TLIAM: Killing Home Rule with Kindness

What repression? From everything we've read the Nationalists have been entirely submissive and compliant from (inexplicably) supporting a Liberal government with a pro-Ulster Unionist Irish Secretary to meekly accepting Gladstonian Home Rule with permanent partion and nary a fig leaf of a Boundary Comission or Council of Ireland in sight. Even the more 'radical' alternative, Sinn Fein are monarchists who take their seats in London - scarcely the stuff of violent revolution.

Then we have the strange case of the Southern 'Unionists' who inexplicably seemed to have become Home Rulers despite presumably being a far stronger position ITTL with no First World War or mass emigration. While it makes sense they might have had a less than fond attitude towards either Bonar Law or the Ulster Unionists the fact is they defeated Home Rule in 1915 (which incidently scuppers any notion of Home Rule being inevitable.) It is hard to see why the Southern Unionists apparently made no attempt to rebuild links with the National Unionists - as few MPs as they have they must at least have some influence in the Lords. Instead they conviently stay out of the limelight to give the National Unionists an excuse to retreat from opposing Home Rule on an all-Ireland basis (though there is no evidence such a policy is costing them votes.)

Or to put it another way, compromise is for people who can't get everything they want. But the Unionists seem like they can, so the compromises they're making in the 30's are only reasonable in the context of political vulnerability that doesn't exist, or the spectre of violent uprising that seems like a joke right now. Hell, things might have been different if Churchill had been able to reinstate Home Rule during his government, in which case everyone would expect a continuous tug-o-war on the issue that would probably demand a permanent solution. But no, it seems like the reformists need an overwhelming advantage to get Home Rule through, while the conservatives only need a momentary edge to invalidate it. Throw in a lack of extraparliamentary violence and it seems like the Ireland problem might as well be solved once and for all already, just need to keep the leftists from ruining a good thing.
 
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Kingsley Wood
1935-1943
National Unionist

"A Man of his Word"
The National Unionists swept to power with a large majority at the 1935 general election. The fact that the National Coalition Coupon in effect added additional 50+ seats to coalition total ensured that Kingsley Wood would have one of the largest majorities of the century, on par with those of Salisbury and Campbell-Bannerman in 1900 and 1906 respectively.

The Wood Ministry would oversee the general improvement in the nation's economic state, with various economic reforms being proposed during Wood's tenure in Number 10. Notably would be the increase in the top rate of taxation of 7s 6d and measures which would see the addition of two million to the number of income tax payers. This ensured that for the first time in British history a majority of the British population would be liable to pay income tax. Wood was generally influenced by his economics advisor, John Maynard Keynes, who would become Chancellor of the Exchequer (after winning a by-election in a safe Tory seat as a 'National Coalition' candidate,) after Baldwin retired to the backbenches in 1937. Some within the cabinet would become concerned at the closeness between the two and the fact that Wood was apparently converted to attempting to control the national economy via national income accounting. One of the lasting measures of the government was the creation of PAYE (Pay As You Earn), which would see that income tax would be deducted from current pay as opposed to retrospectively being paid on the earnings of prior years. The measure would be introduced in the 1938 budget to the cheers of the government benches in the Commons.

Despite his ulterior motives in seeking to have the Liberals leach onto the National Coalition for the electoral gain of the National Unionists, he still managed to work well with the Liberal members of the cabinet, even his Home Secretary 'Slipper Sam.' Liberals would occupy a variety of positions within the cabinet, namely the Home Office (Herbert Samuel), Dominion Secretary (John Simon), Scottish Secretary (Archibald Sinclair), President of the Board of Education (Donald Maclean), and Secretary for India (Isaac Foot). The majority of the cabinet would be dominated by the 'big beasts' of the National Unionist Party - Wood himself, Leo Amery (Indian Secretary), Neville Chamberlain (Foreign Secretary), and Sir Samuel Hoare (Ireland Office.) Indeed when it came to important cabinet decisions, the Liberals would prove to be in effect 'meat in the room,' being forced to agree to and side with the majority decision of the National Unionists.

Perhaps the lasting legacy of the Wood government would be its Ireland policy. Wood, in voting against the 4th Home Rule Bill of the Lansbury government in 1932, had vowed to accept the vote of the Commons (which was in favour) and to repeal the bill as Bonar Law had done so in 1915. This break with the policy that had existed since the introduction of the 1st Home Rule Bill during the time of Salisbury, represents an interesting shift from traditional Toryism towards a more conciliatory form of modern Conservatism. Under 'The Modern Peel' the Home Rule Parliament, which would have 100 members, would be voted in on early 1936 after a period of negotiations and preparations for the election of the new Home Rule Parliament.

It was expected that at least four parties/groups would be represented in the new Dublin parliament. Sinn Fein, expected by most to have a large plurality or even a majority in the new legislature; the Nationalists, who would form a distinct rump in the new legislature (with its strongholds of Monaghan and Waterford the only real electoral bases of the party left); the Irish Labour Party (with its base to the south of Dublin); and the Southern Unionists, expected to gain a handful of seats in Dublin. Various Independent candidates and the Farmers' Party (a catch all agrarian interests party.) Each of the main parties would opt to not nominate their Westminster leaders, instead opting to choose a leader who could appeal to their party's base best for the election. Sinn Fein would propose for the position of Chief Executive of the Home Rule government, W. T. Cosgrave. Cosgrave had been an MP since 1919 for Kilkenny North and was seen to be the unofficial leader of the party's moderate wing. The Nationalists would nominate the brother of the party's late leader John Redmond - Willie Redmond as their nominee for Chief Executive of the Home Rule government. Thomas Westropp Bennett would be the Southern Unionists' nominee, though no one (not even Bennett himself) thought that he had any chance at victory. Irish Labour Party William Norton was that party's nominee.

The campaign was drawn out and was understood to have only built up as soon as the election date, the 9th July 1936, was announced. Sinn Fein argued that if they were elected with a large mandate, they would gain a mandate from which to argue for Ireland to receive dominion (or greater) status from Britain. The Nationalists argued that it was they who had achieved Home Rule; they had experience over the past decades in the ins and outs of parliamentary procedure - was it best to throw away all this experience for a bunch of 'idealistic radicals.' Cosgrave's moderation was seen to alleviate the fears of some Nationalist voters, generally middle class, that Sinn Fein would be a potentially damaging vote for them due to the rhetoric of some within the party. By contrast, it seemed that the Nationalists, under yet another Redmond, were tired, old, and were without a purpose now that Home Rule had been achieved.

The result of the election came as little surprise to many in 'Home Rule' Ireland. 64 Sinn Fein members were returned, while a mere 17 Nationalists were returned. The Unionists mustered 5 members for the new parliament, all but one from the Dublin area. The Farmers' Party achieved a better than expected result, garnering 9 members of the Home Rule parliament. 5 Independents (including one Independent Unionist) were returned for the election.

Word in Ireland began to spread that the Westminster government would move to invalidate the election result and would seek to repeal the Home Rule Act once again. Wood, however, would remain resolute in his vow to accept the will of parliament on the matter of Home Rule. It was under these circumstances that the first Home Rule Parliament would meet in early August 1936, over two decades after a Home Rule Bill had 'passed' parliament (the 2nd Home Rule Bill had passed in the Commons, only to be defeated by the Lords, who still exercised blocking power.) How the new parliament would function, work, or even survive - especially with Sinn Fein occupying the majority of the seats, was anyone's question.

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[1]Some sections applied from the Kingsley Wood Wikipedia page
 
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NOOOOO! It can't just end there!

Also sorry to see this end so soon. While I certainly had quibbles I did enjoy it a lot!

I did intend to continue this much longer, but the endless discussions on Irish policy and economics was getting out of hand IMHO. I may add a bit more on, I'm not sure.

And nice to see Kingsley Wood finally get a chance at the top job:)

Thank you. Yes, Wood finally gets to become PM as he hoped he would OTL.
 
I did intend to continue this much longer, but the endless discussions on Irish policy and economics was getting out of hand IMHO. I may add a bit more on, I'm not sure.

Sorry, it certainly wasn't my intention to derail the thread. :( Please continue!
 
YES!! :extremelyhappy:
Appreciate that I was one of those discussing Irish policy and economics but really enjoyed the timeline.

Given his background in the insurance industry, Kingsley Wood may do the National Health thing a bit differently and on a more long term economic sustainability basis. Hypothecated National Health Insurance payments? Guarantees and top-ups for insurance companies and friendly societies? Compulsory pension investment (as in Singapore) and state controlled investment funds? No doubt Neville Chamberlain and Walter Elliott will be key figures.

Meanwhile, in Home Rule Ireland, I imagine the Shinners and the Nats will replicate (hopefully more peacefully) the Fianna Fail and Fine Gael divisions on how relations with their larger neighbour island should be handled. Direct Rule with no Stormont should hopefully remove the gerrymandering and discrimination in public employment that helped rack up the tensions OTL.

One tiny little niggle. Kingsley Wood wouldn't have raised the top income tax rate to 19'6 without the debts of WWI or an ongoing WW2 to pay for. I think (even with some rearmament and increased social welfare and health spending) you are only looking at 7'6 in the pound for the very top rate - the man was a Conservative after all. Those two world wars were bloody expensive!
 
Good to see this return!

One aspect that will be very important, for the Irish parties, is which politicians will be set to London and which to Dublin. Is it better to keep a high profile in the Imperial parliament or build up a base at home and try and work that angle.

With Home Rule actually in force now I could see a merger between the old Southern Unionists (with seats mostly in Dublin and possibly Cork and the border counties) and the old Nationalists.
 
It seems that Sinn Fein is more moderate ITTL, and the National Unionists seem to be a bit more centrist than the OTL Conservatives of the time.
 
It seems that Sinn Fein is more moderate ITTL, and the National Unionists seem to be a bit more centrist than the OTL Conservatives of the time.

That much is pretty clear, the only question was why that was when the former have more serious grievances compared to OTL.
 
I'm afraid no updates for 'today' (well the next 3 minutes of it) due to having a paper take up most of my time today. Sorry about that, something will be up tomorrow for the rest of Wood's government.

sleepy bonar

He's not asleep, he's waiting for Balfour to let his guard down, so he can attack.

YES!! :extremelyhappy:
Appreciate that I was one of those discussing Irish policy and economics but really enjoyed the timeline.

Given his background in the insurance industry, Kingsley Wood may do the National Health thing a bit differently and on a more long term economic sustainability basis. Hypothecated National Health Insurance payments? Guarantees and top-ups for insurance companies and friendly societies? Compulsory pension investment (as in Singapore) and state controlled investment funds? No doubt Neville Chamberlain and Walter Elliott will be key figures.

Meanwhile, in Home Rule Ireland, I imagine the Shinners and the Nats will replicate (hopefully more peacefully) the Fianna Fail and Fine Gael divisions on how relations with their larger neighbour island should be handled. Direct Rule with no Stormont should hopefully remove the gerrymandering and discrimination in public employment that helped rack up the tensions OTL.

One tiny little niggle. Kingsley Wood wouldn't have raised the top income tax rate to 19'6 without the debts of WWI or an ongoing WW2 to pay for. I think (even with some rearmament and increased social welfare and health spending) you are only looking at 7'6 in the pound for the very top rate - the man was a Conservative after all. Those two world wars were bloody expensive!

Thank you.
It's fine, healthy debate on here is fine.

Interesting, I'll have to look into that. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

To an extent yes. I'd say Sinn Fein is pretty much like Fianna Fail OTL, while the Nationalists are a bit like the more moderate CnnGites, and the National League Party. The Southern Unionists are probably like the Businessmen's Party, except with more support in Donegal. I agree with your assessment on NI, which would be a far better settlement that OTL.

I see, I'll amend that then. Thanks for raising that!

Here in the Six Counties I mean!

The best counties. ;)

Good to see this return!

One aspect that will be very important, for the Irish parties, is which politicians will be set to London and which to Dublin. Is it better to keep a high profile in the Imperial parliament or build up a base at home and try and work that angle.

With Home Rule actually in force now I could see a merger between the old Southern Unionists (with seats mostly in Dublin and possibly Cork and the border counties) and the old Nationalists.

Thanks.

At this stage I'd say Westminster is the better bet. Anyone who doesn't get selected for Westminster, will probably be sent off for Dublin. Though that could be liable to change, a bit like Stormont versus Westminster OTL.

It seems that Sinn Fein is more moderate ITTL, and the National Unionists seem to be a bit more centrist than the OTL Conservatives of the time.

I'd agree with Sinn Fein, it's a bit like a more militant Fianna Fail, the NUA is slightly different - they're still quite traditional Tory overall. They are however economically becoming more akin to continental Christian Democrats with some sorts advocating a more 'British Distributism.' Things are still up in the air for the party, however.

That much is pretty clear, the only question was why that was when the former have more serious grievances compared to OTL.

That will be addressed soon.
 
Given their support in Donegal will the old Southern Unionists be looking to 'kill partition with kindness' (;)) by trying to entice the Six Counties into Home Rule Ireland via conciliation? It would be a handy way to prove how 'patriotic' to the Home Rule electorate they are without pressing for a further break with Britain.

As I noted before the Southern Unionists would be in a considerably stronger position than IOTL - no world war casualties, no mass emigration caused by the the Troubles, some influence in the House of Lords and the long drawn out swing from Nationalist to Sinn Fein allowing them to win a few 'surprise' seats - this actually happened in OTL in Galway City in 1900 where Nationalist infighting let Martin Morris in.
 
Given their support in Donegal will the old Southern Unionists be looking to 'kill partition with kindness' (;)) by trying to entice the Six Counties into Home Rule Ireland via conciliation? It would be a handy way to prove how 'patriotic' to the Home Rule electorate they are without pressing for a further break with Britain.

As I noted before the Southern Unionists would be in a considerably stronger position than IOTL - no world war casualties, no mass emigration caused by the the Troubles, some influence in the House of Lords and the long drawn out swing from Nationalist to Sinn Fein allowing them to win a few 'surprise' seats - this actually happened in OTL in Galway City in 1900 where Nationalist infighting let Martin Morris in.

Haha, perhaps, they preferred Home Rule to partition, as they'd be losers no matter what, but bigger losers in a partitioned Home Rule Ireland.

Indeed so. The future is much rosier for them, as they're associating more and more with the Nationalists due to Bonar Law's antics two decades prior. Another example was the South County Dublin seat which due to a split Nationalist vote enabled them to hold for several elections.
 
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