The 2007 Lib-Dem leadership election was a close one,between Nick Clegg and more well known Chris Huhne,what if Huhne had won it? Would there be 'Huhnemania'? Would a coalition happen? What happens when the scandal involving his wife comes out? Would Cleggers get a place in the Shadow Cabinet? How would UK politics 2007- onwards be different with Chris Huhne leader of the LibDems?
WI:Huhne in 2007
- Thread starter Gorrister
- Start date
Huhne actually won OTL. He got more votes, but the heavy snow delayed Royal Mail in delivering all of them by the deadline.
If the sun had come out some more, or a truck or two had had a slightly more determined driver, Huhne would've become leader.
As for the debates, he would likely position himself as even closer to Gordon than Nick did, while still trying to play the 'we are not the other two' card. He's less good of a speaker than Clegg though, so the media would struggle to create Huhnemania - remember IOTL Cleggmania never really existed. It was generated by a media bored of the existing narrative. The GE vote percentages being exactly the same as the polling average the day the election was called is proof enough of that.
Anyway, if Pryce still comes forward then yes, he's still toast. Clegg would probably take over, having been Lib Dem home affairs spokesman. As for coalition - who knows? He'd definitely be unhappy with the Tories, more so than Clegg. I think we might even see a palace coup if he tried to avoid any coalition, assuming a rainbow coalition is still impossible. Of course, paradoxically, without him having been the a Great White Hope that Clegg was in the debates, the sense of betrayal would be less among the general public if he did go in with Dave. It would, however, be arguably higher among left wing voters if he'd painted the Lib Dems as even more 'Charlie Kennedy is still in charge' than Clegg did.