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I'm trying to work out how these would influence things. As a basic guide, I think these things would happen as compared to OTL.

1979: Late swing away from the Conservatives mean Margaret Thatcher becomes PM, but with a much smaller majority of perhaps 20 or 25 seats rather than 44 as OTL. James Callaghan often outperformed Thatcher in the Commons after all, and she, until becoming PM, was thought of as rather shrill and lightweight.

1983: Probably doesn't make much difference- Thatcher steamrollers her opposition, and is returned by a landslide.

1987: Neil Kinnock was a very gifted public speaker, and I can see him making a real impact in these debates, even if he could be arrogant at times. If Kinnock makes an impact here, I feel Thatcher could do considerably worse than IOTL, with a majority of around 40 or 50 rather than 101 as OTL.

1992: Here, perhaps, Major does rather better than Kinnock, as a humble, decent man against the "Welsh windbag". Early 90s Kinnock was, after all, something of a deflated and unpopular figure, so there's a chance here Major is able to hold onto a handful more seats than OTL, and thus spares himself some of the travails of OTL's 1990s.

1997: Probably not much changes- the young, messianic Tony Blair will easily beat a tired, and vilified John Major. Labour landslide victory as OTL.

2001: This could be a game changer, IOTL, William Hague was and is one of the best public speakers in British politics. If the televised debates go well, he could do very well in the following general election, substantially cutting Labour's majority. An outright removal of the Labour Party from office in 2001 is ASB, of course, but I can certainly envisage Hague making net gains of thirty or forty seats, rather than his miserable OTL total of one.

2005: As with 1983 and 1997, probably little changes. None of the party leaders, besides Blair, are particuarly telegenic, and Blair, by this stage, is loathed by both Right and Left. Michael Howard and Charles Kennedy are both unlikely to benefit from this though in any real way.

What do other AH.commers think of these scenarios?
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