If John Major and the Tories had stayed in power until 2002-2003, would the UK still have gotten involved in Afghanistan and Iraq?

If PM Major in 2003, would the UK still have gotten into Iraq with Bush?

  • Yes

    Votes: 45 88.2%

  • No

    Votes: 6 11.8%
  • Total voters
    51

peterpandude85

In many ways, John Major was on the left-side of the Tory Party and was more closely aligned with Chirac politically than the US republicans, while Tony Blair moved his labour party more to the right to try to position the party better to win after the Thatcher years.

Say John Major somehow won in 1997 and managed to stay on until 2002-2003, do you think the UK still would have gotten involved in Iraq with George W. Bush?

Yes or no?
 

Garrison

Donor
I Can't imagine any British government of the period not going along with the idea. John Major winning in 1997 though, that is wildly implausible...
 

Look More Closely Later

Gone Fishin'
peterpandude85 said:
In many ways, John Major was on the left-side of the Tory Party and was more closely aligned with Chirac politically than the US republicans, while Tony Blair moved his labour party more to the right to try to position the party better to win after the Thatcher years.

Say John Major somehow won in 1997 and managed to stay on until 2002-2003, do you think the UK still would have gotten involved in Iraq with George W. Bush?

Yes or no?
Click to expand...
John Major doesn't win in 1997 unless he's the leader of the Labour party in this timeline, or he lost by a narrow margin to Neil Kinnock in 1992 but after five years of Kinnock minority government, the country decides to give Major another chance in 1997.

On Afghanistan (mentioned in the thread title) Major has zero wriggle room, as another poster has already commented. It's clearly a NATO matter, and if the Americans request help, Major has to at least make a show of doing something.
On Iraq, I guess it depends on how Major felt that the first Gulf War went and ended, and whether there is (from his point of view) any 'unfinished business' from then. If he doesn't have a sense that the end of the first Gulf War was unsatisfactory, I figure Major will have no interest unless Brussels is interested.
 
V-J

V-J

As other posters have said the starting point of the speculation here is massively, massively improbable, but yes, Major would very likely have done the same on both Afghanistan and Iraq. There's no doubt whatsoever on Afghanistan, Iraq is complicated a little by Major being joined at the hip politically with Ken Clarke, who unlike Major did oppose the war. But Major himself made no serious dissent from the OTL course and nor did the wider Conservative parliamentary party. (At the time, at least)
 
V-J

V-J

I think Major would be not inconsiderably surprised by the notion that he was closer to the likes of Jacques Chirac than George H. W. Bush btw.
 

Chris Nation

Banned
The Conservatives supported the Iraq war, with some exceptions such as Ken Clarke (who is closer to George Galloway than the average Tory voter anyway). So, yes.

However, the Tories remaining in power 'until' 2002, 2003 would mean that they've been in power for 24 years straight. Without getting into the specifics of why Tony Blair won, barring a major split in the Labour Party, that's just not going to happen.

As unfortunate as it may be.
 

jhenderson 20

Look More Closely Later said:
It read to me as if jhenderson 20 was asking where the term 'Airstrip one' had originated, but you may be right, upon reflection.
Click to expand...
Nope, I was pointing out that the UK doesn't always follow the US. Oh, we usually do, but Vietnam was a good example of where we don't.
kham_coc said:
And If it hadn't been a labour pm then?
Wilson and Vietnam are the exceptions.
Click to expand...
I don't agree. That wasn't a party political thing.
 
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