Another article, perhaps a bit short, but I'm unlikely to add much more, unless someone has suggestions:
Divergences in Successive British Governments
'Governments,' in this context, also called 'ministries,' are the UK's equivalent of what the USA calls 'administrations' - the head of government and the Cabinet and other subordinates thereof. Prior to the 1930s, these were largely quite similar to
those on Homeline, with small variations in a few seats, or an additional Minister or two. The earliest significant change from Homeline is generally regarded to have been in 1923, when the
Earl of Greystoke replaced the
Duke of Devonshire as
Secretary of State for the Colonies. Of almost equal interest to observers from Homeline is the appointment in that same year of
Dr Henry Jones, Sr, one of the three
Members of Parliament for the Scottish Universities, as
minister without portfolio, to serve as the PM's chief advisor on 'Esoteric and Ancient Sciences' (meaning all the weird stuff left over by long-dead Gadgeteers and such, that antiquarians and archaeologists keep uncovering).
A much bigger change came ten years later: In 1933, the failure of the
MacDonald-
Baldwin Second National Government to do anything meaningful against Emperor Ming lead to a Vote of No Confidence and a new election. WWI war hero and new (since 1932, just beating out
George Lansbury in the Labour Party election) Labour Party Leader Ewart MacAdder became Prime Minister, forming the First MacAdder Government. The Conservatives were able to force a snap election in 1935, but they didn't pick up enough seats to form a government; MacAdder shuffled his cabinet and made a deal with the Liberals, giving them a couple of cabinet positions in return for their support (Second MacAdder Government).
MacAdder resigned as PM in 1936 - he had been relatively friendly with Edward VIII, but he disliked George VI, and wanted the precedent that would have been made by a king marrying a commoner (a divorced,
American commoner at that), and staying king. Following a new election,
Neville Chamberlain became PM (also making a deal with the Liberals for support), and has remained in that position. A comparison of his cabinet in this worldline with the
First Chamberlain Ministry/Fourth National Government on Homeline shows a number of differences: firstly, the
National Labour Organization and
Liberal National Party had both collapsed earlier in the decade (which did not happen on Homeline until 1945 for National Labour and 1968 for the Liberal Nationals), leaving only the Liberals and Conservatives in the new government. Liberal Party member
Geoffrey Shakespeare actually retained his position as President of the Board of Education from the Second MacAdder Government.
Sir John Simon, also a Liberal, remained in the Cabinet but was moved from Secretary of State for the Home Department to Secretary of State for the Colonies. As on Homeline,
Ernest Brown remained Minister for Labour, though he was by then in the main Liberal Party, not the defunct Liberal Nationals. Until they were moved to the BIS, the Lord Blackadder had been Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, and Winston Churchill was simply the Member of Parliament for Epping, though with a strong desire to be in government.
Thoughts?