WI Conservative government in Britain in August 1914

In the Committee Stage of the Government of Ireland Bill, an amendment by Sir Edward Carson to exclude the nine counties of the province of Ulster from the provisions of the bill is defeated by a substantial majority. Another amendment moved by a Conservative MP to exclude the four Ulster counties with a clear Protestant majority: Antrim, Armagh, Down and Londonderry is also defeated.

Philip Snowden for the Labour Party moves an amendment that the Irish Legislative Assembly and Irish Senate should be elected on the same basis as the local government franchise. This would enfranchise women rate payers (local property taxes) and rent payers, and the wives of local rate payers. This is passed by a narrow majority. In response to this amendment, Walter Long, the Home Secretary, announces that the government will bring in a Representation of the People Bill which will enfranchise women for elections to the United Kingdom Parliament on the same terms as men.
 
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Nixon goes to Ireland

There is way too much "Nixon Goes to China" in TTL. The revolt in the Tories would be much larger than you are allowing. Long would be as much an opponent of Balfour as ABL. So would Curzon and his emnity would redouble over women's suffrage. Balfour the closet Redmondite (?!) is wrecking his own party.
 
Originally posted by Tom_B
The revolt in the Tories would be much larger than you are allowing. Long would be as much an opponent of Balfour as ABL.
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Of the 104 Tory votes in favour of the Government of Ireland Bill, 40 come from the ministerial vote. The rest are from MPs with political ambitions and/or from those who believe in the bill.

The Balfour government argues that if its Irish policy is successful the Conservative Party will win the support of large numbers of Irish voters. Irish farmers strongly support tariffs to protect agriculture, while Catholics support the Conservative policy of public funding of Catholic schools. There is strong opposition in Ireland to the Liberal Party policy of licensing reform, which would have the effect of reducing the number of public houses. It regards Irish Catholics as natural Conservatives.

In this TL Walter Long is more moderate regarding Ireland than he was in OTL. He reluctantly supports the government's Irish policy.
 
An amendment to the Government of Ireland tabled by Irish Nationalist MPs to change the name of the Irish National Legislature to Parliament is passed. The Irish Nationalists, Liberals and Labour and some Conservatives vote for. Most Conservatives vote against.

Another Irish Nationalist amendment whereby the National Legislature would be called the Oireachtas, the National Assembly the Dail, and the Senate the Seanad is passed with enough Conservative MPs voting in favour to give it a majoriry.
 
An amendment tabled by John Redmond, the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP), which would make Ireland a self-governing dominion within the British Empire like Australia, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand, and end Irish representation at Westminster is overwhelmingly rejected. Only the IPP, the All-for-Ireland League (AFIL) and a few Labour MPs vote in favour.

An amendment by the IPP to make the office of Lord Lieutenant or Viceroy a purely ceremonial one is rejected by a narrow majority. Voting is on party lines with only the Conservatives voting against.

A government amendment to give the Irish Parliament limited power to raise revenue, subject to the apporoval of the Westminster Parliament, in addition to revenue spending powers, is passed by a majority of 308 votes to 248 votes. In favour are a minority of Conservatives, a narrow majority of Liberals, the IPP, AFIL and Labour. Against are a majority of Conservatives and a significant minority of Liberals.

An amendment proposed by William O'Brien, the leader of the AFIL, which would give the representatives of Ulster in the Irish Parliament a veto over all legislation is rejected by a large majority. Only the AFIL and a majority of Conservative MPs vote in favour.

An amendment proposed by a Conservative MP, which would establish a federal system in the United Kingdom, Home Rule All Round in the contemporary terminology, is withdrawn when Walter Long, the Home Secretary, says that if a Conservative government is returned after the next general election it will appoint a Royal Commission to investigate this matter in depth.

The bill passes the Report Stage and is given its Third Reading on 21 July 1915 by a majority of 343 votes to 159 votes. Only a minority of Conservatives vote in favour.

It now goes to the House of Lords where its Second Reading takes place at the end of November 1915. The case for the bill is put by the Earl of Selborne, the Lord President of the Council. It is rejected by a majority of 295 votes to 93 votes. Only a minority of Conservative peers vote in favour. Because the House of Lords still has veto power over all legislation in this TL, that is the end of the line for the Government of Ireland Bill.

In reply to questions, Prime Minister Balfour says that the government will not reintroduce the bill before the next general election. He makes no commitment as to whether it will be in the Conservative Party manifesto for the next general election.
 
In this TL there is no Gallipoli campaign in 1915. The troops who fought in that campaign are deployed to other theatres of war, and most of its total casualties of 336,000 dead and wounded in OTL, occur on other fronts.

However in OTL the two most famous British deaths in the campaign are the poet Rupert Brooke and the brilliant young physicist Henry Moseley ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Moseley ). In this TL they survive the war and their careers develop postwar.

Throughout 1915 there is a growing clamour by Lloyd George, Churchill and their supporters in the Liberal Party for a coalition government of national unity. This demand is rejected by the Balfour government.

Lloyd George and Churchill and their allies in the Liberal Party mount a sustained campaign for the introduction of conscription. In this they are joined by dissident Conservatives such as Bonar Law. However Balfour and his government are opposed to conscription, as are Liberal Party leader Asquith and the majority of Liberal MPs, and all Labour and Irish Nationalist MPs.

The Tory Reform Group of radical Tories, see the Conservative Party in Canada or the Republican Party in the United States as a model for the British Conservative Party. They want to see the power of the hereditary peers in the House of Lords curbed, and support women's suffrage. They are enthusiastic supporters of the Government of Ireland Bill.
 
The rejection by the House of Lords of the Government of Ireland Bill, or 3rd Home Rule Bill as it is popularly called though not by the Balfour government, is a devastating blow to the constitutional Nationalists in Ireland. With the prospect of no self-government for Ireland for several years, there is a steady growth of support for Sinn Fein.

In August 1914, after the British declaration of war on Germany, the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) met in Dublin. It decided to take advantage of the war by establishing a military organisation and seeking help wherever possible from Germany.

In this TL there is no Ulster Volunteer Force, therefore the Irish Volunteers are not formed in response to it. However at its meeting in August 1914, the IRB established an armed force called the Irish Volunteers.

In this TL, the negotiations between the IRB and the German High Command and the German Ambassador in Washington D.C., and the separate negotiations by Roger Casement as representative of the Irish Volunteers with the Germany, are the same as in OTL, with the same results. See http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Rising .
 
In this TL, the Easter Rising takes place mainly in Dublin from Monday April 25 to Saturday April 29, 1916 as in OTL. However, with one exception, in this TL the rebel leaders are not executed but sentenced to long terms of imprisonment to be served in prisons in Ireland. The only exception is Roger Casement who was hanged for treason, sabotage and espionage. Before his execution, the British government circulated photographs of his Black Diaries, which show that he was actively homosexual, to those people who were urging commutation of the death sentence. This reduced support for commutation.
 
The Balfour government's relatively lenient policy towards the leaders of the Easter Rising attracts vehement opposition from right-wing Conservatives and some Liberals, such as Winston Churchill. They would have liked the rebel Irish to have been executed. However Sir Horace Plunkett, the Chief Secterary for Ireland, says that he will not make martyrs of them.

The Representation of the People Act 1917 has the following provisions:

It abolishes the rather byzantine system of property qualifications for the parliamentary franchise and gives the vote to all men age 21 or over, subject to them having been resident in the constituency in which the register for six months.

It gives the vote to all women age 30 or over who are ratepayers (local tax payers) or the wives of male ratepayers.

Although the Earl of Curzon is opposed to women's suffrage he does not resign his position as Secretary for India. Because he does not lead a revolt against the Representation of the People Bill in the House of Lords, it is not rejected by that House.

It reduces the maximum term of a Parliament from 7 years to 5 years. However an amendment to the Act specifies that if the war has not ended by January 1918 (five years after the previous general election), the next general election will take place as soon as possible after the end of the war.

It restricts the business premises vote to one additional vote. Previously the owners of businesses had an additional vote for every business they owned. Now they have only one additional vote. Amendments to abolish this vote and University constituencies are defeated.

General elections are to be held on one day, instead of the previous practice of being held over two to three weeks.
 
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The all party Speaker's Conference of 1916 to 1917 on electoral law unanimously recommends the introduction of proportional representation for elections to the House of Commons as it did in OTL. However unlike in OTL, in this TL as a result of free votes in the House of Commons and House of Lords, proporotional representation in the form of the single transferable vote in two to five member constituencies, is included in the Representation of the People Act 1917.

Because of population movements since the last redistribution of seats in 1885 and the introduction of proportional representation, there is a need for new constituency boundaries. In order to avoid combining large-sized rural constituencies in Scotland and Wales, six constituencies in rural Scotland and three constituencies in rural Wales remain as single-member seats. In these constituencies elections are to be by the alternative vote (or instant run-off voting), as they also are in the four single-member University seats out of 15.

As a result of these boundary changes the size of the House of Commons is increased from 670 seats to 684 seats.

The next general election will be contested using the single transferable vote (or the alternative vote in 13 seats).

This thread has been transferred to here: https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=122005 .
 
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