How would British history have played out had the attempt on Margaret Thatcher's life by bombing the Grand Hotel in Brighton been successful?
WI: Grand Hotel bombing succeeds in killing Thatcher?
- Thread starter Star Eater
- Start date
The left would be congratulating it, Britain would obviously be a bankrupt-socialist hell hole. Wait... Isn't it already?
I can't roll my eyes enough at this.
There is a good timeline on this somewhere.
For want of a Shower by Roem?
Generaloberst
Banned
There'd be a definite purge on the IRA. I could imagine there would be a more aggressive policy on them.
Some in the left would, I don't think many can deny that some would be near-fetishising over this. I can't imagine Laour politicians would though, and if any did they'd be shunned from the party fairly quickly. We'd be more likely to see a few Trade Unionists be nasty, and they'd probably be shunned from the Unionist movement too.
EDIT: I think a Thatcherite would succeed the PM. Thatcherism was popular and I can't imagine the Conservatives swinging to a more One Nation stance. Her most obvious successor, Norman Tebbit, obviously won't be taking over as his wife would still be injured and, although he didn't resign as MP for another 8 years after the bombing, I can't see him willing to take on the role as PM. I'm unsure if he had visions of a bigger future, but we might see Nigel Lawson try and run for leadership - I doubt it though, as I doubt Lawson wanted to be PM.
The other major Thatcherite I can imagine could get through would be John Biffen, who was a massive supporter of tax cuts and spending cuts and who may, post-Thatcher, be more Thatcherite than even Maggie was. But he was eurosceptic, so I can imagine the pro-EEC members of the Conservatives would bar his progress in any leadership election.
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I don't, and largely for the reasons you highlight in your reconnoitre: there aren't any real candidates for that faction to adopt.
I really have no idea where you get the idea that Biffen would go plus ultra: he may have started off as a Powellite, but by this point he was travelling well to the left and had never been an inner-circle factional Thatcherite. In a few years after this event his alienation would be complete.