Keeping the British Liberal Party flag flying high

[pipisme]

At the world disarmament conference in Geneva in early October 1933, Hugh Dalton, the Foreign Secretary, proposed a fresh initiative for progressive disarmament down to the level imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, which had limited the German army to 100,000 men. This proposal had been agreed with France, Italy and the United States. Hitler gave the appearance of accepting this proposal. He still wanted to pay lip service to the conference and to the League of Nations.

It was widely thought that the Dalton proposal played a significant part in the swing to Labour and Liberal in the by-election in the London constituency of Fulham, East on 25 October 1933. The by-election was caused by the death of Sir Kenyon Vaughan-Morgan, the Conservative member since November 1922.

The percentage votes for each party were as follows (October 1932 general election in brackets):

Conservative: 42.6 (45.3)
Labour: 29.8 (27.4)
Liberal: 27.6 (27.3).

Charles Wood, the 2nd Viscount Halifax and father of Edward Wood, the leader of the Conservative Party and therefore Leader of the Opposition, died on 19 January 1934. Because Edward now succeeded to his father's title he became a member of the House of Lords and was no longer eligible to sit in the House of Commons.

After thinking about the matter and discussing it with friends and colleagues he announced his resignation as Leader of the Conservative Party on 22 January. He said that in the nature of the office the Leader of the Opposition should be a member of the House of Commons.

The four members of the Shadow Cabinet who put their names forward for the Conservative leadership were in alphabetical order (shadow portfolio in brackets):

Leo Amery (India)
Neville Chamberlain (Health)
Sir Samuel Hoare (Foreign affairs)
Sir Douglas Hogg (Home Affairs)

Sir Austen Chamberlain had retired to the backbenches after the October 1932 general election. After his half-brother Neville found that he had little support he withdrew his leadership bid. (1)

Amery had the support of the right of the party, but the left and centre opposed him. One reason was because of his hostility to the League of Nations. Though intellectually brilliant, he was arrogant and pugnacious.

Hoare was ambitious, he wanted to become Prime Minister. He was also an impressive and hardworking politician and widely read in several languages, especially French. He was on the liberal wing of the Conservative party.

Hogg had a fine legal mind, he had been Attorney-General in the Bonar Law and Baldwin governments from October 1922 to January 1924. But he lacked popular appeal. When it became clear that he was in third place in the leadership race he withdrew and asked his supporters to swing behind Hoare.

On 29 January Sir Samuel Hoare became leader of the Conservative Party and therefore leader of the Opposition. He appointed Viscount Halifax (as he now was) Shadow Foreign Secretary.

(1) Neville Chamberlain does not become Prime Minister in this timeline.

[pipisme]

In India elections to the Legislative Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament, and to the state legislatures, were held in February 1934.
In the 300 seat Legislative Assembly, the Indian National Congress won 174 seats and the Muslim League 68 seats.

[pipisme]

Elections to the Indian Legislative Assembly were not held in the Princely States. In those states referendums were held in February and March 1934 to decide if there was a majority in each state for joining the Indian Federation. Here is a list of them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...rincely_states .

[pipisme]

The following Princely States did not vote to join the Indian Federation:

States of the Baluchistan Agency: Kalat, Khanan, Las Bela, Makran.

Jammu and Kashmir

States of the North-West Frontier Agency: Amb, Chitral, Dir, Phulra, Swat.

Sikkim

Travancore ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travancore )

The Council of Provinces, which was the upper house of the Indian Legislature and elected by the legislatures of each province, had an Indian National Congress majority.

The legislatures of each province in the Indian Federation had the right to decide to hold a referendum in which the citizens of that province voted whether or not to leave the Federation, for which a two-thirds majority was required. Referendums were held in that part of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) which was under direct British rule and the province of Sind in early May 1934. In the NWFP 85.9% voted to leave the Indian Federation as did 70.4% in Sind.

On June 11 1934, Lord Lothian, the British Viceroy, handed over power to Jawarharlal Nehru, the new Prime Minister of the Indian Federation, which was a self-governing dominion within the British Empire like Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.

Valangiman Sankaranarayana Srinivasa Sastri ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V._S._Srinivasa_Sastri ) became the new Governor-General. He had ceremonial and constitutional powers similar to that of the Governor-General of Canada ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_General_of_Canada ).

The Indian Federation (or India as it was commonly known) comprised in OTL India (less Sikkim and Travancore, and Jammu and Kashmir in India and Pakistan) plus Bangladesh and the province of Punjab in Pakistan.

[Archangel]

Originally Posted by pipisme

The following Princely States did not vote to join the Indian Federation:

States of the Baluchistan Agency: Kalat, Khanan, Las Bela, Makran.

Jammu and Kashmir

States of the North-West Frontier Agency: Amb, Chitral, Din Phulra, Swat.

Sikkim

Travancore ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travancore )

The Council of Provinces, which was the upper house of the Indian Legislature and elected by the legislatures of each province, had an Indian National Congress majority.

The legislatures of each province in the Indian Federation had the right to decide to hold a referendum in which the citizens of that province voted whether or not to leave the Federation, for which a two-thirds majority was required. Referendums were held in that part of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) which was under direct British rule and the province of Sind in early May 1934. In the NWFP 85.9% voted to leave the Indian Federation as did 70.4% in Sind.

On June 11 1934, Lord Lothian, the British Viceroy, handed over power to Jawarharlal Nehru, the new Prime Minister of the Indian Federation, which was a self-governing dominion within the British Empire like Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.

Valangiman Sankaranarayana Srinivasa Sastri ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V._S._Srinivasa_Sastri ) became the new Governor-General. He had ceremonial and constitutional powers similar to that of the Governor-General of Canada ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_General_of_Canada ).

The Indian Federation (or India as it was commonly known) comprised in OTL India (less Sikkim and Travancore, and Jammu and Kashmir in India and Pakistan) plus Bangladesh and the province of Punjab in Pakistan.

This means the Indian Liberal Party is getting a boost.

[pipisme]

In July 1934, Mirza Ali Khan, the Chief Minister of the North-West Frontier Province, which was a British protectorate, announced its change of name to Pakhtunistan (or Pakhtunkhwa). In the same month the rulers of the Princely States of Amb, Chitral, Dir, Phulra, and Swat joined their territories to Pakhtunistan. The capital was Peshawar. On this map - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:In...Ceylon1915.jpg - it was the pink area marked NWFP plus the brown area to the Afghan border.

Most of the inhabitants of Pakhtunistan were Pathans, and they wanted to unite with their fellow Pathans across the border in Afghanistan. There was an intense and widespread campaign of demonstrations and agitation to persuade the British government to allow a plebiscite to be held on the options of joining Afghanistan as a self-governing province or continuing as a British protectorate.

Sardar Mohammad Hashim Khan, the Prime Minister of Afghanistan, threatened to pursue foreign, defence and commercial policies which would favour Germany, Italy and Japan if the British government did not agree to holding a plebiscite.

In early September, Arthur Ponsonby, the Colonial Secretary and a Labour member of the cabinet, announced the British government's agreement to hold a plebiscite under League of Nations auspices. This was held on 21 and 22 October 1934. The result was a majority of 78.3% in favour of union with Afghanistan as a self-governing province. The date of union was 1 November 1934.

The decision to hold a plebiscite in Paktunistan was denounced bitterly by the Conservatives, most vitriolically by Winston Churchill.

[pipisme]

In September 1934 the princely states of the former Baluchistan Agency and the province of Sind merged to form the British Protectorate of Sinduchistan, with Karachi as its capital. See this map: http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil...Ceylon1915.jpg .

Chaudhary Rehman Ali became the Chief Minister of Sinduchistan. He successfully negotiated with the British government for Dominion status, which was granted in November 1934, with Ali as Prime Minister. Sultan Mahommed Shah, Aga Khan III was appointed Governor-General.

Although the provinces and princely states of former British India with the highest percentage of Muslims were by October 1934 not part of the Indian Federation, the greatest numbers of Muslims were in the provinces of Bengal and Punjab. Bengal was divided roughly equally between Hindus and Moslems, and had a Congress Party/Muslim League power sharing provincial government. In Punjab. Muslims comprised around 54% of the population, and there was a significant Sikh population. In that province there was a power sharing agreement between the Congress Party, the Muslim League and the party which represented the Sikhs.

There was widespread communal violence in Bengal and Punjab in the summer and early autumn of 1934, with an estimated death toll of 4,000. Mahatma Gandhi and Mohammad Ali Jinnah were indefatigable in their efforts to stop the bloodshed. On 16 October Gandhi was shot and killed in Lahore, the capital of Punjab. His assassin was a member of the Hindu Mahasabha, a militant Hindu nationalist organisation. He was captured by police, and with his co-conspirator, tried and executed.

Gandhi's murder produced an outpouring of grief across India and throughout the world. It was also followed by a rapid reduction in the communal violence in Bengal and the Punjab.

The granting of Dominion status to the Indian Federation on 11 June 1934 meant that the India Office was abolished. Isaac Foot, the Secretary of State for India, became President of the Board of Trade in place of Ramsay Muir who left the government to become Executive Director of the Liberal Party Campaigns Department. George Lansbury, the Under-Secretary of State for India, became Postmaster-General. This was not a cabinet post.

[stevep]

pipisme

Gandhi being killed off that early will have some big butterflies. Fortunately, like OTL, he was killed by an Hindi rather than a Muslim extremist. That would have been very nasty otherwise.

A bit surprised that the government conceded the plebiscite on the NE froniter region. AS you say it will cause a lot of upset in the Commons, although it could possibly led to appeasement being discredited earlier. However the main concern is it sets a dangerous prescedent for the future.

Steve

[pipisme]

Originally posted by stevep
A bit surprised that the government conceded the plebiscite on the NE frontier region.

The Liberal/Labour government conceded the plebiscite in the North-West Frontier Province because of its belief in self-determination, and with the aim of forging a friendly relationship with Afghanistan.

[pipisme]

Sir Francis Acland announced on 27 November 1934 his resignation as leader of the Liberal Party and Prime Minister. He said that he had been Prime Minister for nine years without a break, and didn't want to outstay his welcome. His resignation now would give his successor time to work himself in before the next general election, which was due before November 1937. He was 60 years old and it was time a younger man to take over the responsibilities of Prime Minister. He said he would stay in the House of Commons as a backbench MP until the next general election.

The three candidates who entered the contest for Liberal leader were (in alphabetical order):

Isaac Foot, the President of the Board of Trade and former Secretary of State for India.

Sir Rhys Hopkin Morris, the Home Secretary.

Sir Archibald Sinclair, the Secretary of State for the Dominions and previously Secretary of State for War.

The new leader would be elected by the Liberal members of parliament.

[pipisme]

In the Liberal Party leadership contest Isaac Foot was on the radical wing of the party, but reached out to the centre and centre-right. He benefitted from the reasonably satisfactory settlement of the matter of Indian independence. He was also a skilled orator. (1)

Morris was on the right-wing of the party. Nowadays in OTL he would probably be a libertarian.

Sinclair was on the centre of the party. He was a very competent minister, but hampered by having been a supporter of Lloyd George in the days of the Asquith/Lloyd George. Foot and Morris were former Asquithians. Sinclair's friendship with Winston Churchill (who was very much a political outsider) also did not help him. As the youngest of the three candidates, being only 44-years-old, there was a widespread feeling that his time had not yet come.

The result of the first round of balloting on 13 December 1934 was:

Foot: 83
Sinclair: 58
Morris: 54.

Because no candidate had an overall majority, Morris dropped out and a second ballot was held on 18 December. The result was:

Foot: 122
Sinclair: 71.

Issac Foot therefore became leader of the Liberal Party and Prime Minister.

He carried out a very limited cabinet reshuffle: Leslie Hore-Belisha was moved from Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster to President of the Board of Trade, while Mrs Margaret Corbett Ashby was promoted to the cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (with special responsibility for policy towards Germany). Her previous position as an Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office was taken by Philip Guedalla. These three people were Liberal MPs. Mrs Ashby easily won the by-election in her seat of Nottingham, Central caused by her promotion to the cabinet.

(1) Issac Foot was an anti-appeaser which will become relevant later.

[Jape]

Isaac Foot seems a good choice for PM, anti-appeasement, free trader and very interested in poverty in the colonies I believe, though obviously his grander role might see priorities elsewhere.

[Julius Vogel]

So when Foot resigned in OTL, why exactly was that - was it Imperial Preference or something else?

[ddtim]

could we have a map please?

[stevep]

Originally Posted by Julius Vogel

So when Foot resigned in OTL, why exactly was that - was it Imperial Preference or something else?

According to Wiki yes, in response to the Ottawa Agreement.

Steve

[pipisme]

Originally posted by ddtim
could we have a map please?

I can''t do maps.

[pipisme]

Following the promise in the Liberal Party manifesto for the October 1932 general election of legislation to give Scotland its own Parliament and government, the Liberal government published the Government of Scotland Bill in May 1933. It was similar to the previous Government of Scotland Bill of 1931. See http://www.alternatehistory.com/disc...&postcount=131 . This provided for a Scottish government which would be responsible to a bi-cameral Scottish Parliament. They would have authority over purely Scottish matters.

At the general election in the 71 seats in Scotland (excluding the three university members), Liberals won 27, Conservatives 22, Independent Labour Party (ILP) 13, Labour 8, Socialist Prohibition Party (SPP) 1. Both the Liberals and the ILP promised Scottish home rule or self-government in their manifestos. Those two parties polled more than half of the Scottish vote.

The second reading of the Government of Scotland Bill was debated in the House of Commons on 24 and 25 May 1933. Although the Labour Party officially supported it, it was known that many Labour MPs were hostile towards it. In the vote at the end of the debate it was rejected by 273 votes to 266. The vote was made up as follows:

Against: Conservative 268
Labour 4
Independent 1
------------------
Total 273
------------------

For: Liberal 185
Labour 45
ILP 34
SPP 1
Independent 1
-------------------
Total 266
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Around 35 Labour MPs abstained.

[perfectgeneral]

I demand a recount with a three line whip!

[pipisme]

The Liberal manifesto in the October 1932 general election promised a referendum in Wales on the establishment of a parliament for that country. In that election of the 35 Welsh seats (excluding the University of Wales), the Liberals won 20, Labour 11, and the Conservatives and the ILP two each. The Liberals and the ILP supported home rule for Wales, while Labour and the Conservatives were against it.

The Welsh Referendum Act of 1933 was passed without opposition, no party wanted to appear to be denying the people of Wales the right to decide on their future. It set Thursday 1 March 1934 as the date for the referendum. The question was "Do you want self-government for Wales within the United Kingdom, with its own elected Parliament. Yes or No?" The result was No 57.9%, Yes 42.1%. The turnout was 73.5%. It would appear that many Welsh people voted Liberal or ILP in spite of those parties policies on home rule for that country.

[pipisme]

In February 1934 the Liberal government appointed an all party Committee comprising 16 members of each House of Parliament under the chairmanship of Viscount Simon, to consider both the composition and powers of the House of Lords.