WI: John McDonnell MP for Bow and Poplar (1987-)

In 1985, Ian Mikardo MP announced he was standing down for the coming election. His local party in Bow and Poplar needed to select a new candidate for the next election and, in their process of selection, had two likely names to choose from - John McDonnell (former Chair of Finance at the GLC) and Mildred Gordon (a former local councillor and member of the executive of the London Labour Party). Mildred Gordon was picked IOTL and went on to win in 1987.

What if John McDonnell had been selected and had arrived in Parliament a whole decade earlier than OTL?
 
Given the marginalisation of the hard left by the period in question, not a whole lot, I imagine. Any more than Corbyn or Livingstone's presence influenced anything much within the party.

Sometimes the correct answers are the dullest.
 
Not much, the one definite change that I can think of is that George Galloway eventually took that seat for Labour in 2005- which he presumably wouldnt do if someone with a similar ideology was already MP there. But that isnt all that significant, the most important thing that might come of that is that Galloway doesnt take a seat and Respect is marginalized even more than it was OTL, but the consequences wouldnt be all that major.

The other possible impact it could have might be on possible leadership contests, Livingstone tried to run in 1992, but couldnt gather the nominations. I don't know how close he got, but I doubt one more MP would have made a difference. More significantly, maybe his longer tenure would convince him to stand down in 2015 if he still has a heart attack. His absence prevents Corbyn from getting on the ballot, and today we have Burnham or Cooper as leader.
 
Not much, the one definite change that I can think of is that George Galloway eventually took that seat for Labour in 2005

It wasn't that seat exactly, it was a successor seat. Gordon was, as I recall, de-selected, or at least nominations were opened up by the local party.

Which I suppose leaves open the possibility that John McDonnell ends up as Just a Man by the mid-nineties, though I'm not sure why the local party got teed off with Gordon.
 
The thing with Mildred Gordon was that she was expected to run for a single term and then retire, but her feeling was to go on and on until 1997 came around and the local party felt a bit betrayed (also, her relative low status in the party left local activists feeling unrepresented - even when she nearly got a Shadow Cabinet post). That's why she finally gave up and let Jim Fitzpatrick in.
 
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