What if Labour had won in 1979?

[Phony Moderate]

Let's say that Thatcher had made some sort of a gaffe during the campaign, which tightened the polls, and Labour managed to win with a small majority.

I don't think that Callaghan would have stayed on for another 4 or 5 years. Would the SDP-Liberal Alliance have ever existed?

[k-onmmunist]

Depends. If the Labour left take control, then probably yes. Otherwise, no.

[You kip if you want to...]

Depending on how small the majority was, there'd probably be a hung parliament by 1981 due to by-election and defections and such. Tory landslide, probably on the scale of the actual '83 election, at the following election.

[k-onmmunist]

It was the SDP that really killed Labour's chances of winning in 1983

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Labour couldn't have won an election held under those circumstances; as it was, they did about as well as they could have hoped to. Now, if there had been an election in 1978 or if the government had hung on in early 1979, things might have been different. Obviously if Labour had hung onto power 'everything' would have been different to what actually happened. The great civil war(s) of the early 1980s would not have happened because the trigger event, the resignation in disgust of Callaghan, would not have happened.

[yougo1000]

Proably Brown, Clegg wouldn't be PM

[Hash]

Proably Brown, Clegg wouldn't be PM

Clegg was 12 in 1979, you idiot. Read Wikipedia.

[Peter the Lefty]

Well, this would be very difficult.  First off, we'd need a Liberal party that people who'd be tired of Labour but put off by Thatcher's radical agenda wouldn't be afraid to vote for.  So, let's say the Jeremy Thorpe affair never happened.  Let's also say, for example, that the TUC had called off the Winter of Discontent strikes a month or so before they did in OTL, therefore not hurting Labour's electoral prospects as badly.  

1979: James Callaghan's Labour Party defies the odds and wins the general election by an incredibly narrow margin, with 39% of the vote and 307 seats.  Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives win 38% of the vote and 295 seats.  David Steele's Liberal Party wins 19% and 16 seats.  Callaghan then takes the extraordinary step of inviting the Liberals into a coalition government.  Steele agrees, but on very tough conditions, due in part, many believe, to a perception that he didn't demand enough of the Labour minority government before the election.  He calls for a reduction in taxes for small and medium-sized businesses, a reduction in tariffs, and curbs on the power of trade unions, something which angers the Labour left.  Since Labour refuses his demand of PR for the House of Commons, he compromises and settles for a referendum on MMP, with 135 of the seats chosen through PR lists and the other 500 elected by FPTP.  The coalition is founded on these aims.  The referendum passes in spite of fierce opposition from the Conservatives.  
1981: After Callaghan's concessions to Steele on financial and economic deregulation seem to go too far, Tony Benn challenges him for the Labour leadership early in the year and, to the surprise of many, wins.  Immediately after Benn assumes the leadership, the Liberals pull out of the government, and an election is called.  Labour is unable to agree on a cohesive platform, and appears divided throughout the campaign.  Due to a mass exodus of moderate Labour voters to the Liberals, the Torries manage to win the election with a majority in spite of the new MMP system.  Margaret Thatcher becomes Prime Minister.  Thatcher pushes her agenda of deregulation, privatization, and spending cuts, and already appears likely to loose the next election.  
1982: The Falklands War results in a brief, though strong, jump in the Iron Lady's popularity.  Due to a major divide in the Labour party, a major split occurs in which virtually the entire Labour right leave to form the Social Democratic Party.  The SDP then forms an Alliance with the Liberals, same as OTL, except the split rips off a much bigger chunk of the Labour party, and as a result, the SDP is far more dominant in the Alliance than in RL.  
1985: Margaret Thatcher manages to win another majority government thanks to a split in the left-wing vote.  The Alliance surpasses the Labour party in both votes and seats and becomes the official opposition.  Afterwards, the Alliance Parties merge to form the Liberal Democrats.  Benn resigns as Labour leader and is replaced by Neil Kinnock.  Paddy Ashdown is elected as the first Liberal Democrat leader.
1989: Margaret Thatcher's government looses its majority in the Commons in the general election.  It manages to forge a deal with the UUP and DUP for support as a minority government.  Both the Lib Dems and Labour manage to make significant gains, so Ashdown and Kinnock both stay on.  
1992:  Michael Haseltine challenges Margaret Thatcher for the leadership of the party, and while she wins the most votes, a second ballot is required due to her failure to achieve a 15% majority.  She withdraws due to crumbling Parliamentary Party support, and John Major enters the race and wins, just as in 1990 in OTL.  
1994: The Torry/UUP/DUP bloc  looses its majority, and a Lib Dem/Labour coalition appears likely.  However, Kinnock and Ashdown are unable to negotiate a coalition agreement that would placate both the Labour left and the Lib Dem right.  The Tory government remains in place with reliance on Liberal Democrat support.  The Lib Dems' polling numbers fall due to their allowing Major to stay in power.  Labour, however, looses even more due to their refusal to budge during coalition negotiations.  As a result, Kinnock resigns.  A leadership election ensues in the Labour party.  Robin Cook narrowly beats out the young, self-proclaimed "modernizer" Gordon Brown and becomes leader.  Ashdown also soon resigns as Lib Dem leader, and in the ensuing election, Tony Blair beats Malcolm Bruce to become the next Liberal Democrat leader.  Immediately, the Lib Dems' poll numbers shoot up as he demands more and more concessions from the Torries.  
1997: The LibDems move a non-confidence motion against the Tory government.  The backing of Labour, the SNP, Plaid Cymru, and the Northern Irish SDLP ensures its passage, resulting in an election.  The Liberal Democrats wins by a massive landslide and a strong majority.  Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister.   Blair's Liberal Democrat government makes basically all of the same reforms that his Labour government made in OTL.  John Major resigns as Conservative leader, and is replaced by Michael Portillo, who himself only narrowly managed to keep his seat.  
1999: Thanks to the widespread Europhilia of his party, Blair is able to bring Britain into the Eurozone.  
2001: Blair's government is re-elected with a reduced majority.  Portillo resigns as Tory leader, and William Hague is elected as his successor.
2003: In spite of opposition from many sections of his party, Tony Blair allies Britain with America in the Iraq war and sends British troops into Iraq.  As the only major party opposed to it, Labour makes major gains in the polls.   
2005: The Liberal Democrats loose their majority in the House of Commons in the election.  William Hague attempts to form a coalition government with Labour on the basis of pulling Britain out of Iraq and the Eurozone as well, but the parties' differences on fiscal policies prove too great to overcome.  The Conservatives decide to abstain in the Commons votes for a new government to allow Blair to remain PM in a minority government.  
2006-2007: A cash for honors scandal rocks the government.  
2008: After the financial crisis hits and the Liberal Democrats begin to make spending cuts to balance budgets, Tony Blair's popularity falls into the low '20's, and polls show the Lib Dems' poll numbers falling below 20%, well behind both Labour and the Torries.  Blair resigns as Liberal Democrat leader and Prime Minister after the majority of LibDem MP's make it clear that they will stab him in the back should he not do so.  He is replaced by his Chancellor, Vince Cable, who vows to redeem his party.  
Cable, however, is unable to fight the financial crisis, and the brief rise that the Lib Dems experience in the polls proves to be a temporary phenomenon.  He appears unsure of his position on stimulus spending, and the government's positions seem to change constantly.  
2010: The Liberal Democrats loose the general election in a landslide and fall to third place, behind David Cameron's Conservative Party, which comes in first place with only minor gains, and Jon Cruddas's Labour Party, which becomes the official opposition for the first time since 1985.