AHC: Tony Benn becomes leader of the Labour Party

Hunter W.

Banned
When Callaghan resigned in mid 1980 in a desperate attempt to elect Denis Healey to the helm, what if he instead left later after the implementation of the new leadership election rules?, or how could he become leader?
 
I could see him *eventually* becoming Leader if he had won the close Deputy Leadership contest in 1981 and if that in turn had led to such a massive exodus of moderates from the Labour Party that he could be elected Leader after the next election. (Of course there was an exodus of some moderates to the SDP in OTL but Benn's election as Deputy Leader might have made it much worse.) But Foot just had too much support on the Left for Benn to have much of a chance before then.
 
The best chance for a Benn leadership is to avoid the scenario of having him having to challenge a fellow left winger like Foot for it, whilst obviously having the electoral college in place, as he'd have no hope among just MPs.

That could mean Callaghan staying on, or more likely imo having Healey beat Foot for the leadership. Benn would challenge Healey for the leadership, rather than the Deputy Leadership, and would have a good chance of winning, given that he can't be charged with disrupting a left wing leadership as he could under Foot. Although, it's worth remembering that in this scenario the OTL SDP members will probably have stuck around and used their votes against Benn, making things a bit harder.
 
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Britain votes to leave the EEC in '75. Wilson quits as PM and Labour leader. Benn becomes the left's choice and with the right in disarray following the referendum loss Benn takes over (*)

(*) plenty of butterflies.
 
Britain votes to leave the EEC in '75. Wilson quits as PM and Labour leader. Benn becomes the left's choice and with the right in disarray following the referendum loss Benn takes over (*)

(*) plenty of butterflies.
It would take a lot more for MPs to elect Benn as leader. The left could only win the leadership under that system if it had a candidate willing to compromise with the more centrist elements of the PLP, hence why Foot or Shore would always be chosen ahead of him in such a scenario.
 
Another option is that Benn never has his 1970s conversion to the Left, and remains a technocratic moderate.
Or, maybe if Tony had been very "game on" about economic growth and middle class jobs -- this while you're also advocating fairness in distribution.

I'm a Yank. Don't know whether this two-fold combo is already a major thread in UK politics.
 
Or, maybe if Tony had been very "game on" about economic growth and middle class jobs -- this while you're also advocating fairness in distribution.

I'm a Yank. Don't know whether this two-fold combo is already a major thread in UK politics.
Economic growth is something that pretty much everybody is going to be at least nominally in favour of but I'm not so sure that talking about middle class jobs to crowds of miners and steelworkers is really going to go down all that well. Remember that Labour's natural constituency is unionised workers and this goes doubly for a candidate from the left - as Benn was from the beginning ( he didn't go to the far left until the 70's but he was always against the Gaitskellite right)
 
. . . not so sure that talking about middle class jobs to crowds of miners and steelworkers is really going to go down all that well. Remember that Labour's natural constituency is unionised workers . . .
I think of a unionized mining job as squarely middle class.

At least as compared to "service" jobs such as working for Walmart.
 
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