That debate was on an adjournment motion for the Whitsun recess: "That this House do now adjourn". A vote at the end of an adjournment debate was highly unusual.
The Executive of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) met at 10.30 a.m. on 8 May to decide whether or not to divide the House at the end of the debate. Attlee, Morrison and Lees-Smith supported a division; Dalton, Pethick-Lawrence, Wedgwood Benn and Tom Williams were opposed. Dalton argued that a vote at that stage was likely to consolidate the government majority. Eventually it was decided that there should be a division.
What if the PLP executive decided that there should not be a division? Presumably Chamberlain would not have resigned on 9 May. How long could he have continued as Prime Minister after the German invasion of Belgium, Holland and France on 10 May? What if Churchill and perhaps Eden persuaded Labour and the Liberals to join a coalition government headed by Chamberlain? Assuming that Chamberlain continues as Prime Minister until late September 1940 when he resigns because of the bowel cancer which killed him, would Churchill then become Prime Minister? In
OTL Chamberlain resigned from the government as Lord President of the Council on 22 September.
In this scenario what would be the reputation of Chamberlain as a war time Prime Minister, and what would be the reputation of Churchill without the great wartime speeches he delivered between May and September 1940?
The Executive of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) met at 10.30 a.m. on 8 May to decide whether or not to divide the House at the end of the debate. Attlee, Morrison and Lees-Smith supported a division; Dalton, Pethick-Lawrence, Wedgwood Benn and Tom Williams were opposed. Dalton argued that a vote at that stage was likely to consolidate the government majority. Eventually it was decided that there should be a division.
What if the PLP executive decided that there should not be a division? Presumably Chamberlain would not have resigned on 9 May. How long could he have continued as Prime Minister after the German invasion of Belgium, Holland and France on 10 May? What if Churchill and perhaps Eden persuaded Labour and the Liberals to join a coalition government headed by Chamberlain? Assuming that Chamberlain continues as Prime Minister until late September 1940 when he resigns because of the bowel cancer which killed him, would Churchill then become Prime Minister? In
OTL Chamberlain resigned from the government as Lord President of the Council on 22 September.
In this scenario what would be the reputation of Chamberlain as a war time Prime Minister, and what would be the reputation of Churchill without the great wartime speeches he delivered between May and September 1940?