WI: Bigger Labour Victory in 1966 Election

RyanF

Banned
In 1966 for the second time in less than two years the UK went to the polls, the Labour Party under Prime Minister Harold Wilson wanted to increase their meagre 4 seat majority to something more workable. Unlike certain recent gambles of this sort it paid off for Wilson and Labour, and their majority shot up to 96 seats at the expense of the Conservatives under their new leader Edward Heath.

From this majority shaded map of the election though, there was still a lot more seats that could have been easily won by Labour on a small further swing to them. This would have seen Wilson with a triple figure majority like Clement Attlee won in 1945 or Tony Blair in 1997. For the Conservatives, it would have seen them pushed back in East Anglia, Lincolnshire, and the West Country - with their safest seats being in the rural parts of Northern England and Scotland.

1967-uk-legislative.png

How could Labour have done more successfully than they did OTL? As with every election since 1964 the Leader of the Opposition proposed televised debates that the Prime Minister declined, but on this occasion the debates would probably have served to help the Prime Minister rather than his opponent. Then, of course, is the small matter of Ted Heath falling out of a plane during the campaign...

What would the Labour government formed in 1966 have been able to do with an even larger majority than they won OTL? With so many MPs now from marginal seats in the South and Midlands might they be able to force through some version of In Place of Strife?

What of the Conservatives? Can Heath go on as leader? It would take just over a 4% swing for him to lose his seat of Bexley to Labour, and even if he hangs on there would the knives be out for him in the Party? With the parties strongest seats now north of the Tweed would an earlier and more committed Declaration of Perth come to pass?
 
For starters, with a larger Labour majority it becomes more difficult for the Conservatives to win in 1970 with all the seats that they have to take back, Heath or no Heath.
 
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