This is my first attempt at a proper ATL, so go easy on me (any comments welcome though! 
).
The free trade vs. protectionism debate has emerged again and again in British politics, periodically dominating parliament and the nation, with Disraeli splitting the Conservative party over the issue in the 1840s and Joseph Chamberlain almost succeeding with his tariff scheme in the first decade of the twentieth century. Following the stock market crash in 1929, the idea of preferential trade within the Empire was again advanced – this time most fervently by the newspaper magnates behind the Daily Mail and other popular papers. Their attempt to form a new political party enjoyed early success and, if not for a speech denouncing their pretentions by Conservative leader Stanley Baldwin, they could have profoundly changed the course of British history.
Daily Mail article, 1930*
With unemployment leaping up week after week, and now in excess of 1,500,000; with works and mills closing down; with taxation rising and an inexpansive revenue, the nation is coming to realise that some swift, effective remedy must be applied without delay, if we are to avert disaster
TIME Magazine article, March 1930*
Flatly defying all three British political parties—Labour, Liberal and Conservative—the Lords Beaverbrook and Rothermere, spurred off on a new journalistic crusade last week, founded with blare and ballyhoo a fourth party: "The United Empire Party." Its opening manifesto went out to six million British homes, not as propaganda but in the news columns of the "Beavermere" press. It was topped by banner headlines, buttressed by editorials and addressed with shrewd psychology to "men and women."
Couched in the most personal terms and signed by Baron Beaverbrook, the manifesto began:
"It is now ten weeks since I invited all men and women who believe as I do on the matter of empire trade to join a crusade to further our objects. Already a hundred thousand men and women have enrolled as founder members and I receive daily from every part of the country and the empire letters revealing ardent hopes and intense enthusiasms inspired by the free-trade policy. It has aroused new hopes among people who were beginning to despair of ever being offered a straight forward constructive policy as a remedy for our unemployment and poor trade."
In point of fact the Beavermere scheme for "Empire Free Trade" is the exact reverse of '"straight-forward." Trade is to be free within the Empire, but around the Empire is to rise a tariff wall. Deliberately contradictory, this '"straight-for ward" scheme has been denounced in Parliament by all three parties, a fact of which the manifesto proceeded to take scathing note: "Snowden has poured out his scorn: Lloyd George has been moved to put on his full warpaint and to cut his most comical capers, and Baldwin looks the other way while some of his lieutenants threaten all who dare to believe in the economic union of the empire."
* Actual articles.
Against the Tide, by Winston Churchill
It was clear to those who knew the character of the men that Rothermere and Beaverbrook were making a concerted effort for power, attempting to disrupt and dislodge the Baldwin clique, either through defeating anti-tariff Conservatives in the polls or by forcing the Conservative party as a whole to adopt the misguided policies of the UEP.
Timeline
24th October 1929 - William Maxwell Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, publishes a pamphlet in which he sets out his pro-tariff agenda, stating that “The foodstuffs we need in this country could all be raised either in our own soil or in the British Dominions, Colonies and Protectorates. The coal, machinery and textiles that the increasing populations of our new territories overseas demand, could be supplied by the factories of Britain and the Dominions.”
2nd February 1930 – The United Empire Party is launched by Beaverbrook, supported by fellow press baron Harold Harmsworth, Lord Rothermere. A flood of pro-UEP articles and declarations appear in the Daily Mail and other publications.
30th October 1930 – The UEP wins its first seat in parliament at the Paddington South by-election, with its candidate Vice-Admiral Edward Taylor polling 11,209 votes, 37.4%, to 10,268 for the Tories.
19th February 1931 – At the Islington East by-election, the UEP candidate splits the conservative vote, pushing the Tories into third place and resulting in success for the labour party. The UEP polls 8,314 in second place to Labour’s 10,591.
March 1931 – The Conservative candidate for the upcoming by-election in Westminster St George’s withdraws from the race, stating that he cannot support Baldwin’s agenda in the face of UEP policies. Baldwin is advised by the Conservative Party chief agent to stand down. Baldwin resigns his post as leader of the opposition.**
** This is the POD – in OTL Baldwin had resigned himself to his fate but, at the last moment, was convinced to stay on by family and friends.
Baldwin - toppled by the press.
).The free trade vs. protectionism debate has emerged again and again in British politics, periodically dominating parliament and the nation, with Disraeli splitting the Conservative party over the issue in the 1840s and Joseph Chamberlain almost succeeding with his tariff scheme in the first decade of the twentieth century. Following the stock market crash in 1929, the idea of preferential trade within the Empire was again advanced – this time most fervently by the newspaper magnates behind the Daily Mail and other popular papers. Their attempt to form a new political party enjoyed early success and, if not for a speech denouncing their pretentions by Conservative leader Stanley Baldwin, they could have profoundly changed the course of British history.
‘Power without Responsibility’ - A 1930s TL
Daily Mail article, 1930*
With unemployment leaping up week after week, and now in excess of 1,500,000; with works and mills closing down; with taxation rising and an inexpansive revenue, the nation is coming to realise that some swift, effective remedy must be applied without delay, if we are to avert disaster
TIME Magazine article, March 1930*
Flatly defying all three British political parties—Labour, Liberal and Conservative—the Lords Beaverbrook and Rothermere, spurred off on a new journalistic crusade last week, founded with blare and ballyhoo a fourth party: "The United Empire Party." Its opening manifesto went out to six million British homes, not as propaganda but in the news columns of the "Beavermere" press. It was topped by banner headlines, buttressed by editorials and addressed with shrewd psychology to "men and women."
Couched in the most personal terms and signed by Baron Beaverbrook, the manifesto began:
"It is now ten weeks since I invited all men and women who believe as I do on the matter of empire trade to join a crusade to further our objects. Already a hundred thousand men and women have enrolled as founder members and I receive daily from every part of the country and the empire letters revealing ardent hopes and intense enthusiasms inspired by the free-trade policy. It has aroused new hopes among people who were beginning to despair of ever being offered a straight forward constructive policy as a remedy for our unemployment and poor trade."
In point of fact the Beavermere scheme for "Empire Free Trade" is the exact reverse of '"straight-forward." Trade is to be free within the Empire, but around the Empire is to rise a tariff wall. Deliberately contradictory, this '"straight-for ward" scheme has been denounced in Parliament by all three parties, a fact of which the manifesto proceeded to take scathing note: "Snowden has poured out his scorn: Lloyd George has been moved to put on his full warpaint and to cut his most comical capers, and Baldwin looks the other way while some of his lieutenants threaten all who dare to believe in the economic union of the empire."
* Actual articles.
Against the Tide, by Winston Churchill
It was clear to those who knew the character of the men that Rothermere and Beaverbrook were making a concerted effort for power, attempting to disrupt and dislodge the Baldwin clique, either through defeating anti-tariff Conservatives in the polls or by forcing the Conservative party as a whole to adopt the misguided policies of the UEP.
Timeline
24th October 1929 - William Maxwell Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, publishes a pamphlet in which he sets out his pro-tariff agenda, stating that “The foodstuffs we need in this country could all be raised either in our own soil or in the British Dominions, Colonies and Protectorates. The coal, machinery and textiles that the increasing populations of our new territories overseas demand, could be supplied by the factories of Britain and the Dominions.”
2nd February 1930 – The United Empire Party is launched by Beaverbrook, supported by fellow press baron Harold Harmsworth, Lord Rothermere. A flood of pro-UEP articles and declarations appear in the Daily Mail and other publications.
30th October 1930 – The UEP wins its first seat in parliament at the Paddington South by-election, with its candidate Vice-Admiral Edward Taylor polling 11,209 votes, 37.4%, to 10,268 for the Tories.
19th February 1931 – At the Islington East by-election, the UEP candidate splits the conservative vote, pushing the Tories into third place and resulting in success for the labour party. The UEP polls 8,314 in second place to Labour’s 10,591.
March 1931 – The Conservative candidate for the upcoming by-election in Westminster St George’s withdraws from the race, stating that he cannot support Baldwin’s agenda in the face of UEP policies. Baldwin is advised by the Conservative Party chief agent to stand down. Baldwin resigns his post as leader of the opposition.**
** This is the POD – in OTL Baldwin had resigned himself to his fate but, at the last moment, was convinced to stay on by family and friends.
Baldwin - toppled by the press.
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