King Edward and Lord Halifax vs King George VI and PM Chamberlain?

Onlooker

Banned
How would the first two lead politics, if suppose King Edward refused to step down and named Lord Halifax as his PM, and how prepared would Britain be for WW2 as opposed for second pair?
 
Halifax wouldn't have served. Devoutly religious, he was a strong supporter of the view that the King should not marry a divorcee and keenly aware of opinion in the Dominions (which was hostile). You need a TL where Edward was respectably married and no Mrs Simpson (or at least no question of her being other than a mistress) and thus no question of him stepping down. Not much real difference, the King had little real political power by the 1930s and, as I have said before, Halifax was not some sort of cryptofascist collaborator -he actually shared much of Chamberlain's political vision. Doubt if he would have spent less on arms, possibly very slightly more.
 
The possibility to consider is - what would happen if Edward called Stanley Baldwin's bluff regarding the threat that, should he insist on marrying Wallis, the government would resign.

Edward had offered to enter a morganatic marriage, but the government had turned this offer down.

But if Baldwin caused the government to resign, then Edward would have had to offer government to Attlee several years earlier than he would have formed it. And given Attlee was anti-appeasement, the Phony War may never have escalated further. As such, Halifax would never have been in position to become PM.

Unless Baldwin had the government resign, Attlee refused to form one and Edward then had to force through a General Election which Chamberlain might win, leading to a subsequent Halifax/Churchill leadership challenge.
 
My understanding is that Attlee didn't really become anti-appeasement until 1938. Before that Labour had been advocating pacifism, so I query whether things would have been that different. Government isn't quite the same as being in opposition.

Also, query whether Attlee would be able to form a government given the seat discrepancy...
 
Exactly the point - Attlee pretty much wouldn't be able to form government, or would have to as a minority.

Perhaps facing the fact he would need to follow through on his threat of the government resigning and even internal disagreement within the party and Attlee being offered government by a rogue monarch, Baldwin looses a vote of confidence in his leadership and someone else becomes party leader, someone who vocally supported Edward and Wallis.

At this point the ball's back in the court of the Conservative Party to form a government. But which MP might have been able to come to power on the back of being an Eddie and Wallis fan?

Perhaps The King's Party, led by Churchill actually forms and attains power as an alternative?
 
Top