The flame of liberalism burns steady and brighter. A Timeline from 1945

A Gallup Poll in Britain in June 1945 recorded the following result in a question about voting intention: Labour 45%, Conservative 32%, Liberal 15%, Others 7%. (1)

In this TL the Liberal Party polls close to that amount in the general election in July, instead of 9.0% in OTL.

But first there is a minor POD that by the close of nominations on 25 June 1935 the Liberals had managed to find 345 candidates compared to 306 in OTL. The Liberals could theoretically win an overall majority of the 640 MPs in the House of Commons. Also Lady Violet Bonham-Carter, the daughter of Herbert Asquith, was nominated as Liberal candidate for Barnstaple, which elected a Liberal in 1935. While Mark Bonham-Carter, Asquith's grandson, was nominated as Liberal candidate for the Conservative held seat of Wells. In OTL the candidates were reversed.

The result of the general election was as follows:

Labour: 402 seats
Conservative and allies: 188 seats
Liberals: 25 seats
ILP: 3 seats
Communists: 2 seats
Irish Nationalists: 2 seats
Commonwealth Party: 1 seat
Independents: 17 seats
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Total: 640 seats
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Compared with the 1935 general election the Liberals gained four seats. In OTL only 12 Liberals were elected in 1945. Among the Liberals elected were Sir Archibald Sinclair, their leader; William Beveridge and Lady Violet Bonham-Carter. But Mark Bonham-Carter was unsuccessful in Wells.

(1) See British Political Facts 1900-1979.
 
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Relationships...

In OTL, Lady Violet Bonham-Carter was somewhat of a loose cannon and caused Clement Davies huge problems.

Archibald Sinclair was a close personal friend of Churchill and had been for many years.

Within the ranks of even the 25 remaining Liberals were a hotch-potch of characters such as Roderic Bowen and both Lady Megan and Gwilym Lloyd-George who were both far more supportive of Labour.

The question is whether Sinclair would have been more supportive of a Conservative-Liberal Pact against Labour in 1950.
 
Originally posted by stodge
Within the ranks of even the remaining 25 Liberals were a hotch-potch of characters such as Roderick Bowen and Lady Megan and Gwilym Lloyd-George who were both far more supportive of Labour.

Gwilym Lloyd-George was supportive of the Tories. He was a minister in Churchill's mainly 'caretaker' government of May to July 1945 and contested Pembrokeshire in a straight fight with Labour without Conservative opposition. I have included him in the Liberal total as he is counted as such in reference sources in OTL.

The percentage votes obtained by each party in the July 1945 general election were as follows (OTL in brackets)

Labour: 46.6 (48.0)
Conservative: 35.8 (39.6)
Liberal: 14.2 (9.0)
Independents and others: 3.4 (3.4)
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Total: 100.00 (100.00)
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In terms of votes, Labour polled around 11.7 million, the Conservatives just short of 9 million, and the Liberals over 3.6 million.
 
Liberals 1945

Fair point re: Gwilym but Lady Megan was definitely more in the Labour camp. I'm not convinced the Liberal MPs after 1945 had as much uniting them as dividing them.

Sinclair would have held the Parliamentary party together more effectively than Clement Davies but there were divisive elements.

Presumably the line from Sinclair to Grimond would likely still have occurred though perhaps a more successful Liberal Party puts Mark Bonham-Carter in the frame as an alternative leader - his sister married Jo Grimond and his mother was Violet Asquith so a strong Liberal lineage.
 
Originally posted by Some Bloke
They are not related to Helena Bonham-Carter by any chance?

They are. Lady Violet Bonham-Carter was her grandmother on her father's side and Mark Bonham Carter was her uncle. This article The Bonham-Carter family and the Liberal Party - http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2489853 - has interesting information on that family.

The following is taken from The Resurgence of the Liberal Party From 1945, Michael Meadowcroft, Oxford University Press (2010)

Even the most optimistic Liberal would have found it hard to believe after the 1945 general election that the Liberal Party would now be an important player in British politics.

Although the Liberals won 25 seats in the 1945 general election compared to 21 seats in 1935, its importance was not so much in the small advance, but that there was not a fall, much less an advance. It could not have been foreseen that although the number of Liberal MPs elected in future general elections would fluctuate, they would always be higher than 25. The 1945 election was more of a consolidation than an advance.
 
In August 1945 Sinclair appointed Wilfred Roberts (Liberal MP for Cumberland, North since 1935) as Liberal Chief Whip in the House of Commons. (1) Sir Percy Harris the Liberal Chief Whip in the previous parliament had lost his Bethnal Green, South-West seat to Labour in the general election.

In the Monmouth by-election held on 30 October 1945 Harry Crookshank, Postmaster-General in the May to July 1945 Churchill's "Caretaker" government and who had lost his Gainsborough seat to the Lberals, was returned to Parliament. In OTL Peter Thorneycroft was elected for Monmouth.

In the Bournemouth by-election held on 15 November 1945 which returned Brendan Bracken to the House of Commons (as in OTL) the Liberal vote increased from 27.2% in the general election to 32.9% in the by-election. The Liberal came second in both elections. In OTL the Liberal vote fell from 22.8% to 19.5% and the Liberal dropped from second to third place.

In this TL because the Conservative vote fell more than the Labour vote in the 1945 general election compared to OTL, Labour won 10 seats which went Conservative in OTL. Two of the Conservatives defeated in this TL were ministers in the "Caretaker" government. They were Henry Willink, Minister of Health, who was defeated in Croydon, North, and Osbert Peake, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, who lost Leeds, North.

They returned to the House of Commons in by-elections on 20 November 1945. Willink for Epsom caused by the elevation to the peerage of Sir Archibald Southby, and Peake for Birmingham, Moseley caused by the elevation to the peerage of Sir Patrick Hannon. The Liberals went from third to second place in Epsom. They did not contest Moseley.

In early February 1946 Sir Henry Morris-Jones, who represented Denbigh as a Liberal from 1929-1931 and as a Liberal National from 1931, returned to the Liberal Party. This increased the number of Liberal MPs to 26.

(1) Here is his Robert's biography on wikipedia, which is the same to 1945 in this TL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfred_Roberts .
 
Sir Henry Morris-Jones was the only Liberal National MP who crossed over to the Liberal Party, and he was counterbalanced by Tom Horabin (Cornwall, North) who joined the Labour Party in November 1947, as he did in OTL.

On 3 February 1950 Clement Attlee dissolved Parliament. Polling day for the general election would be 23 February.

The Liberal Party was confident of making significant advances and put up 540 candidates. Although Sir William Beveridge was not one of them. He decided to retire as MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Among the policies advocated in the Liberal Party manifesto were a drastic reduction in government expenditure, no consideration of any more nationalisation for five years, the abolition of conscription for the armed forces, giving council tenants the right to become owner occupiers, setting up Scottish and Welsh Parliaments, quicker action in developing the Council of Europe, and making European currencies convertible with one another. It was basically the same as the Liberal manifesto in OTL: http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/man/lib50.htm .

The number of MPs elected for each party in the general election were as follows (general election 1945 in this TL in brackets).

Labour: 327 (402)
Conservative: 264 (188)
Liberal: 32 (25)
Irish Nationalist: 2 (2)
Independents and other parties: 0 (23)
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Total: 625 (640)
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Therefore there was a Labour majority of 29 over all parties, which was enough for a five year term, provided it was not eroded away by loss of seats in by-elections and/or defections from the party. In OTL Labour had a majority of 5 over all parties.

The percentage votes for each party were as follows (this TL 1945 in brackets):

Labour: 43.6 (46.6)
Conservative: 39.0 (35.8)
Liberal: 16.1 (14.2)
Others: 1.3 (3.4)
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Total: 100.00 (100.00)
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The Birmingham Post reported that Mr. J. E. Powell, former Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, one time Professor of Greek at Sydney University, and a member of the Conservative Research Department, was defeated by the sitting Labour member in Wolverhampton, South-West by a majority of 136 votes.

Another high-flying Conservative candidate who was unsuccessful was Edward Heath. He was beaten in Bexley by the sitting Labour MP by a majority of 953 votes.

In this TL the Liberal Party took more votes from the Conservatives than from Labour compared to OTL.
 
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I have decided not to continue with this TL. Having four TLs is too many and this one is the newest and has the fewest comments. I will be continuing with my other three TLs.
 
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