WI Michael Howard remains as Tory leader through 2010

What if Michael Howard did not stand down as leader of the Conservative Party in 2005, but stayed on and fought the 2010 election.

His reason for stepping down was his age. He was 69 in 2010, so he could have fought at least one more election if he wasn't kicked out. The Conservative performance was creditable enough given the circumstances for him not to be kicked out; both Heath and Kinnock survived after defeats their first time out that were as bad.
 
Howard would have lost again, either in a 2007 snap election or in 2010. The Tory performance in 2005 was actually pretty poor, they were stuck in the low 30s vote-wise, and after 3 elections still had less seats than Labour did in 1983. And Howard was a polarizing figure, so it would be hard for him to broaden the party's appeal. It would be almost impossible for him to win a majority barring a landslide of 1997-style proportions.

However, if Howard wanted to, he could probably have clung on, defeating a David Davis challenge. However from there he would fail to broaden the party's appeal, though simply due to the LibDems not doing too well in that period he might go up in the polls. However Labour remains slightly ahead, despite its problems people still like it more than the tories. Brown probably calls a 2007 snap election and still in his honeymoon bounce wins a big majority, if not Howard gets a hung parliament in 2010. However he is anathema to the LibDems, and they form a coalition with Labour.
 

Minty_Fresh

Banned
Howard's failure to accomplish more in 2005 against a very weak government was the last straw. The fact that Charles Kennedy was being seen as the true opposition was a reflection of Howard's inability to really challenge the government, and inability to realize that the Tory brand needed a desperate facelift.

It doesn't have to be Cameron who replaces Howard, but Howard cannot stick around after 2005.
 
I think undoubtedly you would see Brown calling that election in 2007 - what scared him off was David Cameron, who back then was a fresh faced upstart. If it's Howard, many people in Labour will see an easy target.

Howard was absolutely divisive though. It's not exactly to his credit that the Conservatives did quasi-well vote share wise in 2005.
 
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