Table of Contents
"Use Your Loaf!"
Setting
During the 19th Century, one of the greatest debates in British politics involved the extent to which government had a role to play in the promotion of trade. In the centre of this issue stood Joseph Chamberlain, the radical MP for Birmingham, who fought on the side of “tariff reform” and the establishment of Imperial Preference and British rule over Ireland. For a Liberal Party that supported free trade and promoted Irish Home Rule, this proved an anathema, resulting in Chamberlain leading his supporters into alliance with the Conservative Party. Although he served in a number of senior roles, including a brief stint as Leader of the Opposition, Chamberlain never became Prime Minister, an office many considered him destined to hold.
It could have all been very different.
POD
In 1884, William Gladstone embarked on a speaking tour of the North of England, at one point being held up in the Yorkshire Dales in a thunderous rainstorm. Although he took ill, his recovered from the cold by the time he returned to London, spearheading the 1884 Representation of the People Act which served to greatly expand the franchise, mainly to the benefit of Liberal voters. ITTL, Gladstone forgets his coat, leading to a far more deliberating bout of flu that prevents him from spearheading the Bill through the House of Commons, thereby allowing the Conservative opposition to weaken many of the provisions. As a result, the Liberals slump to a narrow defeat at the next General Election (which in OTL they won), prompting Gladstone to resign instead of taking up the promotion of Irish Home Rule. As a result, Chamberlain never defects, although he remains irked by many factions of the party.
Dramatis Personæ
- Joseph Chamberlain, leader of the radical wing of the Liberal Party, later Prime Minister.
- Jesse Collings, Joe's successor as Mayor of Birmingham and campaigner for land reform.
- David Lloyd George, Welsh firebrand and policy wonk.
- Otto von Bismarck, Prussian Statesman, who enjoys a long and distinguished career as de facto leader of Germany.
- Crown Prince William of Germany, who doesn't.
- Prince Henry of Germany, former Naval Captain, not especially bothered about colonialism.
- Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham, Scottish politician, adventurer, socialist, aristocrat, writer, republican and perennial pain in the backside. By all accounts though, a thoroughly decent ballroom dancer.
- Andrew Bonar Law, down-on-his-luck businessman, with some rather fond memories of New Brunswick.
- Charles-Marie-Photius Maurras, a young French journalist, with some rather less fond ideas about Republicanism.
- Ōkuma Shigenobu, Anglophile Japanese politician, secretly concerned about some of his more zealous rivals.
- Katsura Tarō, his rival for intellectual control of the Imperial Army.
- Konstantin Pobedonostsev, who does what he can to prevent things from shaking the Autocracy.