What if Roger Keyes took Douglas MacArthur under his wing and taught him political strategy?
Short answerThe speculation has MacArthur reaching the presidency while Keyes becomes postwar prime minister, changing the path to Suez and naval policy.
NotesThis is a second-order counterfactual rather than a likely consequence of saving the carriers. If Keyes taught MacArthur more effective coalition politics, MacArthur might become a stronger presidential candidate instead of remaining principally a theatre commander. Keyes's own wartime stature could, in this branch, make him the Conservative leader for the post-Attlee return to office, displacing Churchill's second premiership and preventing Anthony Eden's succession. That would place a different British leader in the Suez Crisis and could also alter postwar carrier policy, but every step depends on the earlier command scenario occurring.