UK 1983: Callaghan v. Thatcher

[Silent Hunter]

What if Callaghan had stayed on after 1979 and tried to become PM again?

[Harry Hayfield]

All depends on what Callaghan's view was on the nuclear issue? If he was in step with his Labour colleagues then certainly they wouldn't have been almost trounced by the Alliance, but if he was out of step then almost certainly Alliance poll more votes than Labour, therefore more Lab defections to the Alliance and perhaps the destruction of Labour as a political party.

If you are interested, BBC Parliament is showing a replay of Election 1983 on October 6th 2006.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

If Callaghan hadn't resigned as Labour leader after the 1980 Conference, there would have been no Alliance as there would be no SDP. And in that alternate reality, it's unlikely that Labour would have lost the next election (which would probably have been in 1984; the election was only called in 1983 because the Darlington by-election shored up Foot's leadership of the Labour Party) as the underlying economic situation in most of Britain was dire at the time, something that Callaghan (always a popular politician) would have been able to exploit effectively, in a way that Foot-led Labour utterly failed to do.