PC/WI: Stafford Cripps as the UK's post-war PM

I've got a particular scenario in mind and I want to here what people think of it. Let's say that the outbreak of WW2 is delayed long enough for the UK to have another general election, which the Tories win, and in the aftermath the left-wing of Labour Party manages to get Stafford Cripps elected as the party leader (assuming he wasn't expelled for advocating for a popular front). WW2 then breaks out and more or less follows the same path with the allies and soviets crushing fascism. In the post-war elections Labour wins with a landslide. As a result post-war Britain is lead by an even further-left socialist.

How plausible is this scenario, and what implications does this have for post-war British politics and geopolitics. Furthermore, if he was the leader of the Labour Party during the war-time coalition, would he still have been sent as ambassador to the Soviet Union, or sent on his mission to India?
 
Might be worth sticking your head in the PMQs thread over in Chat and posting a quick link, there are several people that could likely give you a decent answer.
 

shiftygiant

Gone Fishin'
Comisario did a TL based on something along these lines.

Best bet would for him to run instead of Attlee in 1935 and win over Morrison. Obviously there is an issue of him having been opposed to rearmament and infamously stating that "believe it would be a bad thing for the British working class if Germany defeated us", but with him in the drivers seat the Popular Front Goverment could be more tangible, though undoubtedly cause strife within his Party.
 
Comisario did a TL based on something along these lines.

I'll be doing another one on these lines at some point, with much more plausibility and a later/stronger POD.

Best bet would for him to run instead of Attlee in 1935 and win over Morrison.

Attlee and Cripps were close allies and it is often forgotten that Cripps was the man who funded Attlee throughout his time as Deputy Leader, as he was running low on funds and the position was not a paid one. Stafford Cripps came to his aid. For Attlee to be out of the running completely, allowing Cripps to run, Stafford would have had to deny him any financial help.

Obviously there is an issue of him having been opposed to rearmament and infamously stating that "believe it would be a bad thing for the British working class if Germany defeated us", but with him in the drivers seat the Popular Front Goverment could be more tangible, though undoubtedly cause strife within his Party.

The problem with Cripps is that the Labour Party and the country was turning away from disarmament and the only Cripps who could have won the leadership was the post-1936 Cripps (who, coincidentally, was also the one who was expelled because of the "popular front" policy he promoted).

Get him away from that particular policy, keep him within the Labour Party in the late '30s, and kill off Attlee during one of his bouts of illness in the same period: these are the steps towards a Crippsian Labour Party, however slim his chances actually are in a leadership contest prior to WW2.
 
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