How Close Was Britain to going Radical Right in the Latter 20th Century?

I think V-J is probably right in that Powell was so inflexible a politician that he would be unable to make the compromises inherent in leading a successful and long-lived government. A Powell-led government is plausible but there's also a good chance that it's not going to end prettily, even if that end isn't an Army mutiny/General Strike combo.

It would be interesting to see a timeline with a Powellite/right wing Tory government in the late 60s to mid seventies, even if it wasn't led by Powell himself. This is pretty difficult as Powell more or less alone on the Conservative right had the kind of popular appeal that would make a right wing Tory Party electable, but I wouldn't have thought it impossible by any means. The only name that springs to mind immediately is Angus Maude. He may seem an unlikely leader from our timeline but the Tory Party has a habit of electing people who were completely unknown a few months before. Perhaps a job for EdT?;)

A military coup isn't exactly ASB but things would have to go very far wrong for one to occur. You'd have to see a government completely lose the ability to maintain public order and provide basic services, probably combined with loony leftist defence and foreign policies - but such a government would surely have been removed long before we reached such a stage. Far more likely would be a more run-of-the-mill political coup whereby moderate figures in the Labour Party, maybe with the assistance of the security services, remove Foot or Benn or whoever is in charge. In extremis one could even see the Queen using her reserve powers to form a government of national unity, but I doubt she would take this step unless, like her grandfather, she had a very strong political and popular consensus behind her.
 

archaeogeek

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Not likely IMO. There is a tendency among some people to assume that because probably a majority of the population were opposed to immigration at the time, that meant they were going to elect the NF or something. The thing is that even at the height of racial tensions, very few people consider immigration to be a sufficiently important issue to actually determine how they vote.

I would actually like to see a TL with a PM Enoch Powell that isn't solely concerned with 'how do we make this dystopic'. If Powell had actually been PM, I think his stance on immigration would not be the first thing people think of when reminiscing about his tenure afterwards.

Well, cumbria's ASB lovesong to fascists was not a dystopia, honest. So long as you were white, and christian, and straight... and willing to believe that an isolationist neo-fascist world pariah that was turning into airstrip one could somehow have a functional economy. Also that the people of Spain would vote for a second generalissimo (or Quebec for a second Duplessis for that matter)
 
If one wishes to see what a "Powell-like" Government would have been like, one need look no further than Rhodesia under Smith. The Rhodesian policies and attitudes read exactly like a Powell or even a Mosley style of government IMO.
 
Enoch Powell gained support for his "Rivers of Blood" speech and anti-immigrant sentiment was high during the 60's.

There's a BBC documentary (from Timewatch, I think) on Youtube about Powell, and in it Michael Heseltine says that Powell would've won a Tory leadership contest in the aftermath of Rivers of Blood.

If Hezza is talking hypothetically about such a race being fought under modern grassroots members voting rules, then okay, but if he's talking about Enoch winning the backing of a majority of Conservative MPs then that is some serious shit. (And even in the modern Tory electoral college the leadership candidates have to reach a parliamentary approved threshold to get to the final popular vote round.)

During the 1980's, when the Thatcher government was elected, many outlets of media presented a future evolution out of this into a dystopian British society.

Actually it's really the seventies when people in the UK had wild dystopian fantasies. Just Google the pro-coup exploits of Peter Wright (MI5 deputy head), Lord Mountbatten, Colonel David Stirling. And all these guys were involved in separate would-be gunpowder plots, not one single conspiracy.

This nonsense mostly ends under Thatcher (guess why), though there was some potential for reactionary vigilantism during the final great coal miners strike.
 
Powell could never be PM, mostly because he stuck to his guns even when those guns were firing custard pies. He refused to admit that he could be wrong, even when he was very wrong.
Which is odd, because he had a very clear methodical mind. My father once told me that whenever Powell would write articles for the Financial Times he used to groan because there was never anything in the article that was superfluous.
 
The question overall is how close was Britain, during that 1950's to maybe circa 1980's period of going Radical Right, and how much of a possibility was that.

As other posters have said, it's rather unlikely. However, if you want to do it, Powell is your man, and Northern Ireland is your wedge issue. "Gordon Banks" is the definitive TL in this regard, and is the reason why I've never tackled the topic myself, despite being quite keen to- why cover the same ground as such a fantastic piece of work?


I think V-J is probably right in that Powell was so inflexible a politician that he would be unable to make the compromises inherent in leading a successful and long-lived government. A Powell-led government is plausible but there's also a good chance that it's not going to end prettily, even if that end isn't an Army mutiny/General Strike combo.

Agreed- and to be fair to him, as V-J says Powell was rather aware of that himself. Your idea of him being a sort of Keith Joseph figure for somebody else is an interesting one though; not sure who- I think Maude is too cerebral. I'll have to have a dig through my Simon Heffer bio and have a think.



A military coup isn't exactly ASB but things would have to go very far wrong for one to occur. You'd have to see a government completely lose the ability to maintain public order and provide basic services, probably combined with loony leftist defence and foreign policies - but such a government would surely have been removed long before we reached such a stage. Far more likely would be a more run-of-the-mill political coup whereby moderate figures in the Labour Party, maybe with the assistance of the security services, remove Foot or Benn or whoever is in charge.

Agreed. Of course we have a fantastic TL already written on this- Chris Mullin's A Very British Coup, which is spot on as to what would happen. The book is better than the film in that regard.
 
I would actually like to see a TL with a PM Enoch Powell that isn't solely concerned with 'how do we make this dystopic'. If Powell had actually been PM, I think his stance on immigration would not be the first thing people think of when reminiscing about his tenure afterwards.

Thaxted by Sydney Webb does have a PM Powell, but its not a very serious TL in certain areas (it has John Cleese in the 'Bonzo's' - a replacement for the Beatles).
 
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