Julian Lewis

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This article is written in the 'future' (2023) and thus does not reflect the state of affairs in the present day, 1954. It does however represent a premonition of what is to come.

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## Politics

### Ranks held

Minister for Defence Procurement 2009-2011 Deputy Minister of Defence 2011 Shadow Defence Minister 2011-2021

**Julian Murray Lewis** is a British politician serving as the Member of the Common Assembly for Ashford since 2004. A member of the National Party, from 2011 until 2021 he served as Shadow Defence Minister in the Shadow Cabinets of Michael Gove and Jacob Rees-Mogg, serving briefly before that as Deputy Defence Minister in the New Union-Millennium coalition.

Born in 1951 to Jewish-Welsh parents, Lewis was active amongst dissident circles after being refused entry to Oxford State University, groups that included the Free Wales Army. The extent of his involvement is disputed - Lewis claimed in a 2011 interview that it was "only ever peripheral", but some have alleged he played a significant role in planning strategy for the terror group's operations in the Swansea area. The deaths of two ISA officers in 1978 caused a period of hot water that prompted Lewis to leave town - he joined the Red Navy, and served for a five-year-term onboard the minesweeper RNS Grantham.

Leaving naval service to arrive in London in 1983, Lewis took up a job as a naval consultant for the Union's nuclear missile program, Project Blackhammer. In 1986, he was assigned to work at the Ministry of Truth's information department as a nuclear liaison - in the aftermath of the 1989 Sellafield disaster, despite his area of expertise lying in nuclear weapons and not nuclear power, he was assigned to the Minitrue's information response-team where he gained the notice of his superiors through his capable performance. Lewis was identified by Minister of Truth Alastair Campbell as an able manager not as inclined to toe the party line as others, and thus began to rise through the ministry ranks with the latter's backing, though the two reportedly hugely disliked each other on a personal level.

In 1995 Lewis was promoted to become deputy director of the Minitrue's Information Department, but he resigned this position after only a year to join the nascent Campaign For British Renewal - what would become the Millennium Party - as a campaign director. In the 1999 British general election he stood unsuccessfully as the Millennium Party candidate for New Forest West; five years later he took the seat of Ashford from incumbent Damien Green on an 11 point swing, joining the Common Assembly. He helped run David Davis's subsequent successful campaign for the leadership.

In Opposition, Lewis served as the shadow minister for security. Following the 2009 British general election and the resultant New Union-Millennium coalition, the post of security minister was allocated to Iain Duncan Smith; instead, Lewis was appointed Minister for Defence Procurement, a portfolio that amongst other things held responsibility for managing Britain's nuclear weapons program, that he held prior experience in. Following the July 2010 Talavera affair and Deputy Defence Minister Andrew Robathan's resignation, Lewis assumed the role, but only held it for a year before the 2011 British general election brought an end to the Millennium Party's time in government.

Following David Davis's resignation, Lewis backed Michael Gove for the leadership, and was appointed as shadow defence minister following his win. He served in the position for the whole of Gove's tenure through the New Union-United Democrat coalition, earning a reputation as the standard bearer of the party's hard-right throughout Gove's modernisation efforts. Following the National Party's defeat in 2017, he supported Gove in the ultimately successful no-confidence motion against him, and then Douglas Carswell's leadership bid. After Carswell lost on the members' ballot to Jacob Rees-Mogg, Lewis stayed on in the new leader's shadow cabinet, but eventually resigned in 2021 to back Dominic Raab's unsuccessful leadership challenge.

Ending up on the backbenches, Lewis has been routinely touted as a so-called "prince across the water" contender to challenge Rees-Mogg, should the opportunity arise. He himself has remained quiet on the matter, getting elected as the chair of the defence select committee in the meantime.