WI: Prime Minister Quintin Hogg

Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of Marleybone was a serious contender for the Conservative Party leadership in 1963. However, he made some serious errors during the Party Conference (such as feeding his newborn baby in public and distributing "Q" badges) and was subsequently dismissed as "vulgar". Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of the UK at the time, was less than enamoured with his behaviour and so urged senior party members to choose Alec Douglas-Home as his successor.

Macmillan succeeded in getting Douglas-Home chosen as his successor in OTL. But, what if Quintin Hogg had not made so many blunders at the party conference? What if Macmillan had decided to back Hogg as his successor?

Hogg would thus have become both Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister.

Would he have been successful as Prime Minister? Would his premiership have lasted longer than Douglas-Home's? Just what would have changed for Britain and the world if he had become Prime Minister?

Interesting idea. I suspect that he would have scared voters and Wilson would have won by more.

However I was only 8 at the time and have only limited knowedge

Well, the Conservative election campaign would have been more brash, more American, rather than the patrician avuncular pitch of Douglas-Home. Tough to say which way it would have gone tho': Home is one of those people that is easy to mock but then ran Labour incredibly close in an election that really should have been a walkover from them. The one thing I would say is that Wilson was pushing for TV debates, fitting with his image of himself as the British Kennedy. I can't imagine Home going for them, but Hogg might well have done. If so, they could have become an institution way back in 1964.

Hogg was the initial frontrunner

Wilson would probably have won 1964 by a wider margin, Home performed so well because he was seen as a safe pair of hands, a nice man, even if he was aristocratic.

Hogg might have served as leader of the opposition for the whole 64-66 parliament, and led the tories into the 1966 election.

Well said:

Well, the Conservative election campaign would have been more brash, more American, rather than the patrician avuncular pitch of Douglas-Home. Tough to say which way it would have gone tho': Home is one of those people that is easy to mock but then ran Labour incredibly close in an election that really should have been a walkover from them. The one thing I would say is that Wilson was pushing for TV debates, fitting with his image of himself as the British Kennedy. I can't imagine Home going for them, but Hogg might well have done. If so, they could have become an institution way back in 1964.

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Or, alternatively, they could have been discredited. If Wilson had curbstomped Hogg they might come to be seen as an uncouth 'trick' used by 'slick' politicians that no-one in their right mind would agree to.

Hailsham, or indeed anyone other than Home, stood not the slightest chance of becoming PM in the historical circumstances. Hailsham's behaviour at Blackpool, while a little crass at times as was Quintin's wont, was wilfully distorted by a right-wing cabal which was lead by Home, which took advantage of a supine and 'out of the loop' Mac to get Home in as PM. No-one else was remotely as well-organised, or as ruthless with the facts, as these conspirators.