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Britain, the appeal of such ideas emerged in the context of post-war political instability and social unrest and the economic crisis that would eventually lead to the Great Depression of the 1930s. Although living conditions improved af- ter the war, largely due to advances in technology, it was a period of industrial discontent and economic decline arising from demobilisation and the return to a peacetime economy.13 Furthermore, as Thurlow notes, Britain’s “political system had been unable to check the sharp decline in British power in the late Victorian and Edwardian eras”.14 In Nordenholt’s Million that decline is averted by the rise of a totalitarian demagogue. The novel is overtly critical of democratic government, representing it as weak, self-serving and corrupt – a criticism of the political turmoil seen in suc- cessive post-war British governments. Overt criticism of democracy begins when Flint is called to a meeting with Nordenholt and the government about the impending catastrophe. The Prime Minister, looking “worn and agitated” but endeavouring “to assume a cheerful and confident air”, is revealed to be preoccupied with preserving and consolidating his political position.15 Without irony, the Prime Minister states that “nothing could be more fatal than a gener- al election”.16 The satire is not lost on the reader. Conscious of the electorate’s growing unease as the blight spreads, he sees the crisis requiring a public rela- tions exercise to pacify them. At no point does the Prime Minister comprehend the apocalyptic effects of the mass starvation that will arise from denitrifying the soil. His strategy is reactive rather than proactive, with no priority given to addressing the cause of the growing catastrophe. Furthermore, none of his measures can be implemented quickly, since his cabinet is dispersed, with many members abroad and unable to return. Nordenholt’s condemnations of the government’s reaction are overt. Describing their plans to address the effects of the ensuing cataclysm as “window dressing […] to pacify the public”, he recognises that politics is placed before action in their plans.17 Midway through the meeting, Flint is also critical of the government response. He admits that “I had become more and more uneasy. Through it all ran the governing thought that something must be done, which was true enough; but the thing which he proposed to do […] was to persuade the country that all was well, whereas I felt that the essential matter was to prepare against a practical calamity.”18 This practical perspective allies Flint with Nordenholt, a man of decisive action and foresight who has already secured emergency food stocks and surrounded him- 13 Hamilton 1971, xxii; Thurlow 1987, 8; Smith 1995, 169. 14 Thurlow 1987, 8. 15 Connington 1923, 45. 16 Connington 1923, 46. 17 Connington 1923, 52. 18 Connington 1923, 47. 54 | Jennifer Woodward www.jrfm.eu 2019, 5/2, 51–68