neighbours. It is common knowledge that Ireland was not happy being part of the United Kingdom and that this led to the breakaway of the Irish Free State in 1922. But, since the 1970s, there has been growing support for the nationalist cause in Scotland and Wales, driven by the discovery of oil off Scotland and resentment about the collapse of its primary industries from the 1980s, the blame for which was pinned on the Government of the day which was seen as elected by English votes. Conversely, there was been a growth in English nationalism, driven by resentment over the Barnett formula, whereby taxes raised in England were spent in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Secondly, there was oil. At the time I wrote “Kingdom Come” ten years ago, oil was still a strategically important commodity. Countries had fought wars over it. The West had bitter memories of how the sudden hike in crude oil prices after the Yom Kippur War in 1973 tipped their economies into recession, and had spent the following four decades trying to reduce dependence on oil supplies in the Middle East. Developing alternative sources of fuel and power was one solution, the other was to search for new oil supplies in their backyard. The discovery of North Sea oil in the 1970s was the trigger for a revival in Scottish nationalism and the emergence of the Scottish National Party as a major force in politics as there was a belief that oil wealth would make independence viable.

Thirdly, the Balkan wars after the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s made me think “could it happen here?” Prior to 1990, Yugoslavia had been the most Westernised of all the communist countries in Eastern Europe. Its nationals were free to travel to the West. Britons holidayed there. Rock music was tolerated. Conflict between different nationalities and faiths within its borders appeared to have been contained. Yet, in the 1990s, the fighting that took place was as vicious as any elsewhere in the world.

To most people, the idea of insurgency breaking out on British soil seems preposterous. Unlike so many other countries, the United Kingdom has no tradition of settling disputes by violence. There has been Parliamentary democracy for over 200 years and full adult suffrage for over 100 years. The last battle on British soil was in 1745. However, there are no grounds for complacency. The Troubles in Northern Ireland was a graphic demonstration of what can happen when people feel that the system is loaded against them and that the only way they can achieve fair play and justice is through violent means.

In constructing the plot for “Kingdom Come”, I drew on the Troubles for inspiration. Like the Scottish National Liberation Army and the Welsh Republican Army in “Kingdom Come”, the Provisional IRA began their life as idealists and developed into a sophisticated and ruthless organisation that the British Government found they could not overcome. And the emergence of the English Volunteer Force mirrored Loyalist terrorist organisations like the UDA and the UVF which grew because people in the Loyalist community lost faith in the ability of the elected Government to protect them.

“Kingdom Come” is still relevant to today’s scenarios. Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic have once again exposed the strains within the Union. On the one hand, nationalists in the Celtic nations are calling for greater independence from the central UK Government, if not total independence from the UK. Some politicians are calling for powers to be clawed back from the devolved Governments and, in some cases, questioning whether they should continue to exist. And there have been calls in some quarters for England to declare independence. How the UK Government and the devolved Governments manage these tensions over the next 4-5 years may determine whether the UK enjoys a peaceful and prosperous future or one scarred by conflict.