Wilson Quits in 1970

Alternative Timeline of Prime Ministers if Wilson resigned as Labour Leader after losing the 1970 Election

1970-1973 Edward Heath (Conservative 1

Heath's Premiership is full of turmoil from the start. Attempts to find a power sharing structure in Northern Ireland collapses when Ulster Workers Council triggers general strike and leads to Brian Faulkner being assasinated in 1972.

Government loses vote on EEC entry in 1973 after Enoch Powell leads rebellion and joins forces with Labour to defeat the move.

Heath calls an election and loses. However no party has enough seats to form a government on it's own
 
Who wins the greatest # of seats in the subsequent hung parliament? In OTL, the Liberals nixed Heath's coalition offer when he refused to pursue electoral reform. Is there still an energy crisis/oil shock in 1973-74?
 
Who wins the greatest # of seats in the subsequent hung parliament? In OTL, the Liberals nixed Heath's coalition offer when he refused to pursue electoral reform. Is there still an energy crisis/oil shock in 1973-74?

I'm being very careful here because the last time I tried something like this I made a complete hash of the seat numbers.

This time I'm playing it safe and simply transposing the February 1974 results back 1 year so:

ELECTION 1973 RESULTS

Conservatives 297
Labour 301
Liberal 14
Others 50

(info from wikipedia)

So based on that. Willie Whitelaw who is acting Tory Leader (Heath resigned 24 hours after the election) has the first crack at forming a government.

However Jim Callaghan who became Labour leader in 1971 seems to have a better relationship with the Liberals thanks to Roy Jenkins friendship with Jeremy Thorpe.
 
Thoughts...

Ok, a few thoughts. It's not a bad idea for a POD. One immediate problem is that Labour will have lost BOTH its Leader and Deputy Leader if Wilson steps down. George Brown was defeated in the election.

To be fair, I suspect Wilson would have been happy to go in the knowledge Brown would not succeed him.

So, who are the runners and riders for the leadership election? The big two are James Callaghan and Roy Jenkins and I'm certain both would have stood. Other possibilities are Michael Foot or Peter Shore from the Left and possibly one other.

As for the Deputy Leader election, Anthony Crossland and Edward Short look leading contenders but Denis Healey might have been tempted.

It's hard to think that Callaghan wouldn't have won in a straight fight with Jenkins though the leftward shift of the Labour Party might not have been so evident in 1970 as it would be later. The 1976 leadership election offers some evidence of this but an election with 288 MPs in 1970 might have been very different.

I can't see Foot winning in 1970 and nor can I see Jenkins doing so badly - Europe wasn't the issue in 1970 it would be six years later and Jenkins had lost a lot of support for his pro-European line.

I suspect, however, Jenkins wouldn't get much more than 100 votes leaving Callaghan with say 130 and Foot with 50. It's probable Foot's supporters would mostly back Callaghan so it looks like about 180-110 for Callaghan.

I suspect the Deputy Leadership election might be more interesting and I wouldn't be surprised if Healey prevailed.

Where does that leave us? I assume Callaghan would want Jenkins and Foot in his Shadow Cabinet and would also have Healey in a senior post so that means perhaps Jenkins as Shadow Foreign Secretary, Healey as Shadow Chancellor and Foot as Shadow Home Secretary so more support for groups like the Shrewsbury Two.
 
Thank You for your thoughts.

1970 was an almighty shock for Labour. They had won 2 elections in a row and certainly as the campaign started it seemed they would win 3 in a row.

Brown would have been a nightmare as leader IMO. His arrogance and alcoholism as well as his idiosyncracies (for want of a better word) would have reduced the party to a laughing stock.

Callaghan would have been seen as a safe pair of hands. His reputation had taken a battering over devolution in 1967 but his term as Home Secretary between '67 and'70 saw a restoring of his fortunes.

If he became leader in 70 or 71 his patrician nature would have acted as a great calming force. Plus his union background would have been beneficial in Labour/Union relations.

As regards deputy leader, a tricky situation. The left wing drift may not have been apparent in 70 but as we know in the OTL the left wing resistance to Europe was substantial.

I think a right/left "dream ticket" would have been best. Benn would have been the natural choice due to his stature in the Labour government of 64-70 (it's worth noting here that Foot was a backbencher until 74 in the OTL when he became Employment Secretary).
 
Benn wasn't a fully defined member of the Left in 1970, it was only over the next few years that he developed his ideas and became a key figure on the left of the party. OTL, Michael Foot fought the Deputy Leadership election against Roy Jenkins and lost. I suspect that either Denis Healey or Anthony Crosland would win comfortably.
 
Benn wasn't a fully defined member of the Left in 1970, it was only over the next few years that he developed his ideas and became a key figure on the left of the party. OTL, Michael Foot fought the Deputy Leadership election against Roy Jenkins and lost. I suspect that either Denis Healey or Anthony Crosland would win comfortably.

So a centre-right leadership with say Callaghan/Crosland at the helm (As I understand it Callaghan and Crosland were close friends).

Potentially a calming influence. Heath's performances at the dispatch box were by all accounts stuffy and pompous. Callaghan's responses could have a galavanising effect.
 
A Callaghan leadership..

The resignation of Jenkins as Labour Deputy Leader in 1972 was a pivotal event on his way out of Labour and to the SDP. It seems less likely this would happen under a Callaghan leadership.

In OTL, Jenkins and 90 Labour MPs voted with the Government and defied a Labour Whip on the bill to join the Common Market.

I'm less sure how Callaghan and Crossland would play this.
 
The resignation of Jenkins as Labour Deputy Leader in 1972 was a pivotal event on his way out of Labour and to the SDP. It seems less likely this would happen under a Callaghan leadership.

In OTL, Jenkins and 90 Labour MPs voted with the Government and defied a Labour Whip on the bill to join the Common Market.

I'm less sure how Callaghan and Crossland would play this.

In all honesty, neither would I. In the OTL Callaghan and Crosland were foreign secretaries. Callaghan was very Pro america and sadly Crosland died after 9 months in the job

I think a "c and c" leadership would make things calmer and more unified.
 
Alternative Timeline of Prime Ministers if Wilson resigned as Labour Leader after losing the 1970 Election

1970-1973 Edward Heath (Conservative 1

Heath's Premiership is full of turmoil from the start. Attempts to find a power sharing structure in Northern Ireland collapses when Ulster Workers Council triggers general strike and leads to Brian Faulkner being assasinated in 1972.

Government loses vote on EEC entry in 1973 after Enoch Powell leads rebellion and joins forces with Labour to defeat the move

Heath calls an election and loses. However no party has enough seats to form a government on it's own

1973 James Callaghan ( Labour Minority With Liberal support

Callaghan becomes PM with Liberal support after agreeing to create Scottish and Welsh Parliaments after referendum
 
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