Now, once again you managed to make me dislike Halifax just that tiny bit more. As a result of that I had no choice but to nominate you for Character Writer of the week..... So head over there and claim!
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I think Stanley has played this perfectly. The rebels are attempting to do this WAY too late in the game. They are all comprimised EXCEPT for Churchill, and he just doesn't have enough support to keep Labour out.
Hopefully Through Stanley a reasonable platform of policies can be implemented, and hopefully not limited to economic matters.
Hopefully Through Stanley a reasonable platform of policies can be implemented, and hopefully not limited to economic matters.
Stanley has a hard row to hoe, and if you like mixed metaphors, he has to walk a tightrope while doing it.
The first thing a recovering economy has to do is recapture its domestic markets. Labour will like that idea. But since the surest way to increase demand is to lower the per unit price, labour as well as capital will have to make some concessions since retooling and new processes will make some workers expendable.
If I remember correctly, a bunch of weavers in London once tried to storm Parliament and burn down the home of the head of the EIC, including the head of the EIC, over imports of higher quality, cheaper Indian textiles. So this isn't all new to Great Britain.
The first thing a recovering economy has to do is recapture its domestic markets. Labour will like that idea. But since the surest way to increase demand is to lower the per unit price, labour as well as capital will have to make some concessions since retooling and new processes will make some workers expendable.
If I remember correctly, a bunch of weavers in London once tried to storm Parliament and burn down the home of the head of the EIC, including the head of the EIC, over imports of higher quality, cheaper Indian textiles. So this isn't all new to Great Britain.
Bring back another Stanley, Baldwin that is! Although being an earl wouldn't stop him. Although his popularity IRL was massivly affected by the war, with peace, perhaps he still remains quite liked throughout the country?
Chapter 137, Broadcasting House, 18 July 1941
Winston Churchill sipped on a chilled Pol Roger that had been kindly proffered by the young editor. Getting the BBC to agree to allow Churchill to make a broadcast had been particularly difficult; Churchill suspected that “Auntie” had been heavily pressured by Downing Street into total support of the Government missions to Berlin and Moscow. Brendan Bracken, who had tried every contact he had with the Corporation, had finally secured reluctant acceptance on the understanding that he would not, in any shape or form, criticise the missions nor the protagonists. And so Winston (who had been planning just that) had improvised, calling in a favour from his Admiralty days. As his American mother would have said, he “had struck pure gold”. Grasping the leaked minutes from Halifax’s intelligence briefing he marched into the booth with the precision of a Grenadier Guardsman and the flourish of a seasoned performer. He was introduced by the clean-cut presenter and immediately launched into his speech.
“As the terrible Nazi onslaught in the East continues, our attentions are understandably focussed on these dramatic events in Europe. What is taking place on the glorious rolling fields of Ukraine, Poland and Russia will long be regarded as the gargantuan battle of our age.”
He paused, noting with relish the ashen face of the young editor. Bracken, whose contacts had secured the meeting, had his head in his hands. Churchill would hint at the war, would tease them all with his wordplay, but would ultimately obey.
“Even mighty Napoleon, conqueror of Europe, failed to mobilise on such an epic scale. Millions upon untold millions now locked together in the climacteric war for the continent, and perhaps, the world.”
He sipped on the water provided. “But, a world away, other powers are stirring. The Empire of Japan, for so long the loyal ally of old Albion, now looks to expand her own despicable empire. China, Korea, Indochina, and now the plucky Dutch colonies struggling to survive after the gallant defence of the homeland, all fallen or threatened by the advancing tide of evil.”
“What can we do? Who can stop this irresistible expansion? The answer is that isolated, none of us can. Strong though our Singapore base is, mighty though our battleships be, the struggle would be a terrible one. The nations of Britain and the United States rightly view war as a terrible, abhorrent thing. For the young men of Germany, Italy and Japan it is the only thing, the glorious pinnacle of a young man’s adolescence and the only way for a nation to prove itself. Only by united action, by the British Commonwealth of nations and the United States of America working as one, can this barbarism be stared down.”
“The task before us is an obvious one. By working together with President Roosevelt we can, in an enlightened alliance, go forward together.”
The old man offered a few sombre pronouncements and strode from the chamber, his expression one of defiant bullishness. Bracken was smirking, knowing that his friend was revelling in the chaos that he had created. As Churchill plodded past him he wordlessly handed him a small sheet of paper. Churchill glowered at the younger man.
“It’s from Harry Hopkins. He heard your speech and wants you to come to dinner. Tonight.”
“Did you arrange this?” Churchill looked accusingly at his friend. Bracken offered a lopsided smile and a shrug. Churchill knew that Bracken was lying: he often claimed the credit for the minor ‘successes’ that so rarely occurred in this campaign to cause trouble for Halifax. “Well then, did you think to arrange a car?”
“I’ll have a word with the editors. We’ll get a car. For two?”
“For one, Brendan, for one. Let me go to the pow-wow alone.”
Churchill huffily sank into the back of a black cab (after grumpily remarking that “cabinet ministers go by car, I have to queue for a cab like every other ha’penny tradesman”) and was taken the short distance to the American Embassy.
“Winston, I’m glad that you could make it,” Harry Hopkins said warmly, welcoming Churchill personally to his Embassy.
“When the emissary of the most powerful man in the world requests me, I heed the call,” Churchill growled. Hopkins smiled and led the old man to the library. Pouring Churchill a whisky he sat him down in an old armchair and took another one opposite.
“What was all that rhetoric about? All that about ‘going forward together’. Do you really think that Japan intends war against the United States?”
Churchill sighed, wearied after the long years of fighting. “Let me put it like this. You are in a street fight, what you would probably call a ‘bad brawl’. You have knocked out three opponents: all of them weak and puny. You are outnumbered, with two opponents remaining.”
“And who are these opponents?”
Churchill raised a hand. “One of them is old, tired, he bears the scars of years of fighting. He is weakened, but still dangerous.”
“And the other opponent?” Hopkins was amused, but respectful.
“Ah yes. Fresh faced, strong, yet to realise his potential. He is the greater threat to our fighter. Who, Harry, do you strike first?”
“Why, the younger one; I can then pick the old man off.”
“Exactly, Harry, you finish him off later. That is why the Japanese will go for America before they go for Britain.”
Hopkins smiled, and hid behind his drink. “I think it’s a bit more complicated than that. The Navy think that the Japanese will go for your Eastern colonies before they go for us. Malaya’s worth more to them than Guam.”
Churchill shrugged. “And would your President let the British Empire in the East fall to barbarism? When they have gorged themselves on Australia, New Zealand, even India, will he act?”
“Well,” Hopkins began.
“Of course he would. With all Asia under the yoke of the Japanese Empire he would have to do something. So our tricky Japanese know that eventually they must fight America. Better for us, far better for us, that he does it when the British Empire is intact and fighting.”
“Winston, you know as well as any man that we’re against colonialism in any form. FDR hates Empire whether it flies a British flag or a Japanese one.”
Churchill pointed at Hopkins. “There are three powers in the Pacific with the navies to act as they wish. The British Empire is no threat to the United States, nor are you a threat to us. But Japan, Harry. Japan threatens us both!”
Hopkins nodded. “I think, Winston, that Japan threatens you far more than it threatens me. But I will speak to the President.”
[Game Effect] – I promised an update on Anglo-American relations a while ago. Be prepared to be deluged...
Am I slightly wrong in portraying Winston thus? No, I don’t think so – he’d fight against Halifax’s policies and as pointed out in the comments recently is really the only top Tory independent of Halifax’s influence.
Harry Hopkins keeps up his active diplomacy, and I think is proving a success as Ambassador to London. Though obviously Halifax and Butler (cue shuddering from Trekaddict) would be his focus, he would also keep in contact with prominent opponents, of whom Winston is clearly the most obvious.
This Chapter is a bit of a preface to what comes next, as we look at the reactions in both Washington and Whitehall.
DonnieBaseball: Stanley and his supporters were always going to be in a strong position – here he acted with foresight and guile and is a powerful position.
El Pip: Sorry! I think you’re right in your assessment – things are going to continue in their shambolic way, barring a “major event”!
Trekaddict: There is no nationalisation – though we get pretty close with the massive subsidies for various industries.
Arilou: I don’t think that it would happen in Halifax’s Britain, at least not yet!
Kurt_Steiner: That’s true, and Stanley will have to play his cards very carefully to avoid the same fate!
Nathan Madien: Attlee and Labour have been quiet. Update soon, but essentially he’s clinging on as leader.
Trekaddict: Bloody hell! That was a surprise!
Bafflegab: You’re right – this should have happened before the election, probably just after Milan.
MITSGS John: It’s such a mess, and though Stanley has done a decent job to date, he has a lot more to do.
Sir Humphrey: Halifax and Baldwin were professionally friendly, although I think they found each other’s styles to be exasperating. You’re right that the “guilty men” campaign hasn’t really taken off like it did irl, so I suppose a Baldwin return (at the moment I envisaged him enjoying a quiet retirement) isn’t out of the question.
Winston Churchill sipped on a chilled Pol Roger that had been kindly proffered by the young editor. Getting the BBC to agree to allow Churchill to make a broadcast had been particularly difficult; Churchill suspected that “Auntie” had been heavily pressured by Downing Street into total support of the Government missions to Berlin and Moscow. Brendan Bracken, who had tried every contact he had with the Corporation, had finally secured reluctant acceptance on the understanding that he would not, in any shape or form, criticise the missions nor the protagonists. And so Winston (who had been planning just that) had improvised, calling in a favour from his Admiralty days. As his American mother would have said, he “had struck pure gold”. Grasping the leaked minutes from Halifax’s intelligence briefing he marched into the booth with the precision of a Grenadier Guardsman and the flourish of a seasoned performer. He was introduced by the clean-cut presenter and immediately launched into his speech.
“As the terrible Nazi onslaught in the East continues, our attentions are understandably focussed on these dramatic events in Europe. What is taking place on the glorious rolling fields of Ukraine, Poland and Russia will long be regarded as the gargantuan battle of our age.”
He paused, noting with relish the ashen face of the young editor. Bracken, whose contacts had secured the meeting, had his head in his hands. Churchill would hint at the war, would tease them all with his wordplay, but would ultimately obey.
“Even mighty Napoleon, conqueror of Europe, failed to mobilise on such an epic scale. Millions upon untold millions now locked together in the climacteric war for the continent, and perhaps, the world.”
He sipped on the water provided. “But, a world away, other powers are stirring. The Empire of Japan, for so long the loyal ally of old Albion, now looks to expand her own despicable empire. China, Korea, Indochina, and now the plucky Dutch colonies struggling to survive after the gallant defence of the homeland, all fallen or threatened by the advancing tide of evil.”
“What can we do? Who can stop this irresistible expansion? The answer is that isolated, none of us can. Strong though our Singapore base is, mighty though our battleships be, the struggle would be a terrible one. The nations of Britain and the United States rightly view war as a terrible, abhorrent thing. For the young men of Germany, Italy and Japan it is the only thing, the glorious pinnacle of a young man’s adolescence and the only way for a nation to prove itself. Only by united action, by the British Commonwealth of nations and the United States of America working as one, can this barbarism be stared down.”
“The task before us is an obvious one. By working together with President Roosevelt we can, in an enlightened alliance, go forward together.”
The old man offered a few sombre pronouncements and strode from the chamber, his expression one of defiant bullishness. Bracken was smirking, knowing that his friend was revelling in the chaos that he had created. As Churchill plodded past him he wordlessly handed him a small sheet of paper. Churchill glowered at the younger man.
“It’s from Harry Hopkins. He heard your speech and wants you to come to dinner. Tonight.”
“Did you arrange this?” Churchill looked accusingly at his friend. Bracken offered a lopsided smile and a shrug. Churchill knew that Bracken was lying: he often claimed the credit for the minor ‘successes’ that so rarely occurred in this campaign to cause trouble for Halifax. “Well then, did you think to arrange a car?”
“I’ll have a word with the editors. We’ll get a car. For two?”
“For one, Brendan, for one. Let me go to the pow-wow alone.”
Churchill huffily sank into the back of a black cab (after grumpily remarking that “cabinet ministers go by car, I have to queue for a cab like every other ha’penny tradesman”) and was taken the short distance to the American Embassy.
“Winston, I’m glad that you could make it,” Harry Hopkins said warmly, welcoming Churchill personally to his Embassy.
“When the emissary of the most powerful man in the world requests me, I heed the call,” Churchill growled. Hopkins smiled and led the old man to the library. Pouring Churchill a whisky he sat him down in an old armchair and took another one opposite.
“What was all that rhetoric about? All that about ‘going forward together’. Do you really think that Japan intends war against the United States?”
Churchill sighed, wearied after the long years of fighting. “Let me put it like this. You are in a street fight, what you would probably call a ‘bad brawl’. You have knocked out three opponents: all of them weak and puny. You are outnumbered, with two opponents remaining.”
“And who are these opponents?”
Churchill raised a hand. “One of them is old, tired, he bears the scars of years of fighting. He is weakened, but still dangerous.”
“And the other opponent?” Hopkins was amused, but respectful.
“Ah yes. Fresh faced, strong, yet to realise his potential. He is the greater threat to our fighter. Who, Harry, do you strike first?”
“Why, the younger one; I can then pick the old man off.”
“Exactly, Harry, you finish him off later. That is why the Japanese will go for America before they go for Britain.”
Hopkins smiled, and hid behind his drink. “I think it’s a bit more complicated than that. The Navy think that the Japanese will go for your Eastern colonies before they go for us. Malaya’s worth more to them than Guam.”
Churchill shrugged. “And would your President let the British Empire in the East fall to barbarism? When they have gorged themselves on Australia, New Zealand, even India, will he act?”
“Well,” Hopkins began.
“Of course he would. With all Asia under the yoke of the Japanese Empire he would have to do something. So our tricky Japanese know that eventually they must fight America. Better for us, far better for us, that he does it when the British Empire is intact and fighting.”
“Winston, you know as well as any man that we’re against colonialism in any form. FDR hates Empire whether it flies a British flag or a Japanese one.”
Churchill pointed at Hopkins. “There are three powers in the Pacific with the navies to act as they wish. The British Empire is no threat to the United States, nor are you a threat to us. But Japan, Harry. Japan threatens us both!”
Hopkins nodded. “I think, Winston, that Japan threatens you far more than it threatens me. But I will speak to the President.”
[Game Effect] – I promised an update on Anglo-American relations a while ago. Be prepared to be deluged...
Am I slightly wrong in portraying Winston thus? No, I don’t think so – he’d fight against Halifax’s policies and as pointed out in the comments recently is really the only top Tory independent of Halifax’s influence.
Harry Hopkins keeps up his active diplomacy, and I think is proving a success as Ambassador to London. Though obviously Halifax and Butler (cue shuddering from Trekaddict) would be his focus, he would also keep in contact with prominent opponents, of whom Winston is clearly the most obvious.
This Chapter is a bit of a preface to what comes next, as we look at the reactions in both Washington and Whitehall.
DonnieBaseball: Stanley and his supporters were always going to be in a strong position – here he acted with foresight and guile and is a powerful position.
El Pip: Sorry! I think you’re right in your assessment – things are going to continue in their shambolic way, barring a “major event”!
Trekaddict: There is no nationalisation – though we get pretty close with the massive subsidies for various industries.
Arilou: I don’t think that it would happen in Halifax’s Britain, at least not yet!
Kurt_Steiner: That’s true, and Stanley will have to play his cards very carefully to avoid the same fate!
Nathan Madien: Attlee and Labour have been quiet. Update soon, but essentially he’s clinging on as leader.
Trekaddict: Bloody hell! That was a surprise!
Bafflegab: You’re right – this should have happened before the election, probably just after Milan.
MITSGS John: It’s such a mess, and though Stanley has done a decent job to date, he has a lot more to do.
Sir Humphrey: Halifax and Baldwin were professionally friendly, although I think they found each other’s styles to be exasperating. You’re right that the “guilty men” campaign hasn’t really taken off like it did irl, so I suppose a Baldwin return (at the moment I envisaged him enjoying a quiet retirement) isn’t out of the question.
He does have many years of experience and contacts within the establishment and presuming still within the Party and could possibly act as a intermediary between Halifax and some of the 'moderate' rebels, splitting them up and disuniting them. He did have a reputation, outwardly as a sort of 'good, sound, aimable chap' who behind the doors of government was pretty ruthless playing politics.
But then again, we all love to hate Halifax.
But then again, we all love to hate Halifax.
If the Yanks are as dumb as to think that the Japs are the lesser of two evils, the Brits are going to have a hard time... and even getting rid of good old Halifax will sort it out...
Unfortunately, with no real chance at independently removing Halifax, Winnie is fighting an uphill battle. With the aforementioned economic reforms holding the conciousness of the British populace in both a good an bad way depending on an individual's particular circumstance, I think that Churchill's call to arms against the boogie man from the east will fall on deaf ears within England proper... Now, the same campaign made throughout the rest of the Empire would prove far more fruitful. If Churchill can get the seeds of dissent from the dominions going with respect to the direction that Halifax is taking the Empire, that pressure may be far more tangible at # 10...
I could have sworn I'd replied to this.
Anyway I think Hopkins is being a bit optimistic if he thinks Japan will go straight for Malaysia and leave the Philippines as a knife at their supply lines. While I'm sure people in the military would put him straight would he listen? Would FDR listen more pertinently?
While on the US questions, did the Two Ocean Navy Act pass? Thinking on dates I think it's possible it may not have, without France actually falling would it spook Congress into a 70% funding increase and massive amounts of tonnage? I suspect not.
Anyway I think Hopkins is being a bit optimistic if he thinks Japan will go straight for Malaysia and leave the Philippines as a knife at their supply lines. While I'm sure people in the military would put him straight would he listen? Would FDR listen more pertinently?
While on the US questions, did the Two Ocean Navy Act pass? Thinking on dates I think it's possible it may not have, without France actually falling would it spook Congress into a 70% funding increase and massive amounts of tonnage? I suspect not.
I think that Churchill is doing something that he did quite a bit, despite his two fisted head-down-and-charge reputation. As he did with the campaign against the Mahdi, the Boer War and during his IRL 1930's "alone in the wilderness" period, I think Churchill may be laying back in the tall grass, doing just enough to remind people that he's out there, and then waiting for the situation to develop to a point that allows him to insert himself
That was rather quick.
Hopkins does have a point. Whereas the United States has bases in the East to use if the Philippines or Guam falls, if the British lose Hong Kong or Singapore or even India, they will be pushed back towards Africa and the Middle East as far as bases are concerned. It isn't just the British Empire that is at stake; it's their ability to fight effectively.
This is where the fun begins.
I suppose he will listen if someone in the military decided to educate him.
I am sure MacArthur would have something to say.
I would imagine Congress approving a plan to beef up the Navy in the Pacific, but not in the Atlantic.
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I am continually amazed at my country's denial of its own empire building...
If FDR hated colonialism so much, why hasn't he abandoned the Phillipines, Guam, and Hawaii? What does he think they are...native soil?
Typical American blinders...sigh.
TheExecuter
If FDR hated colonialism so much, why hasn't he abandoned the Phillipines, Guam, and Hawaii? What does he think they are...native soil?
Typical American blinders...sigh.
TheExecuter
Barring a disaster befalling the US Pacific Fleet
I'm sure at worst the RN could hold Ceylon and Perth/Darwin in Australia as alternative eastern bases, as Japan will have to keep some forces in the W.Pacific to guard against a US advance, regardless of whether the US declares off the bat or not. One of the few (only?) good parts of the present European situation is that it frees practically the entire RN to move east if needed.
The US might not see the Phillipines as threatening a southern advance by Japan, but that hardly matters--what matters is what Japan thinks.
Well, to be fair, we did let the Phillipines off to be its' own country and Hawaii is 18 years away from being a state. As for Guam...we want to screw up all the yellow paint in the Western Pacific.
Barring a disaster befalling the US Pacific Fleet
One of the few (only?) good parts of the present European situation is that it frees practically the entire RN to move east if needed.
The US might not see the Phillipines as threatening a southern advance by Japan, but that hardly matters--what matters is what Japan thinks.
True...but what good is having a fighting navy if you lose navy bases from which to fight.
American exceptionalism. It's never really bad when it's Uncle Sam doing it, America having the natives' best interests in mind, unlike those petty Old-World Imperialists.
There's the bad Imperialist and the good Imperialist. The bad Imperialist, he sees natives sitting upon natural riches, he enslaves the natives and takes the riches away from them. The good one, well, the good one, see, he does the same...but he really is a good Imperialist.
American exceptionalism. It's never really bad when it's Uncle Sam doing it, America having the natives' best interests in mind, unlike those petty Old-World Imperialists.
There's the bad Imperialist and the good Imperialist. The bad Imperialist, he sees natives sitting upon natural riches, he enslaves the natives and takes the riches away from them. The good one, well, the good one, see, he does the same...but he really is a good Imperialist.
Some of it was good old knee-jerk US anti-imperialism, most of it was about the fact that the US wanted access to closed Imperial markets. It's hard to argue against the idea that fatally weakening the bonds of Empire in general and the UK economy in particular were major US war aims. (See terms of Lend-Lease, terms of Anglo-American loan, etc.)
IIRC Roosevelt would throw in Churchill's face the idea that, while the US was REALLY preparing the Phillipines for independence, in India and Malaya it had been business as usual and would be, not even at least letting the Indians and Chinese into the good clubs!
Boy, boys. Let's not fight. We're all murderous oppressors. Even you, Belgium, down there at the end of the table trying to hide!American exceptionalism. It's never really bad when it's Uncle Sam doing it, America having the natives' best interests in mind, unlike those petty Old-World Imperialists.
There's the bad Imperialist and the good Imperialist. The bad Imperialist, he sees natives sitting upon natural riches, he enslaves the natives and takes the riches away from them. The good one, well, the good one, see, he does the same...but he really is a good Imperialist.
So. On whose side will Congress be if things light up in the China-Burma-India theatre?
If things light up in China, the US will stop the aggressor. Burma/India, Congress will wait to see what Britain does. As far as I remember, there are no ABD agreements between Britain, the Dutch, and the US over Japanese expansionism in Asia. So I only see Congress being interested in China at the moment.
TheExecuter