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1957 - Party Decisions
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Ahead of the general election there were pressing concerns for British and French politicians, more so for the British. French politics had since been decided by 1957. Darlan had merged the conservatives and centrists under his authority after the death of Charles de Gaulle. The Radicals were the only other party that remained, and even they saw their right wing argue a coalition or merger with the Darlanists. Christian Democrats remained a vocal minority within Darlan's camp, but institutionally were sidelined by the admiral's secular leanings. The admirals' policies were defined by dirigisme economics, populist conservatism, and limited colonial reform. These would define French politics for the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile, Tories and Labour faced questions over who would lead them into the election. That would decide who'll likely become the next Prime Minister of the Franco-British Union. The French half remained a minority within the union, albeit an extremely vocal and important one. It was Britain's very own Quebec, complete with its own emerging democratically elected dictator. They got cabinet posts, not the big seat.
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Labour
Attlee had served as the head of the Labour Party for several years by that point, over twenty years by 1957. In that time he narrowly lost the election before coming into power on a sweeping majority the following election. Quite simply, there were talks that maybe it was time for him to retire from party leadership. He had his turn in the driver's seat long enough. Now was the time for a changing of the guard, so the argument against Attlee went. He was something of a compromise candidate among the party, a centrist compared to the two wings of the party. There were concerns that if he stepped down division within the party might rise. However, he was an old man. At 74, the man would be filling the seat and not much else. Seniority may give way to senility.
Labour implemented many Bevanite policies much to the chagrin of the party's right wing, solidifying the power of the Bevanites and radically reshaping the political landscape of Britain. The House of Lords abolished, much of the economy nationalized, the Trade Union Congress recognized as an official negotiating body, etc. These sweeping changes promise to bring Britain into the modern day as a parliamentary democracy, nearly catching up with the standards of its French half. Many of these changes were threatened to be undone or watered down if Labour didn't win. Bevan's victory would cement the new status quo and continue to strengthen social democracy in Britain.
Gaitskell represented the right wing of Labour. There were mutterings that if Bevan won leadership he'd split the party. He supported most of Attlee's policies, but preferred if Labour had implemented a mix of market and government solutions to problems. He opposed nationalization on principle, though what those principles were doing in the Labour Party were for question. His supporters had been sidelined during Attlee's five years in power, so they represented an agitated and vocal minority of the party. If Labour split, the Radicals would side with the right wing of the party, depriving Labour of a French coalition partner. However, what remained of Radical could survive as an independent center-left to leftist party.
There are concerns too that if the revisionists on the party's right gain control of the party many of the Bevanite's reforms will be undone as if the Tories won. There's serious risk of a party coup occurring against Gaitksell if won and tried to implement his slate of policies without compromising with the rest of the party. And if Gaitksell won, will it be any different from a Tory victory with a coat of red paint?
Who's Labour's leader?
[ ] Clement Attlee, 0.8
[ ] Aneurin Bevan, 1.2
[ ] Hugh Gaitskell, 0.8
All votes are weighted. 1 vote per candidate is equal to the number beside their name.
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Tories
The years under the Labour-Radicals had not been kind to the Tories. They spent much of the time stalling, obstructing, and pushing back against nearly every reform that threatened their institutional power, and then some. The dissolution of the House of Lords was a major blow, given how much they staked on the fight they couldn't win. They've spent some time in the political wilderness, realizing that the opposition's policies are actually popular across the country. If they gained power again they couldn't simply undo everything overnight.
The postwar consensus had been decided, and it was decided by Labour. It was up to the Tories to decide if they would accept it or continue spending political capital to undo and water down Labour's policies. What was clear was that Eden's time in office was finished. The people had thoroughly rejected him, and he was left to retire from the position of party leader in disgrace. The Bengali Intervention was a stain on his career.
Party leadership fell to Harold Macmillan from 1954 onwards. One Nation Toryism continued to be the policy of the day, promoting government intervention to social and economic woes. Just with more means testing and less budget than Labour implemented. He accepted the political realities facing the Franco-British Union, supporting Kenysian economics, maintaining a corporatist approach to labour and government disputes with full employment, and following through on decolonization. The type of conservative that sold themselves on calm, even handed, and "sensible" policies. His position was solid, but not without competition, especially by the outspoken and outraged right wing of the party. Which had produced two competitors of different stripes.
Enter Enoch Powell, an outspoken critic of government spending and immigration. Powell believed that Macmillan threatened to pull the party leftwards, acting more like a Whig than a Tory. A fiscally conservative racist to his core, Powell wanted to cut spending, reprivatize many nationalist industries, limited immigration from the Commonwealth, and pursue market solutions to the Union's many woes. The breakup of old boys clubs by Labour was fine by him. He planned to transform the Tories into a lean, mean pro-business party for the middle class. Powell is a vocal critic of closer ties with America, believing that they are a fickle partner that undermine Franco-British sovereignty.
Further to the right of either man was Patrick Wall, an upstart challenger who only won his seat in parliament several years prior. He'd quickly become the face of morally outraged backbenchers in the party. He promoted nothing less than the return to traditional values, reinstatement of the House of Lords, and an unclenching grip on the empire. Decolonization wasn't a word that existed in his vocabulary. If reforms were to happen they would always be paid in blood and ensure Britain remained in charge of any of its colonies. High Toryism was the name of the game, reinstating the influence of the aristocratic voters and social conservative middle class. The bloodstained sun will never set on the empire if Wall had his way.
There were concerns that Powell's fiscally conservative policies fixated on cutting spending would make a coalition with any French party impossible. That was unacceptable to either the Darlanists or Radicals. Powell refused to comment on concerns of causing rifts in the Union. Macmillan remained the French parties preferred candidate. Wall received some positive remarks from the French, though Algiers feared that a man like him would ignore the French half of the union entirely. Algeria would not tolerate being treated like Scotland, much less like a dominion or colony of Britain.
Who's the Tories leader?
[ ] Harold Macmillan, 1.2
[ ] Enoch Powell, 0.8
[ ] Patrick Wall, 0.8
All votes are weighted. 1 vote per candidate is equal to the number beside their name.
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You can vote for 1 candidate from each party. You can vote for both parties.
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