Thatcher Survives

[Peter the Lefty]

My theory:
The 1992 election would result in a Labour minority which relies on the Liberal Democrats for support.  In this alternate timeline, Thatcher resigns as Conservative leader, and John Major beats out Michael Heseltine for the Tory leadership afterward.  Kinnock's government is marked by hugely divisive struggles between left-wingers like Michael Meacher and the young "modernizers" like Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, who is made Chancellor in 1994 after John Smith's death.  The divisions hamper the government's ability to get anything done, and in 1997, John Major's Conservative Party wins a comfortable majority.  Gordon Brown is elected Labour leader, having already served three years as Chancellor, after Kinnock steps down.  In 2003, the party faces a dilemma over the Iraq war, with Tony Blair and others supporting the war, while Brown and the majority of Labour MPs oppose it.  Under pressure from the party's left, Brown uses the whip to force Labour MP's to vote against the war, but Blair and others on the hard-right of the party defy it.  Blair then challenges Brown for the Labour leadership, and looses.  He then resigns, saying he can't serve in a parliamentary party that "opposes the fight against terrorism.". He is replaced as Shadow Chancellor by Harriet Harman, after many loyal Blairites refuse the position.  Anger over the Iraq war and economic inequality allows Brown to win the 2005 election.  Brown doesn't privatize the Bank of England (according to Blair's new book, it was his own idea, not Brown's, and he basically whipped Brown into obedience over the Iraq War) and pursues a more left-of-center approach than Blair did, even though it's not "Old Labour.". It's essentially a different kind of "New Labour." than in OTL.  The economic collapse of 2008 causes a sharp decline in Labour's poll standings, but at the 2009 general election, Brown bests the Torries and their leader, Boris Johnson, but he does have to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.  

[Peter the Lefty]

Sounds like a pretty cool scenario, Pete.

You can tell there's an element of wishful thinking there. 

[Peter the Lefty]

Sounds like a pretty cool scenario, Pete.

You can tell there's an element of wishful thinking there. 

True, but well-written.

Thanks.  I have a lot of fun with alternate histories.  

[Peter the Lefty]

Sounds like a pretty cool scenario, Pete.

You can tell there's an element of wishful thinking there. 

True, but well-written.

Thanks.  I have a lot of fun with alternate histories.  

Me too .  Are you on alternatehistory.com?

Yep.

[Peter the Lefty]

Sounds like a pretty cool scenario, Pete.

You can tell there's an element of wishful thinking there. 

Nope.  Left-wing History Geek.  What about you?
True, but well-written.

Thanks.  I have a lot of fun with alternate histories.  

Me too .  Are you on alternatehistory.com?

Yep.

Same username?