I'm reading Born of Adversity which is a short history of the air industry in the UK and came across a mention of Clement Attlee almost being killed early on during WWII. Whilst flying over the Pentland Firth the de Havilland Dragon Rapide he was travelling on almost inadvertently flew over an Australian cruiser, flying directly over warships was against standing naval orders, so the pilot changed course. The cruiser however started flashing a signal at them with their signal light which aside from not understanding the pilot had no way of replying to without a signal light of his own, at which point the aircraft was surrounded by white bursts as the cruiser opened fire on them. The pilot apparently put the aircraft into a step dive and bank and was able to get away without suffering any damage.
But what if either he wasn't as quick to react or the Australian's gunnery is simply a bit better/luckier and the aircraft was shot down with all on-board being killed? Arthur Greenwood was the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party at the time and Minister Without Portfolio, but he doesn't seem to have made much of an impact considering the dearth of information on his from a few searches compared to some of the other major players. So does Greenwood become Leader temporarily before an election is held or perhaps stay on a while longer as a compromise candidate? Post-war would be interesting considering how the various players all seem to have detested each other whilst coveting the crown.