Churchill dies LATE 1940

WI Churchill had a stroke, a heart attack or better got killed by a fluke bomb some time between Sept 15 1940 and the end of that year.

I do not think Eden would have got the Premiership.

How would Halifax have done?

Would a head of government NOT thinking he was a military genius have shortened the war and hastened the Nazi defeat.

Would the 1945 Labour landslide have been more pronounced?
 
In other words after he had steadied the ship after the Battle of France and the Worst of the Battle of Britain?

As far as I am concerned his greatest work and contribution to the war effort is done at this point and the war cabinet is robust enough to run the show without him.

Basically while I do respect his leadership over the years his amataur interference caused more problems than they solved.

Had the military had people in higher positions like Monty and ABC earlier in the war that were capable of turning around and giving Churchill a rocket and / or telling him to mind his own business (as it should have been in 1940) when he tried to interfere then things might very well have gone smoother.

However the loss of his leadership in international relations on balance would be keenly felt.
 
I do not think Eden would have got the Premiership.

How would Halifax have done?

Why would Eden not get the Premiership?

Halifax had effectively lost the argument on the war and with it his reputation inside cabinet. To the British public appointing Halifax would seem like a backward move, irrespective of his supporters inside the Conservative party.
 
Why would Eden not get the Premiership?

Halifax had effectively lost the argument on the war and with it his reputation inside cabinet. To the British public appointing Halifax would seem like a backward move, irrespective of his supporters inside the Conservative party.

The Tories had a HUGE majority in Parliament. I think it would be too soon for Eden. At 43 he would I think have been the youngest Prime Minister since Pitt
 
Why would Eden not get the Premiership?

Halifax had effectively lost the argument on the war and with it his reputation inside cabinet. To the British public appointing Halifax would seem like a backward move, irrespective of his supporters inside the Conservative party.

Agreed on Halifax. The obvious choices would be John Anderson (a proper non-partisan unifying figure who also happens to be a household name) and maybe Duff Cooper. Beaverbrook was out of Parliament and Kingsley Wood was far better suited to the Treasury, leaving very little choice inside of the Conservative Party.
 
The Tories had a HUGE majority in Parliament. I think it would be too soon for Eden. At 43 he would I think have been the youngest Prime Minister since Pitt

It was a National Government. If the Tories tried to railroad (another) unpopular choice of leader through the Labour and Liberals there would be significant political fall-out.

Everyone knew Halifax had been against a fight to the bitter end - Churchill's legacy, even in 1940, makes anyone who had advocated a peace settlement unelectable.

It would be soon for Eden but remember he was minister for war and had been foreign secretary. The other possible candidates were all relatively inexperienced in high office.
 

Driftless

Donor
Another point to consider: Churchill & Roosevelt had a close working relationship that would be hard to duplicate. Who was best equipped to fill that critical void?
 
David Lloyd George as a figurehead? However it would be whoever the Conservatives chose as long as he could keep Labour's support. He would have had to have been for rearmament and against appeasement which although it makes it early for Eden does seem to make him the first choice. Age wasn't a problem for Pitt the younger!
 
It was a National Government. If the Tories tried to railroad (another) unpopular choice of leader through the Labour and Liberals there would be significant political fall-out.

Everyone knew Halifax had been against a fight to the bitter end - Churchill's legacy, even in 1940, makes anyone who had advocated a peace settlement unelectable.

It would be soon for Eden but remember he was minister for war and had been foreign secretary. The other possible candidates were all relatively inexperienced in high office.

But the majority of the MPs were still Tories? The Liberals and Labour might complain, but the Tories still should have the numbers to pass anything...
 
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