The Gathering Storm – September 1931 General Election

[Lumine]

September 1931 - Embattled by the Great Depression, "Ramsay Mac" faces the greatest of challenges

Prelude:

Following two tough years as a minority government and in the middle of the Great Depression, Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald has been forced into an election after an internal Labour revolt and the failure to form a National Government with Baldwin and Lloyd-George. With the far-right and the far-left also seeking success of their own, what will the voters do?

Labour Party: Deeply split over economic policy and challenged by the constant rise in unemployment, the Labour Party enters the election under Prime Minister MacDonald, who along Chancellor Snowden have asked the people for a vote of confidence on their controversial fiscally conservative agenda, defending moderate free trade, the gold standard and a program of austerity and limited spending cuts to prevent a budget deficit while vowing to protect assistance to the poor. The Labour manifesto also supports growing disarmament (and conciliation towards Germany), support for the League of Nations, increased Indian self-government, reform measures on housing, land and the trade unions.

Conservative Party: Once again led by former Prime Minister Baldwin after their rejection by the voters in 1929, the Tories are campaigning on the promise of being the only party to guarantee stability and pursue a responsible, decisive agenda to handle the economic crisis. Under Baldwin the Conservative Manifesto pledges staunch, unyielding support for Protectionism and tariffs (including Imperial Preference), support for austerity reductions, negotiated and increased disarmament, patriotism rhetoric, anti-trade union measures and a set of welfare programs and social reform.

Liberal Party: Sensing a possible chance at a comeback, former Prime Minister Lloyd George has taken to the campaign trail to promote the necessity of a Liberal resurgence to solve the crisis, arguing neither the Conservatives nor Labour have the right policies. Inspired by John Maynard Keynes, Lloyd George has promoted a manifesto which promises to bolster and support the League of Nations, promote an ambitious public works program to battle unemployment, while defending free trade and the necessity for a balanced budget without increasing taxation, and supports social progress and social liberalism. Feeling increasingly isolated thanks to FPTP, the Liberals also support voting reform and a proportional electoral system.

Communist Party: Led by its relatively new leader Harry Pollitt (of working class origins) and despite constant membership losses over the past couple of years, the Communist Party of Great Britain has managed to stand (in a limited manner) with a pro-Stalinist platform, denouncing the Labour Party as a "social fascist" group and promoting fullscale nationalization, worker committees at factories (and for the workers to be armed), solidarity and close ties with the Soviet Union, and the dismantling of the British Empire.

British Fascists: After years of staying far from electoral politics, the British Fascists have decided to stage their own (limited) campaign under the fierce leadership of the young and somewhat scandalous Rotha Lintorn-Orman, a WWI veteran and one of the few prominent women in politics. A fierce nationalist and anti-communist, Lintorn-Orman champions authoritarianism, a staunch defense of the British Empire, free trade and pro-rural policies, Mussolini-style corporatism and social conservatism, and a greater role of women in politics, influenced by the substantial number of female supporters and leaders inside the movement.

Three days.

[Kingpoleon]

The Liberals forever!

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

Labour

[America Needs R'hllor]

Liberals easily. I do hope we're not going to see an eternal Labour government here

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Liberal

[Lechasseur]

Tory

[SATW]

Liberals

[MAINEiac4434]

Easy Liberal vote.

[DC Al Fine]

Tory

[Mr. Smith]

Liberals

[Blair]

I for one welcome the communist-Labour coalition

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I'm voting Fascist for the fun.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Communist for lolz

[Lumine]

Very good turnout thus far, I may end this after two days instead of three. Current results are very encouraging for Miss Lintorn-Orman and for Comrade Pollitt.

[Kingpoleon]

It would be interesting to see a Liberals-Labour-Unionist Conservatives government, with the third party lead by Churchill.

[Lexii, harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy]

Liberals

[Sir Tiki]

Easy Liberal vote.

[Former President tack50]

Easy Liberal vote.

Same.

Also, for some reason I expected it to be about the Spanish 1931 election. Guess I'm biased XD

[Lumine]

12 hours left, and we're in for a stunning Liberal landslide (approaching 1906 territory) and a triumphant return of Lloyd George into office. Tentative numbers for the House of Commons would be:

Liberal Party: 385 MP's
Conservative Party: 161 MP's
Communist Party: 32 MP's
British Fascists: 25 MP's
Labour Party: 11 MP's
Other: 2 MP's

[Blair]

ohh ffs I should have voted Labour

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Oh, this will be fun; voting for the Liberals this time.

[Lumine]

Results coming once this closes in a few minutes. I can also say the next vote will not be an election, but a pivotal Parliamentary vote in early 1936.

[Lumine]

September 1931 General Election:

September 1931 - Triumph of the Welsh Wizard

Liberal Party: 38.2% (393 MP's)
Conservative Party: 25.0% (158 MP's)
Communist Party: 14.5% (32 MP's)
British Fascists: 12.7% (23 MP's)
Labour Party: 8.6% (7 MP's)
Others: 2.5% (2 MP's)

The election campaign started amidst great expectations of a Conservative landslide and a strong Liberal revival, most of the Labour cabinet hoping to hold on to a strong share of the vote rather than outright victory. The feeling proved unrealistic as the first days of campaigning showed that the Government’s unpopularity was beyond measuring, Chancellor Snowden being attacked by angry workers at one point as the gloomy, lethargic MacDonald proved unable to inspire his troops. The Conservatives did also start worse than originally expected, as not only there was still a significant deal of dissent over Baldwin’s policies but the Conservatives hadn’t yet recovered from their original rejection in 1929. Lloyd-George, in contrast, started the election in an energetic mood, and caught the attention of the media over a set of fiery economic speeches that began to have a serious impact amongst the unemployed.

The game changed, as it turned out, came from Scotland.

Sick of the constant spending and pay cuts, the sailors at Invergordon staged a naval mutiny that soon grew to encompass thousands of sailors. Many Conservative MP’s soured the mood by demanding an immediate, harsh response by the Government, misjudging the mood of the country while adding pressure to the conflicted MacDonald on how to act. How the mutiny itself spiraled out of control remained unclear for some time, but by the time the last holdout surrendered after the final RAF bombing raid dozens of sailors were dead. The massacre shocked the nation to its core, and the subsequent crash of the Stock Exchange and the departure from the Gold Standard not only collapsed the government, but tarnished the Conservatives by association. Lloyd-George, sensing his chance, reinvested most of his remaining fortune into the Liberal Party’s finances in hopes for a miracle.

In the meantime, and ruled out as mere splinter parties, both the British Fascists and the Communist Party were aided by extra funding. The female upper class leaders within the Fascist movement scored a success by winning over several wealthy donors, and Lintorn-Orman cleaned up her personal life (for the most part) and took to the streets in a fiery campaign denouncing both Labour and the Conservatives, winning over support over rural areas and eventually scoring positive coverage from powerful press baron Lord Rothemere. Harry Pollitt and the Communists persuaded their more powerful comrades in the continent to lend support, and aided by the increased donations and a switch of their campaign efforts towards mining towns and industrial areas Pollitt heavily capitalized on the Labour collapse by presenting himself as a champion of the workers. As a result, and when the dust settled, Britons were shocked at the sight of over 25% of the people voting for the extreme parties.

Election Night proved very unkind to the Conservatives, shattering Baldwin’s hopes and entering the realm of nightmares as the party slumped to an historically bad 25% and less than 200 MP’s, losses which ended Baldwin’s long political career. But if the Conservatives were gloomy, the mood inside the Labour Party was impossible to describe. Even worst case predictions, pointing out to a drop all the way to 20 or 15%, did not account for the party returning to 1910 territory by seeing three quarters of their vote evaporate. MacDonald, Snowden and virtually the entire cabinet and parliamentary party turned to ash, leaving only 11 MP’s in the single biggest defeat for a ruling party in Western Europe. In contrast, the mood inside the Liberal Party was nothing short of ecstasy and delight akin to a religious experience. Seat by seat turned Liberal for the first time in days as those who had prepared to knife Lloyd-George congratulating him on a triumph that equaled the “Liberal Landslide” of 1906.

Armed with almost 400 MP’s and with a revived Liberal Party with a historic mandate to manage the depression, David Lloyd-George entered Downing Street amidst cheering and hopeful crowds.

The Welsh Wizard was back.