1976 NO imf LOAN NEEDED BY BRITAIN

In otl the Labour Government was forced to push through cuts by the IMF. A lot of this related to figures on deficits which were in fact wrong.

Suppose that had not happened.

Maybe it would have been possible to be more generous (Just in my personal opinion) to public sector workers and have avoided 'The Winter of Discontent'

Does this butterfly Thatcher?
 
If the economy had been better then Callaghan would probably have called an election in 1978 and won with a small majority. Thatcher was already leader of the Conservative party in 1976, so the question is whether she would remain as leader after losing the election. I suspect that she would - a small majority means that there might be another election within a couple of years allowing her to argue that it's not a good time to change leaders. Britain might have fewer problems in the early Eighties ITTL, but I suspect that the Conservatives would win the next election, so we might see a later Thatcher premiership.

With his reputation in better shape than IOTL, Healey has a good shot at being the Labour leader after Callaghan.


Cheers,
Nigel.
 
Top