WI: 1910, PM Balfour?

Wolfpaw

Banned
The UK General Election of December, 1910, was the last before the War and resulted in a Parliament that left the Tories and Liberal Unionists with 271 seats to the Liberals' 272, leaving Asquith, Lloyd George and their fractious party the helm as the UK slid into World War I.

But what if the Tories and Liberal Unionists had won? They were, after all, only 2 seats away from a majority, and the Liberals at the time were almost obscenely unwieldy.

What effects would a Balfour ministry have on the UK and her course before and during the War?



"Well, chaps? How do you think I'd do?"
 
Unless they had an overall majority it woudl be hard for Unionsist to form a government neitgher Labour not Irish Nationalists would back them
 
Balfour Ministry II: Electric Boogaloo pretty much totally derails British foreign policy by eliminating Grey from the picture; I can't see the Tories maintaining the Russian entente at all when the Liberals had such a hard time with it themselves

although Henry Wilson, noted traitor, would still be in the General Staff...hmm...
 
Wolfpaw: The Tories can't form government without an overall majority, because the separatists and socialists will only prop up the Libs. How you get a massive enough swing for 336 or more Tory seats I don't know- the country was completely polarized. I'd say it has to be later, say in 1912-3 when the pendulum started swinging decisively rightwards. Have Redmond tire of Liberal shenanigans and withdraw confidence. Bam.

Also, you need to avoid Balfour losing control of his Lords caucus during the Parliament Act's ratification. That's, IMO, the real reason he resigned if you read The Strange Death.
 
I'd say it has to be later, say in 1912-3 when the pendulum started swinging decisively rightwards. Have Redmond tire of Liberal shenanigans and withdraw confidence. Bam.
That doesn't really seem like something Redmond would do at all. He might have been strung along by the Liberals and known it, but he always knew who the real enemy was and how disastrous an election would've been at that point.
 
That doesn't really seem like something Redmond would do at all. He might have been strung along by the Liberals and known it, but he always knew who the real enemy was and how disastrous an election would've been at that point.

You would need to have a Liberal PM other than Asquith. Say someone who calls Redmond's bluff on Home Rule. "We won't do it, and we dare you to force an election and put Bonar Law in No 10 if you don't like it."
 
You would need to have a Liberal PM other than Asquith. Say someone who calls Redmond's bluff on Home Rule. "We won't do it, and we dare you to force an election and put Bonar Law in No 10 if you don't like it."
What's the scope for that, though? You'd have to go back to 1908 and that changes the whole circumstances of the Parliament Act and the two election year.
 
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