What if Tony Blair had won the Beaconsfield by-election

     Last week I was at the Oxford Literary Festival to hear former Labour MP Alan Johnson interview former Conservative MP Savid Javid.   Very enjoyable.   Afterwards I had a lovely conversation with Alan Johnson. We reminisced about the Beaconsfield by-election in 1982 when Tim Smith Conservative) won against Tony Blair (Labour) and Paul Tyler ( Liberal).

    Alan lived in the Britwell Council Estate which was divided between Slough and Beaconsfield.   He told me he lived in the Slough part.   However his job then was as a postman and he delivered post to Littleworth Common which was in Beaconsfield.

    I told Alan about meeting Paul Tyler ( now Lord Tyler) some years later when he told me the following story: "When Tony Blair was Prime Minister he invited Paul to a reception in 10 Downing St.   Tony and Paul had a chat about the Beaconsfield by-election.   Paul asked Tony what would have happened if Tony had won the by-election?   Tony's reply was:  I would have been certain to have lost the seat at the next General Election in 1983.   Cherie and I had an agreement that only one of us would be an MP at any one time and we would take it in turn to stand for parliament, so if I lost the Beaconsfield seat it would have been Cherie's turn to be an MP and she would have got a safe Labour seat and I would not have become Prime Minister!"

So history is made.   Can you imagine what life would have been like if Cherie had become Prime Minister instead of Tony?

                                            

John Strafford with Alan Johnson at the Oxford Literary Festival. 27 Mar 26