AHC: Prime Minister Shirley Williams

She did after all come in a reasonably close second to Michael Foot (56.5-43.5) in the 1976 Labour Deputy Leadership contest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Labour_Party_deputy_leadership_election If she had won it, and If Callaghan wins the next General Election (as some here have speculated he might have done had he called the election in 1978 instead of 1979) and she retains the seat she lost in OTL in 1979, could she be Callaghan's successor as Prime Minister? ( I assume that in this scenario Labour doesn't move nearly as far to the left as it did in OTL and the SDP secession from the party never happens.) In that event, she rather than Margaret Thatcher would be the first woman Prime Minister of the UK.

(Yes, this post was occasioned by her recent death.)
 
As much as I would like to see it, it's unlikely she would have wanted it. She was later repeatedly urged to run for the SDP leadership, but declined. I think she said that it had a lot to do with her difficult relationship with her husband. So maybe changed that, and she becomes more willing to put herself forward for the top job.
 

marktaha

Banned
She could have run for PM in 1976 - without hope of victory. She was a consensus politician of the kind who governed Britain from 1940 to 1979 and I expect that under her the drift would have continued.
 
She could have run for PM in 1976 - without hope of victory. She was a consensus politician of the kind who governed Britain from 1940 to 1979 and I expect that under her the drift would have continued.
hmm drift hey. In many ways the supposed decline is really over-stated, and Thatcher's supposed remedies mass privitatisation, de-industrialisation , and over reliance on services pretty disastrous. About the only unqualified successes ironically were in the environmental field. much disparaged by those lesser people who would claim her legacy. In any fair assessment supposedly "failed consensus politicians" like Williams, or more obviously Jenkins or even Whitelaw actually achieved more than most Thatcherites .I would include the very non Thatcherite, but very able Health secretary who did so much to fight the AIDS epidemic Norman Fowler in my praise of the supposedly flawed approach of consensus and fact based decision making over ideological fervor of left or right.
 
Probably going to need a pre-1976 POD, perhaps Labour winning in 1970. She'd have then entered the cabinet 5 years or so earlier, Labour lose the 1974-5 election to the Tories, returning to power in the early/mid 1980s and she then succeds whoever it is (Jenkins/Callaghan/Healey) as PM.

Alternately in a 'SDP succeds' scenario where she becomes leader instead of Jenkins, and Labour shifts further towards the left (e.g Benn defeating Healey) its possible the SDP could make a significant breakthrough. Although this is significantly less likely than the first scenario.
 
Imagine Shirley Williams as PM instead of Thatcher in the 80s...brilliant!
The closest analogue would possibly be Bob Hawke in Australia. Like Hawke, she had personal charisma and would likely have pursued the 1980s economic reforms in a less confrontational manner than did Thatcher.
 
The closest analogue would possibly be Bob Hawke in Australia. Like Hawke, she had personal charisma and would likely have pursued the 1980s economic reforms in a less confrontational manner than did Thatcher.
Who then is her “Bankstown Zegna suited attack dog” Keating?
 
She decides she wants to Be Prime Minister. Runs and wins Warrington. No Falklands war. Parties agree the candidate for Prime Minister will be chosen by a joint ballot.
 
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