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What if Callaghan hadn't "waited at the church", and instead called a General Election in the autumn of 1978?

Its a POD that's interested me for a long time, as it has doubtless interested others on this site. It has been discussed time and again on this forum (see links below), but to my knowledge has never generated a lengthy or completed timeline. A month and a half ago Meadow challenged me to take a crack at it, and that's what I've now decided to do.

But if its worth doing, it's worth doing well, and to that end I'm gathering forth as much background information as I can. I know the period well enough as general historical and political knowledge, and the next step is for me to fully flesh that out.

So AH.com (and especially PolitiBrits), what I'm looking for is recommendations. Recommendations for books, articles, documentaries; any useful sources on the time period (which for the purposes of a timeline I'm considering as being roughly 1974-1984). Listed below are those books already on my "reading list", said list will hopefully be widely expanded over the next few months. Meadow and Lord Roem I know have been breathing this stuff for Lavender, so I'm particularly interested in their suggestions.


Books I own and have read/plan to read for research purposes

Thatcher - The Downing Street Years
Healey - The Time Of My Life
Jones, Mervyn - Michael Foot
Morgan, Kenneth - Michael Foot [official biography]
Wilson - The Governance of Britain [pub. 1977]
Benn (via Mullin) - Arguments for Democracy
Davies, A.J. - To Build A New Jerusalem [Labour Party History]
Campbell, John - Roy Jenkins [1983 biography]
[I also have the memoirs of Major, Blair, and Mandelson; though these are all very light on '70s and '80s background, despite it being integral to their own respective rises].
[Plus there's a "Marxist History" of the Labour Party kicking around here somewhere, not mine though - as an Alt Historian I eschew Marxist historical determinism].


Books I intend to acquire for same research purposes

Hayter, Dianne (2005) - Fightback!: Labour's Traditional Right in the 1970s and 1980s [mostly available as a Google Book]
Heffernan, Richard. and Marqusee, Mike (1992) - Defeat from the Jaws of Victory: Inside Kinnock's Labour Party
Medhurst, John - That Option No Longer Exists: Britain 1974-76


As may be apparent, my unplanned accumulations to date have leaned towards biographies and memoirs (these being more easily acquired 2nd hand than "hard" historical works), and also towards the political left. Neither of these categories are inherently problematic so long as their partial reporting of events is kept in mind - and timelines with multiple opposing biased viewpoint accounts are IMO quite good fun. I'm keen though that this timeline should not be exclusively about the Labour Party - the Tories and Liberals deserve some love - so I need to flesh things out on that side of the political spectrum.

Also I have twice as much Michael Foot there as anyone else, but that isn't a problem for me :D


AH.com discussions about/relevant to this POD

A Thatcher Government in 1978 - May 2015
WI: Labour wins in 1979 election, Callaghan resigns, Foot or Benn becomes PM - Jan 2015
How to fix 1970s Britain - Jan 2015
No Lib-Lab Pact? - Nov 2014
Jim Callaghan and the election of 1978 - Nov 2014
AHC: Prime Minister Barbara Castle - Aug 2014
Callaghan goes to the polls in 1978? - July 2014
Callaghan doesn't wait at the church - July 2014
James Callaghan and the election of 1978 - June 2014
Wi Callaghan calls an election in 1978? - May 2014
Callaghan Calls an election in 1978 - Feb 2014
AHC WI No 1979 winter of discontent - July 2013
Election 1978 - Double Harness - March 2013 [timeline opening]
Callaghan's Choice - Nov 2012
WI: Callaghan in 1978? - Sept 2012
Waiting at the Church: Thatcher's Forward March Halted? - March 2012 [timeline opening]
Election '78. What If - Jan 2012 [timeline opening]


As to when I'll actually start on the timeline (provisionally and unimaginatively titled "Not Waiting At The Church"); it won't be until after I've finished "The Loud Blast That Tears The Skies", and probably after "Divided Kingdom" too. Also there's a TLIAD I've been itching to do for a few weeks now, that certain excellent phresh produce has jolted back to the front of my mind. In the mean time its reading and preparation only I'm afraid.

Thank you all in advance.
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