AHC: Prime Minister of the UK for two different intervals (not Wilson)

Hopefully a relatively eas(ish) AHC.

Since 1945, only one UK PM has served as Prime Minister for two distinct intervals. Wilson (1964 to 1970 and again from 1974 to 1976).

Simple challenge is to see if you can get anyone else to match that feat.

No rules, except a Post 1945 POD. However, it would be nice to get it in a recognisable UK and ideally if it could be an OTL PM (though if you feel you must, an OTL LOTO will do).

As I like to always have a go myself, and getting the easy one out the way I'm proposing Ted Heath.
OTL to October 1974.
October 1974, Heath manages to win after all, and takes over from Wilson (again) on a small but workable majority of (say) 10.

This means that post 1945, both Wilson and Heath will have been Prime Minister for two distinct time periods. Wilson as above, and Heath June 1970 to Feb 1974 and then again from October 1974 to.... whenever.

Thatcher opponents might like the above as it likely butterflies away Thatcher as PM.
 
Sorry, this is not very interesting. In a parliamentary system, a Prime Minister losing his majority and gaining it back later is always possible, and before World War II, Baldwin and McDonald, as well as Gladstone and Cecil (Salisbury), and Gladstone and Disraeli swapped in and out of #10 several times (except that Marquis of Salisbury never lived at #10 but the point is made). It doesn't happen as often in recent times because parties are quicker to dump leaders when they run into electoral difficulties, and voters are much more prone to re-elect governments the first time they are up for election;

But post World War II, Churchill accomplished this in 1951. Atlee ran as leader of the Labour Party in 1955.

The trick is to get a party leader to win a first election, lose a second, but not lose the second that badly and still be in good enough health and have enough standing in the party to go for a third. One problem is that modern party leaders usually last through two elections anyway. Three is rare and four is unheard of unless two of the elections occur within two years of each other , like 1910-10, 1922-23-24, 1929-31, 1950-51, and 1974-74.

Thatcher if Labour wins in 1983 or 1984, but its close, probably meaning no Falklands war. Major if the 1997 result is really close, and he could also survive after a 1992 defeat and come back in 1997. Kinnock is Labour wins in either 1987 or 1992, then loses the next election, both being close results, Kinnock was young enough to hand on until 2001. Brown, and Cameron after a 2015 defeat, probably could have pulled off comebacks later but both quit politics.
 
Okay, I'll play - Wilson steps down unexpectedly in 1972 and Roy Jenkins becomes Labour leader and takes the Party back into Government in February 1974 on a pro-European platform.

Although he wins a small majority in October 1974, he is forced from office by a coalition of Union leaders and left-wing Labour MPs in 1976 and replaced by Callaghan.

Callaghan loses to Thatcher in 1979 after the Winter of Discontent and in 1981 Jenkins becomes the leader of the new Social Democratic Party which quickly forms an electoral pact with the Liberals.

The catastrophic Falklands military campaign (the worst military disaster since Yorktown) drives Thatcher from office in June 1982. Whitelaw takes over but is himself incapacitated by a heart attack a few weeks later. Francis Pym leads as a caretaker but the Government is in a state of collapse.

The October 1982 election sees Jenkins back in Downing Street as the leader of an Alliance Govenrment which has won 423 seats in the General Election. Labour holds just 169 and the Conservatives are reduced to 35. Francis Pym loses SE Cambridgeshire to the SDP and Leon Brittan is chosen to lead the rump of the Conservative Party.

I realise that might be too much of a Tory-wank for some on here :)
 
If there was no Iraq War and Blair had stepped down in the early 2000s as he allegedly promised to Brown, he would likely remain a popular figure with the public, and could well take on the Premiership after Brown went, either becoming PM immediately if Labour were still in government, or beating Cameron in an alt-2015 GE.

A Liberal minority was apparently a genuine possibility in 1923 (despite them being the third largest party). That would have meant Asquith becoming PM again-although it's unlikely he would last more than a few months.
 
How about having Attlee make a comeback in 1955? The Tories didn't actually win that overwhelmingly (49.7% to 46.4% for Labour, which translated into 345-277 in terms pf seats). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1955_United_Kingdom_general_election
It would be hard to as the 1955 election was a notoriously uneventful campaign, with the BBC calling it the dullest election in post war history. Perhaps if Churchill's government had fallen in an inopportune moment or broken up due to his health crises, then Attlee could have made it back into power in the middle 1950s.

As to other possibilites
  • Hume: Might be the strongest contender, if he had clung on as leader of the opposition and Wilson's first government fell he could have come back to power
  • Callaghan: If Thatcher had won a smaller majority (or no majority at all) Callaghan could have come back into power, similar to Pierre Trudeau in the 1980 Canadian Federal Election
  • Thatcher: I don't think the Conservative party was sufficiently enamoured with her to forgive loosing the 1983 election, especially if it has been caused by a debacle in the Falklands
  • Major: During the 1992 election Major was already being blamed for the conduct of the campaign, with many assuming they would loose, I think if he had lost in 1992 he would have gone, unless Labour was forced into an early election, before the Conservatives had the time to remove him or for Major to stand aside.
As to the others it is difficult to see in the modern age a leader staying on after they failed to win re-election, especially if they where a first term leader. However a Hume esque scenario where a leader who takes over mid term, and is seen as helping lead to a narrow loss instead of a blow out could work, provided they maintain control over their party as Harold Wilson did in 1970-1974.
 
If we're trying for a more modern times, I do wonder about Cameron. Only eighteen months ago he wanted to be foreign secretary. But out of Parliament, he really shot himself in the foot.

So perhaps he stays on as an MP post 2016, and doesn't stand down in 2017. By early 2019 May is virtually destroyed and he puts his hat in the ring last summer. Perhaps a 'I got you into this mess, I was wrong to resign... I'll get you out of this mess.'

I can't see it personally. The membership probably wouldn't stand it, but if you can rig things to avoid the membership (again) like in 2017, perhaps we could have seen a PM Cameron 2019 onwards?
 
Had there been no lib-lab pact the Callaghan government would have lost the vote of no confidence on March 24 1977, leading to a general election in May 1977. The Tories had a very strong opinion poll lead at this point (15 points in March 1977) in the aftermath of the IMF crisis and would likely have won the election with a larger majority than OTL 1979. Callaghan, having been PM for only a year and not worn out by the constant strain of minority government would have been more willing to put up a fight than in OTL 1979-80, and although he couldn't prevent the left wing of the party from adopting an electoral college to elect the next leader he held the line firm on matters of policy, particularly retaining Labour's commitment to the nuclear deterrent.
In April 1978, the Argentinians launched an invasion of the Falkland Islands - as Operation Journeyman is butterflied away - but Britain is able to win the 1978 Falklands War, with the Conservatives receiving a boost in the opinion polls.
However Thatcher's economic policies as well as the 1979-1981 recession soon see that poll lead fade and they face some stinging by election defeats to the Liberals in 1979-80. Roy Jenkins returns from Brussels in 1981, but is unable to get a new centre party off the ground and quietly joins the liberal party. The May 1982 election sees Labour return to office with a single figure majority and Callaghan back as PM, a second election in 1983 put labour back into office with a much more comfortable majority. Callaghan then retires as PM in 1985, handing over to John Smith.
 
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