WI: Denis Healey elected Labour leader in 1980

He defeats Michael Foot by about the same margin as Foot defeated him IOTL (about ten votes on the second ballot). What happens next? Does the Labour Left form it's own breakaway party? Would Healey have provided more effective opposition to Thatcher? What would have been the result of the next general election?
 
A much better result in 1983, the left successfully stopped, possible 1987 victory if not one in 1992.
 
I wonder about the possibility of Tony Benn consequently winning the Deputy leadership. Allegedly many people did not vote for Benn for the simple reason of fear of mass-defections to the SDP were the Labour Party to have two radical left-wingers in its leadership.
 
A party spilt, maybe 25-30 leave and make their own party, which by the early '90's have no seats left in the commons. The Labour is not as close to the unions and keeping nukes, making them more popular, but still not a enough to make them the goverment. So in the late '80's more seats and maybe goverment in the early '90's. That said, by then Healy would be too old to be PM.
 
I'm not sure things will be as Rosie as everyone thinks for the labour party in this scenario. Heeley will be taking on the leadership of a deeply divided party and it will be obvious to all. He'd be a more effective leader than Foot, but he'd probably be forced to take on more left-wingers for his cabenet, especially if Benn is his deputy (as I expect he will be).

Come 1983 Labour do marginally better than they did in OTL, ending up with the same number of seats as they did in 1987 IOTL.

Heeley being in charge means that the left haven't necesarily been discreddited as they did in OTL and if Heeley resigns after the 1983 election (which he probably will do), his Sdeputy will be pretty keen to get his hands on the leadership. Whether this happens or not is another question, but Benn would be seen by many as the next in line.

It's entirely possible that Benn doesn't become leader of course-and whoever ends up in charge of Labour would be able to patch things up in time for a possible win in 87 and probabal victory in 1992. But if Benn becomes leader in 1983, you've probably just delayed all the trouble Foot experienced in OTL-the SDP, longest suicide note etc.
 
I think that Healey would have to deal with the Trotskyite left for a long time and the eventual defeat in 1983, albeit a smaller one although the lack of the Alliance could also mean many Tory voters have nowhere else to go, means that Healey will be 'expected' to stand down while Tony Benn and the left of the party will be emboldened and play the "we must go further" line, thus delaying the OTL 1979-1983 period for Labour.
 
Yes, it's quite possible that a Healey leadership would actually have worked out worse for Labour as the left would have been on the offensive against him from the start. His leadership would have been decried as illegitimate as the conference would still have adopted the electoral college as a means for electing the leader.

Benn would have challenged Healey in 1981 for the leadership rather than the deputy leadership and as in the OTL the result would have been too close to call. Even if Healey saw off the challenge it would have been highly destabilising and Healey would likely have been a prisoner of the left for the remainder of his leadership.
 
Top