Peace and Solidarity

**Peace & Prosperity** (also known as Change & Progress) was a political party on the left-wing to far-left of British politics. It started as a divergent of the Labour party, where notable members, such as Gerald Butler, David Moyes and Lawrence Walker defected to protest the Blairite politics dominating Labour. This was especially to protest Britain's role in the Iraq war, as well as all other oversea conquests. The party was disbanded following a merger with the Labour party in April 2018.

Revolving around ideals such as community, pacifism, and left-wing economics, the party has taken a clear stance to the left of British politics. The party was first formed in 2004 by Gerald Butler, supported by the majority of the growing Stop The War movement. The party has declared itself *"a loose association of individual politicians and activists with the same goal and purpose, acting as the political branch of left-wing pacifism"*, opposing the rigid, top-down systems of British politics.

The party reemerged in early 2010, following a reorganization of the party into a more organised political platform rather than a protest movement.

## History

After defecting from Labour and forming the Peace & Solidarity party, Butler assumed leadership of the newborn party as the founding father. However, Butler decided not to organise the party by a top-down system with clear party leadership, as he saw the party as a looser affiliation of independent members, and so he declared himself National Spokesperson. In April of 2010, he went unopposed for National Spokesman, thus securing his position. In May of 2010, Butler had an unexpected heart attack, leading to him momentarily giving up his leadership position. After his swift recovery, he retook the reins, this time as Co-Spokesperson along with Lawrence Walker.

In March of 2010, Lawrence Walker was elected Deputy Spokesperson of Peace & Solidarity. This came shortly before the next General Election, resulting in a swift election process. Walker had worked closely with Gerald Butler, the founder of the party, on numerous occasions in the past. As so, his nomination, and eventual victory, did not come as a surprise. After Butler's abrupt heart attack in May of 2010, Walker became Intern National Spokesperson, before assuming position as Co-Spokesperson upon Butler's return.

As the party grew, both in size and in popularity, a Party Secretary was swiftly elected. In May of 2011, the position was passed on to Evelyn Brookshire, a rising star within the party. Brookshire was nominated, among others, by Deputy Spokesman Nikolai Astrup. Brookshire was heavily endorsed by large numbers of the left wing of the party, which secured her an astonishing victory of 94%.

In February of 2013, a mass defection took place among the party. Most notably, former founding member, Gerald Butler (now Gerald Batten), left for leadership over the newly reformed UKIP party. Other members defected to the All Union Socialist Party. With the party leadership vacant, founding member, David Moyes, assumed party leadership, ending the co-spokesperson leadership to the party. He would go on to lead the party in both the 2015 General Election and the 2017 General Election, until resigning and passing on leadership to Jones Davidson. Moyes would go on to leave the party to return to football management.

Following Davidson's accession to power, he renamed the party to Change & Progress in a re-branding attempt following Moyes' departure. In April 2018, Jones Davidson and Labour Party leadership reconciled the parties and accepted a merger, effectively disbanding the party.