New Britain (My Latest Attempt at a TL)

On May 29th 1929, the British electorate went to the ballot box to vote in a general election. Poverty was a major issue in the campaign, along with a sense that Britain was a nation in decline and the majority of people in the cities were looking to improve their lot. Labour Party leader John R Clynes, elected Party leader after the death of Ramsay Macdonald in a car accident a year previously, campaigned on ending poverty and creating a new, fairer Britain, based on a network of public works, alongside nationalisation of the coal industry and reorganization of the rail network.

This was opposed by Stanley Baldwins Conservative Government, who argued that Socialism was not the answer, that domestically a Protectionist approach should be adopted to British Companies to help stimulate trade and with regards to International trade every attempt should be made to enact Imperial Preference which was seen as a way of securing British Markets for the future.

Lloyd Georges Liberal Party, aware that they were heading for an electoral disaster, crushed between a Labour-Conservative juggernaut made a secret deal with the Labour Party similar to the deal which was enacted in 1911. Labour Candidates would not be given adequate support in seats in which the Liberals were close in terms of number of votes, and vice versa, it proved crucial.

The result was astounding for the Labour Party, who won a majority of 79. Even Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer, Neville Chamberlain lost his seat, to the young but impressive Oswald Moseley. Five years after the first Labour Government, a minority Government fell. Labour ensured its first majority Government. John Clynes became the second Labour Prime Minister. Britain looked forward with anticipation to the future.

Sorting out the personalities.

After the election victory, Clynes set about arranging his cabinet. He made three controversial decicions in setting up his cabinet, firstly his decision to merge the Air and War Ministrys to form a Ministry of Defence, alongside a new post of Defence Secretary. The former posts of Air and War Secretary would become non-Cabinet Ministerial Jobs under the Defence secretary. This was done for several reasons, firstly by merging the departments it was believed that it would lead to departmental savings and increase co-operation at ministerial level between the ministers, and that combined they could argue for international multilateral disarmament with a stronger voice than they could alone.

The second decision was to create the Welsh Office, which was to work alongside the Home Office and the Scottish Office. The headquarters were to be in Cardiff. It was made clear that this was a pre-cursor to future devolution plans*. This was opposed by the Conservatives, who believed that such a move of not only creating a Welsh Office but basing it in Wales was detrimental to the Union. Lord Carson attacking "The Perfidious influence of Socialism, which not only gave succour to Irish Seperatism, but also seeks to destroy all that is pure about the Union of Great Britain."

The third was not only creating a post of Health Secretary, but appointing a woman to be the Health Secretary, fears of a radical Government inflicted the right.

<b>The Cabinet</p>
Prime Minister :John Robert Clynes
Chancellor of the Exchequer: William Graham
Home Secretaryhillip Snowden
Foriegn and Commonwealth Secretary: Arthur Henderson
Health Secretary: Margaret Bondfield
Dominion & Colonial Secretary:Jack Lawson
Employment and Labour Secretary:Sir Oswald Mosley
Defence Secretary:Arthur Greenwood
Scottish Secretary:William Adamson
Northern Ireland Secretary:Tom Johnston
Welsh Secretary: Vernon Hartshorn
Transport Secretary: George Lansbury

Interesting

seconded

NHS/Amery/India

The first act put to the Commons by the Government was a plan to Nationalise the Health Service and create a new National Health Service. It had passed the Commons by August 3rd 1929, with Margaret Bondfield, the Health Secretary proclaiming

"No longer will the working poor of our nation suffer the indignity of suffering in silence, some without aid or succour unless they can somehow manage to get charity, here, at the heart of the worlds greatest Empire. It is our Governments intention that a new national health service be created under which; all Hospitals in the United Kingdom be brought under, all General Practitioners will become members, and dentistry will also fall under the scope of this new service.
Whilst the Government acknowledges the opposition from parts of the BMA, mainly through fear of loss of income, it is the way forward for the country. As a consession, GPs, dentists and other health service workers may continue to treat patients privately, should they so wish, and hospitals may be built privately, but it is our intention that the Health Service shall come into being by June next year."Opposition from the BMA was a case of understatement, they were furious that the plans were being pushed through so quickly, but with the Government being prepared to use the Parliament Act on the issue, there was no stopping it. On the 5th September 1929, the Bill Passed the Lords, helped on its way by the 100 peers created by Clynes on taking power, the National Health Service had now come into being.

On the 18th August, under pressure from his own side, Baldwin resigned as leader of the Conservative Party. From within the Magic Circle emerged Leo Amery. He immediately started off with staunch, albiet futile opposition to the Governments plans on health.

Amery was aware that the Government was planning round table discussions over India, and decided to act as the defender of Empire against the Socialist Hordes. He was aware that the Empire would his first chance to knock the government down. The tabloid paper the 'Daily Mirror' christened him "Imperial Leo".

Jammy said:

seconded

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Thirded

Indian Round Table Talks/Amery crusades for the Empire/Changes

Talks began between the Government and representitives of the INC in London on the 10th of September 1929 and continued for much of the next month. During the talks, Arthur Henderson tried to moderate the INC demands, but privately conceeded that some form of internal home rule was a demand which should be met in some form if they were to come to a succesful conclusion. Clynes, under pressure from Amery was inclined to concentrate on the divisions within the Raj itself, and on this subject he was backed by most prominantly Moseley, but others within the Cabinet, exposing a split over policy on the subject.

Leo Amery was as good as his word in attacking the Government over the issue of Indian Seperatism as he viewed it, and in doing so rallied the press to his side, and with that as the backdrop, the talks were abandoned on the 25th September, with the reasons behind the failure reaching the leader of the Opposition in the form of a letter from Snowden to Clynes critising the failure and personally blaming Moseley, he made enormous Political Capital out of the subject, portraying the Government as "weak, divided and undecided."

Snowden resigned as Home Secretary over the letter, which damaged the image of the Government, claiming in his resignation speech that the Prime Minister was weak and easily influenced by Fleet Street.

Phillip Snowden was replaced by George Lansbury, with Moseley being moved to Transport, and Clement Attlee, the young, quiet but bright backbencher being brought in at Employment.

Despite the troubles, the Government carried on regardless into and through October, unaware of the financial storm which was about to erupt over the whole world.

1929 cabinet

Northern Ireland Secretary:Tom Johnston - the post of NI Sec of State was not created until 1973. Until then (from 1922) the Governor of Northern Ireland was the crown representitive. When the Stormont parliment was abolished so was the Governor post and the new cabinet post of Sec of State created.

If as a result of your POD we see the abolishion of Stormont in 1929 it will lead to some very interesting results!

still good keep it up Fletch

blab said:

Northern Ireland Secretary:Tom Johnston - the post of NI Sec of State was not created until 1973. Until then (from 1922) the Governor of Northern Ireland was the crown representitive. When the Stormont parliment was abolished so was the Governor post and the new cabinet post of Sec of State created.

If as a result of your POD we see the abolishion of Stormont in 1929 it will lead to some very interesting results!

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Doh!!!

An oversight on my part. Stormont exsists in ttl, but I falsly assumed at the same time as the post of NI Sec, I should have checked on this. As the post of Welsh Secretary was created in ttl in 1929, have the NI Post of NI Sec created also, to enable a voice towards the affairs of NI in the cabinet on non-reserved matters(in theory, although at the moment in ttl the post is filled by a scot), in conjuction with Stormont, and hopefully bring Stormont closer to Westminster within the Union, this could go down well amongst a section of the population of NI, whom at this time Labour is still trying to canvass for support and where they are still standing at elections.

In the 1929 manifesto of OTL, and the manifesto of ttl, was a commitment to creating a Welsh, Scottish and English Assembly, but was never enacted as not a priority, and is not a priority in ttl either, the post of Welsh Secretary was created as a pre-cursor to this, although, again I stress major constitutional change, with regards to devolution is not going to happen ittl for a long time if at all. In the sense of Labours election Commitment creating a NI Secretary makes sense.

That being said the Governor still exsists in post to sign bills passed by Stormont.

The Aftermath of the 29' Wall Street Crash-The Remainder of 1929

The Cabinet met to discuss how best to deal with the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash. Shares across the board had collapsed in value, Sterling had gone into deflation, businesses across the board were going bust and unless something was done quickly the British Economy would collapse.

With the cabinet split over the issue the deciding vote came from the Prime Minister himself, who decided that Britain must remove itself from the Gold Standard, introduce tarrifs to protect British Business, and bring in strict price regulation and control, in an effort to stop the inflation this measure would undoubtedly bring.

In protest at a matter of economic policy this important going to the cabinet and the decision being one which the Chancellor disagreed with was too much. William Graham threatened to resign unless the policy desision went the other way. Clynes was unmovable on the issue, seeing this as a questioning of his authority. He accepted Grahams resignation and replaced him immediately with Moseley, with Tom Johnston moving to Transport and bringing James Henry Thomas being brought into the cabinet at Northern Ireland.

Amery, seeing the Government as being in disaray over the issue was screaming for an election, in addition to which Lloyd Georges Liberal Party was enjoying a resurgance after he printed an article in the Manchester Guardian stating his solution to the crisis.

Clynes called Moseley to number ten to discuss the matter. Moseley was surprisingly not too concerned about the Depression.

"Dont you see Prime Minister, the Price of the Privately owned Industries has bottomed out, we can fullfill out manifesto pledge, of nationalising the major industries, and bring people back into work, we may never have an opportunity like this again..."

1930

1930 was a very busy year for the Government. The Railways were nationalised and turned into British Rail, the Bank of England was Nationalised, the Coal and Steel Industries were nationalised, with several pits and steel mills which had closed down after the Wall Street Crash being re-opened. In addition to all of this, plans for mass slum clearance, with the slums being replaced by electrified council houses with indoor toilets and plans were announced that Britain would be linked up by a series of Motorways, although the plans for this were in their infancy.

All of this cost a great deal of course, and Britains national debt began to rise, but the costs were kept down, mainly due to price freezes across the board, and increased spending, created by the jobs from the nationalised industries, a 5% cut in defence spending and various other measures. It was happening slowly but by the end of the year Britains economy started to grow again. Due to the rash of nationalizations, unemployement had been kept below one million for the second half of the year. Unemployment had peaked in December 1929 at two million. The people were grateful for the fact they were back in work, on this something was being done.

During the year talks over India were renewed with Arthur Henderson making progress on the issue. Gandhi had personally attended the talks and made clear his intention of an independent Indian State. Henderson made a social plea to Gandhi over the issue, pointing out the sectarianism which would appear within the Raj, should India become Independent. Gandhi made a stinging reply "Much as you do in Ireland Mr Henderson?" He went on to state that non-cooperation would continue until Independence, but softened when Henderson suggested a fully democratic Indian Assembly, with many powers over internal affairs, with Foreign and Defence matters being controlled from London, and an Imperial Central Bank being established to link the Indian and British Economies, to ensure the Rupee remained stable, if this was agreed, India could expect absolutely no trade barriers between the sub-continent and any off the other colonies or Great Britain, in effect giving India more influence within the Empire. The INC delegates delegates agreed in December to take the sum of the discussions away so they could discuss the matters further. Further talks were agreed for 1931.

Amery was furious at this, as he saw it as "The Government of the Greatest Nation, the head of the Greatest Empire in the world is being held to ransom by a bunch of colonials."The Government countered that an endto non-cooperation would help British trade more than nasty rhetoric.

In september the Nazis became the second largest Party in German elections.

1931

Spain declared itself a Republic, the King abdicated and the Monarch moved into exile in France. The British recognised the new regime, and after the initial elections when the Socialists won power, Clynes made his first foriegn trip as Prime Minister, where he made a declaration of friendship between the Spanish Republic and Great Britain.

During this year the Government announced plans for slum clearance up and down Britain. To gain the labour to achieve the task a National Service for Public Works Commitee was established, and 250,000 fit unemployed, men would build the new council houses. The exsisting properties would be bought via complusory purchase, and only if the owner lived in the property would they be allowed to own the replacement house(even this was a consession).

This was a major scheme, but was seen as a way to build a more modern Britain. It was agreed that all the future council houses would be electrified and have indoor toilet/bathrooms, the scheme would raise more than one million people out of relative poverty.

Amery was again angry at this scheme, as it violated as he saw it the right of property to be owned by the individual, and promised to reverse the scheme should he enter Downing Street. The Lords rejected the scheme twice, but in November it was passed by the Parliament Act and the first demolition happened in the Gorbals area of Glasgow on the 12th December.

In addition to all of this, a new motor car company was set up "The Puma Company", although being independent, with serious government support(the government owned 40% of the shares)it copied the production line model used by Ford in America, and offered the people cheap cars which could be pre-ordered on HP. Due to the backing and heavy advertising, two million orders were placed throughout the year.

The INC stated they would consider the plans, and remain within the Empire on a conditional basis, that

1)India is given full Dominion Status.
2)Free Trade and movement would be given to India throughout the Empire.
3)That should an Imperial Central Bank be created, that India, along with each of the other dominions and the UK be given one representitve on its board.

Aware that the INC was split over this and some considered total independence a total non negotiable issue, the Government decided to defer the decision to a Commonwealth and Empire Heads of Government meeting in November in London. Talks were ongoing and continued into the new year.

This is getting more and more interesting

I seconds Birdie's statement.

1932

During 1932 the BBC made its first television broadcast, a medium dismissed by the PM as a "gimmick which will never catch on". The Nazis also became the largest party in Germany, albiet still in opposition. Clynes covertly arranged MI6 to infiltrate the Nazi Party to find out what type of Government the Nazis would offer. The Nazis leader, Adolf Hitlers book Mein Kampf had hardly been encouraging.

The Imperial HOG Conference was forced into major comprimises amidst splits in the British Government about the issue of free trade, principally due to the fact Britain had nationalised industries. By March the Free Trade agreement was in place but with some major exclusions. It covered all foodstuffs entering or leaving the individual colonies or dominions of the Empire, it included linen and material goods, and interestingly defence contracts. At the same time the Imperial and Commonwealth Central Bank was established. India was offered something short of full dominion status, and as a result the INC peaceful protests continued.

At the 1932 Summer Olympics, Great Britain finished seventh in the medal table, winning seven gold medals. The performance was seen as below what the nation should expect.

In August, a defence review was carried out. Its conclusions were hardly heartwarming. It concluded that whilst the RN was still a match for any fleet in the world, if two great powers united, then Great Britain would be isolated.

It also stated that the size of the army was too small given the responsibilities of both the Empire and the defence of the home islands, and that all three branches of the Armed Services should be both reformed and increased in number, in the case of the Army, doubled. The Defence Secretary Greenwood sat on the report, under orders from the Prime Minister.

In November Moseley, who was on holiday in Kenya visiting Lord Erroll, was caught by reporter making love to Alice de Janzé, a divorcee American millionairess and member of the notorious Happy Valley Set. As both were single, the story was blown out of all proportions, but it made the front pages of all the Tabloid Papers, and attracted condemnation from the churches, who attacked Moseleys morality. The scandal was rode out by the government, who looked forward to the new year with vigour.

Ta to everone who has replied so far

very good for some reason i really can't see where this is going lol im so pleased

Very interesting,

So is this a socialist government or a true national socialist government?

I don't see the conservatives winning anytime sone as the poorer people seem to be happy with the current situation and happy people don't generally make changes in government unless of course they're too lazy to vote.

Syphon said:

Very interesting,

So is this a socialist government or a true national socialist government?

I don't see the conservatives winning anytime sone as the poorer people seem to be happy with the current situation and happy people don't generally make changes in government unless of course they're too lazy to vote.

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A Socialist Government, although with Mosley being in the cabinet I can see why you would ask. Mosley didnt turn over to the BUF and general insanity until he left the Labour Party. Election year is coming soon!