Regardless I would still like to ask about and brainstorm any potential for changes of government in wartime Britain, seeing as I haven’t found any previous posts discussing that topic.My history class started a new unit a couple of weeks ago on ‘British Political History 1945-1997’ and as a result I’ve been reading (both in and outside classwork) on the immediate post-war governments, particularly Attlee, which has led to me thinking about the possibilities of that Labour government, particularly if it had continued past 1951.
That thinking has led to me considering starting a timeline* about a more left-wing, non-aligned Britain under a Labour-led dominant-party state (a lá Japan’s one-and-a-half party system rather than a Soviet-style government). My ideas for PODs for this has led me to my History class’ previous unit on Churchill, specifically Labour’s popularity from running the home front, and Churchill’s frequent disagreements over strategy and the British Empire, particularly approaching 1943 for the former.
One idea I’ve had is for a POD is a set of alternate military failures (e.g: defeat at 2nd El Alamein**) discrediting Churchill’s Mediterranean Strategy against American and Soviet support for an earlier invasion of France (in OTL Churchill got D-Day delayed in exchange for invading Italy instead), while eroding his reputation sufficiently (many generals including Chief-of-Staff Alan Brooke already disliked him) against this foreign pressure to allow forces led by Labour (perhaps with a leader other than Attlee, such as Stafford Cripps^) and backed by Roosevelt and the Soviets to push Churchill into resigning, with continued rejection of other Conservative candidates bringing an emergency election leading to an early war-time Labour government.
Now I fully realise that what I’ve just described would’ve been a highly unlikely set of events; that in spite of conflicts Roosevelt probably wouldn’t have been that eager to remove Churchill, that even if Churchill resigned that a Conservative like Eden would be his likely successor, and that even if an emergency wartime election was permitted that this set of events would’ve been difficult for Labour to campaign against (very dependent on a hypothetical public’s opinion of Churchill).
* A lá a spiritual successor to this old timeline.
** Perhaps related to a change of strategy or commanders; Churchill removed the first two North African commanders (Wavell and Auchinleck) for military failure (arguably due to diverting forces to failure operations in Greece) and a perceived overly defensive stance respectively, eventually sticking with Montgomery (a friend and tactical brethren of Churchill) whose OTL victory was could be seen as due to Auchinleck’s strategy of cautiously building up an advantage in forces.
^ A leader of Labour’s left-wing faction who was temporarily expelled for attempting to a form an anti-appeasement coalition containing conservatives and communists, who would become popular for his diplomatic work strengthening Allied relations with the Soviets in 1942, before being plunged into failed negotiations with the Indian National Congress. He would eventually become the post-war Chancellor of the Exchequer, maintaining strict rationing and austerity in order to expand exports and maintain trade surpluses while supporting social services and industrial investment.
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