Part 1
Devvy
Donor
And so begins a shortish timeline...
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The Eden Premiership (Conservative, 1955-1960, won election 1955)
The United Kingdom today owes a significant part of it's heritage to the efforts of Anthony Eden. In 1956, Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal - as legally allowed, if controversial - and set in to play a series of events for the United Kingdom. Although recognising Egypt's right to nationalise the canal, as long as the flow of traffic was not interfered with and the charging process remained reasonable, Eden was wary of Nasser. In to this mix were the Malta integration talks, headed by the Maltese Dom Mintoff, who was frequently unpredictable. Much of the discussions were financial & economic in subject; Mintoff's desire for economic parity with the UK met with British hesitance over writing a blank cheque every year to Malta. Social programmes would be expensive to fund in Malta due to demographics, whilst the tax earned would be far smaller.
Outline agreement had been found in 1956, and the Maltese national referendum on the matter backed the proposal; just roughly 75% of voters did so to join the UK. In terms of the electorate, just over 51% voted to join the UK, 15% voted against integration, and just over 34% didn't vote - either not caring or abstaining. Integration would see Malta become part of the UK along similar lines to Northern Ireland; a full part of the country, electing MPs to Westminster and a local "Maltese Assembly" taking care of local affairs. In light of the experiences of Northern Ireland, several powers were reserved to Westminster, primarily around the economy given the expected expense of Maltese integration.
Although Eden had decided to not take military action in Egypt regarding the Suez Canal, mindful of the effects of pushing many other Arab countries towards outright nationalism or communism or triggering a wider conflict, the affair had laid clear the separate interests of the United States and the United Kingdom, the former of whom had made abundantly clear it's rejection of any military action and hinted at counter-action if Britain did so. The action highlighted the requirement to be prepared for conflict either in the Atlantic or in the Mediterranean, whilst also maintaining the imperial presence East of Suez. A home base in Malta, outright owned and operated by the Royal Navy would tie in with this objective well, whilst also sitting not far from Egypt where a conflict could quickly arise over transit rights in the canal. The words of Eisenhower, warning Eden not to invade Egypt and failure to back up the UK - who thought they were a key US ally - soured UK-US relations, creating a rift between the two allies.
And so in 1959, Malta acceded to the United Kingdom - then a unique event, and unparalleled since 1801 when Ireland was merged in to the United Kingdom alongside Great Britain for better or worse. Over the next 15 years, Malta would be gradually invested in and economic parity targeted with at least the lower UK regions. The 1958 Act of Union, passed in both Westminster and Valetta merged Malta in to the United Kingdom, although for the first time since the English-Welsh legal union in the 16th century, the flag would remain unchanged. Malta was assigned three constituencies for the sake of elections to Westminster; Gozo, Malta North and Malta South, and a 12 year transition period (having begun in 1958 with the Acts of Union) would work to economically integrate Malta in to the United Kingdom and achieve rough equivalence with Great Britain (in terms of purchasing power parity).
The 1960 election would be the first to elect 3 MPs from the Maltese constituencies. Eden had recognised early on that Malta would likely be Labour leaning, and the alliance of the Maltese Labour Party with the UK-wide Labour party confirmed suspicions that all 3 constituencies would return Labour MPs - at least initially. The electoral fight was for Eden's successor, Macmillan, to conduct however, and the booming economy in the late 1950s led the electorate to return the Conservative Government - but with a far reduced majority.
The Macmillan Premiership (Conservative, 1960-1963, won election 1960)
The Macmillan Premiership, despite winning the 1960 election, had a reduced majority, and the working majority was quickly too narrow during crunch votes. Despite this, Macmillan was responsible for two major steps in British foreign policy. Firstly, was the decision to back investment in the Royal Navy in the inter-service rivalries of the late 1950s & early 1960s; the US decision to cancel the Skybolt missile in 1962 meant that the air launched nuclear missile strategy the Royal Air Force had been planning on was set back. In addition to this, rapidly improving radar and surface-to-air missiles meant that the chances of getting a bomber through enemy lines was rapidly diminishing. The concentration on the Royal Navy fed in to the procurement of the Polaris missiles, allowing the British nuclear deterrent to be carried by the Royal Navy - a fleet of 5 nuclear powered, nuclear deterrent armed, submarines. The cancellation of the RAF TSR2 aircraft due to the lack of air nuclear missiles and rising costs meant that the Royal Navy's aircraft carrier projects could continue as well, the later-named Indominatable-class aircraft carrier.
The other notable step by Macmillan was the "Wind of Change" speech, given by Macmillan. The speech noted a growing desire for autonomy in Britain's colonial empire, and desire to be more than just colonial subjects of the British Empire. In the UK government, there was a desire to temper and weaken left wing pro-Sovietism in anti-colonial groups, whilst African nationalism in particular continued to grow, following the example of newly independent (in 1957) Ghana (formerly the British Gold Coast). "Autonomy and then Dominionhood or Integration" was the paraphrased message in later years, although the comment about integration was only in response to a question about the decolonisation of Malta, conveniently forgotten in the later summaries. The speech was seen to advocate for introducing and increasing the levels of self-rule in colonies and this was introduced to many British colonies, especially in Africa, during the short Premiership, settings wheels in motion which would lead to several independent nations later in the 1960s; Federation of East Africa, Nigeria, Zambia (*1), Malawi (*1), but not all were successful. The desired West Indies Federation would fall apart in 1965 after only 7 years of operation due to political infighting, with Jamaica dropping out half way through in 1962 to gain independence itself.
Domestically, Macmillan was notable for the passing of the "UK Immigration Act", which began the first limitations on Commonwealth immigration in to the UK. This entrenched attitudes in Malta towards UK integration - a fair number of Maltese left Malta for the UK in search of job opportunities in the booming British economy, and increased the attraction of "full UK membership". Macmillan fell in 1962 in the raucous Parliamentary atmosphere following the Immigration Act passing in to law and a sex scandal involving Profumo, a Government minister. A string of by-election defeats left Macmillan struggling to pass contentious legislation without the backbenchers almost 100% in line with him to enact his agenda, and Macmillan called for an election in 1963, but during the election period news came out about Profumo's affair - despite denying it earlier, news leaked it had indeed occurred. 12 years of Conservative rule came to an end as Gaitskell, waiting in the wings for many years, eventually led Labour to power.
(*1) Both now part of East Africa.
--------------------------
Inspired by a few threads about UK Overseas Regions! (link) - thank you Reflection....
PoD: Eden, during 1953, had surgery which caused issues resulting in him later taking drugs/amphetamines which some think impaired his judgement (particularly on the Suez Crisis). I'll go with this; Malta finds itself within the United Kingdom due to better negotiations with Mintoff, in part due to no Suez Crisis which causes the Maltese base to continue as Britain's eyes over transit through the Suez Canal.
I want to try and keep focused on the United Kingdom itself, but the impact of no Suez is quite the butterfly, and given comments on various threads on this very board about the potential consequences, a more stable Africa (a la East African Federation) is on the cards, but also a continuation of the belief and/or actions of "great power" UK considering it hasn't had it's wings clipped by Suez, which also caused quite an economic hit on the British economy. So here, the UK is a touch more powerful and thus able to integrate Malta *cough* and others *cough cough*.
------------------------
The Eden Premiership (Conservative, 1955-1960, won election 1955)
The United Kingdom today owes a significant part of it's heritage to the efforts of Anthony Eden. In 1956, Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal - as legally allowed, if controversial - and set in to play a series of events for the United Kingdom. Although recognising Egypt's right to nationalise the canal, as long as the flow of traffic was not interfered with and the charging process remained reasonable, Eden was wary of Nasser. In to this mix were the Malta integration talks, headed by the Maltese Dom Mintoff, who was frequently unpredictable. Much of the discussions were financial & economic in subject; Mintoff's desire for economic parity with the UK met with British hesitance over writing a blank cheque every year to Malta. Social programmes would be expensive to fund in Malta due to demographics, whilst the tax earned would be far smaller.
Outline agreement had been found in 1956, and the Maltese national referendum on the matter backed the proposal; just roughly 75% of voters did so to join the UK. In terms of the electorate, just over 51% voted to join the UK, 15% voted against integration, and just over 34% didn't vote - either not caring or abstaining. Integration would see Malta become part of the UK along similar lines to Northern Ireland; a full part of the country, electing MPs to Westminster and a local "Maltese Assembly" taking care of local affairs. In light of the experiences of Northern Ireland, several powers were reserved to Westminster, primarily around the economy given the expected expense of Maltese integration.
Although Eden had decided to not take military action in Egypt regarding the Suez Canal, mindful of the effects of pushing many other Arab countries towards outright nationalism or communism or triggering a wider conflict, the affair had laid clear the separate interests of the United States and the United Kingdom, the former of whom had made abundantly clear it's rejection of any military action and hinted at counter-action if Britain did so. The action highlighted the requirement to be prepared for conflict either in the Atlantic or in the Mediterranean, whilst also maintaining the imperial presence East of Suez. A home base in Malta, outright owned and operated by the Royal Navy would tie in with this objective well, whilst also sitting not far from Egypt where a conflict could quickly arise over transit rights in the canal. The words of Eisenhower, warning Eden not to invade Egypt and failure to back up the UK - who thought they were a key US ally - soured UK-US relations, creating a rift between the two allies.
And so in 1959, Malta acceded to the United Kingdom - then a unique event, and unparalleled since 1801 when Ireland was merged in to the United Kingdom alongside Great Britain for better or worse. Over the next 15 years, Malta would be gradually invested in and economic parity targeted with at least the lower UK regions. The 1958 Act of Union, passed in both Westminster and Valetta merged Malta in to the United Kingdom, although for the first time since the English-Welsh legal union in the 16th century, the flag would remain unchanged. Malta was assigned three constituencies for the sake of elections to Westminster; Gozo, Malta North and Malta South, and a 12 year transition period (having begun in 1958 with the Acts of Union) would work to economically integrate Malta in to the United Kingdom and achieve rough equivalence with Great Britain (in terms of purchasing power parity).
The 1960 election would be the first to elect 3 MPs from the Maltese constituencies. Eden had recognised early on that Malta would likely be Labour leaning, and the alliance of the Maltese Labour Party with the UK-wide Labour party confirmed suspicions that all 3 constituencies would return Labour MPs - at least initially. The electoral fight was for Eden's successor, Macmillan, to conduct however, and the booming economy in the late 1950s led the electorate to return the Conservative Government - but with a far reduced majority.
The Macmillan Premiership (Conservative, 1960-1963, won election 1960)
The Macmillan Premiership, despite winning the 1960 election, had a reduced majority, and the working majority was quickly too narrow during crunch votes. Despite this, Macmillan was responsible for two major steps in British foreign policy. Firstly, was the decision to back investment in the Royal Navy in the inter-service rivalries of the late 1950s & early 1960s; the US decision to cancel the Skybolt missile in 1962 meant that the air launched nuclear missile strategy the Royal Air Force had been planning on was set back. In addition to this, rapidly improving radar and surface-to-air missiles meant that the chances of getting a bomber through enemy lines was rapidly diminishing. The concentration on the Royal Navy fed in to the procurement of the Polaris missiles, allowing the British nuclear deterrent to be carried by the Royal Navy - a fleet of 5 nuclear powered, nuclear deterrent armed, submarines. The cancellation of the RAF TSR2 aircraft due to the lack of air nuclear missiles and rising costs meant that the Royal Navy's aircraft carrier projects could continue as well, the later-named Indominatable-class aircraft carrier.
The other notable step by Macmillan was the "Wind of Change" speech, given by Macmillan. The speech noted a growing desire for autonomy in Britain's colonial empire, and desire to be more than just colonial subjects of the British Empire. In the UK government, there was a desire to temper and weaken left wing pro-Sovietism in anti-colonial groups, whilst African nationalism in particular continued to grow, following the example of newly independent (in 1957) Ghana (formerly the British Gold Coast). "Autonomy and then Dominionhood or Integration" was the paraphrased message in later years, although the comment about integration was only in response to a question about the decolonisation of Malta, conveniently forgotten in the later summaries. The speech was seen to advocate for introducing and increasing the levels of self-rule in colonies and this was introduced to many British colonies, especially in Africa, during the short Premiership, settings wheels in motion which would lead to several independent nations later in the 1960s; Federation of East Africa, Nigeria, Zambia (*1), Malawi (*1), but not all were successful. The desired West Indies Federation would fall apart in 1965 after only 7 years of operation due to political infighting, with Jamaica dropping out half way through in 1962 to gain independence itself.
Domestically, Macmillan was notable for the passing of the "UK Immigration Act", which began the first limitations on Commonwealth immigration in to the UK. This entrenched attitudes in Malta towards UK integration - a fair number of Maltese left Malta for the UK in search of job opportunities in the booming British economy, and increased the attraction of "full UK membership". Macmillan fell in 1962 in the raucous Parliamentary atmosphere following the Immigration Act passing in to law and a sex scandal involving Profumo, a Government minister. A string of by-election defeats left Macmillan struggling to pass contentious legislation without the backbenchers almost 100% in line with him to enact his agenda, and Macmillan called for an election in 1963, but during the election period news came out about Profumo's affair - despite denying it earlier, news leaked it had indeed occurred. 12 years of Conservative rule came to an end as Gaitskell, waiting in the wings for many years, eventually led Labour to power.
(*1) Both now part of East Africa.
--------------------------
Inspired by a few threads about UK Overseas Regions! (link) - thank you Reflection....
PoD: Eden, during 1953, had surgery which caused issues resulting in him later taking drugs/amphetamines which some think impaired his judgement (particularly on the Suez Crisis). I'll go with this; Malta finds itself within the United Kingdom due to better negotiations with Mintoff, in part due to no Suez Crisis which causes the Maltese base to continue as Britain's eyes over transit through the Suez Canal.
I want to try and keep focused on the United Kingdom itself, but the impact of no Suez is quite the butterfly, and given comments on various threads on this very board about the potential consequences, a more stable Africa (a la East African Federation) is on the cards, but also a continuation of the belief and/or actions of "great power" UK considering it hasn't had it's wings clipped by Suez, which also caused quite an economic hit on the British economy. So here, the UK is a touch more powerful and thus able to integrate Malta *cough* and others *cough cough*.
