A Different Prime Minister in 1940

What if Lord Hailfax had become Prime Minister of England in 1940 instead of Churchill? How would this change British handling of the war? Would Halifax sue for peace after France falls?
 
What if Lord Hailfax had become Prime Minister of England in 1940 instead of Churchill? How would this change British handling of the war? Would Halifax sue for peace after France falls?

First of all, welcome to the board.

The idea of Britain bowing out of World War II in 1940 has been done a few times on this site, but hear goes.

While it's true Halifax supported Chainberlain's appeasement polecy in the run-up to September 1939, Chainberlain (and his cabinet) were pretty badly discreddited by the time of Churchill's assention to the premiership in OTL.

Though there were voices calling for peace, I'd say that Britain fights on in some form, after all Churchill will still be a vocal voice in the cabinet (unless you have the infomous taxi accident he was in prove fatal).

That said, Halifax won't be the same sort of War-time leader Churchill was, even if he takes over in Churchill's absence, which in itself isn't a sure thing imho.

Someone did a really good Halifax in 1940 TL once:

https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=135299

Have a read-it's interesting!
 
Halifax was very much in favour of the OTL attempt through Ciano to negotiate peace just before the Dunkirk evacuation began. He and Churchill clashed over it and he nearly resigned over not being able to pursue it once he was outvoted by the War Cabinet. If he were PM, expect to see stronger pushes to pursue that line of negotiation, but it still might not go ahead as Labour were by now completely indisposed to peace and they had two crucial votes on the (admittedly OTL) five-man war cabinet. If Churchill is in the cabinet too, expect a no from him.

So what does this mean? A slightly greater chance for peace in 1940, but still a very small one (the negotiations might still be unacceptable even if they go ahead). As for the running of the war, look at the aforementioned Halifax TL. It's excellent and written by someone who knows far more about Hawwifax than I do.
 
Even if Britain fights on with Halifax how will his leadership differ from Churchill's? Will he adopt a totally defensive strategy? Thanks for the welcome by the way.
 
Halifax. (
multipage.gif
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ... Last Page) FletcherofSaltoun

Go read this. Do.

You might have a different take, but it's worth the read.
Edit: Gah. Peelitebkearns already posted the link. Sorry.
 
Last edited:
Top