1914-1924 'British interests; British honour; British obligations'

[Lord E]

The war is barley over and already the politicians are fighting over who won and did the best job. Shall be interesting to see what the British electorate thinks about all this, but I feel fairly confident that the Coalition will win. But how long they will remain a coalition is a very different question. Also Ireland looks like a real trouble area so something needs to be done, either sending in the army to crush the Irish once and for all or else you might be forced to give them their independence…

Looking forward to see what will happen next Allenby

[Sir Humphrey]

As long as H.H. Asquith doesn't win, things are good.

[Allenby]

Originally Posted by El Pip

Hmmm. I do wonder if the historic division in the Coalition will occur, there seems to be a great many contradictions between what the traditional Unionist wing would accept and what Lloyd George is promising. And vice-versa of course.

The Irish situation seems surprisingly stable, relatively speaking anyway. Home Rule may yet work out, temporarily anyway. Or Lloyd George will be forced to choose between his government coalition and Home Rule, probably the later unless Bonar Law can, or even wants to, keep tight control of the Unionists on that issue.

Well, most Unionists have already accepted Home Rule given that the alternative is an Irish republic and on condition that Ulster does not participate.

Perhaps the bigger issue will be how well the components of the Coalition gell. An ideal scenario for many Lloyd Georgians and Unionists would be for a centrist merger under a internationally-renowened, popular leader (Lloyd George). Such a party would possess such credit as to render political opponents, particularly on the collectivist left, severely weakened.

Originally Posted by TheExecuter

TheExecuter votes: Liberal

Fascinating update Allenby! The text flowed quite well and I didn't notice how long it was until after reading it. Masterful!

Keep up the good work! Don't leave us impaled on this cliffhanger for too long...

Coalition Liberal or Asquithian Liberal?

Thank you for the compliment - and I guarantee that the next shan't take too long.

Originally Posted by Funkatronica

yea that was a great read - i can't see asquith winning this at all, i'm assuming LG will get a powerful majority here...

Lloyd George would be the bookmaker's favourite. A successful war followed by a barnstorming campaign.

Originally Posted by Kurt_Steiner

While if I agree with all my fellow mates that LG's chances look very promising, I've learnt, as an AAR reader, to wait for the unexpected. And, of course, Mr Allenby is the master of surprises. It can happen.

Which way will it go? Did I toss a coin to decide the winner?

Originally Posted by Vann the Red

The war leader usually wins the first post-war round resoundingly. Then gets killed in the next.

Except Churchill in 1945 of course. Mind you, the Asquithian Liberals and Labour are not quite the same force as Labour was at the end of the Second World War.

Originally Posted by RossN

Hmm, I'm not sure even given the Central Board the IPP would be doing quite so well. Considering the powers of the Board 'significant concessions' might be stretching the truth slightly.

There were a lot of reasons the IPP failed in 1918, and they would still be in play - its complete failure to win over the younger generation or new women voters, its elderly and out of touch membership, its conservative economic party. Also remember the IPP Had no real rivals in the South until 1916, so their ability to fight a normal election campaign, as compared with that in Great Britain is somewhat questionable: certainly the first time a serious nationalist alternative emerged at the polls they suffered terribly. There were a lot of reasons Sinn Féin was so successful. I also wonder if the IPP is not getting off very lightly for (effectively) conceding partition, without even gaining Dominion status or the like.

Edit: Of course I am biased () but I'd be surprised if the voters gave their stamp to the same old Home Rule. Perhaps a moderate cross-party (and even Sinn Féin had moderates) call for Dominionship? The other Dominions seemed to have worked pretty well during the war and Dillon himself was somewhat more radical than Redmond had been.

Edit (again) : I certainly don't mean the above to sound negative. This is an excellent AAR and I eagerly await the results, whichever way they go (go Asquith).

A lot of Asquith supporters here!

Well, an interesting post and I don't interpret it as negative. However, I would plead that I have attempted to chart an alternate course of history which I do not regard as too far-fetched.

I think it would be fair to say that (historically) even after 1916, the rise of Sinn Féin and the decimation of the IPP, although highly likely, was not inevitable. It takes a very brave historian to assert that anything, especially in the circumstances of war, is an inevitability.

I would argue that I have given myself more scope for alternate developments in Ireland by the absense of the principal events which allowed Sinn Féin to attract the mass support it had previously lacked - the brutal response of the military in Easter 1916, the conscription crisis of 1918, the death of Thomas Ashe (I didn't mention Richard Coleman). Combined with the ability of the IPP to win legislative autonomy (and I believe I did not exactly mention what this Board could legislate over), I think there are grounds for an alternate timeline in which the IPP is still an electoral force in 1918. No doubt Dillon et al were old and pretty hacked out, but they had historically gone through a rollercoaster in comparison to what I have (briefly) described here. In these circumstances, I would not be certain that de Valera could carry the country through dynamism alone.

Of course, the election results are yet to be revealed. And remember, it is only 1918! Ireland is far from settled yet!

Originally Posted by Lord E

The war is barley over and already the politicians are fighting over who won and did the best job. Shall be interesting to see what the British electorate thinks about all this, but I feel fairly confident that the Coalition will win. But how long they will remain a coalition is a very different question. Also Ireland looks like a real trouble area so something needs to be done, either sending in the army to crush the Irish once and for all or else you might be forced to give them their independence…

Well, no need to ship tens of thousands of Western Front-hardened veterans into Ireland given that everyone is playing by the ballot box. These troops might be needed elsewhere if there is trouble abroad, especially with the difficulties in Russia.

Originally Posted by Sir Humphrey

As long as H.H. Asquith doesn't win, things are good.

Given the mood of the electorate, such a curt statement to the public might be the only requirement of a Coalition candidate to win a seat in the House of Commons.

[Lord_Robertus]

Originally Posted by Allenby

Well, no need to ship tens of thousands of Western Front-hardened veterans into Ireland given that everyone is playing by the ballot box. These troops might be needed elsewhere if there is trouble abroad, especially with the difficulties in Russia.

Ahha good. An invasion of Russia

[Jape]

Just caught up on things and nice to see the quality and depth hasn't dipped one jot.

On a tangent note that pic of Austen is rather dashing. Neville go hang, I want a charismatic Chamberlain as PM!

[TheExecuter]

Originally Posted by Allenby

Coalition Liberal or Asquithian Liberal?

Thank you for the compliment - and I guarantee that the next shan't take too long.

Asquithian...

<ducks as piles of dung are thrown by the coalition mob>

Your welcome to compliments anytime, good sir!

Keep up the good work,
TheExecuter

[Allenby]

The Coalition achieved a landslide victory on 12th June. Lloyd George returned to 10 Downing Street with a huge majority of 321. Even this figure was deceptively small, for 23 successful Unionists who did not receive the official backing of Lloyd George and Bonar Law were inclined to support the Coalition. The fact that the Unionists won 380 seats illustrated that the British national mood had become increasingly conservative and that Lloyd George had been wise to continue his partnership with them to sustain his premiership.

Birmingham West
Rt. Hon. J.A. Chamberlain		Co U		Unopposed


Carnarvon Boroughs
Rt. Hon. D. Lloyd George		Co Lib		14,136
A. Harrison				Ind		952
							13,184

City of London (two seats)
Rt. Hon. A.J. Balfour			Co U		Unopposed
Rt. Hon. Sir F.S. Banbury		Co U 		Unopposed


Fife East
Rt. Hon. H.H. Asquith			Lib		8,001
Col. Sir A. Sprot, Bt			U		7,989
W.P. Morgan				Ind Prog	591
							12

Fife West
W. Adamson				Lab		10,664
J.H. Menzies				Co U		4,020
							6,644

Glasgow Central
Rt. Hon. A.B. Law			Co U		17,653
D.J.M. Quin				Ind Lab		4,736
							12,917

Glasgow Gorbals
Rt. Hon. G.N. Barnes			Co NDP		14,247
J. Maclean				Lab		7,436	
							6,811

Mayo East
J. Dillon				IPP		6,875
É. de Valera				SF		6,614
							261

Lloyd George himself secured a crushing victory over a barely known independent candidate in Carnarvon, the loyal constituency he had represented since 1890. The commitment of Wales to the Coalition Liberals and Lloyd George in particular was reflected by the reduction of the Asquithian Liberal presence in the country to just three seats. Having previously represented the constituency of Bootle in Liverpool, Andrew Bonar Law cruised to victory in his native Glasgow against an Independent Liberal candidate. Austen Chamberlain was returned in Birmingham West when the Labour candidate failed to submit his deposit on time. The ranks of enthusiastic volunteers who had operated as the cogs of the formidable Chamberlain Liberal Unionist machine before 1914 were much depleted by war and inactivity. Nevertheless, the working-class constituencies of Birmingham, as before the war, continued to be the Unionists’ safest seats and the West Midlands remained a bastion of the Unionist Party. The former Prime Minister and member of the War Cabinet, Arthur Balfour, was returned unopposed in the City of London. Another member of the War Cabinet, the leader of the National Democratic and Labour Party, George Barnes, defeated his Labour candidate in Glasgow Gorbals, securing a majority of 6,811. In the western constituency of the city, Asquith narrowly held onto his seat and returned to the House of Commons. After three recounts, Asquith defeated the swashbuckling soldier, Colonel Sir Alexander Sprot, by twelve votes. Asquith had achieved a pyrrhic victory, leading just forty-five dispirited followers back to the House of Commons. The Chairman of the Labour Parliamentary Party, William Adamson, won comfortably against his Unionist opponent in Fife East. Despite significantly increasing their share of the vote from 1910, the non-Coalition Labour Party possessed as many MPs in the House of Commons in 1918 as it had after the last election. One of the most significant results in the election occurred in Mayo East, where John Dillon defeated Éamon de Valera by the small margin of 261 votes. Hedging his bets, de Valera stood for several seats and succeeded at Clare East. In Ireland as a whole, the Nationalists won 58 seats against 22 taken by Sinn Féin. This represented limited progress for Sinn Féin, but not on the scale expected in early 1917 before establishment of limited autonomy for Ireland. For now, the Irish electorate had repudiated the republicanism of Sinn Féin whilst giving the Nationalists guarded approval in response to Dillon’s promise to secure Home Rule. Nevertheless, questions remained about the nature of the final settlement. Dillon was vague on the extent to which the Home Rule settlement would differ from the legislation already on the statute book. Furthermore, Ulster Unionists had remained insistent that Ulster would never be governed from Dublin despite the commitment of Dillon not to countenance partition.

A cartoonist’s satirical view of female enfranchisement

Lloyd George made a number of significant changes to the government he formed in June 1918. He chose to retain the War Cabinet until a peace treaty with Germany was signed, but altered its membership. The inclusion of Jan Smuts in the War Cabinet, who did not serve as a member of either house of parliament, had always been a constitutional anomaly. Smuts submitted his resignation from the government but remained in London, having been told by the Prime Minister that his services would be of use at the peace conference. Sir Edward Carson was offered the Lord Chancellorship by Lloyd George, but wishing to speak for Ulster Unionism and to guarantee that Ulster would remain outside any Home Rule settlement, he refused the offer, reasoning that the office would bind him. Consequently, Carson left the War Cabinet and was replaced by Sir Eric Geddes, who had directed the blockade of Germany with energy and had fought the general election with fervour. The workaholic Lord Curzon retained his powerful position within government, serving as both Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House of Lords. Sir Mark Sykes was appointed his Under Secretary at the Foreign Office. As a consequence of his deteriorating health and the bereavement caused by the loss of his two eldest sons in the war, the Unionist leader Andrew Bonar Law lessened his workload, remaining in the War Cabinet as Leader of the House of Commons but relinquishing the Chancellorship of the Exchequer. Subsequently, Lloyd George broached Edwin Montagu as his successor at the Treasury, a nomination which was vetoed by Bonar Law and Curzon, who wanted this crucial post reserved for a fellow Unionist. The Prime Minister turned to the successful First Lord of the Admiralty, Austen Chamberlain, who reluctantly accepted after days of procrastination. Reviewing the daunting challenge of post-war financial management, Chamberlain wrote unenthusiastically to Lloyd George that ‘the Chancellor of the Exchequer has all the odium of raising the money. His colleagues have all the pleasure and kudos of spending it.’ In other changes, Lord Milner was sent to the Colonial Office to replace Walter Long, a move calculated to utilise Milner’s imperialist ardour. The war hero Winston Churchill added the War portfolio to his existing responsibilities at the Air Department. The Attorney-General, the charismatic Sir F.E. Smith, was appointed to replace Chamberlain at the Admiralty. Christopher Addison, the staunch Lloyd Georgian, was sent to the Local Government Board with a brief to reform health and housing policy. Andrew Weir, a successful ship-owner serving as Surveyor General of Supplies was sent to the upper chamber as Lord Inverforth and given the Munitions portfolio with the responsibility of winding down Britain’s war production and disposing of waste material. In order to bring a semblance of balance to his Unionist-heavy government, Lloyd George appointed the son of Rosebery, the Liberal MP Lord Dalmeny to the minor position of Postmaster-General. Meanwhile, Ian Macpherson remained at the Home Office, Lord Finlay retained his position on the woolsack, H.A.L. Fisher continued his preparations for reform of schooling at the Board of Education and Lord Selborne remained at the India Office in order to deal with demands for political reform within the Raj.

David Lloyd George returned to 10 Downing Street with a new mandate

The first duty of the new government was to prepare for the assembly of the Imperial War Cabinet, which reconvened in late-June 1918 for the first time since 1917. The Dominion Prime Ministers journeyed back to London to attend, aiming to exert their influence on British imperial policy. Sir Robert Borden of Canada, Billy Hughes of Australia, General Louis Botha of South Africa and William Massey of New Zealand represented countries which had given a contribution to the British war effort out of proportion to their respective manpower and resources. With the exception of South Africa, the experience of war had encouraged both nationalist and imperialist sentiment in equal measure among the populations of the Dominions and their leaders attended the Imperial War Cabinet with heightened expectations. Consideration was first given to the report published by the recently ennobled Lord Lee, the Unionist Lord President of the Council tasked by Lloyd George in 1917 to study the concept of consultation between Britain and the Dominions on the subject of British foreign policy and inter-imperial relations. Before Lee and his committee investigated, the Dominion Prime Ministers restated their insistence that imperial federation was out of the question. Although Lee had never regarded this aspiration as practical politics, the Dominion representatives on the committee guaranteed that a federation scheme was ruled out from the beginning. When complete, the Lee Report recommended the appointment of resident ministers to represent the Dominions in London and the establishment of a ‘permanent body’ in which Britain, India and the Dominions, though the resident ministers, would be equally represented. The Imperial War Cabinet accepted the notion of resident ministers without objection. The Dominions Prime Ministers conceived of them as serving two simultaneous functions: to strengthen their standings as independent nations by providing the same representation in London as European powers whilst reinforcing the bonds between the Dominions and the mother country. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Newfoundland and South Africa would be afforded representation by ministers, who would convene with the Colonial Secretary and the India Secretary ‘from time to time’ to discuss inter-imperial affairs with the ‘occasional’ attendance of the Foreign Secretary to receive their opinions on subjects of collective concern. The Imperial War Cabinet had harnessed the mood of imperial solidarity in the wake of victory in Europe to give sanction to a forum for policy discussion and coordination. Yet disagreement over the other principal item on the Imperial War Cabinet’s agenda threatened disharmony. In discussing the appropriate strategy for the British Empire in negotiation peace terms with Germany, Lloyd George and the Dominion Prime Ministers were temporarily at odds. Having consulted the Dominions before negotiating the armistice with Germany, Lloyd George had set a precedent. Borden and Hughes in particular were therefore insulted when Lloyd George suggested that the British delegation to the peace conference might include a token representative of all the Dominions. Borden hotly disputed this proposal, pointing out that he had as much right to speak for the views of Australia as Hughes had to represent Canada. Having agreed to grant each Dominion individual ministers in London, it was impossible to with any credit argue that they should be represented collectively in negotiating an end to a war to which they had contributed so much. The Dominions possessed ambitions of their own: Australia and New Zealand gazed eagerly at the German Pacific whilst Smuts and Botha sought African territory for their country. They stood firm on the subject, suspicious that Britain would forsake the interests of the Dominions if necessity arose without their direct representation. Lloyd George came round to the view of Borden and Hughes, realising the benefit that Britain could accrue from accompaniment to the peace conference numerous Dominion delegates. Consequently, the Imperial War Cabinet resolved that the Dominions would be represented as individual nations.

The Lloyd George Coalition had won a resounding mandate to institute domestic reforms and reconstruct the order of Europe. Since the general election, Lord Curzon had prepared to participate in the first act of the latter endeavour. On 24th June, as the Prime Minister and his Dominion counterparts remodelled the empire, the Foreign Secretary was cheered keenly by a crowd at Charing Cross station. Curzon boarded a train bound for Dover, his ultimate destination, the south of France.

War Cabinet
Prime Minister: David Lloyd George (Lib)
Leader of the House of Commons: Andrew Bonar Law (U)
Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House of Lords: Earl Curzon of Kedleston (U)
Lord Privy Seal: Arthur Balfour (U)
Minister without Portfolio: George Barnes (NDP)
Minister without Portfolio: Sir Eric Geddes (U)

Chancellor of the Exchequer: Austen Chamberlain (U)
Home Secretary: Ian Macpherson (Lib)
Lord Chancellor: Viscount Finlay of Nairn (U)
Secretary of State for War and Air: Winston Churchill (Lib)
Secretary of State for the Colonies: Viscount Milner (U)
Secretary of State for India: Earl of Selborne (U)
First Lord of the Admiralty: Sir F.E. Smith (U)
President of the Board of Trade: Sir Albert Stanley (Lib)
Secretary of State for Scotland: Robert Munro (Lib)
Chief Secretary for Ireland: Edwin Montagu (Lib)
Lord President of the Council: Baron Lee of Fareham (U)
President of the Local Government Board: Christopher Addison (Lib)
President of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries: R.E. Prothero (U)
President of the Board of Education: H.A.L. Fisher (Lib)
Minister of Munitions: Baron Inverforth (U)
Minister of Labour: Sir Robert Horne (U)
Postmaster-General: Lord Dalmeny (Lib)
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster: Edward Shortt (Lib)

[Allenby]

1918 General Election

Coalition Liberal				132
Coalition Unionist 				356
Coalition Labour 				4
Coalition NDP 				9
Coalition Independent 			1
Liberal 					46
Unionist 					23
Labour 					42
Labour Unionist 				3
Irish Parliamentary Party 		58
Sinn Féin 					22
National Party 				2
Independent Liberal 			1
Independent Unionist 			1
Independent Labour 				2
Co-operative 				1
National Socialist 				1
Independent 					3

Two seat constituencies: Blackburn, Bolton, Brighton, Cambridge University, City of London, Combined English Universities, Cork City, Derby, Dublin University, Dundee, Norwich, Oldham, Preston, Southampton, Stockport, Sunderland

Three seat constituency: Combined Scottish Universities

Coalition Liberal
Aberavon
Aberdeen and Kincardine East
Argyllshire
Banbury
Banff
Barnsley
Batley and Morley
Battersea North
Bedford
Berwick and Haddington
Bethnal Green North-East
Blackburn
Blaydon
Bolton
Bosworth
Brecon and Radnor
Bristol East
Bristol North
Bristol South
Broxtowe
Buckrose
Caithness and Sutherland
Camberwell North-West
Cambridgeshire
Cardiganshire
Carlisle
Carmarthen
Carnarvon Boroughs
Carnarvonshire
Clay Cross
Colne Valley
Combined English Universities
Combined Scottish Universities
Crewe
Dartford
Denbigh
Derbyshire North East
Derbyshire South
Doncaster
Dorset East
Dumbarton Burghs
Dundee
Dunfermline Burghs
East Ham North
Eye
Flintshire
Galloway
Glasgow Bridgeton
Glasgow Cathcart
Glasgow Partick
Hackney Central
Halifax
Heywood and Radcliffe
Huddersfield
Ilkeston
Inverness
Isle of Ely
Jarrow
Kennington
Kilmarnock
Kincardine & West Aberdeenshire
Kirkcaldy Burghs
Leeds Central
Leeds North
Leeds South
Leeds West
Leicester East
Leyton East
Lichfield
Limehouse
Llanelli
Loughborough
Lowestoft
Luton
Merthyr
Middleton and Prestwich
Midlothian and Peebles Northern
Montrose Burghs
Moray & Nairn
Morpeth
Mossley
Neath
Newcastle-upon-Tyne East
Newcastle-upon-Tyne West
Newport
Norfolk South West
Northampton
Oldham
Orkney and Shetland
Peckham
Pembrokeshire
Perth
Pontefract
Pontypridd
Poplar South
Pudsey and Otley
Renfrewshire East
Renfrewshire West
Rhondda East
Rhondda West
Romford
Ross and Cromarty
Roxburghshire & Selkirkshire
Rutherglen
Saffron Walden
Sheffield Attercliffe
Sheffield Brightside
Sheffield Hillsborough
Sheffield Park
Shipley
Shoreditch
South Shields
Southampton
Southwark Central
Southwark North
Southwark South East
Spen Valley
St Ives
Stockport
Stockton on Tees
Stoke-on-Trent Stoke
Stretford
Stroud
Sunderland
Swansea East
Swansea West
The Wrekin
Thornbury
University of Wales
Wansbeck
Wrexham

Coalition Conservative & Unionist
Aberdeen and Kincardine Central
Aberdeen South
Abingdon
Accrington
Acton
Aldershot
Altrincham
Antrim East
Antrim Mid
Antrim North
Antrim South
Armagh Mid
Armagh North
Ashford
Ashton-under-Lyne
Aylesbury
Ayr Burghs
Balham and Tooting
Barkston Ash
Basingstoke
Bassetlaw
Bath
Battersea South
Bedfordshire Mid
Belfast Cromac
Belfast Duncairn
Belfast Ormeau
Belfast Pottinger
Belfast Woodvale
Bethnal Green South-West
Bewdley
Bilston
Birkenhead East
Birkenhead West
Birmingham Aston
Birmingham Deritend
Birmingham Duddeston
Birmingham Edgbaston
Birmingham Erdington
Birmingham Handsworth
Birmingham King's Norton
Birmingham Ladywood
Birmingham Moseley
Birmingham Sparkbrook
Birmingham West
Birmingham Yardley
Blackburn
Blackpool
Bodmin
Bootle
Bothwell
Bow and Bromley
Bradford Central
Bradford North
Bradford South
Brentford and Chiswick
Bridgwater
Brigg
Brighton
Bristol Central
Bristol West
Brixton
Bromley
Buckingham
Burton
Bury St Edmunds
Bute and North Ayrshire
Camberwell North
Cambridge
Cambridge University
Canterbury
Chelmsford
Chelsea
Cheltenham
Chertsey
Chester
Chichester
Chippenham
Chislehurst
Chorley
Cirencester and Tewkesbury
City of London
Clackmannan and Eastern Stirlingshire
Clapham
Cleveland
Coatbridge
Colchester
Combined English Universities
Combined Scottish Universities
Coventry
Croydon North
Croydon South
Cumberland North
Darlington
Darwen
Daventry
Devizes
Dewsbury
Dorset North
Dorset South
Dorset West
Dover
Down East
Down Mid
Down North
Down West
Dublin Rathmines
Dublin University
Dudley
Dulwich
Dumfriesshire
Dunbartonshire
Durham
Ealing
East Grinstead
Eastbourne
Eccles
Eddisbury
Edinburgh North
Edinburgh South
Edinburgh West
Edmonton
Elland
Enfield
Epping
Epsom
Essex South East
Evesham
Exeter
Fareham
Farnham
Faversham
Fermanagh North
Finchley
Finsbury
Frome
Fulham East
Fulham West
Fylde
Gainsborough
Gateshead
Gillingham
Glasgow Camlachie
Glasgow Central
Glasgow Hillhead
Glasgow Kelvingrove
Glasgow Maryhill
Glasgow Pollok
Glasgow Shettleston
Glasgow Springburn
Glasgow St. Rollox
Glasgow Tradeston
Gloucester
Grantham
Gravesend
Great Yarmouth
Greenwich
Grimsby
Guildford
Hackney North
Hammersmith North
Hammersmith South
Hampstead
Harborough
Harrow
Harwich
Hastings
Hemel Hempstead
Hendon
Henley
Hereford
Hexham
High Peak
Hitchin
Holborn
Holderness
Honiton
Horncastle
Hornsey
Horsham and Worthing
Howdenshire
Hull Central
Hull East
Hull North West
Huntingdonshire
Hythe
Ilford
Ipswich
Isle of Thanet
Isle of Wight
Islington East
Islington North
Islington South
Islington West
Keighley
Kensington North
Kensington South
Kidderminster
King’s Lynn
Kingston-upon-Thames
Knutsford
Lanark
Lanarkshire North
Lancaster
Leeds North East
Leicester South
Leominster
Lewes
Lewisham East
Lewisham West
Leyton West
Lincoln
Linlithgow
Liverpool East Toxteth
Liverpool Edge Hill
Liverpool Everton
Liverpool Exchange
Liverpool Kirkdale
Liverpool Walton
Liverpool Wavertree
Liverpool West Derby
Liverpool West Toxteth
Llandaff and Barry
London University
Londonderry North
Londonderry South
Lonsdale
Louth (Lincolnshire)
Ludlow
Macclesfield
Maidstone
Maldon
Manchester Ardwick
Manchester Exchange
Manchester Rusholme
Melton
Mile End
Mitcham
Motherwell
New Forest and Christchurch
Newark
Newbury
Newcastle-upon-Tyne Central
Newcastle-upon-Tyne North
Norfolk East
Northwich
Norwood
Nottingham Central
Nottingham East
Nottingham South
Nuneaton
Oldham
Oswestry
Oxford
Oxford University
Paddington North
Paddington South
Penrith and Cockermouth
Penryn and Falmouth
Peterborough
Petersfield
Plymouth Devonport
Plymouth Drake
Plymouth Sutton
Portsmouth North
Portsmouth South
Preston
Putney
Queen's University of Belfast
Reading
Reigate
Richmond (Yorkshire)
Richmond upon Thames
Ripon
Rochdale
Rossendale
Rotherhithe
Royton
Rugby
Rushcliffe
Rutland and Stamford
Rye
Salford South
Salisbury
Scarborough and Whitby
Sedgefield
Sevenoaks
Sheffield Central
Sheffield Ecclesall
Sheffield Hallam
Shrewsbury
Skipton
Southend-on-Sea
Southport
Spelthorne
St Albans
St Marylebone
St Pancras North
St Pancras South West
Stafford
Stirlingshire and Clackmannan West
Stoke Newington
Stone
Stratford West Ham
Streatham
Surrey East
Swindon
Tamworth
Taunton
Tavistock
Thirsk and Malton
Tiverton
Tonbridge
Torquay
Totnes
Tottenham North
Tottenham South
Twickenham
Tynemouth
Tyrone South
Upton
Uxbridge
Wakefield
Wallasey
Walthamstow East
Warrington
Warwick and Leamington
Waterloo
Watford
Wells
Westbury
Westminster Abbey
Westminster St George's
Westmorland
Weston-super-Mare
Whitehaven
Widnes
Willesden East
Willesden West
Wimbledon
Winchester
Windsor
Wirral
Wolverhampton West
Wood Green
Woodbridge
Woolwich West
Worcester
Wycombe
Yeovil
York

Coalition Labour
Barnard Castle
Cannock
Norwich
Stockport

Coalition NDP
Aberdare
Bradford East
Don Valley
East Ham South
Glasgow Gorbals
Leicester West
Stoke-on-Trent Hanley
Wallsend
Walthamstow West

Coalition Independent
Norfolk North

Conservative & Unionist
Barrow-in-Furness
Bury
Cardiff Central
Cardiff South
Chatham
Derby
Farnworth
Forfarshire
Liverpool Fairfield
Manchester Blackley
Manchester Clayton
Manchester Hulme
Manchester Moss Side
Manchester Withington
Monmouth
Nottingham West
Rotherham
Salford West
St Pancras South East
Stalybridge and Hyde
Sunderland
The Hartlepools
Wandsworth Central

Independent Conservative & Unionist
Dublin University

Liberal
Barnstaple
Belper
Bermondsey West
Berwick-on-Tweed
Bishop Auckland
Camborne
Cardiff East
Chesterfield
Chester-le-Street
Consett
Cornwall North
Derbyshire West
Edinburgh East
Edinburgh Leith
Fife East
Greenock
Holland-with-Boston
Houghton-le-Spring
Hull South West
Kingswinford
Kinross & West Perthshire
Lambeth North
Leeds South East
Leigh
Merionethshire
Middlesbrough East
Middlesbrough West
Montgomeryshire
Norfolk South
Norwich
Ormskirk
Paisley
Peeblesshire & South Midlothian
Penistone
Portsmouth Central
Rothwell
Seaham
South Molton
Spennymoor
Stirling and Falkirk Burghs
Stoke-on-Trent Burslem
Stourbridge
Sudbury
Western Isles
Whitechapel and St George's
Wolverhampton East

Independent Liberal
Newcastle-under-Lyme

Labour
Abertillery
Ayrshire South
Bedwellty
Bolton
Burnley
Caerphilly
Clitheroe
Deptford
Derby
Dundee
Ebbw Vale
Edinburgh Central
Fife West
Forest of Dean
Glasgow Govan
Gower
Hamilton
Hemsworth
Ince
Leek
Manchester Gorton
Manchester Platting
Mansfield
Nelson and Colne
Newton
Normanton
Ogmore
Plaistow
Pontypool
Preston
Rother Valley
Salford North
Smethwick
St Helens
Wednesbury
Wellingborough
Wentworth
West Bromwich
Westhoughton
Wigan
Woolwich East
Workington

Labour Unionist
Belfast Shankill
Belfast St Anne's
Belfast Victoria

Independent Labour
Aberdeen North
Anglesey

Irish Parliamentary Party
Armagh South
Belfast Falls
Carlow
Cavan East
Cavan West
Clare West
Cork City
County Cork East
County Cork Mid
County Cork North
County Cork North East
County Cork West
Donegal East
Down South
Dublin County North
Dublin Harbour
Dublin Pembroke
Dublin South
Dublin St James's
Dublin St Michan's
Dublin St Stephen's Green
Fermanagh South
Kildare North
Kildare South
Kilkenny North
Kilkenny South
King's County
Leitrim
Limerick City
Limerick East
Limerick West
Liverpool Scotland
Londonderry City
Longford
Louth
Mayo East
Mayo North
Mayo South
Mayo West
Meath North
Meath South
Monaghan North
Monaghan South
National University of Ireland
Queen's County
Tipperary East
Tipperary Mid
Tipperary North
Tipperary South
Tyrone North-East
Waterford
Waterford City
Westmeath
Wexford North
Wexford South
Wicklow East
Wicklow West

Sinn Féin
Clare East
County Cork South
County Cork South East
Donegal North
Donegal South
Donegal West
Dublin Clontarf
Dublin College Green
Dublin St Patrick's
Galway Connemara
Galway East
Galway North
Galway South
Kerry East
Kerry North
Kerry South
Kerry West
Roscommon North
Roscommon South
Sligo North
Sligo South
Tyrone North-West

National Party
Bournemouth
Walsall

Co-operative
Kettering

National Socialist
Silvertown

Independent
Hackney South
Hertford
Sowerby

A note on party colours: to avoid confusion I have used modern colours to represent political parties, although it should be noted that during the period the Unionists mostly campaigned in red, white and blue and in purple in many constituencies whilst the Liberals used blue, red and orange. Labour, of course, has always campaigned in red.

[Allenby]

Originally Posted by Lord_Robertus

Ahha good. An invasion of Russia

Well don't jump to conclusions just yet. But don't expect the post-war period to be one of unprecedented tranquility either.

Originally Posted by Jape

Just caught up on things and nice to see the quality and depth hasn't dipped one jot.

On a tangent note that pic of Austen is rather dashing. Neville go hang, I want a charismatic Chamberlain as PM!

Thank you ever so much! I am glad you like the Austen photograph - although the guys in the bowler hats do not appear too interested in what he has to say.

Don't worry about Neville - he's only just been elected MP for Birmingham Ladywood.

Originally Posted by TheExecuter

Asquithian...

<ducks as piles of dung are thrown by the coalition mob>

Your welcome to compliments anytime, good sir!

I, in return, am delighted to receive them!

As an Asquithian, you may have found yourself part of a dwindling band...

[RossN]

Very interesting result.

Arthur Griffith, W. T. Cosgrave and Kevin O'Higgins failed to get their seats. So much for the moderate wing of Sinn Féin.

Hmm, that will make my hopes for a cross party move for Dominion status pretty difficult.

I wonder will Dillon fall on his sword and resign as party leader? He did much better than in otl, but he has also just presided over the worst election result for the IPP ever. Were I an IPP backbencher I'd be unhappy.

Lloyd George really has no party loyalty at all does he?

[El Pip]

The IPP may have had their worst every result (don't honestly know) but they still won. Moreover they won with a 36 seat majority and have 70% of the seats, if you'd offered that to the IPP in 1917 they would have torn your arm of in desperation to grab it! No matter how high your standards that's still a substantial victory and I don't think Dillon will be going anywhere.

More interestingly I see Austen gets the treasury, presumably in better nick having been saved several months of war, hopefully he can show the same administrative touch as his father. I am concerned about Winston getting the War Office, I'm not sure he's the ideal man to oversea running the army down to peacetime levels. Having said that he will probably ensure certain (Tanks!) ideas aren't lost, neglected or abandoned.

Excellent to see Albert Stanley at Board of Trade, the man who oversaw the golden age of the (then private) London Underground never got his due credit. His talents should have been better harnessed by the nation, sorting out the railways post war perhaps?

But best of all, possibly the thing I am most looking forward to, is Curzon at the peace conference. The arch-Imperialist overseeing the carving up of Europe and beyond, dispensing land and dividing peoples with the wave of a hand while carving out his own private Empire somewhere in the Middle East. I can barely wait!

[RossN]

Originally Posted by El Pip

The IPP may have had their worst every result (don't honestly know) but they still won. Moreover they won with a 36 seat majority and have 70% of the seats, if you'd offered that to the IPP in 1917 they would have torn your arm of in desperation to grab it! No matter how high your standards that's still a substantial victory and I don't think Dillon will be going anywhere.

There are 105 seats in Ireland (including what would become Northern Ireland and the University seats). The IPP has an 8 seat majority (down from a 31 seat majority in December 1910), and 61% of the seats.

The previous worst result for the IPP was in January 1910 when they won 71 seats because of a split within the Irish Nationalist vote that saw 10 Irish MPs leave the party. Usually they won about 82-85 seats.

I dunno... I suppose it depends on how you look at it: either Dillon saved the party from the jaws of defeat or bungled the concessions won from Lloyd George. We might be impressed at his survival, to his contemporaries it might look a bit different.

Either way fascinating stuff Allenby.

[Sir Humphrey]

A truely fascinating update. It will be interesting to see how the post war problems are delt with.

And let Billy Hughes muscle Lloyd George about over concessions in the Pacific!

[Jape]

I too am quite interested in how events in Ireland will fare. Not to mention over the peace table.

[Lord E]

A very nice update Allenby.

Good to see the war coalition is returned to Whitehall for a new period leading Britain victoriously into the new decade. I sense that with Churchill in the war office we shall soon see the armies take a more aggressive stance and that Winston will want to use it for what it should be doing, defeating the evil communists in Russia.

[aussieboy]

We want an Update! And an Irish Dominion!

[Funkatronica]

another stunning set of updates with such depth!

Russia sounds a scary prospect however, would the british nation (not to mention the commonwealth) be prepared to send their loved ones abroad again?

[Earl Uhtred]

Don't see why not being as the first round was such a walkover

[Lord_Robertus]

Excellent result, I wonder what will happen with the Treasury, can The Empire avoid going deeper into debt?

[Kurt_Steiner]

Originally Posted by El Pip

In the absence of Mr VJ, who appears to have been airbrushed from history, the heavy burden of harassing Allenby about updates falls on my shoulders;

Let me help...

Update, sir?