"The Man Who Would Be King"- A British AAR

[Dr. Gonzo]

Birmingham, UK
October 29th 1924

The humdrum of the musty church hall began to quieten down, as it seemed the votes had finally been recounted for a third time. For all assembled, the supporters, the counters, the general public (although many had left before midnight after the third count had been announced) and most importantly the candidates it was obvious it would be a close result. After weeks of intense campaigning with strong candidates and an unheard amount of drama even for a General Election it was to be expected. Despite the excitement being almost palpable, the hall with its dry rot, broken radiators and pigeon nests was hardly a suitable scene for the result of what had easily been one of the most talked about campaigns of the entire election.
Ignoring the Liberal factions battling each other vainly for third position it had been a contest of two very different characters. The incumbent, a former Lord Mayor and Chancellor of the Exchequer, heir to a political dynasty; the challenger, a bombastic war veteran- a true Young Turk of British politics. Despite an age gap of over thirty years, the two had originally entered Parliament at the same time, and indeed for the same party, winning their seats for the Conservative Party in the ‘khaki election’ of 1918. However drifting political beliefs and an arrogant desire to obtain power had seen the rising star become an Independent, before joining the Labour Party, intent on headhunting one of the Tory leadership.

The tired crowds waited patiently for the result, relying heavily on hot tea and biscuits to retain their spirits as the great cast-iron clock face above the podium struck 1 o’clock. The candidates mingled with their supporters, exporting an appearance of calm while worry flooded over them. The ‘true’ Liberal and ‘national’ Liberal candidates knew they didn’t stand a chance no matter what the result and had, along with their campaign teams, resigned themselves respectively to drinking substantial amounts of complimentary ale, lager, bitter, wine and whiskey. The main candidates retained a little more decorum however. The Conservative candidate puffed away on a cigarette, simultaneously conversing with an adamant long-term supporter, a rather portly housewife voting for the first time in her life, having just recently turned 30, the female age of suffrage. Despite his gentlemanly performance, wooing many a working-class Tory diehard, who remained ever loyal to the family name that had aided the poor of Birmingham for half a century, the permanent cloud of smoke about his head gave away his racked nerves. Despite the minority Labour government having fallen in chaos only weeks before, despite half the country cursing them as Bolshevik puppets thanks to the Zinoviev Letter scandal only a few days previous and despite his endearing reputation as a compassionate liberal Tory, he still wasn’t sure. But from what he could see, the shark in the red rosette grinning at him from across the room was most definitely sure. He may have only prattled the normal “a country fit for heroes” rhetoric synonymous with the Liberals and Labour alike but the fire in his eyes, the steel in his voice, it all made him reach for his matches.
The Labour candidate unlike his opponents was probably the only one whose cool exterior might have actually been sincere. Having dumped his suburban London constituency fearing an inevitable loss as a Labour incumbent, he was an unknown in Birmingham, facing possibly one of the top three Conservatives as they rode a wave of anti-Communist backlash, destined for a huge national victory. However he was charismatic, lighting up crowds of ‘slum Tories’ day in and day out, utilising a mixture of progressive Labour policies and an upper-crust accent which such working-class voters reacted to in total deference. As far as he was concerned a third count meant it was close, if he lost he would have done better than hundreds of fellow Labour candidates, hurling themselves at the safe seats of the resurgent Tories, and if he won, well, he would be like a god amongst the party faithful- a political assassin, smudging the Conservatives’ inevitable return. His opponent knew this, and he made a point to remind him, catching his eye whenever he could, and delivering a transparent greeting, wishing him the best of luck.

Finally as it reached ten past one and even the most dedicated thought longingly of their beds, the Liberal candidates in particular, there was a harrumph of commotion around the counter’s tables and the spectators grew silent, as the returning officer whispered animatedly with the head-counter. Grabbing some papers, the man to announce the results made his way towards the podium. The small crowd began to gather in anticipation. The candidates straightened their ties or readjusted their rosettes, getting ready for the moment.

“Would the candidates please make their way up to the platform please”, he announced. As if rehearsed the four candidates took to the stand immediately and lined up before their audience, like livestock at a farmer’s market. The officer unrolled the results paper in a dramatic fashion, bracing his lungs to fill the large room with his voice, unaided by amplification.

“I the undersigned”, he began “being the Acting Returning Officer at the election for the Member of Parliament for the Birmingham Ladywood constituency held on the 29th day of October 1924 do hereby give notice that the number of votes recorded for each candidate at the said election is as follows:

Neville Chamberlain- the Conservative and Unionist Party candidate: 12,914”, a huge audible roar of approval emanated throughout the church hall, followed by a more polite round of applause, in which the challengers joined, fake smiles plastered across their faces while the Tory candidate merely nodded in recognition, his ears burning. The crowd quickly fell quiet as the Returning Officer continued…

“Oswald Mosley- the Labour Party candidate: 12,991”, again the church hall shook with elation as Labour supporters visibly jumped for joy, while their candidate stood calm; the blue rosette to his right slumped, trying to hold back his emotions. The cheering didn’t stop however as the officer tried to continue, a verse of the Red Flag rising over his baritone voice. It didn’t matter however as he rushed the last two, hardly sterling results…

“Arnold Haywood- the Liberal Party candidate: 877

Benjamin John-Smith- the National Liberal candidate: 801”

The “true” Liberal candidate openly mocked his “national” opponent, imbued with too much liquor, having fulfilled some insignificant blood vendetta against the traitors of his party.
The Labour candidate, despite his achievement remained calm and merely turned to the former MP, revealing a devilish grin, extending his hand.

“Thank you Neville”

“I beg your pardon”?

“I’m sure we will see each other across The Floor in the future, don’t fret too much”

“Congratulations, a well fought campaign”

“I know”

Oswald Mosley, Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood (LAB.)

[Myth]

excellent! I had a feeling that the distinguished old man was Neville right from the start, but that the other was Mosley took me slightly by surprise. subscribed!

[Masked Pickle]

Hum...In OTL, Mosley lose this seat...Is it a proof of a better political carrier? I suscribe to this very interesting alternate history...

[Ksim3000]

Oswald Mosely, eh? Well, I really did enjoy reading that piece, it really....set the style well for an election. I look forward to a further update on what happens.

[Dr. Gonzo]

Originally Posted by Masked Pickle

Hum...In OTL, Mosley lose this seat...Is it a proof of a better political carrier? I suscribe to this very interesting alternate history...

Not quite. In OTL he indeed failed to oust Chamberlain in the 1924 election but only by 77 votes- I was thinking of ways for this to change, no Bolshevik conspiracy being released by the Daily Mail, Neville falling ill etc. but considering the small margin I thought it quite simple... Mosley gets 77 more votes instead

[Fulcrumvale]

*Subscribes*

[stnylan]

Oh very interesting beginning!

[Sir Humphrey]

Very interesting start indeed. Very well done.

[rcduggan]

looks really cool! good luck

[caffran]

good start, 'subscribed'

later, caff

[Dr. Gonzo]

replies later

[Dr. Gonzo]

General Election 1929


Unemplyed men foraging for Coal c.1929

The May 1929 general election saw the Conservative government of Stanley Baldwin under siege. The General Strike of 1926 was still fresh in the minds of the British public, thanks partly to the continued unemployment of thousands of coal miners, the Strike’s instigators, three years on, having been fired en masse by spiteful mine owners. Thousands more workers across all industries had only been received back to work on condition of new contracts, offering lower wages and longer hours. This in turn had led to reduced productivity amongst fatigued employees, particularly in the coal industry itself, where an all-time low of 200 tons per man per annum had been reached. The problem had only been compounded by the return of the Gold Standard to pound sterling by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Winston Churchill in 1925. Designed to reduce excessive post-war inflation, the Gold Standard had done just that, deflating the pound dramatically to the point is was once again the strongest currency on the international market by the late 1920’s. However the move had been opposed by many leading economists, in particular the famed John Maynard Keynes, who had dubbed the Gold Standard “that barbarous relic”. Keynes and others predicted with unerring accuracy that while imports would strengthen under the gold pound, exports crumbled leaving major industries such as steel, coal and shipbuilding in a terrible shambles. Attempts to strengthen the economy by Baldwin’s government centred on a protectionist trade policy, advertised as “Safeguarding”. For the millions of impoverished and unemployed Britons, Safeguarding amounted to over £38,000,000 worth of indirect taxation via duties, centred on primary foodstuffs such as bread, meat, vegetables and sugar. The duties also hurt small business and the lower middle-classes, turning many suburban “villa Tories” against the government. As the election approached an olive branch concession was made, with Churchill dropping the extremely high Tea Duty, however it amounted to only one-sixth of Safeguard taxation and was sneered at as cynical politicking by the shadow cabinet and liberal press alike.

While the Conservatives floundered, with a stale campaign manifesto under the uninspiring title “Safety First”, the opposition parties smelt blood in the air and were on the rampage. The Liberals, though now unquestionably resigned to the position of the United Kingdom’s third party, were once more reunited and reinvigorated under David Lloyd-George, the victor of the Great War and the Treaty of Versailles. Campaigning very much so in the same vein of 1918, Lloyd-George declared the Liberal Party could “Conquer Unemployment” and finally bring about a nation fit for the heroes of Flanders. He called for free trade and a strengthening of the welfare state and industry via state intervention, viciously attacking the Conservative reliance on charity to aid the poor. However several key points weakened the Liberal Party’s campaign. Much of the population, the working-class in particular, were put off by manifesto promises of “temperance reform” at a time when the unpopular Prohibition Era was in full swing in the United States. Even the right-wing Daily Mail, infamous for its vocal support of moral politics warned of a possible “gangster culture” arriving in Britain should Lloyd-George take power. The similarly vague issue of state intervention was the crucial sticking point however, with the Liberal’s placed themselves in a grey centre ground, attacking Conservative laissez-faire, while simultaneously criticising the “socialist economics” of the Labour Party. Prime Minister Baldwin quipped “I think the phrase ‘the pot calling the kettle black’, is fairly apt”.

Stanley Baldwin

The Labour Party meanwhile had rebounded from a two crises prior to 1929 and had used the government’s ills to create a truly ferocious electoral campaign. Following the ignominious fall of the first Labour ministry in 1924, the validity of Zinoviev Letter, pinning an international Bolshevik conspiracy on the party, had been re-examined by many, with rumours of MI5 forgeries in particular a favourite in workingmen’s club and high society alike. Similarly, in light of the General Strike and further economic troubles, many outraged voters had rethought the validity of socialism and ‘collectivist’ policies in general. It seemed the legend of “evil socialism” was starting to show its age. The most recent blow had been a more titillating scandal involving party leader Ramsay MacDonald and his supposed lover, the Lady Londonderry. MacDonald had long been a close friend of Londonderry, wife of the influential Conservative and Unionist politician Lord Londonderry, and rumours of he nature of their relationship had long persisted. However it wasn’t until February 1927 that things came to a head. The Daily Mail, a long-time detractor of MacDonald and the Labour Party as a whole, published an anonymous letter, supposedly from a member of the Londonderry estate’s staff, detailing a secret courtship and late night rendezvous. Although lacking substantial evidence the letter set off a hell storm. MacDonald, a widower of sixteen years, had openly admitted his long-standing infatuation with Lady Londonderry many times, and found himself struggling to curtail the allegations. Even from within his own party he found little support. The Labour leadership was quick to distant themselves from the matter, calling it a private issue, while publicly criticising MacDonald’s close relationship, romantic or not, to a married woman as irresponsible of a political leader. The former Prime Minister, although a well-known public figure and highly competent orator, was synonymous with Labour’s less popular strands. His ardent pacifism, which had led to his split with the party during the Great War, and his overly moderate political stance dubbed by many as “pink socialism” both turned off the patriotic majority and limited the extent to which Labour could be viewed as a true alternative to the Liberals and Conservatives. As the scandal carried on, MacDonald’s power base within the party shrank, forcing a leadership election in April. By a landslide, he lost to his long-time rival John R. Clynes. A famed trade union activist and former party leader, Clynes had been the architect behind Labour’s breakthrough at the 1922 election, which had seen the Parliamentary Labour Party grow from 52 seats to 142, displacing the Liberals as the official opposition party.

Clynes re-emergence as leader saw his Independent Labour Party (ILP), the biggest left wing group within the mainstream Labour Party, move from the periphery that it had occupied under MacDonald for much of the 1920’s, to the heart of the party leadership. Of particular note was James Maxton, the true spiritual leader of the ILP, and the young radical, Oswald Mosley, nicknamed “Chamberlain’s executioner” for his removal of Neville Chamberlain from Parliament in 1924. Maxton had been at the helm of the Red Clydeside movement, which during and after the war had campaigned for better living and working conditions for the workers of Glasgow. Although he had been an opponent of the war, siding with Ramsay MacDonald on the issue, he was far from a pacifist, having been involved in the popular Rent Strikes of 1915 and the Battle of George Street in 1919. Although controversial, Maxton’s fight for decent housing and the 40-hour working week had made him a living legend in Scotland, while across Britain his speechcraft was recognised as some of the finest, with even Winston Churchill declaring him “the finest parliamentarian of the day”, despite his own opinions of the Chancellor, calling him a “murderer” for removing free milk from schools. Clynes saw Maxton as a symbol of the popular, democratic socialism he wished the Labour Party to stand for, but in attempting to halt controversy, he was cut off from any economic position, being made the Shadow Education Secretary (due to his experience as a teacher) in August 1928, during a shake-up of the opposition’s frontbench. Oswald Mosley too gained a Shadow Cabinet position during the shake-up, being made Secretary for Employment and Labour. As a staunch Fabian and student of Keynes, Mosley had spent the late 20’s earning as name for himself, working in Birmingham to improve the slums and lessen unemployment. In the House of Commons, he was a firebrand speaker, making a point to not use notes; he lay into the government at every possible opportunity and following his Shadow Cabinet appointment became as prominent as the Shadow Chancellor, Philip Snowden (a relic of the 1924 pink socialist government) in attacking the Conservatives’ economic policy. His military record too, as a wounded veteran of both the British Expeditionary Force and Royal Flying Corps, made him a far harder target to lampoon than Maxton or MacDonald. As the election approached, he began to write a thesis on a future socialist economic and fiscal programme; entitled “The Mosley Memorandum”, it was a clear sign of the young man’s ambitions.

Mosley and his Sopwith Camel on the Camapaign Trail

Despite Labour’s new face, its manifesto changed very little from the one some five years before. In campaigning, a focus was made on points of increasing democracy in government, hoping to further distance the party from connotations of Bolshevism. Promises of greater representation at the local level were given, including Labour’s long held pledge of devolved government for Wales, Scotland and the English regions, roughly along the lines present in Northern Ireland. A resolution to the “Indian Question” was also present in the Labour Party manifesto, pointing to consultation with, rather than repression of, pro-independence groups. Cooperation with the League of Nations, and greater equality between the members of the Commonwealth were also touched upon while in economics, the nationalisation of the railways, steel and coal were offered to the electorate. The most important factor in the Labour campaign however was the use of modern techniques. Despite radio party political broadcasts having been used since the 1923 general election, in 1929, Labour went beyond a simple manifesto reading, with interviews of Labour voters from all classes being used to back up the party’s apparent appeal. While Clynes dominated the airwaves and London rallies, as well as making a “whistle stop tour” of the UK via train in the days leading up to the election, Mosley personally flew up and down the country, at personal expense, zipping from city to city to discuss slum clearance and the creation of new electrified, affordable housing. Though an entirely unnecessary form of transport for his schedule, Mosley unashamedly played to the voters, evening committing aerobatics on several occasions to wow waiting crowds and photographers. Maxton headed up the Scottish campaign as expected, and toured aging Victorian schools, promising new facilities and greater access to higher education for the poor.

Finally on May 30th 1929, the General Election took place. Known as the “Flapper Election” because it was the first under which women over 21 were allowed to vote, it seemed Labour promises of greater women’s rights attracted many of the new generation of liberal females.

LAB 301 seats (+150)
CON 256 seats (-156)
LIB 47 seats (+9)
OTH 9 seats

[Fulcrumvale]

Mosley's rising...

[Jape]

intriguing premise, i wonder how different British politics will be with Mosley more cemented into the mainstream?

nice narrative and a good chunky description of the election period

Keep it up

[Garuda]

This sounds really interesting. I'll be reading along.

[IndoEsia45]

Good Luck for the AAR then...

[El Pip]

Originally Posted by Vincent Julien

Presumably the LP will be much more open to his radical schemes than it was historically.

Which ones? He had so many radical schemes you do have to be more specific.

Reading that I get the impression of a plan roughly; Independence for everyone, up to and probably including Cornwall and Newcastle, nationalisation of anything strategic or important and lots of 'government controlled' housing. Sounds horrible, but that's just me.

[stnylan]

He has certainly got himself well positioned. So long as he bides his time...

[Zomby]

Looks to be interesting. I'm wondering how this will change the scheme of things, entering the 1930s.

[DonnieBaseball]

Mosley v. Clynes, eh? Interesting... let's see where it leads!

Great premise & development--keep it up. : )