AHC: ONLY woman prime ministers since 1979

On 4 May 1979, Margaret Thatcher took office as the UK's first female prime minister. With a PoD after that: Create a scenario which has Britain been governed EXCLUSIVELY by women to this day!
 
I doubt it was possible, Margaret Thatcher was quite anti-femininest with no other woman in her top cabinet and labour at the time was very much male orientated, with all very strong male characters. Similar to America, its not that there aren't any women, they just aren't given the same opportunity.
Thatcher_Cabinet_H_3303702k.jpg
 
Ok, so Maggie doesn't get deposed, eventually losing an election to Labour. The question then is "who is a suitable female Labour leader"? Margaret Beckett, maybe?

Eventually, the Tories would come back in, with a charismatic female leader.
 
Margaret Thatcher
Edwina Curry
Margaret Beckett
Yvette Cooper
Theresa May

That is the most plausible lineup I could think of quickly, the question is how you engineer this.
 
No Falklands war. Shirley Williams becomes agreed alliance leader, probably because of of a vote by all Liberal and SDP members.

Wins the 1984 election
 
So...

Margaret Thatcher
Edwina Curry
Margaret Beckett
Yvette Cooper
Theresa May
That is the most plausible lineup I could think of quickly, the question is how you engineer this.
No Falklands war. Shirley Williams becomes agreed alliance leader, probably because of of a vote by all Liberal and SDP members.
Wins the 1984 election

What about this, then?

1979 - 1984 Margaret Thatcher
1984 - 1995 Shirley Williams
1995 - 1998 Margaret Beckett

1998 - 2006 Edwina Currie
2006 - 2012 Theresa May

2012 - Yvette Cooper

There is no Falklands War, Shirley Williams as a unifying Labour leader wins in '84. She sustains her majority in '89 and '94, both times against a patronizing male opponent. The Tories are therefore willing to go for something new, resulting in Edwina Currie's rise to the top. Meanwhile, Williams retires at the age of 65. Her handpicked successor Beckett fails to convince, plus the people are tired after 13 years of Labour rule. Currie, whose media-friendliness suits the new millennium, wins easily in '98 and rather narrowly against Tony Blair in 2003, but proves as too irresponsible for the office of PM in her second term. She is forced out of office and compromise candidate Theresa May takes over. First viewed as a caretaker PM, May surprisingly manages to defeat a media-hyped Labour opponent in 2007. Labour undergoes a generational change and Yvette Cooper wins the party's 2011 leadership race as well as the General Election a year later.
 
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Ok, so Maggie doesn't get deposed, eventually losing an election to Labour. The question then is "who is a suitable female Labour leader"? Margaret Beckett, maybe?

Eventually, the Tories would come back in, with a charismatic female leader.
al
So...




What about this, then?

1979 - 1984 Margaret Thatcher
1984 - 1995 Shirley Williams
1995 - 1998 Margaret Beckett

1998 - 2006 Edwina Currie
2006 - 2012 Theresa May

2012 - Yvette Cooper

There is no Falklands War, Shirley Williams as a unifying Labour leader wins in '84. She sustains her majority in '89 and '94, both times against a patronizing male opponent. The Tories are therefore willing to go for something new, resulting in Edwina Currie's rise to the top. Meanwhile, Williams retires at the age of 65. Her handpicked successor Beckett fails to convince, plus the people are tired after 13 years of Labour rule. Currie, whose media-friendliness suits the new millennium, wins easily in '98 and rather narrowly against Tony Blair in 2003, but proves as too irresponsible for the office of PM in her second term. She is forced out of office and compromise candidate Theresa May takes over. First viewed as a caretaker PM, May surprisingly manages to defeat a media-hyped Labour opponent in 2007. Labour undergoes a generational change and Yvette Cooper wins the party's 2011 leadership race as well as the General Election a year later.
Williams left Labour in 1981 so the Falklands war not happening cant achieve her becoming a Labour PM in 1984. A British military disaster possibly could see the Alliance win.
 
I doubt it was possible, Margaret Thatcher was quite anti-feminist...
Anti-feminist? That's something of a large claim. She might not have tried to push women ahead but I'm not aware of her putting roadblocks in their paths.
 
Agree that to make this happen you have to have Thatcher beaten by a female leader of another party- she never really promoted any women into prominent positions.

Shirley Williams was perhaps the only other major female politician during the Thatcher era, but I'm not sure how plausible her becoming PM at the head of an Alliance government is. Though she was heavily lobbied to run, I dont think she ever wanted to be leader due to her personal life- plus I dont think no Falklands is enough for an Alliance victory- the war would have to be fought and lost to generate the scale of discontent needed for them to overcome the barriers of the two party system- but if that were to happen, Thatcher would probably resign.

I think it would be more plausible to have Thatcher to survive into the early 1990s, and then be beaten by Beckett in a GE. Perhaps Healey beats Foot in 1980, leads Labour to a better performance in 1983, before resigning in favour of John Smith, who makes some small gains in 1987, before dying of a heart attack shortly before 1992. As his deputy, Beckett steps and wins a landslide in part because of sympathy votes after Smith's death and in part because the turmoil that Labour suffered in the 1980s wasnt nearly as bad. Beckett wins re-election, before retiring around 1999/2000, and being succeeded by Harriet Harman. After she wins a third election in a row at the head of a Labour Party that is slightly to the left of what it was IOTL, the Tories conclude that they need a leader who can appeal to economically interventionist voters, whilst bridging the internal divide on Europe. Enter Theresa May. She defeats Labour to become PM in the mid 2000s, but the financial crisis and infighting over Europe mean that her government only last one term, and she is comfortably beaten by Labour under Yvette Cooper, who continues as PM to this day.
 
Agree that to make this happen you have to have Thatcher beaten by a female leader of another party- she never really promoted any women into prominent positions.

Shirley Williams was perhaps the only other major female politician during the Thatcher era, but I'm not sure how plausible her becoming PM at the head of an Alliance government is. Though she was heavily lobbied to run, I dont think she ever wanted to be leader due to her personal life- plus I dont think no Falklands is enough for an Alliance victory- the war would have to be fought and lost to generate the scale of discontent needed for them to overcome the barriers of the two party system- but if that were to happen, Thatcher would probably resign.

I think it would be more plausible to have Thatcher to survive into the early 1990s, and then be beaten by Beckett in a GE. Perhaps Healey beats Foot in 1980, leads Labour to a better performance in 1983, before resigning in favour of John Smith, who makes some small gains in 1987, before dying of a heart attack shortly before 1992. As his deputy, Beckett steps and wins a landslide in part because of sympathy votes after Smith's death and in part because the turmoil that Labour suffered in the 1980s wasnt nearly as bad. Beckett wins re-election, before retiring around 1999/2000, and being succeeded by Harriet Harman. After she wins a third election in a row at the head of a Labour Party that is slightly to the left of what it was IOTL, the Tories conclude that they need a leader who can appeal to economically interventionist voters, whilst bridging the internal divide on Europe. Enter Theresa May. She defeats Labour to become PM in the mid 2000s, but the financial crisis and infighting over Europe mean that her government only last one term, and she is comfortably beaten by Labour under Yvette Cooper, who continues as PM to this day.

1979 - 1992 Margaret Thatcher
1992 - 1999 Margaret Beckett
1999 - 2005 Harriet Harman

2005 - 2010 Theresa May
2010 - ???? Yvette Cooper

Thank you, I'm more than satisfied!! Bit of a Labour wank, though.
 
1979 - 1992 Margaret Thatcher
1992 - 1999 Margaret Beckett
1999 - 2005 Harriet Harman

2005 - 2010 Theresa May
2010 - ???? Yvette Cooper

Thank you, I'm more than satisfied!! Bit of a Labour wank, though.
It is, but that's partly a reflection of the fact that Labour has had the lion share of high profile female MPs until recently. It's rather difficult to find any woman who had a genuine shot at the Tory leadership between Thatcher and May.
 
It is, but that's partly a reflection of the fact that Labour has had the lion share of high profile female MPs until recently. It's rather difficult to find any woman who had a genuine shot at the Tory leadership between Thatcher and May.
Really odd then that both Thatcher and May actually became PM IOTL, whereas Labour still waits for their first woman PM. On the other hand, the more hostile the environment, the more assertive those women become. But that might be a platitude by now ...
 
Agree that to make this happen you have to have Thatcher beaten by a female leader of another party- she never really promoted any women into prominent positions.

Shirley Williams was perhaps the only other major female politician during the Thatcher era, but I'm not sure how plausible her becoming PM at the head of an Alliance government is. Though she was heavily lobbied to run, I dont think she ever wanted to be leader due to her personal life- plus I dont think no Falklands is enough for an Alliance victory- the war would have to be fought and lost to generate the scale of discontent needed for them to overcome the barriers of the two party system- but if that were to happen, Thatcher would probably resign.

I think it would be more plausible to have Thatcher to survive into the early 1990s, and then be beaten by Beckett in a GE. Perhaps Healey beats Foot in 1980, leads Labour to a better performance in 1983, before resigning in favour of John Smith, who makes some small gains in 1987, before dying of a heart attack shortly before 1992. As his deputy, Beckett steps and wins a landslide in part because of sympathy votes after Smith's death and in part because the turmoil that Labour suffered in the 1980s wasnt nearly as bad. Beckett wins re-election, before retiring around 1999/2000, and being succeeded by Harriet Harman. After she wins a third election in a row at the head of a Labour Party that is slightly to the left of what it was IOTL, the Tories conclude that they need a leader who can appeal to economically interventionist voters, whilst bridging the internal divide on Europe. Enter Theresa May. She defeats Labour to become PM in the mid 2000s, but the financial crisis and infighting over Europe mean that her government only last one term, and she is comfortably beaten by Labour under Yvette Cooper, who continues as PM to this day.

Okay, I'll bite on this and give it a go.

The Falklands Defeat is still regarded as Britain's darkest moment since 1940, eclipsing even Suez. The fluke by which two Argentinean Super Etendard fighters successfully fired missiles at HMS Invincible, crippling her and forcing the British Task Force to beat an ignominious retreat to Ascension is still talked about in military training schools this day. When the morose civil servant Ian MacDonald reported the attack, the country was stunned.

As pictures of the burning carrier were shown on foreign television but embargoed by the BBC on orders from Downing Street (as were the true casualty figures) the Thatcher Government imploded. A deputation calling for a negotiated peace with Buenos Aires threatened a mass walkout from Cabinet and with up to 30 Conservative MPs set to join the SDP, Thatcher resigned in favour of her Deputy William Whitelaw.

The days and weeks of national humiliation that followed led not as many had feared to Michael Foot's Labour Government seizing victory but the collapse of the Conservative vote wholesale to the Alliance at the May 1983 election. SDP leader Jenkins and Liberal leader Steel had both considered leading the campaign but internal polling showed Shirley Williams as a strong national character and, while with great reluctance, Williams accepted the role of Alliance Prime Minister designate and duly swept into office in the 1982 landslide.

Yet the Alliance years were not the nirvana many had hoped - ongoing problems with the Unions, internal issues between Social Democrats and Liberals over constitutional and economic reform and the slow recovery of the economy from the recession meant the Williams Government was re-elected with a much reduced majority in 1987. Labour had re-grouped after its 1982 disaster around Neil Kinnock but he stood down after 1987 and in a bitter battle John Smith and Margaret Beckett were defeated by Harriet Harman who led the party into the 1992 election and emerged as the largest party forming a coalition with the Radical Liberals under Liz Lynne who had split from the main Liberal Party in the late 80s over nuclear policy and social issues.

The Lab/Rads (as they were called) won again in 1997 after which Harman stood down in favour of Tessa Jowell who had been the first Mayor of London from 1988 to 1992 having herself defeated Ken Livingstone in the Labour candidates election.

Jowell enjoyed a long spell in office but illness forced her to step down in 2005 after which Margaret Hodge led the Government but by 2007 dark economic clouds were beckoning and the Lab/Rad Coalition emerged from the election with its majority gone. The Radicals splintered as leader Jackie Ballard failed to support spending cuts and a new election was called for May 2008 out of which came a new Government led by veteran Social Democrat Rosie Barnes supported by a Reform Conservative group led by Theresa May. The austerity of the Barnes Government is well remembered but did much to restore Britain's economy.

In 2012, however, the Alliance/Reform Coalition was swept aside by a Labour Party re-vitalised by the wife and husband team of Yvette Cooper and Ed Balls who became Prime Minister and Chancellor respectively.

Once again, as relations with the European Union deteriorated and the economic clouds beckoned, Labour lost its majority in the 2016 election and a year later was swept from office by the New Liberals led by Siobhan Benita and Jo Swinson with Gina Miller as the new Minister for Europe and Layla Moran as Home Secretary. Amber Rudd, Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston as Health Secretary are the other key members of the New Liberal Government.

With 15 out of 21 Cabinet positions taken by women, Labour leader Helle Kinnock can only look on in envy while Conservative leader Nigel Farage has made his view of the new Government abundantly clear.
 
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