TLIAM: A Series Of Quite Fortunate Events
- Thread starter Meadow
- Start date
Every PM is a member of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
[heavy breathing]
I'm guessing from the title it's an 'everything goes better' TL, so I'm looking forward to being proven wrong in short order.
I'm guessing from the title it's an 'everything goes better' TL, so I'm looking forward to being proven wrong in short order.
Part II
Harold Macmillan
Conservative and Unionist
1955-1959
Conservative and Unionist
1955-1959
On Wednesday 2nd March, 1955, Clement Attlee stood at the despatch box to lavish praise on a man many were glad to see the back off. The Leader of the Opposition noted Churchill’s departure from the political arena as epoch defining. He was, of course, the last Prime Minister to have been elected as an MP during the reign of Queen Victoria and to have held senior office during both world wars. Attlee’s heartfelt words were followed by brief comments from other members of the Chamber, including the Father of the House, senior backbenchers representing the Scottish Unionists and both sets of Liberals, and a note of thanks from The Speaker. In the press gallery, Hansard Reporters and Parliamentary Sketch Writers dutifully filed copy of the last hour in office from the Prime Minister. The other galleries were also rammed, representing Ambassadors, High Commissioners, Peers and members of the Public.
The only notable absence from the tributes to Winston Churchill was the old lion himself. In his diary, he dismissively referred to them as ‘Pre-Mortem Eulogies’. In a more bitter entry later that day, he also spoke grumpily of the reports regarding the words of his successor, who had barely mentioned him.
There was probably good reason for this, for Maurice Harold Macmillan found himself captaining an unsteady ship indeed. Less than a year prior, the Member for Bromley had been diligently touring construction sites across the country as part of his duties as Minister for Housing. Whilst tremendously adept in the role, his rapid promotion to the Foreign Office following Eden’s death, passing above the heads of more experienced figures such as Rab Butler and Maxwell Fyfe had irked many. Nevertheless, he had proved more than suited in the role, quickly establishing a close working relationship with Secretary Dulles in Washington, and with the various denizens of the Quai d'Orsay. His urbane manner and general popularity with the Conservative Party at large also endeared him to the Magic Circle above the notoriously scruffy Butler, eight years his junior.
Immediately upon taking office, rumours began to swirl regarding a snap election. The new Queen’s youthful image, coupled with Gwilym Lloyd George’s scrapping of the last of the rationing restrictions in his first Budget had given a boost to the Government’s popularity, and the country promptly went to the polls on Thursday 5th May - the same day West Germany formally re-entered the international relations sphere. However, the results were somewhat of a disappointment to the new Prime Minister, who had seen his hopes of gaining sixty seats dashed. In the end, the Conservative and Unionist Party had gained little more than twenty. A number of senior Conservatives grumbled at this, disparagingly wondering if ‘Captain Harold’ had been the right choice after-all. Rab Butler, by now firmly ensconced at the Foreign Office, certainly felt that his snubbing for the Premiership had been shown up for the mistake it had been, and lobbied constantly for more control over domestic policy. Macmillan, aware of his weakened position, promptly appointed him Deputy Prime Minister.
Domestically, the Conservative Government of 1955-1959 is not remembered for many great achievements. Inflation hovered around the “watch out old chap” levels, whilst the newly-liberated Federal Republic of Germany began to make slow incursions into the British manufacturing base. Under normal circumstances, the Labour Party would have begun to enjoy mid-term leads above the Government, but the sudden resignation of Clement Attlee had unleashed twenty years of pent-up pressure from many backbenchers. Herbert Morrison had waited two decades to take over from the Mild Man of Walthamstow, and he refused any efforts to stand aside for the Shadow Chancellor’s coronation. His kamikaze assault on the Labour Right against Gaitskell proved his undoing. On Wednesday 27th July, to the surprise of more than a few people in Committee Room 14, Aneurin Bevan was elected Leader of the Labour Party.
The sudden shift to the left by the Official Opposition immediately emboldened Macmillan. At the Conservative Conference in Bournemouth he warned that, “the Labour Party have ceased to represent the men and women they claim to” - a statement that was apparently vindicated with lurid newspaper reports linking a number of Shadow Cabinet members to Communist activities whilst at university. At the Greenock by-election in December that year, the Conservatives gained the seat from the Opposition by a narrow margin. Almost immediately, the whispering campaign against the Prime Minister ended. A well-received Budget in the spring continued the post-war spending boom, reducing taxes, increasing pensions, and investing in houses and roads.
Macmillan's cautious domestic policy was reflected in his approach to foreign affairs, which was dominated by Butler. ‘Call Me Wab’ had seen his efforts to eclipse the Prime Minister come to nothing following a poorly received conference speech. However, when Gamal Abdel Nasser’s assumption of power in Egypt the following summer seemed to present the Foreign Secretary with the test that he had desired for so long.
On 11th July 1956, Nasser announced his intention to nationalise the Suez Canal Company, following the collapse of an Anglo-American effort to finance a new hydroelectric dam at Aswan. The speech caused consternation throughout the globe. In Egypt and the rest of the Arab World, people celebrated in the streets at the sight of Cairo standing up to the colonial authorities of France and the United Kingdom. In Moscow, Pravda celebrated the demise of ‘Imperialist Capitalist Tendencies’, whilst Washington remained almost silent. In London and Paris, however, there was uproar at the ‘upstart’ General taking control of what was considered by many as a British-owned resource. The Foreign Secretary was far from a bloody-minded supporter of the Empire, but the chance to prove himself as a statesman was a worthy prize indeed. A flurry of communiques between Butler and his French counterpart, Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury, took place over the summer. Despite a UN resolution backing Nasser’s actions, Butler continue to press for a task force to be despatched to the Mediterranean, but was constantly rebuffed by the Prime Minister, who saw intervention as impossible without explicit American approval.
At a Cabinet meeting in October, Butler’s patience eventually ran out and he launched an extraordinary verbal assault on Macmillan.The Minutes from the meeting remain under lock and key at the National Archives, but enough memoirs have been written to confirm the major details, which ended with Butler storming from the room alongside the Minister for War, Iain Macleod, and the Colonial Secretary, Selwyn Lloyd. To the astonishment of the awaiting media, Butler announced that he had been sacked by the Prime Minister.
In reality, of course, Macmillan had done nothing of the sort. However, “Wab-bit Season” entered the popular lexicon almost immediately. Butler had overplayed his hand. Despite the demands from the more fire-and-brimstone members of the Commons (and an ill-considered intervention by Churchill), there was little public or Parliamentary support for intervening in the Middle East so soon after the quagmire of the Palestinian Conflict. Without American approval, very little could be done. A much smaller force comprised entirely of La Royale sailed from Toulon several weeks later, but turned back following the collapse of Christian Pineau’s administration.
Today, ‘Suez’ is synonymous with the end of Britain as an Imperial Power. A former protectorate had gambled, and won. Would an Anglo-French Naval Flotilla, possibly acting alongside an Israeli invasion force, really have been humiliated by Egypt’s meager resources? Almost certainly not. However, there is doubt that President Eisenhower would have supported them. Public opinion in the United States was very much against the sabre-rattling of old Europe. A likely military victory would have been undermined by the diplomatic situation and could quite possibly have allowed Nasser to regain control of the situation.
Historians largely agree that the Suez Crisis confirmed Britain's entry into the American orbit. At Eisenhower’s request, Britain had willingly exchanged the demands of a European neighbour for an Atlantic ally.
Suez did little - however - to hurt Macmillan. Despite sneery editorials from some members of the Conservative Right, the country had no appetite for war. Most polls showed broad support for the Prime Minister bringing Butler to heel, whilst the Labour Party were unable to capitalise on Conservative divisions thanks to the internal squabbling between Bevan and Gaitskell. However, as the fifties drew to a close, so too did the post-war economic boom. Inflation had begun to eat into wages, whilst cuts to expenditure placed pressure on both the health service and pensions. When the writs were dropped in spring 1959, many commentators speculated that a hung parliament was possible - with a resurgent Liberal Party expected to capitalise in some areas. What became clear as the first seats began to declare surprised almost everyone.
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Qu'en termes galants ces choses-là sont dites.
Serves you right, you sorry sonuva– I'm sorry, Makemakean's characterisation is leaking through.
He was actually one of the pro-war party in the Cabinet. He fully backed the intervention IOTL.
Sulemain
Banned
Foreign policy is no match for the internal machinations of the Conservative & Unionist Party.
Damnit @Meadow - it's almost time for me to go to sleep, and then I come across this...
Have to wonder what this does for Continental integration. Lack of support from Britain leads to renewed efforts on the EDC/EPC, or somerhing in that general area.