Channel... Bridge...
Excuse me, I need to have a lie down. That was too awesome for me to comprehend.
Anyway, another possibility.
Bertrand Russell (Lib): A descendent of the former Liberal Prime Minister, Russell was originally disinterested with politics, choosing to devote his life to academia. After graduating with first class honours from Cambridge, where he was described by one tutor, A.F. Whitehead as
"Quite the ablest man I have ever taught", he embarked on the then customary "Grand Tour" of Europe which would forever shape his political leanings. Appalled at the poor standards of living he witnessed both home and away, Russell became one of the founding members of the Darwinist Society, a socialist group calling for gradual change in British society. Russell played a key role in breaking away from the group's original Imperialist dogma in favour of a more pacifistic tone and was one of the founding members of the London School of Economics, where he lectured on Modern Political Theory between 1883 and 1909. He resigned from this position following his election to Parliament as a member of the newly formed Radical Liberal Party.
Although only one of only three of that party's MP's elected that year, alongside Sidney Webb and Henry Wells. Russell played a major role in opening ties with the fledgling Independent Labour Party and the Liberal Party of Herbert Gladstone who collectivity brought down Lord Curzon's minority administration in the aftermath of the Third Transvaal War. Following the formation of a three-party pact between the three parties, Russell became Foreign Secretary following the 1909 General Election. Soon after, the Radical Liberals folded back into the larger, national party.
Russell would adopt a strongly neutral position during his tenure at the Foreign Office, refusing to countenance any further alliance with France and Russia over fears that
All attempts at creating strictly bi-national relations inevitably lead to conflict with opposing powers". Russell would be vindicated in his fears after France's defeat to Germany in the short but bloody conflict prompted by the 1913 Marrakesh Crisis and the horrific casualty rates seen in the Great Eastern War between Russia, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. Hailed as a hero by the public and seen as being one of the most vocal supporters of social reforms, Russell became Prime Minister the following year at the age of 42, the youngest for over half a century.
Russell's premiership would last for just over eight years during which time the British Empire would undergo radical restructuring. Russell personally loathed Imperialism, but would state that,
"Pragmatically, one must admit that the Empire can be a tremendous force for good in the world". Together with his successor at the Foreign Office, Herbert Asquith, the Empire was further devolved in power. With Winston Churchill, the Colonial Secretary, Russell masterminded the plan was was to give India full home rule as a Dominion and with his Chancellor, George Lansbury, the wide-ranging social reforms that established the modern day welfare state would begin.
Despite this, Russell's idealism was to prove his downfall. Despite presiding over a further merger between the Liberals and the majority of the Labour Party, his attempts to stare down the House of Lords following the 1922 Budget deadlock were to rob him of much of his parliamentary support. Despite managing to win the subsequent general election, he was mentally and physically exhausted by the campaign and resigned the following year, succeeded by his talented protégé, Stafford Cripps who would continue his reforming zeal before the Liberal defeat to the resurgent Conservative-Vitalist victory in 1926, the first to be held under proportional representation.
Following his retirement, Russell served the remainder of his long life in world affairs. He became the first General-Secretary of the International League of Labour Reform in 1930 where he pushed for the global abolition of the slave trade as well as playing a key role in the mediation between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Republic in the aftermath of the Sino-Japanese War.