Keeping the British Liberal Party flag flying high

[pipisme]

The Conservative manifesto stated that potential immigrants to the United Kingdom would not be discriminated on the grounds of race or religion. However Jewish refugees from Germany would be admitted on the condition that all their living expenses would be borne by the Jewish community in this country. Also prominent German Jews who had obtained distinction in the arts or sciences would be admitted.

In relation to Abyssinia, the Tory manifesto affirmed that the League of Nations would remain the keystone of British foreign policy. It condemned the Italian aggression and pledged that if elected the Conservative government would take no action in isolation, but would faithfully take part in any action decided upon by the League. It also stated that "we will take part in any negotiations which may offer the hope of a just and fair settlement, provided it is in accordance with the covenant of the League, and acceptable to the three parties to the dispute - Abyssinia, Italy and the League."

[pipisme]

The result of the British general election of 16 January 1936 was a majority of 19 seats for the Conservative Party. The number of seats won by each party and by independents were as follows, October 1932 results in brackets:

Conservative: 317 (284)
Liberal: 183 (197)
Labour: 65 (91)
Independent Labour Party (ILP): 44 (38)
Irish Nationalist: 2 (2)
Communist: 1 (0)
Independents: 3 (2)
Socialist Prohibition Party: 0 (1)
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Total: 615
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The precentage votes obtained by each party were as follows, October 1932 in brackets:

Conservative: 42.7 (39.2)
Liberal: 32.4 (34.4)
Labour: 13.9 (17.3)
ILP: 9.2 (7.8)
Others: 1.8 (1.3).

The turnout was 76.3% (78.4% in 1932).

No Liberal cabinet ministers of the former Liberal/Labour coalition were defeated, although Philip Guedalla (formerly Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs) lost his Manchester, Rusholme seat to the Conservatives, and Lucy Masterman (Paymaster-General) lost Cambridge to the Conservatives.

Sir Charles Trevelyan (formerly President of the Board of Education) was the only Labour cabinet minister in the coalition to lose his seat. He was defeated by the Conservatives in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Central. However Hugh Dalton, the Leader of the Labour Party and former Foreign Secretary, only held his south London seat of Peckham by 41 votes over the Conservative candidate. Fife, West, the seat held by William Adamson (formerly Secretary of State for Scotland) was a Communist gain from Labour, but Adamson had retired from the House of Commons.

Michael Foot, twenty-two year old son of the former Prime Minister, standing for the Liberals, was unsuccessful in his attempt to unseat the Conservative Nancy Astor in her Plymouth, Sutton constituency.

George Lansbury (formerly Postmaster-General) and Arthur Ponsonby (formerly Secretary of State for the Colonies) had crossed over from Labour to ILP. They were both re-elected in their constituencies of Poplar, Bow and Bromley, and Sheffield, Brightside, respectively.

The Conservatives were pleased that they had won a majority, the first time in a general election since November 1922, but were disappointed at its narrowness. The Liberals were disappointed that they had lost the election, but relieved that they had a net loss of only 14 seats. They were pleased that Labour had become less of a challenge to them. After the 1922 election, when Labour won 144 seats to 116 seats for a divided Liberal Party, it looked like Labour would replace the Liberals as the main opposition to the Conservatives. The ILP was pleased that it gained six more MPs. Labour did worst with a net loss of 26 seats. Left-wing Labour voters switched to the ILP or abstained.

The Conservative victory was widely attributed to "time for a change" after almost 12 years of Liberal and Liberal/Labour governments, and to unemployment still being high at 1,140,000 in December 1935, and Tory promises to reduce Land Value Tax and Income Tax. However the main reason for the Tory victory was that they managed to convince the electorate that a Tory government would fully supported the League of Nations over Abyssinia, but would not go to war with Italy.

The social reforms of the previous three years including the raising of the minimum wage for miners, and the Holidays with Pay Act 1934 which gave all workers two weeks paid holiday a year, had kept the Liberal vote higher than it would have been.

[stevep]

pipisme

Not a good result and since the Conservatives have come in very much on a non-intervention platform in terms of foreign affairs it seems we're unlikely to avoid a major conflict with the Nazis. However as you say the Liberal support held up well and it was Labour that was the big loser, meaning that they will probably cease to be a threat in the future.

Question will now be how will the Conservatives react to the continued economic problems. A swing back into laisse-faire could still do a hell of a lot of damage.

Steve

[pipisme]

Empire Free Trade or Imperial Preference within the framework of the imposition of tariffs was a major plank of the Conservative government's economic policy. The Import Duties Act which became law in June 1936 established a tariff of 10 percent on all imports, except for food and raw materials. The self-governing dominions of Australia, Canada, Indian Federation, New Zealand, Sinduchistan (Baluchistan and Sind in OTL), and South Africa, the administered Dominion of Newfoundland, and the Crown Colony of Southern Rhodesia, were temporarily exempted from these tariffs pending the decisions to be made at the Imperial Economic Conference (IEC) to be held in Ottawa in September 1936.

in the months before the IEC Leo Amery, the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, lobbied hard with Dominion Prime Ministers for the establishment of Imperial Preference.

[pipisme]

On 20 January 1936 John Clynes announced his resignation as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. His successor would be chosen by Labour MPs. The deadline for nominations was 30 January with the election being held on 13 February. If no candidate won an overall majority, there would be a second round a week later.

Three Labour MPs were nominated for the post: Clement Attlee, Arthur Greenwood and Philip Noel-Baker. Attlee and Greenwood had served in the Liberal/Labour coalition cabinet as War Secretary and Minister of Labour respectively. Greenwood had been the secretary of the Labour research department for about 12 years before he joined the cabinet. Noel-Baker had been Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Dominions Office.

Attlee was hawkish on defence and foreign policy, while Greenwood appealed to the moderate trade union members. Noel-Baker was on the left of the Party and an advocate of reunion with the ILP.

Greenwood was elected as Deputy Leader on the first round (officially Deputy Leader and Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party). The figures were as follows:

Greenwood: 34 votes
Attlee: 17 votes
Noel-Baker: 13 votes.

[pipisme]

By the beginning of February 1936, the Christmas offensive by the armed forces of Abyssinia had ground to a halt because of the superior weaponry of the Italian forces and their use of poison gas. The opposing forces were at a stalemate.

On 12 February 1936 Sir Samuel Hoare, the Prime Minister, announced in the House of Commons details of the peace plan for the settlement of the Abyssinian conflict which he had crafted with Pierre Laval, the French Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. This proposed that Tigray in the north of Abyssinia and Ogaden in the east would be ceded to Italy. The south of Abyssinia would be an Italian economic zone. Abyssinia would have a corridor to the Red Sea. (1)

(1) These proposals were basically the same as those of the Hoare-Laval Pact in OTL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoare-Laval_Pact

[perfectgeneral]

The Tories are morally compromised. The Laval pact will reward Italian aggression. The League, far from being supported, has been fatally discredited. Hawks in the party might want to look elsewhere, but there is no escaping the lilly livered nature of their leadership. Wither Churchill and Amery now?

[pipisme]

The Franco-British proposals on Abyssinia, or the Hoare-Laval proposals as they became known, were rejected by both Mussolini and Haile Selassie as both men believed they would win a military victory. They were also rejected by the League of Nations.

Hoare defended his proposals on the grounds that they were a compromise which preserved an independent Abyssinia, and did not give Italy a reason to ally with Germany.

However the widespread and passionate opposition to Hoare's proposals in Britain was not confined to the opposition parties but also to some Conservatives. On 14 February Lord Robert Cecil resigned as Foreign Secretary and Anthony Eden as Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office.

[pipisme]

Hoare appointed William Ormsby-Gore as the new Foreign Secretary and Sir Douglas Hacking as the new Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office. Ormsby-Gore's post of Colonial Secretary was filled by the Marquis of Zetland.

Meanwhile the Liberals had tabled a censure motion against the government condemning its proposal for the division of Abyssinia. It was backed by Labour and Independent Labour MPs and 41 Conservative MPs including Austen Chamberlain, Duff Cooper, Eden, and Harold Macmillan.

The censure motion was debated in the House of Commons on 19 and 20 February. It was opened by Isaac Foot, the leader of the Liberal Party. In a speech of passionate eloquence he denounced the government's proposal to hand over the Abyssinian provinces of Ogaden and Tigre to Italy as a betrayal of a people fighting bravely for their independence. In a bid to win the votes of the Tory rebels he did not attack the Prime Minister's honour, but said that that unless he received evidence to the contrary, he would assume that Hoare formulated his proposal after the general election and had not intended to deceive the British people.

Foot was followed by Hoare. In his speech the Prime Minister defended his proposal as an honourable compromise to stop the war in Abyssinia, and to preserve much of the territorial integrity of that country. It was the best way out of the Abyssinian problem. It was never the British government's intention to impose a settlement on Abyssinia. He had not formulated his proposal before the general election.

[pipisme]

Continuation of the censure debate on the government's proposals for Abyssinia.

The Speaker recognised Sir Austen Chamberlain's importance in being the most senior of the Tory rebels by calling him immediately after the Prime Minister. Chamberlain said that while he did not accuse the Prime Minister of deceiving the country, he condemned the government's proposals as being immoral - a betrayal of Abyssinia and of the League of Nations. It was with the greatest reluctance that he would be going into the opposition lobby to vote for the censure motion.

From the Conservative benches Winston Churchill argued for a compromise settlement with Italy, with whom we should ally against the much greater threat of Nazi Germany. He would be voting with the government.

James Maxton, the leader of the Independent Labour Party, said that although he passionately wanted peace in Abyssinia, neither the British government nor any other government, had the right to carve out provinces from the independent, sovereign state of Abyssinian. Britain and France were continuing in the centuries old imperialist tradition. If the Abyssinians want to negotiate a peace with Italy it must be entirely their decision.

Eleanor Rathbone, the independent member for the Combined English Univerities, spoke with passionate eloquence. She said that Britain and France were colluding to reward Italy with nearly half of Abyssinia. It was a betrayal of Abyssinia. It was treachery to Abyssinia. She asked why did the government propose this disgraceful surrender. It was not because Italy was successful in the war because Abyssinia was vigourously resisting; it was not because sanctions had failed because the government had lifted the oil embargo against Italy. Instead the government must have decided that if they did not make this surrender to Italy, we would have war with Italy and Germany. But concessions to Italy would embolden and not conciliate Germany; they would frighten and not reassure other vulnerable League of Nations states; they would lose Britain the respect of all the coloured peoples of the world. The risk of war was heightened by a policy of weakness. If Italy could get what it wanted by defying the League, what could not Hitler get by similar action. (1)

Her speech was loudly cheered by both opposition members and by a fair number of Tories.

In the vote at the end of the debate on 20 February the censure motion was passed by 302 to 244. Thirty eight Tory MPs voted for the motion, including Sir Austen Chamberlain, Duff Cooper, Eden and Macmillan.

After the vote was announced the Prime Minister said that the government were immediately withdrawing its proposals for Abyssinia. He said the government would not resign as it had been defeated on only aspect - though an important one - of its foreign policy, and not on a motion of no confidence on its record or policies as a whole.

(1) in OTL Eleanor Rathbone gave a similar speech in the House of Commons on 10 December 1935 after newspapers had publshed reports of the Hoare-Laval Pact. See Eleanor Rathbone and the Politics of Conscience by Susan Pedersen, Yale University Press, 2004, pp. 274-275.

[pipisme]

In the hours and days following the government's defeat on the censure motion on its Abyssinian policy speculation was high that Austen Chamberlain would challenge Samuel Hoare for the leadership of the Conservative Party and therefore Prime Ministership. Chamberlain's friends also pressed him to challenge Hoare.

However on 23 February he issued a statement affirming his loyalty to Hoare and rejecting any idea of challenging him for the Tory leadership. While it was said that it was because he was too honourable, he would have had little chance of success against the solid mass of loyal Tory MPs and Peers.

In the elections on 4 March 1936 for the 285 elected members of the Senate, Lord Robert Cecil who had resigned as Foreign Secretary over the Hoare-Laval proposals, stood as an Independent in the Hertfordshire, East constituency.

[perfectgeneral]

After withdrawal of the Hoare-Laval Pact what can the Tories do? Surely the weight of public opinion is to stand up to aggression and assist Abyssinia?

They have painted themselves into a corner, in that by initially soft pedalling they must act even more vigorously than the Liberals in order to save face. Perhaps Churchill's hard line against Fascism offers a way forward.

[stevep]

Originally Posted by perfectgeneral

After withdrawal of the Hoare-Laval Pact what can the Tories do? Surely the weight of public opinion is to stand up to aggression and assist Abyssinia?

They have painted themselves into a corner, in that by initially soft pedalling they must act even more vigorously than the Liberals in order to save face. Perhaps Churchill's hard line against Fascism offers a way forward.

PG The problem with that idea is that Churchill has supported the Pact to try and keep Italy lined up against Germany. Hence doubt Churchill would be in a position to support a hard line against Italy without a blatant flip-flop. [Although he did do some similar things OTL]. However possibly other Tories could put forward such an arguement. Would they be in position to reverse their stance on the oil ban and use of the canal?

I do agree that the Tories have weakened themselves by this failure. Could see either a new election shortly or, possibly more likely, a drift of support and possibly some PMs to the Liberals.

Steve

[pipisme]

In late February 1936 Samuel Hoare set up a committee to consider the arguments for and against Britain imposing oil sanctions against Italy.

By now campaigning was in full swing for the elections to the Senate on 4 March. 285 Senators would be elected by the single transferable vote in multi-member constituencies, which meant that it would be very unlikely that any party would win an overall majority of the elected members. Also independents would have a reasonably good chance of being elected.

Members of the House of Lords, which would be replaced by the Senate, were eligible to stand for election. However they would still keep their titles. (1) Lord Halifax stood in the Ripon and North Yorkshire Dales constituency, and Lord Lothian stood as a Liberal candidate in Edinburgh.

The Conservatives hoped that the government's withdrawal of the Hoare-Laval proposals on Abyssinia would win it back support so that they become the largest party in the Senate.

(1) I didn't want to change their names e.g. Lord Halifax back to Edward Wood.

[pipisme]

Here are the results for the elections for the 285 elected seats of the UK Senate on 4 March 1936:

Conservative: 108
Liberal: 101
Labour: 39
Independent Labour Party: 23
Assorted Independents: 12
Irish Nationalist: 2

Among the Independents elected was Lord Robert Cecil. Lord Halifax was elected for the Conservatives and Lord Lothian for the Liberals. The turnout was 62.1%.

[pipisme]

Among the new elected senators were Philip Guedalla and Lucy Masterman elected as Liberals in the Manchester, South, and Cambridge and Fenland constituencies respectively, and the Duchess of Atholl elected as a Conservative in the Perthshire and Angus constituency. They had all been defeated in the January general election to the House of Commons.

The Parliament Bill had originally provided that no more than 20 life senators would be nominated each year until there was a maximum of 100, of which a quarter must be independents. An amendment passed in the committee stage in the House of Commons ended that restriction so that 100 life senators would be nominated after the results were known for the elected senators. 25 life senators would be chosen by the independent Appointments Commission and 75 in proportion to the party strength of the elected senators.

The number of life senators chosen by each party were as follows:

Conservative: 28
Liberal: 27
Labour: 13
Independent Labour Party (ILP): 7

Among the new life senators were John Maynard Keynes for the Liberal Party, and the writer and pacifist Vera Brittain for the ILP. The poet John Masefield was one of the 25 independent life senators.

The composition of the senate was as follows:

Conservative: 136
Liberal: 128
Independents: 70
Labour: 52
ILP: 30
Irish Nationalist: 2
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Total: 418
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Among the independents were 26 archbishops and bishops of the Church of England and 7 law lords.

The new senate (formerly the House of Lords) was officially opened by King Edward VIII and Queen Marina on 11 March 1936. Although Edward and Marina were estranged and living separately they still performed the minimum of official functions together.

[pipisme]

Lord Snowden was chosen as a life senator by the Labour Party. Philip Snowden had retired from the House of Commons when it was dissolved for the October 1932 general election. When the Liberal/Labour coalition was formed in November he was raised to the peerage as Lord Snowden. Although not a member of the government he took an active part in debates in the House of Lords on economic and financial matters.

On 7 March 1936 German troops re-entered the Rhineland which had been demilitarised under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. While the French government was in favour of military action, there was little support for this by most British politicians, by newspapers and much of public opinion. There was widespread feeling that the Germans were just moving into their own back garden, that anyway they had not invaded another country, and conflict must be avoided. (1)

On 8 March the French ambassador in London had a fruitless interview with William Ormsby-Gore, the Foreign Secretary.

Churchill and Robert Boothby were two Conservative MPs who warned of the serious consequences of the German military re-occupation of the Rhineland.

(1) This is the same as in OTL.

[pipisme]

The House of Commons debated the German military occupation of the Rhineland on 18 March 1936 on a Liberal motion criticising the government's response.

Sir William Ormsby-Gore, the Foreign Secretary, said that while the government deeply deplored the German actions in repudiating the Treaty of Locarno and occupying the demilitarized zone (the Rhineland), there was no effective measures Britain could take to ensure the withdrawal of German troops. Economic and financial sanctions against Germany would take too long to become effective, also the Polish government was opposed to sanctions. The British government could not give its support to any invasion of the Rhineland by French forces. Its policy is to maintain peace, to strengthen the League of Nations, and to uphold the sanctity of Treaties.

For the Liberals Sir Archibald Sinclair, the shadow Foreign Secretary, drew the House's attention to the seriousness of the German actions. Liberal Party policy was to support collective security through the League of Nations. He argued that the imposition of economic and financial sanctions against Germany by the League of Nations should be given serious consideration. He called for an Anglo-French treaty. Major-General Edward Spears, the Liberal MP for Loughborough since 1922 was shadow Minister for the Co-ordination of Defence. He had been Under-Secretary of State at the War Office in the Liberal/Labour coalition government from November 1932 to November 1935. He scathingly condemned the weakness of the government's response and warned of the threat of German expansionism.

Several speakers on the Conservative benches expressed various degrees of disquiet with the lack of robustness in the government's policy: Robert Boothby, Austen Chamberlain, Winston Churchill, Duff Cooper, Harold Macmillan and Ronald Tree (MP for Harborough since October 1932). Churchill asked if Austria would be the next target of German expansionism. He called for an alliance with all the countries threatened by Germany. We could not afford to alienate Mussolini.

However other Conservative speakers supported the government's policy as the being only feasible one in the circumstances. Peace in Europe must be preserved. Germany had felt itself threatened by the Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance. (1)

Eleanor Rathbone, an Independent, said that Hitler's unilateral action had left the Locarno treaty in shreds must not be brushed aside as of little importance. Britain's honour and European security depended on the system of international treaties and alliances. Britain must make clear its commitment to resist all acts of aggression, however seemingly 'reasonable' they seem.

The Liberal motion was defeated by 254 votes to 237 votes. 19 Conservative MPs voted for the motion, and about 15 abstained. However the motion was lost because the ILP abstained.

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-...ual_Assistance .

[pipisme]

On 19 March the Senate debated a Liberal censure motion condemning the government's response to the German military re-occupation of the Rhineland. It was passed by a majority of 53 votes: 151 to 108. 16 Conservatives voted for the motion and 11 abstained.

Prime Minister Samuel Hoare said that the government would not change its foreign policy, which was in the country's best interest, because of the vote in the Senate.

In late March 1936 the government received the report of the committee set up in the previous December to consider the arguments for and against reimposing an oil sanction against Italy, which had been suspended by the Hoare government.

It advised that if oil sanction were universally applied by all members of the League of Nations, and if the United States limited its oil exports to Italy to their pre-1935 level, it would become effective in about three and a half to four months.

Sir Robert Vansittart, the British ambassador to the United States, telegraphed the Prime Minister that the United States was most unlikely to restrict its oil exports to Italy. There was a strong isolationist mood in America and Congress favoured a strict neutrality.

The French Prime Minister said that France could not impose an oil sanction in view of the threat by Mussolini that if there were any further extension of sanctions, Italy would leave the League of Nations.

Therefore the cabinet decided not to re-impose an oil sanction on Italy, though other financial and economic sanctions would continue. The expectedness of the oil sanction decision dampened down the outrage it caused in Britain.

[pipisme]

On 26 May 1936 Haile Selassie boarded a train from Addis Ababa to Djibouti. From there he went into exile in Britain. Three days later Italian troops marched into Addis Ababa. Though there was no formal surrender the war was now over.

On 2 June the British government announced that it was lifting all sanctions against Italy on the grounds that as the war was over they were now irrelevant. This decision was supported by Sir Austen Chamberlain and Anthony Eden who had previously argued strongly for sanctions.

It was passionately denounced by liberal/left opinion as being a betrayal of Abyssinia. Though there was some disquiet in the Conservative Party Harold Macmillan was the only Conservative MP who resigned from the party in opposition to the lifting of sanctions. He joined the Liberal Party and announced that he would resign as an MP and fight a by-election in his seat of Hertfordshire, Hitchin, which he had held since the October 1932 general election.

Macmillan's switch from Conservative to Liberal was not unexpected. He was on the far liberal wing of the Conservative Party.