The Multan Lancers
Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom
1874-1881: Benjamin Disraeli (Conservative)
1874 def. William Gladstone (Liberal), Isaac Butt (Home Rule)
Following military success in the Russo-Ottoman War of 1877-1878, in 1878 Disraeli's term would be cut short by the Fall. A comet impacted the Earth; its fragments directly destroyed many cities in Europe and the bulk of it impacted the Atlantic, causing a great wave devastating areas bordering it including Ireland. Initially the British government established plans to rebuild the swathes of Ireland devastated by the great wave, but this attempt was cut short when the winter proved beyond bitter. Disraeli initially tried to hold out, sending in food from parts of the empire, but ultimately he changed tack when the respected scientist Lord Kelvin told him that the interruption of the Gulf Stream, combined with the ash in the atmosphere, would turn the United Kingdom as cold as Siberia for more than a decade, and the rest of Northern Europe would prove similarly as cold.
And so, Disraeli declared his support for a program of emigration of as many Britons as possible to the Cape, India, and Australia. This program consisted first of the upper classes, then the middling orders, and then finally the lower classes, and it mobilized Britain's great navy. Initially people viewed this program as highly pessimistic, but as disorder spread throughout the Isles, as the cold made regular living impossible, it was followed by most. Unlike the rest of the political class, Disraeli refused proclaimed he would stay in Britain until emigration was complete; his death at the hands of a mob in 1881 as he awaited the departure of the last ships would mark the definitive abandonment of the Isles by Britain. The last ships took his body with him, and he was buried in Bombay in a district now known as Disraeli Nagar in his honour.
Today, Mahatma Disraeli is a widely venerated figure, as the saviour of the British people in a time when all seemed lost. Some have tried to destroy his reputation by shedding light on his negative side, the latest being "colonialism", but his death remains iconic and he remains the saint of the descendants of British refugees.
1881-1894: Lord Salisbury (Conservative)
Moving to India along with the rest of the political class in 1879, Lord Salisbury became the unofficial head of the British Empire with virtually dictatorial powers; following Disraeli's death, he was officially made prime minister with the enthusiastic assent of the Queen and the Exiled Parliament. Immediately, he found an India in disorder, as the Fall's cold made the existing famine even worse, the result was widespread rebellions. Stories of the comet impacts and the sky turning a fiery red made many Indians feel the end was near, and this term saw the sudden rise of new religious sects across it. As Bengal in particular proved rebellious thanks to its famine, Salisbury ordered the capital moved from Calcutta to Delhi and he established Kashmir (purchased from the vassal Maharaja of Jammu) and Shimla as white settlement zones at the expense of local ethnic groups. Srinagar was renamed Oxford, and Baramulla was renamed Cambridge. This string of renaming showed exactly who was on top in this new order
Fearing Sikhs would rebel, he made the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire the Maharaja of a new Lahore State with a massive stipend, and the descendant of the Maratha Emperors won similar recognition. Religious movements emerged everywhere, and figures calling themselves Kalki, or the Mahdi emerged in many, many places. In Kanpur, a man claiming to be the last hereditary prime minister of the Maratha Empire was able to take power before a British army recaptured it with heavy brutality. In other cases, the new religious movements were coopted by princely states - for instance, neo-Swaminarayanists were successfully co-opted by Baroda State and used to give them control of other parts of Gujarat.
The rebellions of the Second Mutiny proved tough to quell, fragmented and leaderless as they were. Often they were crushed brutally with much bloodshed, and even non-rebellious people were found suspicious. Most infamously, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the Ahmadi sect of Islam who claimed to be the Mahdi, was executed by the Punjab Military Tribunal on clearly-fake charges, and many alleged the real reason for this execution was his heterodox religious belief that Jesus died a natural death in Kashmir angering almost all authorities. The founder of Arya Samaj, a reformist neo-Vedic sect of Hinduism, was gunned down by orthodox Hindu zealots, and the British government quietly tolerated this, which spurred Arya Samajjists to arm themselves in defence. But yet, over time, this chaos of violence came to an end, after it burned itself out. A new order was established in India - whites on top, and just below them Sikhs, Marathas, Rajputs, and other "martial races". The Second Mutiny slowly came to an end, though in total, 50 million Indians - one fourth of its population - died in this horrific period. But as India gained some semblance of calm, another threat came when, in 1891, an invasion of starving Afghans took over Peshawar, Multan, and was moving towards Lahore before it was narrowly stopped with heavy difficulty. The devastated and desperate invasion force was forced to move back beyond Peshawar, and the Afghans did not recover from this defeat for decades.
And so, in 1894, Salisbury finally declared elections would be held for Parliament. In addition to princes "temporarily" getting lordships, the electorate for the Commons consisted of descendants of refugees electing MPs for their former (now non-territorial) constituencies, although in many cases as refugees did not have proper documents proving their former residency, they were randomly-assigned a constituency. There were also territorial constituencies in which all people eligible for jury duty, not living in a princely state, and meeting qualifications set by provincial governments could vote. This consisted of eligible voters in the Cape (with only a few non-whites only eligible in the Cape Colony proper), Anglo-Indians and a few English speakers in India, and white Australians from Australia - in short, it made the empire's domination by whites as obvious as it could be.
1894-1902: Lord Salisbury (Conservative)
1894 def. John Morley (Liberal), Dadabhai Naoroji (Radical)
1901 def. John Morley (Liberal), Dadabhai Naoroji (Radical)
The 1894 elections proved to be a fragmented experience, as the non-territorial constituencies meant elections often included little personal campaigning. The fragmented Liberals, regrouping around veteran politician John Morley, proved incapable of holding a real campaign and their program of gradual suffrage expansion achieved little steam. In addition, a small number of Radicals sympathetic to the plight of the disenfranchised was elected. This group was led by the jury-eligible Indian Dadabhai Naoroji, whose book Unbritish Rule in India received applause in some circles for its advocacy of a fair and non-racial government, even as he faced racial slurs in more prominent ones. This party also won a level of Irish voters who were reminded of their own plight under British oppression, and Radicals won some Irish non-territorial constituencies. However, in truth, the Tories could scarcely be stopped, and they won another term with a sweeping majority. In practice, Salisbury's tenure proved just as authoritarian as before, and he governed India in a rather dictatorial manner despite democratizing movements in some princely states threatening stability. Furthermore, he formalized the practice of sending imperial representatives to the Cape and Australia, terming them "viceroys" in analogy to India's viceroy.
As India finally became definitely calm in exhaustion, it seemed Salisbury was a success. A campaign of construction gained steam, and buildings based on the architecture of old England became mainstream. In particular, in Delhi along the Yamuna was constructed a precise replica of the old Palace of Westminster. Despite the more organized Liberal and Radical Parties holding much stronger campaign, the Tories maintained popularity among most eligible voters, and they won in 1901 once more. Yet, Salisbury was old, and in 1902 he died.
1902-1918: Arthur Balfour (Conservative)
1908 def. John Morley (Liberal), Dadabhai Naoroji (Radical)
1915 def. John Morley (Liberal), Dadabhai Naoroji (Radical)
The successor to Salisbury was none other than his nephew, Arthur Balfour, in what received widespread criticism as pure and unabashed dynastic politics. As the democratic movement rose among Indians, Balfour refused any measure of suffrage expansion, despite the proxies-in-Parliament of sympathetic princes attempting various obstructionist tactics to force the issue. In 1909 a protest in Delhi for universal suffrage was gunned down by troops worried at a Third Mutiny, and this "Indian Peterloo" spurred outrage which caused many to worry would cause rebellion. Yet, exhaustion at the Second Mutiny meant it did not. Balfour's majority weakened and weakened in size with every election, till in 1915 it was at a knife's edge, and the Conservatives' internal controversies made passing policies difficult.
In 1917 an Imperial ship made its way to old England on a mission of discovery and found that, while civilization had re-emerged along the coasts, it was in a form highly dissimilar to that of pre-Fall England; years of living under an effectively Siberian climate changed customs massively, and language, customs, and religion were highly Germanized thanks to the influence of the Neo-Hanseatic League. The accents Britons in India gained thanks to being raised by Indian maids made communication tough without an Australian interpreter handy. It deeply affected the attitudes of refugees and their descendants, that there was no hope of restoring their old Britain, and led many them to look instead to integrating into the societies in which they now resided to a much greater extent.
To Naoroji and other Indian reformists this was a good thing, and he hoped that it would lead Britons in India to "go native" as generations of invaders had done before them. He hoped the British Empire could be made Indian. It led many, even voices within the Conservative Party, to finally determine that, in fact, some accommodation with Indian opinion was necessary as the Old Empire could not be restored. Lord Randolph Churchill, a reformist Tory, thus decided to break away from the Conservatives to do this; with his majority lost, Balfour held an election and was decisively defeated.
1918-1921: Lord Randolph Churchill (Democratic Conservative - Liberal coalition)
1918 def. Arthur Balfour (Balfour Conservative), Motilal Nehru (Radical)
The 1918 elections gave the Democratic Conservatives and Liberals a majority in Parliament on a platform of coming to an accommodation with Indian democracy. Britons in India, concentrated in Kashmir and Shimla, however, were disturbed on principle at being treated equally to their native neighbours, while in the Cape many were worried at the growth of local Radical Parties. And so, in 1919 the cabinet drew up a bill establishing Kashmir and Shimla as princely states with the heir apparent to the throne as Prince of Kashmir and Shimla, and only those eligible for jury duty (that is, whites) could vote for their new Parliaments. In short, Kashmir and Shimla were to become areas in which white minority rule was all but official. This horrified the Radicals, who found this to be an act of total betrayal.
Nevertheless, in 1920, the ministry then drew up a bill for expanding suffrage. Under it, the non-territorial constituencies for old British seats were abolished. Instead, India, the Cape, and Australia were turned into Viceroyalties of the Empire, and each elected a third of the Commons. These electorate drastically varied; in Australia, this was universal male suffrage and broad female suffrage; in the Cape, it was mostly white voters; and in India it was property owners. Princely states were excluded from representations in the Commons on the basis that they were “already represented” in the Lords, and the only exceptions to this exclusion were Kashmir and Shimla - not so subtly, this was because of their whiteness. The Radicals were split on this issue; some found it too tough of a pill to swallow, while others determined some reform was better than no reform and would give them a pulpit to advocate expansion. And so, in 1921, new elections were held for this new, broader electorate.
Prime Ministers of the British Empire
1921-1926: Lord Randolph Churchill (Democratic Conservative - Liberal - Balfour Conservative coalition)
1921 def. Motilal Nehru (Radical)
The 1921 election proved a chaotic one. Radicals advocated further and immediate reform, while other parties stated that further reform was either inopportune or entirely undesirable. The Radicals swept Indian seats except for in Kashmir and Shimla, while in most of the Cape and Australia they lost everywhere (with the exception of sympathetic Lords proxies from the Swazi, Zulu, and Sotho states). With no party able to form a majority, the Democratic Conservatives, Liberals (except a small faction breaking off), and Balfour Conservatives unified under a cabinet led Randolph Churchill, in what many regarded as a case of elites sticking together. Despite clamour for suffrage expansion, Churchill regarded the Third Reform Act as the end of domestic reform, and instead he looked to expanding into the Old Empire. To Britain he sent vast ships, and they used their superior firepower to force Bristol and other eastern city-states to submit to Britain - yet, the Sheriffate of Southend, which controlled the Thames, proved resistant to such threats, as it was a member of the Neo-Hansa with defensive pacts in place. And so, in 1923, Churchill ordered a fleet of British steam ships to bomb Southend into submission. This show of force led the Neo-Hansa to abandon their defensive pacts with Southend, while the Sheriffs of the Thames cities now swore their loyalty to the King of the Empire. This crucially made London ruled by the Empire once more - even if as a vassal rather than under direct rule - and a piece of the Old Parliament. Some migrants moved to Britain, though most moved back after they found it to be simply too alien.
Reactions to this differed. Some, particularly whites, viewed this act as fully legitimate, to bring the “savages” who now inhabited Britain in line. Others, particularly Indians, viewed it as an unwarranted act of imperial oppression against lands that had long moved on from the horrors of the Fall. Churchill believed his popularity had been boosted by capturing London and he wanted to avoid the need for tumultuous coalitions, and so in 1926 he broke his coalition, dissolved Parliament, and held elections. It proved a mistake.
1926-1928: Arthur Balfour (Balfour Conservative)
1926 def H. N. Kunzru (Radical), Lord Randolph Churchill (Democratic Conservative), Austen Chamberlain (Liberal), Jan Smuts (Cape Party)
The Balfour Conservatives, advocating more immediate reconquest of the empire, won the largest number of seats, forming a minority government, even as the rise of the Kaapenaar bloc as a distinct party made politics yet more confusing. Immediately, they set out declaring British sheriffates to be under direct rule while a campaign of expansion was initiated in Ireland and almost-uninhabited Scotland, while a Zone of Settlement was established in the British interior - in practice, however, few colonists moved there. It seemed refugees had little desire to return to a Britain they no longer recognized. Contact was made with British Columbia, yet it refused incorporation into the Empire as it all but considered themselves aligned to the United States-in-California and wanted little to do with an Empire that abandoned them; when Britain sent a fleet to threaten them into submission, California forced it to stand down. An attempt to do the same with settlements in Nova Scotia, however, proved successful despite protests by the United States-in-Savannah. Yet, this did little to make up for the fact that the Balfour Conservatives lacked a majority, and they were ousted in a vote of no confidence.
1928-1929: Austen Chamberlain (Liberal)
A miserable little ministry, the Austen Chamberlain ministry proved a weak one. The Liberals, little more than a pressure group since the Fall, now fought with one another, and his budget was decisively defeated.
1929-1930: Winston Churchill (Democratic Conservative)
And so, the Democratic Conservatives came to power, under Lord Randolph Churchill's insignificant and weak-willed son. He proved controversial for his racism against Indians which even made the segregationist governments of Kashmir and Shimla desirous he would be a bit more tactful, and he faced a campaign of protest which often turned into violence. It seemed the Empire was on the brink yet again. And so, in hookah-filled rooms, partywallas schemed, and they had Churchill replaced.
1930-1933: Edward Carson (Reform Conservative - Radical - Reformist Cape - Liberal coalition)
1930 def. H. N. Kunzru (Radical), Winston Churchill (United Conservative), Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr (Reformist Cape Party), Jan Smuts (Cape Party), Austen Chamberlain (Liberal)
Edward Carson, the respected Speaker of the House of Commons, was made Prime Minister by Commons resolution against his will, and a new election confirmed the stature of the motley coalition. In office he was now forced to write up a Fourth Reform Act, compromising between varying parties. First, the viceroyalties of Australia, the Cape, and India were all federated with their own Viceregal Parliaments given fairly broad powers, including setting their own franchises. The principalities of Kashmir and Shimla were dissolved against their will, though the Prince of Wales retained the titles of "Prince of Kashmir" and "Prince of Shimla". The property requirement in India was drastically reduced, and in the Cape the Qualified Franchise was established at the imperial level and it was expanded beyond the Old Colony. Establishing an electorate more proportional to population, India now had almost one half of all seats in the Commons, with the Cape and Australia both having just under one quarter, and Britain now became a viceroyalty with some representation. The new elections would show just how drastically the Empire - or as people increasingly called it, the Angrezi Raj - changed.
1933-xxxx: John Dillon (Radical)
1933 def. Edward Carson (Reform Conservative), Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr (Reformist Cape), Winston Churchill (Churchillian Conservative), various other Conservative splinters, various Liberal splinters
1934 def. Edward Carson (Reform Conservative), Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr (Reformist Cape), Winston Churchill (Churchillian Conservative), various other Conservative splinters
1935 def. Edward Carson (Reform Conservative), Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr (Reformist Cape), Winston Churchill (Churchillian Conservative)
The new elections now returned a decisive majority for the Radicals. As its leader H. N Kunzru, was a Hindu, and a Kashmiri one at that, there was widespread resistance to him becoming PM; instead the post was given to the sympathetic Irish-descended John Dillon. He desired to complete the process of reform, and so in 1934 he drew up a Fifth Reform Act, establishing universal male and female suffrage in imperial elections. When the Lords vetoed it, he held a new election, which confirmed the majority for the Radicals and forced the Lords to let the Fifth Reform Act through. And so, new elections under this electorate were held, expanding the Radical majority yet further. Yet, at the viceregal level, the Cape Parliament still had white supremacist electoral laws in place, resulting in the bizarre situation in which nonwhites could vote in imperial elections but not in viceregal ones, and in practice even this was subverted by voter registration laws which faced opposition by local Radical Committees. This served to result in violence and rioting, and indeed it seemed the status quo in the Cape needed to be changed unless the Cape was to have a Mutiny of its own. And so, with the imperial government staring it down, the Cape was forced to expand its suffrage. Despite fears of being "swamped" by black votes, the Kaapenaar elites feared dying yet more, and so a non-universal but broad suffrage was adopted. Thus, the Dillon ministry marked the definitive transformation of the Empire into the loose, creolized, confederation of states it is today.
