WI: Maudling in '64?

With regards to Maudling's appeal to the 'old right', I wonder if it has something to do with him appearing more 'clubbable' and congenial than Heath? Heath very much marketted himself as a thrusting moderniser and I wonder if many of the more right wing MPs found Maudling's laid-back style more appealing.

Oh yes, that was certainly part of it. My point was that on a cursory examination of Maudling politically, it's difficult to see precisely why he attracted that support - but if you go a bit deeper, you see his attitude to capital punishment, euroscepticism, etc. Maudling did have grounds for appeal to the right, but it's easy to overlook them today, where everyone pre-Thatcher is lumped in together as some sort of monolithic mass of opinion called One Nation. This is why I think Maudling could serve as something of a transitional figure in the development of the party.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Would Maudling call a snap election as Wilson did in '66, or will he just try to wait it out until '68?
 
Would Maudling call a snap election as Wilson did in '66, or will he just try to wait it out until '68?

I think that would depend on the state of the economy, if it was doing OK then he might risk it. However having been in power for 15 years at this point I imagine Labour would campaign heavily on that hoping that people were now becoming tired of the same faces in Government.
 
Top