2005 UK elections: Tony Blair defeated

[Chips]

In this alternate timeline, Blair's decision to partake in the War in Iraq along with the US is overwhelmingly unpopular among British residents and as a result, Blair ends up getting ousted. Who replaces him and what does the future of Britain look like?

[brucejoel99]

Blair would obviously immediately resign as Labour leader, & Gordon Brown would presumably take his chance & become the new Leader of the Opposition.

Presuming the Tories made it into Number 10 with a small-ish majority, they'd be reasonably delighted that they're back in power but tempered with the sneaking suspicion that this would be the Major Government 2: Electric Boogaloo, & it would surely prove to be in many respects over the next 5 years.

But this scenario is also literally impossible thanks to a combination of one Michael Howard's public image, the way he became leader, & the short period of his leadership, all of which would ensure that he's not gonna win in 2005 (even if he managed to end up getting the Tories to do better than they did in real life, which was certainly possible, if indeed unlikely).

[Property Representative of the Harold Holt Swimming Centre]

He'd have probably resigned or been ousted from the leadership if the Labour majority had been lost, which was only about 30 seats from happening.

As for the scenario above, it's hard to know whether Howard winning an election would vindicate either the right or the left of the Tory Party. Howard took a hard-line on immigration as leader, but he was also seen as a mentor to Cameron. If the government takes that line on immigration and proves to be popular, then David Davis (as Home Secretary) would have probably been the favourite to succeed Howard.

As for Labour, does Brown still go for the leadership? He might not fancy the role of LOTO for four or five years. Possible that someone like Harriet Harman goes for it.

Also, the Lib Dems. When the Tories have a good election it generally means that they do badly. In a Tory majority scenario they'd have probably had a net loss of seats and Kennedy probably falls on his own sword pretty quickly (rather than be overthrown the following year).