Stanley Baldwin's Successful Political Gamble: A TL from 1923

pipisme

After the Italian capture of Mombasa on 30 April 1945, the Labour Party tabled a motion of no confidence in the Conservative/Liberal coalition government, on its conduct of the war against Italy. It was debated in the House of Commons on 1st and 2nd May 1945. In the vote at the end pf the debate, the motion was defeated by 304 to 311 votes. However 22 Liberal MPs voted with Labour against the government, and 12 abstained.
 

EvilJam

pipisme said:
So far I have not said anything about the German monarchy. I need to research likely candidates for king.
Click to expand...
Fair enough.
I can't remember which, but I do remember at least one member of the main line attended Nazi rallies and was quite pro-nazi. It is why the current Hohenzollerns can't get their communist confiscated palaces back, because German law says the property of Nazis wont be returned.
 

pipisme

Following a referendum in Germany in September 1942 which showed a majority of 76.8% to 23.2% in favour of the restoration of the monarchy, Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia, became king of Germany, as a constitutional monarch on the British model. He was a grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Ludwig Beck resigned as President of Germany.
 
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pipisme

The Italian advance in Kenya and Sudan continued in April and May 1945. In Kenya Italian troops advanced south from Ethiopia, capturing Marsabit on 25 April and Wajir three days later. (1) During May they continued their advance south, and north-west from Mombasa, both advances 4 with Nairobi as their objective.

In Sudan Italian forces captured Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast on 6 May. (2) They could now fire on British ships sailing up and down the Red Sea, to and from the Suez Canal. During May the Italian advance continued west from Kassala and south-west from Port Sudan, to Khartoum.

(1) For Marsabit and Wajir see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsabit, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wajir.

(2) For Port Sudan see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Sudan.
 

pipisme

On 9 May 1945, William Wedgwood Benn and Isaac Foot, the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Minister of Education respectively, resigned from the coalition government. Together with 25 other Liberal MPs, including the 12 in the Radical Action Group, they resigned the Liberal Whip and crossed the floor of the House of Commons to sit on the opposition benches. They formed themselves into the Radical Liberal Party, commonly called the Rad Libs, which is the name I will call them. Megan Lloyd George left the Liberal Party for the Rad Libs.

Also on 9 May, Winston Churchill resigned as Dominions Secretary and the Conservative Whip. He crossed the floor of the House of Commons to the opposition benches as an Independent.

The next day, Anthony Eden made the following changes to the government; Ronald Cartland from Minister of State Foreign Office to Dominions Secretary, Harry Crookshank from Secretary Board of Overseas Trade to Minister of State Foreign Office, Oliver Lyttleton appointed Secretary Board of Overseas Trade. These were Conservative MPs. Sir Hugh Seely made the following changes to replace Wedgwood Benn and Foot: James Henderson Stewart from Under Secretary Scottish Office to Secretary of State for Scotland, Jo Grimond joined the government as Under Secretary Scottish Office, Lucy Masterman from Minister of National Insurance to Minister of Education, Gwilym Lloyd-George from Under Secretary Home Office to Minister of National Insurance.
 
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pipisme

The Radical Liberals were not only those Liberals who opposed their party going into coalition with the Tories, but also those who were appalled by the government's disastrous record as regards the war with Italy, and wanted an all party coalition including Labour during the war. William Wedgwood Benn was unanimously chosen as leader of the Rad Libs. He appointed Richard Acland as their Chief Whip.

Italian troops continued their advances in Kenya and Sudan. On 1 May 1945 they captured the small town of Mado Gashi, followed by Makindu on 8 May, and Machakos, 39 miles south-east of Nairobi. (1)

Wedgwood Benn's son, Anthony, became a pilot officer in the Royal Air Force on 3 April 1945. He served in Kenya and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He died in aerial combat over Makindu on 8 May.

In Sudan, Italian troops captured the capital, Khartoum, on 24 May, after heavy bombing and street fighting.

(1) For these towns see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mado_Gashi, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makindu, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machakos.
 

pipisme

On Monday 12 June 1945, the italian occupation authorities in Sudan exploited the rivalry between north and south Sudan by declaring the latter to be the independent republic of South Sudan, with Juba as its capital (1) Pietro Badoglio was appointed Italian High Commissioner in South Sudan. It was nominally at least an independent nation, and not part of the Italian Empire. Though it was required to be neutral in the war with Great Britain.

(1) It had the same boundaries as South Sudan in OTL. See the map on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sudan.
 

pipisme

In Kenya, Italian troops advanced south from Nairobi and reached the border with the Tanganyiga on Friday 8 June 1945. But they did not attempt to cross it. Previously they had reached the border further east five weeks earlier on 4 May, having advanced south-west from Mombasa. But made no attempt to cross it.

In Sudan, Italian forces captured the city of Atbara on the Nile on Monday 18 June 1945. (1) It was the centre of the railway industry in Sudan.

(1) For Atbara see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atbara
 
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pipisme

The day after the Italian capture of Atbara, the Labour Party in the House of Commons tabled a motion of no confidence in the Conservative/Coalition government. In spite of objections by the Leader of the House, Oliver Stanley, to the motion being debated because such a motion had been debated only seven weeks previously and had been defeated, the Speaker allowed it because the parliamentary artithmetic had changed with the formation of the Radical Liberal Party.

The motion was debated on 20 and 21 June 1945. At the end of the debate, the vote was 316 in favour to 303 against. The government resigned on Friday 22 June and Thomas Johnston, the leader of the Labour Party, which was the largest in the House of Commons, became Prime Minister.
 
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pipisme

The Prime Minister entered into negotiations with Sir Anthony Eden, Sir Hugh Seely and William Wedgwood Benn, the leaders of the Conservative, Liberal, and Radical Liberal parties respectively, about forming a coalition government. They agreed to enter into coalition with Labour.

Here is the war cabinet appointed on 23 June 1945 (party allegiance):
Prime Minister: Thomas Johnston (Lab)
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons: Sir Anthony Eden (Con)
Lord Privy Seal: Viscount Cranborne (Con)
Chancellor of the Exchequer: Hugh Dalton (Lab)
Foreign Secretary: Sir Hugh Seely (Lib)
Home Secretary: William Wedgwood Benn (Rad Lib)
Minister of Defence: Winston Churchill (Independent)
Minister of Labour and National Service: Ellen Wilkinson (Lab)
Minister Resident in the Middle East ( in Cairo): Clement Attlee (Lab)
Minister of Supply: Ronald Cartland (Con)
 

pipisme

These were the ministers outside the cabinet:
First Lord of the Admiralty: Albert Victor Alexander (Lab)
Secretary of State for Air: Geoffrey Mander (Lib)
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: Walter Morrison ( Con)
Minister of Civil Aviation: Duke of Devonshire (Con)
Colonial Secretary: Leo Amery (Con)
Commonwealth Relations Secretary: Philip Noel-Baker (Lab)
Minister of Education: Lucy Masterman (Lib)
Minister of Fuel and Power: David Grenfell (Lab)
Minister of Health: George Buchanan (Lab)
Lord Chancellor: Lord Somervell (Con)
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster: Osbert Peake (Con)
Minister of National Insurance: Gwilym Lloyd-George (Lib)
Paymaster-General: Arthur Greenwood (Lab)
Minister of Pensions: Richard Austen Butler (Con)
Postmaster-General: Alfred Ernest Brown (Lib)
Minister of Production: Isaac Foot (Rad Lib)
Secretary of State for Scotland: Emmanuel Shinwell (Lab)
Minister of Town and Country Planning: Richard Acland (Rad Lib)
President of the Board of Trade: Charles Waterhouse (Con)
Minister of Transport: Leslie Burgin (Lib)
Secretary of State for War: Aneurin Bevan (Lab)
Law Officers:
Attorney-General: Sir Stafford Cripps (Lab)
Solicitor-General: Sir David Maxwell Fyfe (Con).
 

pipisme

The appointments of Churchill as Minister of Defence and Bevan as Secretary of State for War received the most comment. There was much hope that the new all party coalition government would prosecute the war against Italy with more vigour and determination than the previous Conservative/Liberal coalition.

In Kenya, Italian troops were stopped just short of the town of Nakuru on 4 July 1945. (1) The town had become the seat of government after the Italian capture of Nairobi. British and East African forces counter attacked.

In Sudan, the government relocated to the town of Al-Ubayyid after the fall of Khartoum. (2). Italian troops captured Ar-Rahad, about forty miles south-east of Al-Ubayyid, on 25 June. (3) Three days later they reached the outskirts of Al-Ubayyid on 28 June, but did not capture the town.

(1) For Nakuru see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakuru.

(2) See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Ubayyid.

(3) For Ar-Rahad see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ar_Rahad.
 
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pipisme

British and East African troops continued their advance in Kenya, both from the west and from the south from Tanganyiga. Mombasa was liberated on 9 July 1945, and Nairobi the following day.

In Sudan, after their capture of Atbara on 18 June, the Italians continued their advance north, following the River Nile. They took the town of Abu Hamad on 25 June. (1). But that was their limit of their advance north. A British and Egyptian counter attack retook the town on 28 June and Atbara on 3 July. The railway workers there had gone on strike and organised themselves into an armed militia.

(1) For Abu Hamad see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Hamad.
 

pipisme

On 6 July 1945 Italian troops invaded Egypt from Libya, along the Mediterranean coast. They advanced east as far as Sidi Abdel Rahman. (1) There they were stopped and defeated by British forces in a battle fought from 22 to 24 July. Italian troops retreated west, pursued by the British who reached the Libyan border on 4 August 1945.

(1) See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidi_Abdel_Rahman.
 
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