Willie.

February 9th 1975 was a big day in the history of the Conservative Party. Willie Whitelaw stood outside Parliament flanked by both Geoffrey Howe and James Prior. Both had agreed not to stand for the leadership of the party and put their backing behind the candidacy of Whitelaw.

Whitelaw looked up at the throngs of the assembled media and began to speak.

“We are living through times of strife. We need a Government which will unite the people and move the nation forward. We need to end the years of drift which have been accumulating since before the last Great War.

This cannot be achieved overnight, but this can be achieved if we unite. As a nation we must move forward.

The time is now.”

The impact was strong. Whitelaw had managed to persuade two of the leading candidates not to stand in the leadership election and throw their lot in behind him. As such he was positioning himself as the unity candidate.

The Thatcher campaign which was ably led by Airey Neave, were thrown by the move. For the first time since Thatcher had surprisingly defeated Heath in the first round, it seemed she may lose the leadership election.

It was in this scenario those two days later the second round of the Conservative leadership election took place. The impact was to lead to a third round.

Result, Second Round, Conservative Leadership Election, 11th February 1975.

William Whitelaw. 136 Votes. 49.7%
Margaret Thatcher. 132 Votes. 48.1%
John Peyton 6 Votes. 2.2 %

This was to lead to the third round a week later which would be a straight run-off between Whitelaw and Thatcher. Fears abound that whoever won now, the party would be split. Secretly, Whitelaw and Thatcher met on Valentines Day.

They reached a deal. Margaret Thatcher would withdraw from the race to be leader, but would become Shadow Chancellor and then Chancellor of the Exchequer once the Conservatives won the next general election with more power than any Chancellor in history.

In return for standing aside, Whitelaw agreed to stand aside after one term. Nothing was put to paper, and it was in secret the deal was made, but a deal there was. Margaret Thatcher withdrew from the Conservative leadership contest.

Willie Whitelaw became leader of the Opposition.
 
1975

February also saw the worst tube disaster ever at Moorgate station, when a Tube train and forty-two of his passengers died.

The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition visited the scene of the horrific tube disaster at Moorgate Station the following day. The causes to this day remain a mystery and they dominated the headlines.

The Prime Minister, Mr. Wilson promised a full enquiry into the incident claiming that the relatives deserve to know, if possible why the deaths happened and to ensure that they would not reoccur again.
Mr. Whitelaw backed the Prime Minister in his move to set up a public enquiry over the incident, and demanded that if anyone should be found culpable then they should be punished.

The nation was mourning. Forty-three souls were lost in the incident.
13th March saw controversy when the former chief of the KGB, Mr. Alexander Shelepin was granted a visa to visit Britain as part of a delegation of Soviet Trade Unionists.

In Prime Ministers Questions earlier today, Harold Wilson was subjected to cries of disapproval from the Conservative benches. Willie Whitelaw branded the move as ‘an absolute disgrace that someone who has in the past been in charge of espionage aimed at our country should be allowed in’. The Prime Minister Harold Wilson declared that the event was a non-issue, stirred up by the opposition for narrow political ends. In addition to this, he accused Whitelaw of opportunism. Whitelaw replied with a question on how long the KGB had a union.

Wilson, in a rather affable manner managed to turn the issue, pointing out that regardless whether or not the opposition wanted an end to trade unionism and international co-operation between the unions, it was a fact. It was commonly believed that Whitelaw had scored a political point against the Government here in attempting to portray them as soft on the Soviets.

On 19th March The Prime Minister announced that it was in the interests of the people of the United Kingdom to remain within the Common Market and that the Government will be campaigning for a yes vote. The issue has split the Government with such heavyweights as Tony Benn, Peter Shore and Barbara Castle openly backing the no campaign.

In backing the yes vote, the Prime Minister has found allies in the Conservatives and the Liberals who have declared that a cross-party coalition should carry the day over the issue. To up the stakes further, Wilson has indicated he would resign should a no vote occur.

The atmosphere was building up to the one day Labour Conference on 26th April where it has been announced that Labour will hold a debate and vote on the issue. There have been reports that the leadership fear defeat in the motion.

On 15th April Dennis Healey announced his new budget in which taxation has been increased by £1,251 million. He stated that the international conditions forced him into the move, but that it was a necessity to maintain an even footing for Britain in turbulent times.

The Shadow Chancellor, Margaret Thatcher claimed that the Government was continuing their ‘tired old ways in taxing the nation to death’. During a lively debate over the budget, it was passed the Commons with a majority of two.

On the 23rd April the Foreign Secretary, Jim Callaghan closed the British Embassy in Saigon as the North Vietnamese are on the brink of overrunning the city. The issue was met with a muted response from the shadow Foreign Secretary, Geoffrey Howe. The matter was a fait acompli.

At a one day conference, the Labour Party voted to leave the EEC by a margin of 2:1. The vote had continued the impression that the Government are split over the issue. Campaigners on the no side of the campaign, such as Michael Foot and Tony Benn have claimed that they now have the party behind them on the issue. Wilson remained calm in that he had gained nearly two million votes. Shirley Williams openly stated it was not as bad as she thought it might have been.

Despite the conference resolution, the Government carried on the same course. The Conservatives openly claimed that the Government were as divided over Europe as the Liberals had been over Ireland early in the century. Their cause was not helped by Enoch Powell, who was travelling the country promoting the no campaign. The essential truth was the nation was divided over Europe.

Over the space of two days, momentous news broke to the nation. On 5th June, Nasser re-opened the Suez Canal to shipping and the next day Britain voted by a large margin to remain in the Common Market. Despite a strong no campaign, in which the unemployment rate was blamed on membership of the EEC, the trade argument by the yes campaign proved stronger. The result was decisive. Yes 72% No 28%.

Wilson came out of the campaign with the result he wanted but his party divided. Figures from Castle to Benn were adamant that the Government had gone in the wrong direction and were clear in saying so.

Whitelaw on the other hand had come out of the campaign rather well. He had achieved his goal of maintaining British membership of the EEC, managed to keep his backbenchers under control in an almost superhuman effort and solidified his control over the party. The Opinion polls were starting to turn away from Harold Wilson.

The summer was a mixed one for Labour, British Leyland, on the verge of insolvency was taken over by the Government in what was considered a temporary nationalisation. The Conservatives opposed the move as they viewed it as throwing good money after bad. The Employment Secretary, Michael Foot stated that it was the Governments intention to reinvigorate the company and help sustain British industry.

Over two hundred thousand jobs were saved. The workers of British Leyland went home in the knowledge that their future was now secure. This was countered against the Shadow Chancellor who in an appearance on BBC Any Questions railed with anger about the nationalisation. David Jacobs asked her if she was not concerned about saving the jobs. She replied that it was not the responsibility of the British Government to employ British citizens. It was the responsibility of the Government to create circumstances in which British citizens were employed. This went down poorly.

Pointedly, the next day when journalists attempted to reach Whitelaw about the comments, he was unavailable although stating he backed the creation of a strong British economy.

The end of August saw attentions turn, however to the London Hilton Hotel in Park Lane. A PIRA bomb exploded killing sixty-three people. The Northern Ireland Secretary Merlyn Rees announced that the bombing was a terrible atrocity which must never be repeated. The Shadow, Airey Neave echoed his comments. Wilson stated that aggression would never defeat democracy. Fears of further bombings increased throughout the mainland.

Tony Benn was present on 3rd November 1975 as North Sea Oil started production. It was estimated that this could be the saviour of the ailing British economy. It was estimated that billions could be added to the economy within a decade due to the oil. It was seen as the saviour of Britain.
 

MrHola

Banned
I have to admit, I got the wrong idea when I read the title. :D Yeah, you probably saw that one coming. Anyways, I'm curious on what happens next. A Britain with no Prime Minister Thatcher seems interesting.
 
Nice what if, but I'm more than a little sceptical that Howe and Prior pulling out would have won it for Whitelaw.

For starters, Howe was well on the right of the party, (there's a reason Thatcher made him Shadow Chancellor, and later Chancellor, and it sure as hell wasn't because he was an arch-wet - he masterminded Thatcherite austerity) despite his later personal disagreements with Mrs T, so his supporters would be as likely to go en-bloc to Thatcher as they would to Whitelaw. I can't see him endorsing Whitelaw initially.

Also, you have Thatcher actually losing some support to Whitelaw here. Mmm. I can maybe buy that in a stampede situation, but the impetus would still be with Thatcher if she successfully ousted Heath.

A better POD, IMO, would be to somehow have Heath retire after October '74, which would almost certainly have allowed Willie to take over seemlessly.
 
Last edited:
Nice what if, but I'm more than a little sceptical that Howe and Prior pulling out would have won it for Whitelaw.

For starters, Howe was well on the right of the party, (there's a reason Thatcher made him Shadow Chancellor, and later Chancellor, and it sure as hell wasn't because he was an arch-wet - he masterminded Thatcherite austerity) despite his later personal disagreements with Mrs T, so his supporters would be as likely to go en-bloc to Thatcher as they would to Whitelaw. I can't see him endorsing Whitelaw initially.

Also, you have Thatcher actually losing some support to Whitelaw here. Mmm. I can maybe buy that in a stampede situation, but the impetus would still be with Thatcher if she successfully ousted Heath.

A better POD, IMO, would be to somehow have Heath retire after October '74, which would almost certainly have allowed Willie to take over seemlessly.

Howe and Prior never stood Ittl. The reason for this was they were promised the FCO and the Home Office respectively. One of the ideas behind this timeline was a deal between Whitelaw and Thatcher over the leadership.

I agree Thatcher would have had a bit of momentum, but the stampede motion actually carries here. Whitelaw gains from the right due to Howe backing him, and due to the fact he supported Heath in the first round, he would carry the support of the left also. Been seen as the unifying candidate has its advantages you know.

Remembering though that the ballot was on a knifedge, and could go either way, he may have lost the third round which is one of the reasons for him agreeing to the deal.
 
Been seen as the unifying candidate has its advantages you know.

I agree - I'm just not sure I see any reason to conclude that Whitelaw would recieve nearly fifty votes more than he did historically simply through the act of Howe and Prior endorsing him. If Thatcher destroyed Heath in the first round as per OTL, the momentum would still be very much with her and I'm not sure I can see Willie being able to halt it, even with wider backing.

Thatcher's margin over Willie was nearly sixty votes in OTL. That is an awful lot of ground to cover. Even assuming all of Prior's and half of Howe's supporters vote for Willie, that's still only, what, about 27 votes or so? And that's with the other half of the Howe supporters probably pushing her past 150.
 
Last edited:
I agree - I'm just not sure I see any reason to conclude that Whitelaw would recieve nearly fifty votes more than he did historically simply through the act of Howe and Prior endorsing him. If Thatcher destroyed Heath in the first round as per OTL, the momentum would still be very much with her and I'm not sure I can see Willie being able to halt it, even with wider backing.

Thatcher's margin over Willie was nearly sixty votes in OTL. That is an awful lot of ground to cover. Even assuming all of Prior's and half of Howe's supporters vote for Willie, that's still only, what, about 27 votes or so? And that's with the other half of the Howe supporters probably pushing her past 150.

I dunno. Perhaps your right.

I'll see what I can do and alter the pod.
 
You know, the most simple thing would be to 'go nuclear' and kill Heath off sometime in late '74. (Some kind of yachting accident? Didn't one of his boats sink around about this time?)

That would easily allow Whitelaw to take over. To the point where he wouldn't even have to make many compromises with the right, and if Keith Joseph doesn't say something daft, then he would very likely take over the leadership of the right in the party rather than Thatcher. That would be interesting.
 
Top