John Smith, 51st Prime Minister of Britain
- Thread starter Rillium
- Start date
12th May 1994.
A spokesman for the Leader of the Labour Party, John Smith, announces that he has miraculously survived a heart attack in the morning, and that he will take a short break to fully recover. Margaret Beckett shall serve as Acting Labour Leader.
19th November 1994.
Smith returns as Leader of the Opposition, welcomed back by many opposition politicians and some sympathetic Conservatives. A poll is released - it shows Smith’s approval rating has raised by around 7% since his heart attack. He is certainly the favourite to succeed Major.
1st May 1997
And the crowd goes wild! The results of the 1997 General Election:
Labour, 400
Conservative, 188
Liberal Democrat, 61
Others, the rest of the seats I’ll do maths later FOR GOODNESS SAKE IT’S FRIDAY
Smith approaches Downing Street with his wife. A heartfelt call from Major softens his victory speech, and instead of sneering at the Tories he focuses on the opportunities of a new Labour majority. His Cabinet is announced the next day.
A spokesman for the Leader of the Labour Party, John Smith, announces that he has miraculously survived a heart attack in the morning, and that he will take a short break to fully recover. Margaret Beckett shall serve as Acting Labour Leader.
19th November 1994.
Smith returns as Leader of the Opposition, welcomed back by many opposition politicians and some sympathetic Conservatives. A poll is released - it shows Smith’s approval rating has raised by around 7% since his heart attack. He is certainly the favourite to succeed Major.
1st May 1997
And the crowd goes wild! The results of the 1997 General Election:
Labour, 400
Conservative, 188
Liberal Democrat, 61
Others, the rest of the seats I’ll do maths later FOR GOODNESS SAKE IT’S FRIDAY
Smith approaches Downing Street with his wife. A heartfelt call from Major softens his victory speech, and instead of sneering at the Tories he focuses on the opportunities of a new Labour majority. His Cabinet is announced the next day.
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Yes 12th May. But his policies lived on. All of Blair's sucessful polocies were really Smith's. It was when he ran out of the Smith to do list that he began to have problems having litle programme of his own that tending to be a problem for rootless opportunists like Blair.
Coulsdon Eagle
Monthly Donor
I think a month off is far too short for the near-fatal cardiac arrest Smith would have suffered ITTL.
You also need to fill that huge gap from 1994 to 1997. Smith =/= Tony Blair - Labour will have some very different policies & strategies. You've already reduced the size of Labour's majority in 1997. Why did that happen. What was Smith's manifesto that produced a win (if not OTL landslide)?
You also need to fill that huge gap from 1994 to 1997. Smith =/= Tony Blair - Labour will have some very different policies & strategies. You've already reduced the size of Labour's majority in 1997. Why did that happen. What was Smith's manifesto that produced a win (if not OTL landslide)?
Actually I think the tories would have lost by even more under Smith. The Lib Dems would be closer to him and more tactial votes
How? It should be remembered that Blair was the one who started to develop a closer relationship with Ashdown, coordinated attack lines with him, and even pulled out resources out of Tory-Lib Dem marginals where Labour was not a threat. That, and the fact that those Tories flirting with voting Lib Dem would probably be mildly more wary of a more left wing Smith government than a Blair one, would probably mean the Lib Dems do not benefit from as many tactical votes in this scenario, and possibly do worse as a result.
Smith’s cabinet is announced the following day. Brown gets the Treasury, Blair gets Home, Cook gets the FO, Beckett gets First Secretary and the Commons. Harman gets Health but there’s a feeling that she might also have an invisible deputy-like role - she is known for being a favourite of Smith. Prescott gets the new office of Environment Secretary, and the young Jack Straw gets Minister for Housing. Smith’s government begins its first day, a day of popularity with the British public, a long phone call between Smith and Bill Clinton, and, of course, the resignation of John Major as Conservative Leader.
Major will remain Acting Leader until a successor is chosen. Just a few days ago, it was certain that Michael Portillo would succeed him. But he had lost his seat. Ken Clarke was the major candidate, and got the support of several Eurosceptics and right-wingers. But the winner was young William Hague, an anti-EU campaigner who quickly bought the party to the right.
The first PMQs was a triumph for Smith. Witty and alert, he humiliated Hague over nine times and became known for attacking Clarke, Redwood and Hague in one sentence. Just a week after Smith taking office, his approval rating were at 81% compared to Hague’s 22%.
And then, of course the Lib Dems. Charles Kennedy, a political ally of Smith, was elected.
Major will remain Acting Leader until a successor is chosen. Just a few days ago, it was certain that Michael Portillo would succeed him. But he had lost his seat. Ken Clarke was the major candidate, and got the support of several Eurosceptics and right-wingers. But the winner was young William Hague, an anti-EU campaigner who quickly bought the party to the right.
The first PMQs was a triumph for Smith. Witty and alert, he humiliated Hague over nine times and became known for attacking Clarke, Redwood and Hague in one sentence. Just a week after Smith taking office, his approval rating were at 81% compared to Hague’s 22%.
And then, of course the Lib Dems. Charles Kennedy, a political ally of Smith, was elected.
Well, that's just plainly false, Smith would never have introduced tuition fees or left the 40p tax rate.
1997 was a generally good year for the Smith administration. Leading in approval roles and 400 of 400 Labour MPs supporting Smith, the economy went smoothly, as did foreign policy. Greater ties with Europe emerged, and domestically Britain was faring well. But a small group of around 15 MPs were very slowly beginning to become a problem. Their de-facto leader was Jeremy Corbyn, a hard left-winger, along with Diane Abbot and John McDonnell. Ken Livingstone was also a member. Known as Red Labour, they were sure to be a problem when Smith stepped down. Finally, in 1998, something major happened. Smith bought to the table what was possibly the most exciting bill for his party in 50 years - the British Constitution Act.
The British Constitution is something promised in Smith's manifesto - laying out a clear justice, social and political system for the UK. However, to the displease of Red Labour, it does not replace the monarchy with an elected head of state. It's most notable points include introducing proportional representation and establishing parliaments for Scotland and Wales. However, it resulted in the resignation of Beckett and her replacement as Commons Leader by Mo Mowlam First Secretary went to Prescott. It was officially passed on the 3rd April 1998.
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"However, it resulted in the resignation of Beckett and her replacement as Commons Leader by Mo Mallachan." -Mo Mowlem surely?
Hmm, what happens then to the Good Friday Agreement?
Hmm, what happens then to the Good Friday Agreement?
The polls around the time of Smith's death had the Lib Dems higher (as in, over 20%), but that was likely an effect of the Christchurch and Newbury by-elections that had occurred the previous year.
I think more research is probably needed on this. The Socialist Campaign Group were never much of a problem back in the Blair years, simply because they were so few in number. With Smith winning a similar majority ITTL, there isnt any reason why they would be more of a problem. If anything, they would be more amenable to his Premiership than Blair's, as Smith had always enjoyed good relations with Labour left MPs-to the point that many of them voted for him over a more left wing candidate in 1992.
There has been a tendency since 2015 to retroactively make Corbyn into a far more relevant figure than he actually was prior to becoming leader. He was really just a random backbencher with little to no profile, even in the Westminster bubble. If you made a list of the top hard left MPs in this period, he wouldn't even make it into the top 5.
Tony Benn was still around in the 1997-2001 period, and he'd be regarded as the leader of the Labour left at this time. After that, McDonnell was probably the closest thing to a successor, and Meacher and Abbott also made runs at the leadership. It was only after all of those people had tried and failed to run that Corbyn actually put his hat into the ring in 2015-largely because it was seen as being his 'turn' rather than because he harboured any ambition to actually become leader.
You're right on the 40p tax rate, but it should be remembered that tuition fees had fairly broad support among centre-left politicians at this time, on the grounds that free university tuition was a subsidy to a disproportionately wealthier part of the population that could be better spent elsewhere. If people like Blunkett supported them for that reason, then there is a good case to say Smith would do too.
Hmm I don't think I and most other people would describe those egs as successful policies would you name one successful policy Blair came up with