alternatehistory.com
Cevolian - A HOUSE DIVIDED CANNOT STAND / BREAK YOUR LOAF
1902-1905: Joseph Chamberlain (Conservative-Liberal Unionist Coalition)
1905-1906: Henry Campbell-Bannermn (Liberal Minority)
1906-1907: Henry Campbell-Bannerman (Liberal)
1905: (Majority) def - Joseph Chamberlain (Unionist Coalition -- Conservative/Liberal Unionist), John Remond (Irish Parliamentary), Keir Hardie (Labour)
1907-1910: Herbert Asquith (Liberal Majority)
1910-1915: Herbert Asquith (Liberal)
1910: (Minority with IPP Confidence and Supply) def - Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne (Unionist), John Redmond (IPP), George Nicoll Barnes (Labour)
1910: (Majority) def - Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne (Unionist), George Wyndham (League for the Protection of the Constitution), John Redmond (IPP), George Nicoll Barnes (Labour)
1915: (Majority) def - Henry Milner (National), Arthur Balfour (Unionist), John Redmond (IPP), Eamon De Valera (Sinn Fein), William Adamson (Labour)
1915-1917: Edward Grey (Liberal Majority)
1917-1920: Richard Haldane (Liberal Majority)
1920-1925: Richard Haldane (Liberal)
1920: (Minority with Labour and IPP Confidence and Supply) def - Henry Page Croft (National), Arthur Balfour (Unionist), Eamon De Valera (Sinn Fein), Ramsay MacDonald (Labour), John Dillon (IPP)
1925-0000: Richard Cooper (National)
1925: (Minority with Unionist Confidence and Supply) def - Richard Haldane (Liberal), Eamon De Valera (Sinn Fein), Austen Chamberlain (Unionist), Ramsay McDonald (Labour), Jospeh Delvin (Nationalist), Disputed (IPP Factions), Henry Hyndman (National Socialists)
1929: (Majority) def - Richard Haldane (Liberal-Labour), Eamon De Valera/Joseph Delvin (United Rally for Irish Independence), David Lloyd George (Popular Liberal), George Nicoll Barnes (National Socialist Federation), Austen Chamberlain (Unionist)
Toryism for the Twentieth Century, a History
Foreword by Mr Harris Jenkins
As with so many other parties before them, the Conservative Party (or perhaps more aptly the "Unionist Coalition") was doomed to either totally evolve or die out once it outlived its historical and political purpose and when it was no longer able to balance the interests of its internal factions. So it was that, with Salisbury's resignation in 1902 the beginning of that tumultuous disintegration began. Had a more universally acceptable character beeen chosen as the party leader (such as the proposed Arthur Balfour) the party may have been better balanced. Instead the radical Joseph Chamberlain became PM, and although he only served for three year shfeornehis government fell and Campbell-Bannerman formed his minority government, his alienation of the radical right of the Conservative Party in particular would sow the seeds of the collapse of the Conservative Party.
Campbell-Bannerman himself only served two years as PM before he was killed by a stroke, but his successor did much to consolidate the Liberal dominance over the new "Unionist" party (an amalgamation of the Conservaive and Liberal Unionist parties). Whilst Asquith did not secure a majority in the first General Election of 1910 the second (called due to the Constitutional Crisis surrounding Lloyd George's "People's Budget") allowed a Liberal landslide as the arch Tories already soured to the party leadership, split away under George Wyndham to "defend King and Constitution". At the next election this new grouping, now under the formidable Milner, would overtake the party they had split from to second place, consolidating their future position as the inheritor of the "Tory" tradition of the Civil War's Cavaliers through Wellington, Disraeli, and Salisbury.
The position of Toryism would be further bolstered by the "Lowcountries crisis" in which Edward Grey (former Foreign Secretary and Asquith's successor) would destroy the bonds of friendship Chamberlain had formed with Germany by trying to prevent German troops passing through Belgium to France and nearly take Britain to war. Only an internal coup by Lloyd George and Haldane would see war prevented, although Belgium's drift into the German orbit and the crushing of France in the "Two Years War" (1916-1918) would lead to Britain becoming internationally isolated. The power struggle between Haldane and Lloyd George would further weaken the party, and it would only secure a minority in 1920 despite remaining in government. Over the course of the next Parliament the Liberals would be successively weakened, first by Britain's perceived failure to act in the unsuccessful Russian Revolution (1921-1923) and then over the "First Irish War" (1923) which would result in the Irish Nationalist Forces being defeated but the population radicalised.
In 1925 the National Party would finally enter government, first with a minority backed by the increasingly miniscule Unionist Party and then with a majority after 1929. Although Haldane's merger of the Liberals and moderates in Labour was able to capture some working class votes, the radicalism of the National Party was equally attractive to many and the Liberal and Labour votes were both split by forces opposed to the merger (led primarily by former Labour leader George Barnes and former Liberal Chancellor David Lloyd George). The beginning of the "Second Irish War" (1930-1934) would prove the first serious test of the National Party...
A HOUSE DIVIDED CANNOT STAND:
or
BREAK YOUR LOAF:
How Joe Chamberlain fulfilled his ambitions, but in doing so split his party...
or
BREAK YOUR LOAF:
How Joe Chamberlain fulfilled his ambitions, but in doing so split his party...
1902-1905: Joseph Chamberlain (Conservative-Liberal Unionist Coalition)
1905-1906: Henry Campbell-Bannermn (Liberal Minority)
1906-1907: Henry Campbell-Bannerman (Liberal)
1905: (Majority) def - Joseph Chamberlain (Unionist Coalition -- Conservative/Liberal Unionist), John Remond (Irish Parliamentary), Keir Hardie (Labour)
1907-1910: Herbert Asquith (Liberal Majority)
1910-1915: Herbert Asquith (Liberal)
1910: (Minority with IPP Confidence and Supply) def - Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne (Unionist), John Redmond (IPP), George Nicoll Barnes (Labour)
1910: (Majority) def - Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne (Unionist), George Wyndham (League for the Protection of the Constitution), John Redmond (IPP), George Nicoll Barnes (Labour)
1915: (Majority) def - Henry Milner (National), Arthur Balfour (Unionist), John Redmond (IPP), Eamon De Valera (Sinn Fein), William Adamson (Labour)
1915-1917: Edward Grey (Liberal Majority)
1917-1920: Richard Haldane (Liberal Majority)
1920-1925: Richard Haldane (Liberal)
1920: (Minority with Labour and IPP Confidence and Supply) def - Henry Page Croft (National), Arthur Balfour (Unionist), Eamon De Valera (Sinn Fein), Ramsay MacDonald (Labour), John Dillon (IPP)
1925-0000: Richard Cooper (National)
1925: (Minority with Unionist Confidence and Supply) def - Richard Haldane (Liberal), Eamon De Valera (Sinn Fein), Austen Chamberlain (Unionist), Ramsay McDonald (Labour), Jospeh Delvin (Nationalist), Disputed (IPP Factions), Henry Hyndman (National Socialists)
1929: (Majority) def - Richard Haldane (Liberal-Labour), Eamon De Valera/Joseph Delvin (United Rally for Irish Independence), David Lloyd George (Popular Liberal), George Nicoll Barnes (National Socialist Federation), Austen Chamberlain (Unionist)
Toryism for the Twentieth Century, a History
Foreword by Mr Harris Jenkins
As with so many other parties before them, the Conservative Party (or perhaps more aptly the "Unionist Coalition") was doomed to either totally evolve or die out once it outlived its historical and political purpose and when it was no longer able to balance the interests of its internal factions. So it was that, with Salisbury's resignation in 1902 the beginning of that tumultuous disintegration began. Had a more universally acceptable character beeen chosen as the party leader (such as the proposed Arthur Balfour) the party may have been better balanced. Instead the radical Joseph Chamberlain became PM, and although he only served for three year shfeornehis government fell and Campbell-Bannerman formed his minority government, his alienation of the radical right of the Conservative Party in particular would sow the seeds of the collapse of the Conservative Party.
Campbell-Bannerman himself only served two years as PM before he was killed by a stroke, but his successor did much to consolidate the Liberal dominance over the new "Unionist" party (an amalgamation of the Conservaive and Liberal Unionist parties). Whilst Asquith did not secure a majority in the first General Election of 1910 the second (called due to the Constitutional Crisis surrounding Lloyd George's "People's Budget") allowed a Liberal landslide as the arch Tories already soured to the party leadership, split away under George Wyndham to "defend King and Constitution". At the next election this new grouping, now under the formidable Milner, would overtake the party they had split from to second place, consolidating their future position as the inheritor of the "Tory" tradition of the Civil War's Cavaliers through Wellington, Disraeli, and Salisbury.
The position of Toryism would be further bolstered by the "Lowcountries crisis" in which Edward Grey (former Foreign Secretary and Asquith's successor) would destroy the bonds of friendship Chamberlain had formed with Germany by trying to prevent German troops passing through Belgium to France and nearly take Britain to war. Only an internal coup by Lloyd George and Haldane would see war prevented, although Belgium's drift into the German orbit and the crushing of France in the "Two Years War" (1916-1918) would lead to Britain becoming internationally isolated. The power struggle between Haldane and Lloyd George would further weaken the party, and it would only secure a minority in 1920 despite remaining in government. Over the course of the next Parliament the Liberals would be successively weakened, first by Britain's perceived failure to act in the unsuccessful Russian Revolution (1921-1923) and then over the "First Irish War" (1923) which would result in the Irish Nationalist Forces being defeated but the population radicalised.
In 1925 the National Party would finally enter government, first with a minority backed by the increasingly miniscule Unionist Party and then with a majority after 1929. Although Haldane's merger of the Liberals and moderates in Labour was able to capture some working class votes, the radicalism of the National Party was equally attractive to many and the Liberal and Labour votes were both split by forces opposed to the merger (led primarily by former Labour leader George Barnes and former Liberal Chancellor David Lloyd George). The beginning of the "Second Irish War" (1930-1934) would prove the first serious test of the National Party...
- Cevolian
- Word Count: 810