Gaitksell lives longer

MrHola

Banned
Hugh Gaitskell is sometimes called “the best Prime Minister Britain never had. Many considered that he had great capacity for the job. He died in a strange way: some kind of bacterial infection killed him. What if Gaitskell lived longer? Let’s say he dies in 1968 instead of 1963. I assume Labour still wins the 1964 general elections, probably with a larger margin then in OTL. Who will succeed Gaitskell as leader of the Labour Party after he dies? Harold Wilson? Gaitskell was an eurosceptic (he once regarded the EEC as "the end of a thousand years of history") so what effects will this have on Europe?
 
Whoever said Gaitskell was the best Prime Minister we never had was smoking something funny at the time.

Assuming things still go broadly the same economically, then Wilson as Chancellor would be very much damaged goods by '68. Callaghan eight years earlier than OTL is a possiblity. But that's assuming things stay relatively similar to OTL, and that's a big 'if'.

Gaitskell had infuriated the left over Clause 4 and Nukes, to the extent that he was challenged for the leadership twice, so he might have further trouble with them, which could potentially be election-wrecking. Considering how close the '64 election was, (and probably still will be here) it would only take small shifts to effect the outcome negatively.
 
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MrHola

Banned
How would Callaghan's tenure look like? Would he defeat the Tories in 1970? How would Gaitskell handle the Rhodesian UDI in 1965?
 
Don't know enough to speculate a whole deal here, but I think given reasonably favourable circumstances, Callaghan would have walked all over Ted Heath - he would probably have avoided Wilson's mistakes over 'Strife' too.
 

maverick

Banned
I used him as PM in a TL once, didn't work well...

As I see it, he would have divided the party between his Gaitskellites, which is to say the center-right, and the left...most prominently Tony Benn and Foot I think...

Anyhow, He'd have to juggle with the left and the right between 1964 and 1970, depending on when does he call for an election, probably not in 66 but in 69...
 
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