History Series / TheNewStatesman

* TheBadGuyWins: Many episodes end with Alan attaining some form of victory even when he does not achieve his primary goals. [[spoiler:The series as a whole ends with Alan becoming both Lord Protector and Prime Minister of Great Britain.]]

* OhCrap: When Alan is finally returned home [[spoiler:from Siberia]] his immediately makes a veiled threat on television to the people who betrayed him [[spoiler:(Sarah and Piers)]], the latter is shown to be clearly terrified and attempts to solicit police protection which Alan immediately circumvents by bribing the officer on duty.

* PetTheDog: Despite being a massive conservative, outside of a few jibes, Alan was surprisingly supportive of Norman's sex change and sincerely complimented her makeup or femininity on a few occasions as she began transitioning. This hidden niceness promptly vanished once she vanished in series 2, unfortunately.

** In at least one episode B'Stard refers to a Labour MP as "Mr. Crippen" (twice) while speaking in the House of Commons. British [=MPs=] (and Peers) ''never'' refer to each other by name in the chamber (they say "the (Right) Honourable Member for [constituency]") and would immediately be told off by the Speaker if they did. Alan also speaks while sitting and speaks directly to other [=MPs=], sometimes at the same time.

The show ran for 4 seasons from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, and was revived as a theatre production in 2006.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: A few, most notably UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher.
** A later episode, "A Bigger Splash", was based on the premise that the media tycoon and fraudster Robert Maxwell had faked his own death and was hiding in Bosnia [[note]] Maxwell died in November 1991 and the episode was first broadcast in December 1992[[/note]]. Alan tries to steal the millions of pounds that Maxwell embezzled from the Mirror Group pension fund, only to find that there's actually no money to be had -- Maxwell, ever the con man, has been conning him.

** Alan's overwhelming election victory at the beginning of the series is shown as due to him arranging for his two rival candidates to crash their cars into each other, leaving them fighting for their lives in hospital. In fact, Labour and Alliance voters would not have switched their votes to Alan just because their favoured candidate might be dead before long. They would rather have a chance to vote for their preferred party again at a by-election than be stuck with a Tory MP for five years.

Came sixty-first in ''Series/BritainsBestSitcom''. Not to be confused with ''[[UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers New Statesman]]'', a left-leaning political magazine based in the UK (though many of its readers probably appreciated this series).

* ArtisticLicensePolitics: Alan's overwhelming election victory at the beginning of the series is shown as due to him arranging for his two rival candidates to crash their cars into each other, leaving them fighting for their lives in hospital. In fact, Labour and Alliance voters would not have switched their votes to Alan just because their favoured candidate might be dead before long. They would rather have a chance to vote for their preferred party again at a by-election than be stuck with a Tory MP for five years.

* AluminiumChristmasTrees: Think an MP named "Bastard" is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Bastard_(politician) unlikely?]] There was actually a small political dynasty by that name.