How about Blair never befriends Peter Thomson, the religious left has little to no influence on his University days? Going with the views of his father he joins the Conservative party shortly after leaving university. He becomes noticed shortly after Thatchers 1983 landslide after an energetic campaign brings him close to winning his local seat of Sedgefield. Despite being a strong admirer of Thatchers he is seen as being charming and able to connect with working class people, a rare asset to the Conservative party and comes into parliament after pulling off a surpirse victory in the 1985 Brecon and Radnor by-election. After the 1987 election he becomes Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and after playing a significant role in Thatcher's close victory over Michael Heseltine, he becomes chief secretary to the Treasury to the Treasury.
With further poll tax riots, continued infighting and the catastrophic invasion of Iraq, he just manages to survive the 1992 Labour landslide and to his surprise becomes shadow to John Smith in Majors shadow cabinet where the two become famous for their constant clashes. Blair makes headlines with his resounding speech about Kinnock and Smiths pull out of the ERM, managing to largely pin the blame on Labour. Smiths replacement, the young Gordon Brown is a much greater challenge to Blair however and the battles over the dispatch box begin to embody style vs substance.
In the aftermath of Majors failure to make much progress in the 1997 election, Blair's alliance with Ken Clarke (the infamous Hard Rock Cafe deal) manages to carry him to leader of the Opposition where he pulls off victory after victory against the successful but tired PM Kinnock and despite a good economy and record public spending, he strolls into downing street in 2002 after pulling off a repeat of 1970.
The Blair-Brown conflict is about resume...