Churchill ousted in 1942

[lostcosmonauts]

I was listening to the History Today Extra podcast on Churchill and the situation in 1942 where you have the loss of Singapore, Tobruk, the Channel Dash, the Battle of the Atlantic going dreadfully and Churchill surviving votes of no confidence and censure

1942: Churchill's darkest hour

If 1940 was the year in which Winston Churchill’s reputation was forged, 1942 was the one in which it was almost destroyed. Taylor Downing chronicles a terrible period for the prime minister – both on the battlefield and in the court of public opinion

www.historyextra.com

The podcast suggested 1942 as the nadir of Britain’s WW2 and Sir Stafford Cripps as a potential replacement PM

If he’d faced and lost a second confidence vote how do folks think that would have played out?

 

[Michel Van]

Sir Stafford Cripps (Labor Party)
Hated deeply the Nazi and was as British Ambassador a key figure that USSR became WW2 allies against The Third Reich
He would fully support Bomber Harris for more bombing of Germany !
There is realistic chance that he got reelected in 1945

After WW2 he keep good relation with USSR like selling Jet-Engines to them
Stalin on that "What fool will sell us his secrets?" until Cripps offers them the nene jet engine ...

 

[Hood]

Most likely is that Attlee as deputy PM would step up as PM and another Cabinet member promoted to be deputy (probably a Conservative).
That raises the question of whether Attlee (or whoever) would have separated back out the roles of PM and Defence Minister and appointed someone else as Defence Minister. Cynically this may have been wise given military defeats in this scenario have finished two PMs careers - better to pass the buck for any epic fails in 43 on another Minister.

Cripps was not popular amongst his Parliamentary colleagues. Yes, he had public appeal but that means little in real terms given there is no question of holding an election and that public support was only due to the outpouring of pro-Soviet feeling post Barbarossa and he happened to come back from Russia at the right time to make the right noises in public speeches.

 

[Foo Fighter]

The enemy of my enemy etc, turned out to be short sighted but beggars are never able to alter the options list. Look at how Stalin was reduced in status just like a certain self made French General. Not a lot of leeway for changing horse mid stream (Sorry, busted metaphor) but there really was little option to change tactic and I doubt much would have changed.

 

[alertken]

Agree with FF. Tories had >400 seats in the Commons so would only have served under a non-Tory of Wellingtonian stature, Govt of National Unity. But that's what we had, with Labour DPM, Nat.Liberal Ministers. After letting off steam and conveying displeasure, they stuck with the incumbent PM (so, Boris, nothing is new).

Stafford Cripps was plotting for the job, but, as Leader of the House, he upset MPs by hectoring them for preferring boozy lunch to...working. WSC soon anaethetised him by banishment to...MAP, where, my view, he played a core role in prosecuting the War Effort.

 

[archipeppe]

Considering the Sir Winston Churchill is my favourite (and beloved) historical figure, I think that whoever who followed him after his demise would face an hard task, since Churcill was so inspiring (especially during dark times as in 1940 and 1942) that we are forced to considerate a huge fallback on English popular morale.

Morale is one of the most important weapon in a war, as we may all see with brave a resolute resistance of Ukrainian people against the Russian invasion.
Mmmm... Cripps labour party, closer to USSR?
Nothing good would came from him to the United Kingdom and the whole free world....

 

[kaiserd]

'A man of force and fire'

On Wednesday Gordon Brown presents his Budget. Peter Clarke argues that his reputation for caution and probity is nothing to that of another Labour chancellor, Stafford 'Austerity' Cripps

www.theguardian.com

To give a bit more detail on the actual Cripps of reality, further to the half remembered few lines on him most of us are probably operating off.

 

[kaiserd]

Agree with FF. Tories had >400 seats in the Commons so would only have served under a non-Tory of Wellingtonian stature, Govt of National Unity. But that's what we had, with Labour DPM, Nat.Liberal Ministers. After letting off steam and conveying displeasure, they stuck with the incumbent PM (so, Boris, nothing is new).

Stafford Cripps was plotting for the job, but, as Leader of the House, he upset MPs by hectoring them for preferring boozy lunch to...working. WSC soon anaethetised him by banishment to...MAP, where, my view, he played a core role in prosecuting the War Effort.

The Conservatives did serve under Liberal Party Prime Minister Llloyd George in WW1 (and afterwards), which rightly or wrongly may be seen as a model of how a change in leadership to a non-Tory in a Tory-majority government may have worked out (clearly differences in the 1942 context/ scenario and the Tory Parliamentary Party of 1942 may have been all the more keen to avoid a repeat of the then relatively recent historical precedent).