Heath Governs Britain

And what about Wilson or indeed Sunny Jim Callaghan? Unburied bodies, hospital turning away patients and the country needing to be bailed out by the IMF are not traditionally seen as signs of being a stunning Prime Minister.

Suppose JC called an election in October 1978 when the polls suggested that Labour could have won?
 
I have been planning atimeline on this POD actually!!!

I'd be interested to read it!

In terms of who comes after Heath, I'm not so sure it would be Foot necesarily-though I could be wrong there. Love him or hate him, he's a fairly devisive figure and his election as Labour leader might force an SDP type split in the labour ranks. There are a lot of contenders for the labour leadership at this time and the in-fighting in the labour party won't be butterflied away (though as the opposition it will receive less attention).
 

Thande

Donor
Foot wins twice, due to his huge majority? Or the Daily Mails explanation of his euroscepticism being more popular? :p

Foot wins a big majority in '78 on the back of the Falklands, and a Major-in-'92 level one in '82. Three years into his term he then bails out and lets Benn ride the party into minority after a host of by-elections, and then Heseltine wins big in '87.
 

AndyC

Donor
Suppose JC called an election in October 1978 when the polls suggested that Labour could have won?

I'm not sure that the polls at any time pointed to a Labour majority. It's unlikely that Callaghan would have called an election aiming for a hung parliament - he'd have always held on hoping for better to turn up.
(Mori archive of published polls for the time is http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/poll.aspx?oItemId=2449&view=wide )

A better PoD would have been "what if the Unions had bit their lips in winter 1978?". If Callaghan could have pointed to a successful resolution of industrial disputes without seeming in hock to the unions, the big dip that happened after the Winter of Discontent could have been avoided.
 
A better PoD would have been "what if the Unions had bit their lips in winter 1978?". If Callaghan could have pointed to a successful resolution of industrial disputes without seeming in hock to the unions, the big dip that happened after the Winter of Discontent could have been avoided.
To have Unions act like that you'd need a fairly big change though. After all large strikes had been successful in the past few years, why on earth would they hold back in '78? What did Callaghan have to offer?

If Labour don't try and keep wage increases low then inflation comes roaring back and Callaghan knows he ends up back at the IMF begging for more money, so he can't promise big wage increase after the election (well he can, but he'd be lying through his teeth). Equally as the unions had seen off the last Tory Prime Minister, and there was nothing to indicate the next one would be any tougher, the threat 'what if the Tories got in' wasn't going to cut it.

I can't see a POD where the unions are more open to reason but the same politicians still end up in the same mess.
 
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