PM Gordon Brown, 10 years earlier

WI Tony Blair and Gordon Brown had not made their secret Granita deal and Brown had run in and won first the Labour leadership election and then the next British general election?
 
I think the prevailing view is that Blair would have easily beaten Brown in a straight fight. Had Brown won somehow then Labour still wins in 1997 given the shambolic state of the Tories but it probably wouldn't have been the crushing landslide that Blair achieved, Blair becomes the heir apparent who takes over as Leader when Brown either stands down or is forced out for some reason. An earlier Brown Premiership would probably have been as dysfunctional as OTL's but in a more benign economic and political climate he probably would have got away with it for a lot longer. The interesting question would be what sort of relationship Brown would have had with Bush and whether Britain would have taken part in the Iraq War.

To digress for a moment, Brown's first attempt to run for Westminster was when he contested the Tory marginal of Edinburgh South in 1979 only to narrowly lose to Michael Ancram. But IIRC the previous year he was offered the chance to contest a by-election in the safe Labour seat of Hamilton but declined. Therefore he didn't reach Westminster until 1983 at the same time as Blair, the two famously sharing the same office. Apparently Brown has always blamed this decision on Blair getting ahead of him in Labour's pecking order, had he been elected in 1978 he would probably have been in the Shadow Cabinet long before Blair and could have been seen as a Leader in Waiting. A lot of this may be wishful thinking but it's an interesting potential POD!
 

sharlin

Banned
Brown was as charasmatic as a house brick. A grey one, on a grey background, and the british public places a lot on that.
 
The same British public that had just elected John Major?

It's an interesting statistic that since WW2 no bald man has been elected Prime Minister unless his opponent was likewise bald. Neil Kinnock was bald, John Major wasn't. Why this is I couldn't say
 
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Brown would have lost in 1994, which he knew and is why he struck the deal. The best way to get him in as leader early is to kill off John Smith before 1992. Brown then defeats Bryan Gould for the leadership after 1992. (Though not as massively as Smith did)

I like Brown more than Blair. Do you think he would go off on the Iraqi adventure with America?

Yes. Brown is more inherently pro-American than Blair is.
 
Considered it, but I really don't know anything about what Attlee was like and I can see how British voters may have found Churchill the opposite of charismatic.

Churchill described Atlee as being a modest man with much to be modest about, which was a touch harsh of him. Atlee was Deputy PM for five years, which gave him a lot of experience in the machinery of government.
As for Churchill's defeat, it wasn't about him, it was more to do with the fact that he led the Tories, who were still being blamed for the Depression, Appeasement, the War, the death of Bambi's mother, and so on.
 
As for Churchill's defeat, it wasn't about him, it was more to do with the fact that he led the Tories, who were still being blamed for the Depression, Appeasement, the War, the death of Bambi's mother, and so on.

I didn't say it was, I said that the 1945 general election wasn't necessarily a case of bland defeating charismatic because I don't think Churchill was all that charismatic.
 
In 1993 the tories lost control of Surrey County Council- the very definition of consrvatism.

There is no risk whatever of the tories winning in the eleciton of 97
 
I prefer Gordon over Dave, Tony and Nick any day. :D However, I think had Gordon been PM in place of Blair, maybe he'd have been as successful, it wasn't until the economic downturn that people really started to hate him. Plus, considering he was disliked so greatly, he didn't lead Labour to complete defeat last year.
 

Sior

Banned
Unfortunately the British public get the politicians and government they deserve, gutless, clueless, greedy, two faced, back stabbing, self-interested idiots.
 
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