UK General Election 1969

[Deleted]

Suppose Hull North was a Tory gain in the 1966 by-election and Wilson doesn’t go to the country until 1969.

Labour still lose all the by-elections they lost in 1968 and also lose Bassetlaw.

The Liberals prop up Wilson until 1969.

[swanarcadian]

It's hard to see why a general election in 1969 might have been better for Labour than in 1970 (when the polls were pointing to a Labour win but they still lost).  I guess it would have been a Tory win with a very comfortable majority, but not necessarily a landslide.  Labour would presumably have recovered somewhat towards the end of the Parliament.

The interesting thing would have been the effect on the careers of individual MPs - Geoffrey Howe would have remained MP for Bebington and Julian Amery for Preston North, for example.

[Deleted]

Apr 7, 2018 12:25:07 GMT @conservativeestimate said:

Suppose Hull North was a Tory gain in the 1966 by-election and Wilson doesn’t go to the country until 1969.

Labour still lose all the by-elections they lost in 1968 and also lose Bassetlaw.

The Liberals prop up Wilson until 1969.

do you mean Con hold? Would the GE take place before or after Devaluation? Before or after George Brown resigned? Before or after Roy Jenkins was Chancellor?

[johnloony]

Apr 7, 2018 12:42:06 GMT swanarcadian said:

It's hard to see why a general election in 1969 might have been better for Labour than in 1970 (when the polls were pointing to a Labour win but they still lost).  I guess it would have been a Tory win with a very comfortable majority, but not necessarily a landslide.  Labour would presumably have recovered somewhat towards the end of the Parliament.

The interesting thing would have been the effect on the careers of individual MPs - Geoffrey Howe would have remained MP for Bebington and Julian Amery for Preston North, for example.

I think the original question was asking about a general election in 1969 instead of 1966, not one in 1969 instead of 1970. Therefore 1970 would not have been an option. The answer is that the Labour government wouldn't have had enough time (or majority) to recover from the devaluation of 1967 or the midterm dip of 1968, so a substantial Conservative majority would have ensued.