Leftish Professors

The notion that there is political lopsidedness in academia tilted to the left is an old canard propagated by anti-intellectual ideologists who do not now and never had a taste for truth. And now, Patricia Cohen of the New York Times has written a piece titled, Professor Is a Label That Leans to the Left, about a study done by two sociologists, Neil Gross and Ethan Fosse, that is full of abject nonsense and comments from proponents of the right wing.

She writes this, either quoting or paraphrasing these sociologists: “Conjure up the classic image of a humanities or social sciences professor, the fields where the imbalance is greatest: tweed jacket, pipe, nerdy, longwinded, secular — and liberal. Even though that may be an outdated stereotype, it influences younger people’s ideas about what they want to be when they grow up.” How? Most students enter college without ever having seen any college professor. Never having seen a college professor, how could this “classic image” have influenced them?

Although she correctly points how this view has been manufactured and fostered by the American conservative movement, she fails to draw any conclusions from it. Conservatives, either religious or otherwise, are true believers. To them the truth is irrelevant, and if truth is irrelevant, the search for it and its acquisition is of no interest. When these people enter college, they do so to merely acquire techniques. Their questions are, how do I do that? and of what use is learning that? They rarely ask, is that the truth?

But what Ms Cohen and the conservatives who promote this canard fail to recognize it that the political orientations of most professors have no relevance to anything they do in the classroom. What difference would it make to students if a professor who teaches mathematics were a republican, a democrat, a socialist, a communist, or even an anarchist? What about professors of Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Astronomy, Foreign Languages, English Grammar, Geology, and most other subjects? Who cares what they believe?

To all professors—liberal, conservative, libertarian, socialist, communist, or anarchist—two plus two is four, H2O is water, e equals mc2, the planets revolve around the sun, and the sun is not the center of the universe.

Professors teach what is known in their own subject-matter fields. How would knowing what their voter registration cards say further the conservative-liberal debate? (I even doubt that anything that can truly be called a debate exists.) There are just a small number of academic departments where a professor’s political beliefs might influence his teaching. Notice, I wrote “might.” Most professors, at least the good ones, can easily present the best arguments used by both sides with equal vigor. They can also present the criticisms. For some unknown reason it is assumed by the right that a scholar’s beliefs trump his knowledge. Is that because their beliefs trump their knowledge? True believers already know it all; they can’t be taught. The university is not a place in which they are comfortable because questioning their beliefs generates distress and places their self-interests in jeopardy.

The Western World’s ideal of education stems from Classical Greece where Plato started the first real university. His ideals were the search and dissemination of truth, goodness, and beauty. If you study Plato’s Dialogues you will discover just how hard he was on people’s beliefs. He used the character of Socrates to demolish them.

Those who believe that universities should include the teaching of beliefs and ideologies are advocating the conversion of the university into what is called, in the Middle East, a madrassa. Americans of late have been very hard on madrasses, complaining that they teach the ideology of Islamic jihad. Yes, they do. Which ideology of jihad does the American right want the American university to teach?

True believers never discover truth. It is only discovered by doubting what is commonly believed and trying to either verify or refute it. In that light, much ideology is not worth bothering about; no evidence can be offered for it one way or the other.

Some students enter college with open minds and a desire to know. Many don’t; knowing does not interest them. And if anyone really wants to know how professors become leftish, read Bart D. Ehrman’s Misquoting Jesus, where Ehrman describes how he, a student with a fundamentalist Christian background, found the strengths of his fundamentalist beliefs weakening as he learned more and more about how the Bible came to be.

In my career as a professor, I was aware of only one professor who used his classroom as a platform for his personal political beliefs. Contrary to what Ms Cohen might assume, he was an arch conservative. The students who took his courses were well aware of what he was doing; they spoke about it all the time, just as Mankiw’s students of economics at Harvard have publicly described Mankiw’s course as massive conservative propaganda.

No professor at the university I taught at ever made an issue of this professor’s propagandish teaching. They didn’t have to; they all knew that the bright students in his classes recognized it for what it was and that the dull students didn’t matter. They weren’t going to learn much anyhow. And that may really be what distinguishes leftish professors from rightish ones. The leftish ones allow students to draw their own conclusions.

Anyone who leaves college with the same beliefs had when he/she entered has wasted his/her money and time. What the conservatives who have manufactured and propagated this leftish professor canard want to do is destroy the search for truth by falsely describing it as a political ideology. All they want to do is erase the distinction between knowledge and belief. They comprise, in fact, nothing but a modern day Papal Inquisition.

The only reason this canard keeps popping up is that journalism is a label that leans toward stupidity. It will go away when journalists quit reporting it.

©2010 John Kozy

Ready To Tile Shower Pans: Best Water Intrusion Solution

A proper drainage system ensures that your bathroom is dry and hygienic. The ready to tile shower pans ensure that the waste water is effectively drained out from your shower and your bathroom is left with a scintillating appearance.

Ready to tile shower pans are one piece shower pans that come with fully integrated drains, splash walls, integrated curbs or barrier free entrances, and an integrated pitch. These shower pans offer many advantages like they are easy to install, are leak proof and mold resistant, and are also ready to tile, which means you can set tiles of your choice directly on to the surface of the pan. By installing these shower pans, your shower base is therefore ready to complement the decor of your bathroom.

Shower pans are made from high-density polystyrene insulation and reinforced with fiberglass mesh. The polymer cement coating on them offers 100% waterproof protection and added strength.

In single curb shower pans, you have the choice to go for center drain, left drain or right drain according to your requirement.

Bathroom accessories like shower pans are becoming an integral component of all modern day bathrooms! The present day shower systems are a blend of technology and creativity and are designed by top designers from across the world. Bathroom accessories occupy a pivotal point in such designs as they have a tremendous aesthetic appeal and also offer various capabilities. A shower pan is also a unique water intrusion solution which will ensure that your bathroom is always dry.

A bathroom pan includes the square shower drain which is gaining in popularity owing to its unique design. A square drain is easier to cut and tile than a round one and so it is easy to handle. The universal center ring ensures that water is drained out effectively. Made from stainless clad glass, the shower pan offers superior strength and durability. The pan comes with a grade puller which makes it easier to handle.

The unique proposition of a square shower drain is that it is completely free from screws. The screws can become a barrier when you have to open or close the pan every time. Opening the screws also damages the finish of the pan and can lead to scratches. The square shower pans instead employ a grade puller which can be used every time you want to open the drain. The screw less model will make it simpler for you to retrieve your precious belongings from the drain. Following the proper installation procedure will ensure that the shower pans operate smoothly.

Shower pans also have an environmental aspect to it. Grey water harvesting is a concept similar to rain water harvesting and involves utilizing the water which runs down from the drains of your bathrooms. Channelizing this water in a proper manner and treating it can provide an acceptable solution for watering gardens and for irrigation purposes. A shower pan ensures that used water from your shower is drained out properly and can be utilized constructively. It will not only keep your bathroom dry but also ensure that every drop of water counts.

The modern shower pans are very easy to install and hardly require any time. The entire installation will take less than an hour. A shower pan is a very important investment in your bathroom especially when you have conceptualized it and worked out each and every detail. An effective shower pan keeps your bathroom dry and protects the flooring and other equipment from rusting. A dry bathroom is also very pleasing to the eyes and reduces the probability of slip or fall. A shower drain occupies a very important place in the entire concept of a functional bathroom and will surely prove to be a great investment.

Bathroom accessories can completely change the appearance of your shower and lend it a magnificent appearance. With the help of an experienced installer you can ensure that you have the appropriate accessories in your bathroom. A competent installer will also ensure that all the fittings are as per the prescribed guidelines to ensure complete safety. These accessories will lend a personal touch to your showers and help you completely recharge yourself. The bathroom accessories will add a concept to your bathroom and do the same thing as A Gucci dress does to you!

Copyright © 2010 FlooringSupplyShop.com

Bat Crap, Worm Tea, & Fish Emulsion Should Be Staples Of Medical Marijuana Cultivation

Bat Crap, Worm Tea, & Fish Emulsion should be staples of Medical Marijuana Cultivation.

You know you’ve become a good pot farmer, when you start mixing it up with bat guano, worm tea, and fish emulsion. Similar to parents changing a dirty number two diaper with love, that’s what great Medical Marijuana gardeners do with their organic amendments. The nature of these natural soil enhancers may gag the average human, but for the love of their “babies”, Medical Marijuana gardeners are not average.

Bat (as in Dracula) guano, consists of the droppings from these nocturnal flying creatures.  Pot farmers for years, have used bat guano as a nitrogen rich boost for their plants. Many farmers also like the natural re-cycled aspect of bat poop. Since there are several species of bats, with varied diets, not just any bat guano will do. Many on-line hydroponics suppliers carry fertilizers that cannabis cultivators like. Obtaining the appropriate bat manure should not be a problem.

Worm tea, worm bins, worm castings, etc., should tell you something, worms are vital to a garden! I can’t tell you how many urban gardeners are happy when they’re turning dirt, and a shovel full of soil is teeming with worms. Worms are where the good soil is, and they will work hard to help keep it that way. The worms will handle subterranean duties like tilling, digesting decay, aerating soil, promoting microbial activity, and laying down their own manure in the form of castings. Some farmers have been using their horse manure and a yucca extract concoction, to produce homegrown worm tea, an ass kicker of a soil amendment that’s readily available to flowering Sativas and Indicas from the Medical Marijuana family. Let the worms handle all of your dirty work!

There is something about the sea, from sea kelp to crabs and fish. Compost from fish, crab shells, and desalinated sea weed, are all nice organic ways to enhance your soil. If you think in terms of feeding the soil, not the plant- then your garden will be quite prolific. Fish emulsion was one of the worst smelling additions to a plant I’d ever smelled, but once I witnessed it’s affect mixed with rain water, then I knew this was best for my plants. The two situations I know of people ruining their plants, came from an over zealous use of fertilizers. By staying in the organic ballpark of natural gardening, you can avoid that problem, and raise healthy good tasting plants! Remember, grow American.

Joyce

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What is a First Flush Device?

Harvesting rainwater is a great way to get water for a number of uses around the house without having to rely solely on Main water. It allows you to make use of water that would otherwise be absorbed into the ground or go down the drain, and will both help you to save money and allow you to conserve water. Unfortunately, when it first starts raining the water that you collect won’t exactly be fit for most uses.

That’s where a first flush device comes in. A first flush device, also known as a water diverter or a first flush diverter, is an add-on to your water tank’s rainwater harvesting system. This add-on lets you screen out leaves, bird droppings, dirt, and other contaminants that come from your roof when the rain first begins so that the water that’s collected in your water tank will be clean and clear as nature intended.

The way that your standard first flush water diverter works is fairly simple. As water enters the pipe that leads to your water tank, it falls down into the first flush device instead. The device is essentially a chamber that’s long enough to catch all of the first flush rainwater which is filled with the dirt, bacteria, and other contaminants from your roof. Inside the chamber is a small ball which will float on the water but that is too large to fit through the opening at the top of the chamber. As the water fills the chamber the ball will continue to rise, essentially closing off the mouth of the chamber when it can’t fit through. From this point, all of the clean rainwater that flows through will go directly into your rainwater tank instead of the first flush chamber.

Once the rain has stopped, emptying the chamber of your first flush device is automatic. A release valve on the bottom of the chamber will slowly let water escape (and since the rain has stopped, it won’t keep filling up again.) To further improve the environmental impact of your water tank, you can even hook the release valve up to your irrigation system so not even the first flush water goes to waste. Most first flush filters require very little maintenance. Occasionally leaves may block up the drainage of the first flush so you may need to clean it out occasionally. This isn’t normally a big problem because the chamber empties very slowly so even if it is blocked it should still be able to drip. The biggest concern is that a blocked first-flush system may become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. If you get a lot of leaves and rubbish then it may need to be cleaned a couple of times a year and will provide you with nice clean water for many years.

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Water Your Garden The Lazy Way

If you are concerned about water conservation, explore the use of drip irrigation.
It is an age old method of watering your plants consistently, evenly and without effort. This technique, also known as trickle irrigation, has evolved over the years into one of the most important factors in contemporary farming methods. This system minimizes the use of water by letting water drip very slowly directly onto the surface of the soil or directly onto the root zone, this in turn reduces water waste due to evaporation and runoff. By utilizing a network of pipes, valves, tubing, and emitters; it is not only flexible, but can be installed and regulated very easily by a home gardener. Raised beds, window boxes and hanging baskets can all be irrigated by the use of a drip irrigation system.

A typical system consists of the following elements, which are listed in order starting from the water source:

* Pressurized water source or pump.

* Water filter. This may not be necessary if using municipal water supply.

* Fertilization injection system (optional). This will add liquid nutrients directly into your drip system.

* Anti backflow preventer- prevents the water from flowing back into your home drinking water system. (May be required by local building code)

* 25 P S I pressure regulator.

* Main supply line and fittings- usually one-half inch polyethylene tubing.

* Valves and controls- these may be hand or electronically controlled; electronic controls have the advantage of a timing device.

* One quarter inch polyethylene tubing, which is used for distributing the water from the half inch tubing to the plants, and is called a lateral.

* Emitters, these can be drippers, micro-spray heads, inline drippers or trickle rings

*Connectors, in line valves and manifolds. Manifolds distribute the water to the laterals.

* Clips or clamps to keep the tubing in place.

Kits can be purchased at your garden center or you can create your own system from a combination of kits and purchased parts. Start a plan on paper to determine the most efficient layout for your garden and how much tubing and how many emitters will be required for full coverage. Most manufacturers will provide planning guides to walk you through this process. A system for an average sized garden can usually be installed in less than one day and is very straightforward.

The peace of mind knowing that your plants are being automatically watered by utilizing a timer is priceless.

An Eco-friendly copper Rain chain for your Garden

A unique water feature that gives zeal to your home with a classical sound features. But, May me you think that or wondering about what are rain chains? Rain chains are decorative cups, trinkets and containers attached to each other with a chain and create a lovely sound as the rain water runs down the chain into a rain barrel or any other form of receptacle to collect and harvest the rain water. This chain of trinkets or cups creates melodious and lovely sounds when it is raining. Also, it looks quite unique and decorative.

The rain chains are also used as alternatives for rain gutters and pipes. The concept is several hundreds of years old. It was common to find them in the temples of Japan. They used the chains to collect rain water which was then stored for use later. Even today, several households in Japan use these chains. This is more or less like water harvesting.

Over a years of decade usage, the chains end up getting a natural green tinge known as patina. The combination of colors that form naturally is also pleasant on the eyes. In terms of Feng Shui, it has so many importance. They activate the chi flow, which is flow of energy, in the house and stabilize the positive energies. Whenever it makes those pleasant sounds there is positive energy flowing into the house.

Rain chains do not get clogged easily and they are easy to install. In order to install a chain, you need to hang a copper chain over the barrel which stores water. You simply need to hang the chain from the same hole where the storm gutter pipe comes out. You can reduce the size of the hole though. Also, you can decorate the chain by tying cups and other trinkets to it.

This is very important to consider. When your rain barrel or tank fills up, which, it will. Where is the rest of the water from your roof going to go? You probably have already invested a lot of money in grading the landscape, drainage pipes, or some type of predetermined path away from your basement and foundation before you planned on your Copper rain system. Most of the systems on the market, have overflow tubes that come out the side or just overflow over the top. The danger is, that this water could seep into the basement, create a hazard on a patio or could ruin your landscape. Even if the system has an overflow tube at the rain barrel, then, ask yourself, then what do you do with it, and hopefully it is large enough to dispense enough water during severe weather.

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Notice – Don’t Buy a Home Water Filter System Until You Read This!

Clean water sources are rapidly diminishing around the world. With weather patterns the way they are and disasters happening all the time, at any moment our water can be contaminated. Not to mention the agriculture chemicals and environmental waste. Our skins absorption rate is double that of oral digestion. The innovation of effective water filtration and purification methods are more important than ever. These whole house water filter systems are easy to install. They are very energy efficient.

The instructions are provided and any one can do it yourself. It also cleans very easily back flushing any bacteria, virus or waste to the drain. With this home water filter system your children and you can take a bath or shower with the best quality water. So many people these days believe that our water sources could be a common source of our illnesses and even cancer. wouldn’t you feel wonderful knowing that you could have possibly prevented any illness to your children or whole family. Imagine what must be running through those people in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Do you think they are concerned about their water sources.

At this point no one knows what could happen. Also the flooding in the Midwest anything could affect our water. I also read in the news papers that bottled water companies don’t even do the things that water treatment plants do. We buy bottled water in the stores or even have them deliver to us. Isn’t it time to save your home from these threats. Winter is here and tons of snow has fallen, when the spring thaw happens, are you ready?

 

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Water Tank Rebate

In Australia when you purchase a rainwater tank, you can apply for water tank rebate.  The Federal and the State government have put in a lot of effort to encourage people to install rainwater harvesting systems in their homes and offices. The water tank rebates are quite impressive; such a rebate helps the individuals to purchase good quality rainwater tanks. Water tank rebate scheme varies from one region to the other.

 

Budget is one of the most important criteria for purchasing a water tank, and it is possible that many people may give up the idea of purchasing a water tank or land up purchasing a poor quality water tank. A water tank rebate encourages people to purchase water tank.

 

In Victoria the government has announced Water Smart Gardens and Home rebate schemes for all those home owners who are interested in installing rainwater storage systems in their homes in order to use water wisely.  To make it easier for the people to claim rebate, the government has set up “Water Our Future” program which allows a homeowner to apply for rebate easily.

 

Like in case of Victoria, people in NSW can also apply for rebate home owners who purchase a tank with a capacity greater than 2000 L can apply for a rebate. For connecting the tank to the toilet and washing machine allow you to apply for additional rebate. However water tank rebates are available only for existing houses. Rebates are not offered to those who have purchased new houses.

 

Similarly, the rebate scheme differs in different regions of the Australia. So, to get more information on the discount offered on purchase of rainwater tanks you can visit the local council of your area. We all know that Australia is the driest continent on the planet and that is why it is very important for the people to invest in water conservation systems such as the rainwater harvesting systems in order to conserve this precious water resource.

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Harold Wilson

Early life

Wilson was born in Huddersfield, England on 11 March 1916, an almost exact contemporary of his rival, Edward Heath (born 9 July 1916). He came from a political family: his father James Herbert Wilson (18821971) was a works chemist who had been active in the Liberal Party and then joined the Labour Party. His mother Ethel (ne Seddon; 18821957) was a schoolteacher prior to her marriage. When Wilson was eight, he visited London and a later-to-be-famous photograph was taken of him standing on the doorstep of 10 Downing Street.

Education

Wilson won a scholarship to attend the local grammar school, Royds Hall Secondary School, Huddersfield. His education was disrupted in 1931 when he contracted typhoid fever after drinking contaminated milk on a Scouts’ outing and took months to recover. The next year his father, working as an industrial chemist, was made redundant and moved to Spital on the Wirral to find work. Wilson attended the sixth form at the Wirral Grammar School for Boys, where he became Head Boy.

Wilson did well at school and, although he missed getting a scholarship, he obtained an exhibition; which, when topped up by a county grant, enabled him to study Modern History at Jesus College, Oxford, from 1934. At Oxford, Wilson was moderately active in politics as a member of the Liberal Party but was later influenced by G. D. H. Cole to join the Labour Party. After his first year, he changed his field of study to Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He graduated with “an outstanding First Class Bachelor of Arts degree, with alphas on every paper” in the final examinations. He also received exceptional testimonials from his tutors, including a comment from one that “he is, far and away, the ablest man I have taught so far”.

Although Wilson had two abortive attempts at an All Souls Fellowship, he continued in academia, becoming one of the youngest Oxford University dons of the century at the age of 21. He was a lecturer in Economic History at New College from 1937, and a Research Fellow at University College during the period 1938 to 1945. For much of this time, he was a research assistant to William Beveridge, the Master of the College, working on the issues of unemployment and the trade cycle.

Marriage

In 1940, in the chapel of Mansfield College, Oxford, he married (Gladys) Mary Baldwin who remained his wife until his death. Mary Wilson became a published poet. They had two sons, Robin and Giles (named after Giles Alington); Robin became a Professor of Mathematics, and Giles became a teacher. Both his sons went to the same independent school, University College School, in Hampstead. In their twenties, his sons were under a kidnap threat from the IRA. After becoming a teacher at a comprehensive school for two years, Giles later returned to teaching, becoming a Maths master at Salisbury Cathedral School. In November 2006 it was reported that Giles had given up his teaching job and become a train driver for South West Trains. He is a devotee of rail restoration, specifically the Tarka Line.

Wartime service

On the outbreak of the Second World War, Wilson volunteered for service but was classed as a specialist and moved into the Civil Service instead. Most of his war was spent as a statistician and economist for the coal industry. He was Director of Economics and Statistics at the Ministry of Fuel and Power 19434, and received an OBE for his services.

He was to remain passionately interested in statistics. As President of the Board of Trade, he was the driving force behind the Statistics of Trade Act 1947, which is still the authority governing most economic statistics in Great Britain. He was instrumental as Prime Minister in appointing Claus Moser as head of the Central Statistical Office, and was president of the Royal Statistical Society in 197273.

Member of Parliament

As the War drew to an end, he searched for a seat to fight at the impending general election. He was selected for Ormskirk, then held by Stephen King-Hall. Wilson accidentally agreed to be adopted as the candidate immediately rather than delay until the election was called, and was therefore compelled to resign from the Civil Service. He served as Praelector in Economics at University College between his resignation and his election to the House of Commons. He also used this time to write A New Deal for Coal which used his wartime experience to argue for nationalisation of the coal mines on the basis of improved efficiency.

In the 1945 general election, Wilson won his seat in the Labour landslide. To his surprise, he was immediately appointed to the government as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works. Two years later, he became Secretary for Overseas Trade, in which capacity he made several official trips to the Soviet Union to negotiate supply contracts. Conspiracy-minded commentators would later seek to raise suspicions about these trips.

In government

On 14 October 1947, Wilson was appointed President of the Board of Trade and, at 31, became the youngest member of the Cabinet in the 20th century. He took a lead in abolishing some of the wartime rationing, which he referred to as a “bonfire of controls”. His role in internal debates during the summer of 1949 over whether or not to devalue sterling, in which he was perceived to have played both sides of the issue, tarnished his reputation in both political and official circles. In the general election of 1950, his constituency was altered and he was narrowly elected for the new seat of Huyton, Merseyside.

Wilson was becoming known as a left-winger and joined Aneurin Bevan and John Freeman in resigning from the government in April 1951 in protest at the introduction of National Health Service (NHS) medical charges to meet the financial demands imposed by the Korean War. After the Labour Party lost the general election later that year, he was made chairman of Bevan’s ‘Keep Left’ group, but shortly thereafter he distanced himself from Bevan. By coincidence, it was Bevan’s further resignation from the Shadow Cabinet in 1954 that put Wilson back on the front bench (as a spokesman, initially, on finance).

Opposition

Wilson soon proved to be a very effective Shadow Minister. One of his procedural moves caused the loss of the Government’s Finance Bill in 1955, and his speeches as Shadow Chancellor from 1956 were widely praised for their clarity and wit. He coined the term “gnomes of Zurich” to describe Swiss bankers whom he accused of pushing the pound down by speculation. In the meantime, he conducted an inquiry into the Labour Party’s organisation following its defeat in the 1955 general election, which compared the Party organisation to an antiquated “penny farthing” bicycle, and made various recommendations for improvements. Unusually, Wilson combined the job of Chairman of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee with that of Shadow Chancellor from 1959 , holding the chairmanship of the PAC from 1959 to 1963.

Wilson steered a course in intra-party matters in the 1950s and early 1960s that left him fully accepted and trusted by neither the left nor the right. Despite his earlier association with the left-of-centre Aneurin Bevan, in 1955 he backed the right-of-centre Hugh Gaitskell against Bevan for the party leadership He then launched an opportunistic but unsuccessful challenge to Gaitskell in 1960, in the wake of the Labour Party’s 1959 defeat, Gaitskell’s controversial attempt to ditch Labour’s commitment to nationalisation in the shape of the Party’s Clause Four, and Gaitskell’s defeat at the 1960 Party Conference over a motion supporting Britain’s unilateral nuclear disarmament. Wilson also challenged for the deputy leadership in 1962 but was defeated by George Brown. Following these challenges, he was moved to the position of Shadow Foreign Secretary.

Hugh Gaitskell died unexpectedly in January 1963, just as the Labour Party had begun to unite and to look to have a good chance of being elected to government. Wilson became the left candidate for the leadership. He defeated George Brown, who was hampered by a reputation as an erratic figure, in a straight contest in the second round of balloting, after James Callaghan, who had entered the race as an alternative to Brown on the right of the party, had been eliminated in the first round.

Wilson’s 1964 election campaign was aided by the Profumo Affair, a 1963 ministerial sex scandal that had mortally wounded the Conservative government of Harold Macmillan and was to taint his successor Sir Alec Douglas-Home, even though Home had not been involved in the scandal. Wilson made capital without getting involved in the less salubrious aspects. (Asked for a statement on the scandal, he reportedly said “No comment… in glorious Technicolor!”). Home was an aristocrat who had given up his title as Lord Home to sit in the House of Commons. To Wilson’s comment that he was the 14th Earl of Home, Home retorted, “I suppose Mr. Wilson is the fourteenth Mr. Wilson”.

At the Labour Party’s 1963 annual conference, Wilson made possibly his best-remembered speech, on the implications of scientific and technological change, in which he argued that “the Britain that is going to be forged in the white heat of this revolution will be no place for restrictive practices or for outdated measures on either side of industry”. This speech did much to set Wilson’s reputation as a technocrat not tied to the prevailing class system.

First term as Prime Minister (19641970)

Labour won the 1964 general election with a narrow majority of four seats, and Wilson became Prime Minister. This was an insufficient parliamentary majority to last for a full term, and after 18 months, a second election in March 1966 returned Wilson with the much larger majority of 96.

Domestic affairs

Economic policies

In economic terms, Wilson’s first three years in office were dominated by an ultimately doomed effort to stave off the devaluation of the pound. He inherited an unusually large external deficit on the balance of trade. This partly reflected the preceding government’s expansive fiscal policy in the run-up to the 1964 election, and the incoming Wilson team tightened the fiscal stance in response. Many British economists advocated devaluation, but Wilson resisted, reportedly in part out of concern that Labour, which had previously devalued sterling in 1949, would become tagged as “the party of devaluation”.

After a costly battle, market pressures forced the government into devaluation in 1967. Wilson was much criticised for a broadcast in which he assured listeners that the “pound in your pocket” had not lost its value. It was widely forgotten that his next sentence had been “prices will rise”. Economic performance did show some improvement after the devaluation, as economists had predicted. The devaluation, with accompanying austerity measures, successfully restored the balance of payments to surplus by 1969. However, this unexpectedly turned into a small deficit again in 1970. The bad figures were announced just before polling in the 1970 general election, and are often cited as one of the reasons for Labour’s defeat.

A main theme of Wilson’s economic approach was to place enhanced emphasis on “indicative economic planning.” He created a new Department of Economic Affairs to generate ambitious targets that were in themselves supposed to help stimulate investment and growth. The government also created a Ministry of Technology (shortened to Mintech) to support the modernisation of industry. Though now out of fashion, faith in this approach was at the time by no means confined to the Labour Partyilson built on foundations that had been laid by his Conservative predecessors, in the shape, for example, of the National Economic Development Council (known as “Neddy”) and its regional counterparts (the “little Neddies”).

Harold and Mary Wilson with Richard and Pat Nixon at the White House in 1970.

The continued relevance of industrial nationalisation (a centerpiece of the post-War Labour government’s programme) had been a key point of contention in Labour’s internal struggles of the 1950s and early 1960s. Wilson’s predecessor as leader, Hugh Gaitskell, had tried in 1960 to tackle the controversy head-on, with a proposal to expunge Clause Four (the public ownership clause) from the party’s constitution, but had been forced to climb down. Wilson took a characteristically more subtle approach. He threw the party’s left wing a symbolic bone with the renationalisation of the steel industry, but otherwise left Clause Four formally in the constitution but in practice on the shelf. Wilson made periodic attempts to mitigate inflation through wage-price controls, better known in the UK as “prices and incomes policy” (as with indicative planning, such controlshough now generally out of favorere widely adopted at that time by governments of different ideological complexions, including the Nixon administration in the United States). Partly as a result of this reliance, the government tended to find itself repeatedly injected into major industrial disputes, with late-night “beer and sandwiches at Number Ten” an almost routine culmination to such episodes. Among the more damaging of the numerous strikes during Wilson’s periods in office was a six-week stoppage by the National Union of Seamen, beginning shortly after Wilson’s re-election in 1966, and conducted, he claimed, by “politically motivated men”.

With public frustration over strikes mounting, Wilson’s government in 1969 proposed a series of changes to the legal basis for industrial relations (labour law) in the UK, which were outlined in a White Paper “In Place of Strife” put forward by the Employment Secretary Barbara Castle. Following a confrontation with the Trades Union Congress, however, which strongly opposed the proposals, and internal dissent from Home Secretary James Callaghan, the government substantially backed-down from its intentions. Some elements of these changes were subsequently to be revived (in modified form) during the premiership of Margaret Thatcher.

Wilson’s administration made a variety of changes to the tax system. Largely under the influence of the Hungarian-born economists Nicholas Kaldor and Thomas Balogh, an idiosyncratic “selective employment tax (SET)” was introduced that was designed to tax employment in the service sectors while subsidising employment in manufacturing (the rationale proposed by its economist authors derived largely from claims about potential economies of scale and technological progress, but Wilson in his memoirs stressed the tax’s revenue-raising potential). The SET did not long survive the return of a Conservative government. Of longer term significance, Capital Gains Tax (CGT) was introduced for the first time in the UK on 6 April 1965.

Social issues

Wilson’s first period in office witnessed a range of social reforms, including the abolition of capital punishment, decriminalisation of sex between men in private, liberalisation of abortion law and the abolition of theatre censorship. The Divorce Reform Act was passed by parliament in 1969 (and came into effect in 1971). Such reforms were mostly via private member’s bills on ‘free votes’ in line with established convention, but the large Labour majority after 1966 was undoubtedly more open to such changes than previous parliaments had been. The government effectively supported the passage of these bills by granting them the necessary parliamentary time. It more or less made people more equal.

Wilson personally, coming culturally from a provincial non-conformist background, showed no particular enthusiasm for much of this agenda (which some linked to the “permissive society”), but the reforming climate was especially encouraged by Roy Jenkins during his period at the Home Office.

Wilson’s 1966-70 term witnessed growing public concern over the level of immigration to the United Kingdom. The issue was dramatised at the political level by the famous “Rivers of Blood speech” by the Conservative politician Enoch Powell, warning against the dangers of immigration, which led to Powell’s dismissal from the Shadow Cabinet. Wilson’s government adopted a two-track approach. While condemning racial discrimination (and adopting legislation to make it a legal offence), Wilson’s Home Secretary James Callaghan introduced significant new restrictions on the right of immigration to the United Kingdom.

Education policies

Education held special significance for a socialist of Wilson’s generation, in view of its role in both opening up opportunities for children from working class backgrounds and enabling the UK to seize the potential benefits of scientific advances. Wilson continued the rapid creation of new universities, in line with the recommendations of the Robbins Report, a bipartisan policy already in train when Labour took power. Alas, the economic difficulties of the period deprived the tertiary system of the resources it needed. However, university expansion remained a core policy. One notable effect was the first entry of women into university education in significant numbers.

Wilson also deserves credit for grasping the concept of an Open University, to give adults who had missed out on tertiary education a second chance through part-time study and distance learning. His political commitment included assigning implementation responsibility to Baroness Jennie Lee, the widow of Aneurin Bevan, the charismatic leader of Labour’s Left wing whom Wilson had joined in resigning from the Attlee cabinet.

Wilson’s record on secondary education is, by contrast, highly controversial. A fuller description is in the article Education in England. Two factors played a role. Following the Education Act 1944 there was disaffection with the tripartite system of academically-oriented Grammar schools for a small proportion of “gifted” children, and Technical and Secondary Modern schools for the majority of children. Pressure grew for the abolition of the selective principle underlying the “eleven plus”, and replacement with Comprehensive schools which would serve the full range of children (see the article Debates on the grammar school). Comprehensive education became Labour Party policy.

Labour pressed local authorities to convert grammar schools, many of them cherished local institutions, into comprehensives. Conversion continued on a large scale during the subsequent Conservative Heath administration, although the Secretary of State, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, ended the compulsion of local governments to convert. While the proclaimed goal was to level school quality up, many felt that the grammar schools’ excellence was being sacrificed with little to show in the way of improvement of other schools. Critically handicapping implementation, economic austerity meant that schools never received sufficient funding.

A second factor affecting education was change in teacher training, including introduction of “progressive” child-centered methods, abhorred by many established teachers. In parallel, the profession became increasingly politicised. The status of teaching suffered and is still recovering.

Few nowadays question the unsatisfactory nature of secondary education in 1964. Change was overdue. However, the manner in which change was carried out is certainly open to criticism. The issue became a priority for ex-Education Secretary Margaret Thatcher when she came to office as prime minister in 1979.

Another major controversy of the first Wilson term was the decision that the government could not fulfil its long-held promise to raise the school leaving age to 16, due to the investment required in infrastructure such as extra classrooms and teachers. Baroness Jennie Lee considered resigning in protest, but narrowly decided against this in the interests of party unity. It was left to Margaret Thatcher to carry out the change, during the Heath government.

In 1966, Wilson was created the first Chancellor of the newly created University of Bradford, a position he held until 1985.

External affairs

Europe

Wilson with West German Chancellor Ludwig Erhard.

Among the more challenging political dilemmas Wilson faced during his two terms in government and his two spells in Opposition before 1964 and between 1970 and 1974 was the issue of British membership of the Common Market, as the EU was then known. An entry attempt had been issued in July 1961 by the Macmillan government, and negotiated by Edward Heath as Lord Privy Seal, but was vetoed in 1963 by French President Charles de Gaulle. The Labour Party in Opposition had been divided on the issue, with former party leader Hugh Gaitskell having come out in 1962 in opposition to Britain joining the Community.

After initially hesitating over the issue, Wilson’s Government in May 1967 lodged the UK’s second application to join the EC, as it was now called. Like the first, though, it was vetoed by de Gaulle in November that year.

Following his victory in the 1970 election (and helped by de Gaulle’s fall from power in 1969), the new prime minister Edward Heath negotiated Britain admission to the EC, alongside Denmark and Ireland in 1973. The Labour Party in opposition continued to be deeply divided on the issue, and risked a major split. Leading opponents of membership included Richard Crossman, who was for two years (1970-72) the editor of the New Statesman magazine, at that time the leading left-of-center weekly journal, which published many polemics in support of the anti-EC case. Prominent among Labour supporters of membership was Roy Jenkins.

Wilson in opposition showed political ingenuity in devising a position that both sides of the party could agree on, opposing the terms negotiated by Heath but not membership in principle. Labour’s 1974 manifesto included a pledge to renegotiate terms for Britain’s membership and then hold a referendum on whether to stay in the EC on the new terms. This was a constitutional procedure without precedent in British history.

Following Wilson’s return to power, the renegotiations with Britain’s fellow EC members were carried out by Wilson himself in tandem with Foreign Secretary James Callaghan, and they toured the capital cities of Europe meeting their European counterparts (some[who?] commentators have suggested that their co-operation in this exercise may have been the source of a close relationship between the two men which is claimed to have assisted a smooth change-over when Wilson retired from office). The discussions focused primarily on Britain’s net budgetary contribution to the EC. As a small agricultural producer heavily dependent on imports, the UK suffered doubly from the dominance of:

(i) agricultural spending in the EC budget,

(ii) agricultural import taxes as a source of EC revenues.

During the renegotiations, other EEC members conceded, as a partial offset, the establishment of a significant European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), from which it was clearly agreed that the UK would be a major net beneficiary.

In the subsequent referendum campaign, rather than the normal British tradition of “collective responsibility”, under which the government takes a policy position which all cabinet members are required to support publicly, members of the Government were free to present their views on either side of the question. A referendum was duly held on 5 June 1975, and the proposition to continue membership was passed with a substantial majority

Asia

Prior United States military involvement in Vietnam intensified following the Tonkin Resolution in 1964. US President Lyndon Johnson brought pressure to bear for at least a token involvement of British military units in the Vietnam War. Wilson consistently avoided any commitment of British forces. His government offered some rhetorical support for the US position (most prominently in the defence offered by the Foreign Secretary Michael Stewart in a much-publicised “teach-in” or debate on Vietnam). On at least one occasion the British government made an unsuccessful effort to mediate in the conflict. On 28 June 1966 Wilson ‘dissociated’ his Government from American bombing of the cities of Hanoi and Haiphong. In his memoirs, Wilson writes of elling LBJ a bum steer a reference to Johnson Texas origins, which conjured up images of cattle and cowboys in British minds. Wilson’s approach of maintaining close relations with the US while pursuing an independent line on Vietnam has attracted new interest in the light of the different approach taken by the Blair government vis-a-vis Britain’s participation in the Iraq War (2003).

Since World War II, Britain’s presence in the Far East had gradually been run down. Former British colonies, whose defense had provided much of the rationale for a British military presence in the region, moved towards independence under British governments of both parties. Successive UK Governments also became conscious of the cost to the exchequer and the economy of maintaining major forces abroad (in parallel, several schemes to develop strategic weaponry were abandoned on the grounds of cost, for example, the Blue Streak missile and the TSR2 aircraft). In 1967, as the result of a defence review made by Defence Secretary Denis Healey, Wilson announced that Britain would withdraw its military forces from major bases ast of Suez, primarily in Malaysia, Singapore and Aden. While criticised in right-wing circles at the time, over the longer-term the decision can be seen as a logical culmination of the withdrawal from Britain’s colonial-era political and military commitments in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere that had been underway under British governments of both parties since the Second World Warnd of the parallel switch of Britain’s emphasis to its European identity.

Wilson was known for his strong pro-Israel views. He was a particular friend of Israeli Premier Golda Meir, though her time in office largely coincided with Wilson 19701974 hiatus. Another associate was German Chancellor Willy Brandt; all three were members of the Socialist International.

Africa

In 1960, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan made his important Wind of Change speech to the Parliament of South Africa in Cape Town. This heralded independence for many British colonies in Africa. The British etreat from Empire had made headway by 1964 and was to continue during Wilson administration. However, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland came to present serious problems.

The Federation was set up in 1953, and was an amalgamation of the Protectorates of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland and the colony of Southern Rhodesia. After struggles for independence, the Federation was dissolved in 1963 and the states of Zambia and Malawi achieved independence. However, the colony of Southern Rhodesia, which had been the economic powerhouse of the Federation, was not granted independence, principally because of the regime in power. The colony bordered South Africa to the south and its governance was heavily influenced by the apartheid regime, then headed by Hendrik Verwoerd. Wilson refused to grant independence to the white minority government headed by Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith which showed little inclination to extend political influence to the native African population, let alone to grant majority rule.

Smith defiant response was a Unilateral Declaration of Independence, timed to coincide with Armistice Day at 11.00am on 11 November 1965, an attempt to garner support in the UK by reminding people of the contribution of the colony to the war effort (Smith himself had been a Spitfire pilot). Smith was personally vilified in the British media. Wilson immediate recourse was to the United Nations, and in 1965, the Security Council imposed sanctions, which were to last until official independence in 1979. This involved British warships blockading the port of Beira to try to cause economic collapse in Rhodesia. Wilson was applauded by most nations for taking a firm stand on the issue (and none extended diplomatic recognition to the Smith regime). A number of nations did not join in with sanctions, undermining their efficiency. Certain sections of public opinion started to question their efficacy, and to demand the toppling of the regime by force. Wilson declined, however, to intervene in Rhodesia with military force, believing the UK population would not support such action against their “kith and kin”. The two leaders met for discussions aboard British warships, Tiger in 1966 and Fearless in 1968. Smith subsequently attacked Wilson in his memoirs, accusing him of delaying tactics during negotiations and alleging duplicity; Wilson responded in kind, questioning Smith’s good faith and suggesting that Smith had moved the goal-posts whenever a settlement appeared in sight. The matter was still unresolved at the time of Wilson resignation in 1976.

Elsewhere in Africa, trouble developed in Nigeria, brought about by the ethnic diversity of the country and the wealth being generated by the nascent oil industry. Wilson’s government felt disinclined to interfere in the internal affairs of a fellow Commonwealth nation and supported the government of General Yakubu Gowon during the Nigerian Civil War of 19671970.

Electoral defeat and opposition

By 1969, the Labour Party was suffering serious electoral reverses. In May 1970, Wilson responded to an apparent recovery in his government’s popularity by calling a general election, but, to the surprise of most observers, was defeated at the polls by the Conservatives under Edward Heath.

Wilson survived as leader of the Labour party in opposition. Economic conditions during the 1970s were becoming more difficult for the UK and many other western economies, and the Heath government in its turn was buffeted by economic adversity and industrial unrest (notably including confrontation with the coalminers).

Second term as Prime Minister (19741976)

When Labour won more seats than the Conservative Party in February 1974, and Heath was unable to form a coalition, Wilson returned to 10 Downing Street on Monday, 4 March 1974 as Prime Minister of a minority Labour Government. He gained a majority in another election shortly afterwards, in October 1974. One of the key issues addressed during his second period in office was the referendum on British membership of the EEC (see Europe, above).

Northern Ireland

In the late 1960s, Wilson’s earlier government had witnessed the outbreak of The Troubles in Northern Ireland. In response to a request from the Stormont government, the government agreed to deploy the British Army in an effort to maintain the peace.

Out of office in the autumn of 1971, Wilson formulated a 16-point, 15 year programme that was designed to pave the way for the unification of Ireland. The proposal was welcomed, in principle, by the Heath government at the time but never put into effect.

In May 1974, back in office, Wilson condemned the Unionist-controlled Ulster Workers’ Strike as a “sectarian strike” which was “being done for sectarian purposes having no relation to this century but only to the seventeenth century”. However he refused to pressurise a reluctant British Army to face down the loyalist paramilitaries who were intimidating utility workers. In a televised speech later, he referred to the “loyalist” strikers and their supporters as “spongers” who expected Britain to pay for their lifestyles. The strike was eventually successful in breaking the power-sharing Northern Ireland executive.

On September 11, 2008, BBC Radio Four’s Document programme claimed to have unearthed a secret plan – codenamed Doomsday – which proposed to cut all constitutional ties with Northern Ireland and transform the province into an independent dominion. Document went on to claim that the Doomsday plan was devised mainly by Wilson and was kept a closely guarded secret. The plan then allegedly lost momentum, due in part, it was claimed, to warnings made by both the then Foreign Secretary, James Callaghan and the Taoiseach as to its viability.

Resignation

On 16 March 1976, Wilson surprised the nation by announcing his resignation as Prime Minister (taking effect on 5 April 1976). He claimed that he had always planned on resigning at the age of sixty, and that he was physically and mentally exhausted. As early as the late 1960s, he had been telling intimates, like his doctor Sir Joseph Stone (later Lord Stone of Hendon), that he did not intend to serve more than eight or nine years as Prime Minister. Roy Jenkins has suggested that Wilson may have been motivated partly by the distaste for politics felt by his loyal and long-suffering wife, Mary. Beyond this, by 1976 he might already have been aware of the first stages of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, which was to cause both his formerly excellent memory and his powers of concentration to fail dramatically.

Garter Banner of Lord Wilson of Rievaulx, Jesus College Chapel, Oxford

Queen Elizabeth II came to dine at 10 Downing Street to mark his resignation, an honour she has bestowed on only one other Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill (although she did dine at Downing Street at Tony Blair’s invitation, to celebrate her 80th birthday).

Wilson’s Prime Minister’s Resignation Honours included many businessmen and celebrities, along with his political supporters. His choice of appointments caused lasting damage to his reputation, worsened by the suggestion that the first draft of the list had been written by Marcia Williams on lavender notepaper (it became known as the “Lavender List”). Roy Jenkins notes that Wilson’s retirement “was disfigured by his, at best, eccentric resignation honours list, which gave peerages or knighthoods to some adventurous business gentlemen, several of whom were close neither to him nor to the Labour Party.” Some of those whom Wilson honoured included Lord Kagan, the inventor of Gannex, who was eventually imprisoned for fraud, and Sir Eric Miller, who later committed suicide while under police investigation for corruption.

Six candidates stood in the first ballot to replace him, in order of votes they were: Michael Foot, James Callaghan, Roy Jenkins, Tony Benn, Denis Healey and Anthony Crosland. In the third ballot on 5 April, Callaghan defeated Foot in a parliamentary vote of 176 to 137, thus becoming Wilson’s successor as Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party.

As Wilson wished to remain an MP after leaving office, he was not immediately given the peerage customarily offered to retired Prime Ministers, but instead was created a Knight of the Garter. On leaving the House of Commons in 1983, he was created Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, after Rievaulx Abbey, in the north of his native Yorkshire.

Last years and death

A life-long Gilbert and Sullivan fan, in 1975, Wilson joined the Board of Trustees of the D’Oyly Carte Trust at the invitation of Sir Hugh Wontner, who was then the Lord Mayor of London.

Not long after Wilson’s retirement, his mental deterioration from Alzheimer’s disease began to be apparent, and he did not appear in public after 1988 when he unveiled the Clement Attlee statue at Limehouse Library. He was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1985, and died a decade later from it in May 1995, at the age of 79.

His memorial service was held in Westminster Abbey on 13 July 1995.

He is buried at St. Mary’s Old Church, St. Mary’s on the Isles of Scilly. His epitaph is Tempus Imperator Rerum (Time Commands All Things).

Political “style”

Wilson regarded himself as a “man of the people” and did much to promote this image, contrasting himself with the stereotypical aristocratic conservatives who had preceded him. Features of this portrayal included his working man’s Gannex raincoat, his pipe (though in private he smoked cigars), his love of simple cooking and overuse of the popular British relish, ‘HP Sauce’, his support for his home town’s football team, Huddersfield, and his working-class Yorkshire accent. Eschewing continental holidays, he returned every summer with his family to the Scilly Isles. His first general election victory relied heavily on associating these down-to-earth attributes with a sense that the UK urgently needed to modernise, after “thirteen years of Tory mis-rule….”. These characteristics were exaggerated in Private Eye’s satirical column “Mrs Wilson’s Diary”.

Wilson exhibited his populist touch in 1965 when he had The Beatles honoured with the award of MBE. (Such awards are officially bestowed by The Queen but are nominated by the Prime Minister of the day.) The award was popular with young people and contributed to a sense that the Prime Minister was “in touch” with the younger generation. There were some protests by conservatives and elderly members of the military who were earlier recipients of the award, but such protesters were in the minority. Critics claimed that Wilson acted to solicit votes for the next general election (which took place less than a year later), but defenders noted that, since the minimum voting age at that time was 21, this was hardly likely to impact many of the Beatles’ fans who at that time were predominantly teenagers. It did however cement Wilson’s image as a modernistic leader and linked him to the burgeoning pride in the ‘New Britain’ typified by the Beatles. The Beatles mentioned Wilson rather negatively, naming both him and his opponent Edward Heath in George Harrison’s song “Taxman”, the opener to 1966′s Revolverecorded and released after the MBEs.

One year later, in 1967, Wilson had a different interaction with a musical ensemble. He sued the pop group The Move for libel after the band’s manager Tony Secunda published a promotional postcard for the single “Flowers In The Rain”, featuring a caricature depicting Wilson in bed with his female assistant, Marcia Williams (later Baroness Falkender). Wild gossip had hinted at an improper relationship, though these rumours were never substantiated. Wilson won the case, and all royalties from the song (composed by Move leader Roy Wood) were assigned in perpetuity to a charity of Wilson’s choosing.

Wilson had a knack for memorable phrases. He coined the term ‘Selsdon Man’ to refer to the anti-interventionist policies of the Conservative leader Edward Heath, developed at a policy retreat held at the Selsdon Park Hotel in early 1970. This phrase, intended to evoke the “primitive throwback” qualities of anthropological discoveries such as Piltdown Man and Swanscombe Man, was part of a British political tradition of referring to political trends by suffixing ‘man’. Another famous quote is “A week is a long time in politics”: this signifies that political fortunes can change extremely rapidly. Other memorable phrases attributed to Wilson include “the white heat of the [technological] revolution” and his comment after the 1967 devaluation of the pound: “This does not mean that the pound here in Britain in your pocket or purse is worth any less….”, usually now quoted as “the pound in your pocket”.

Reputation

Despite his successes and onetime popularity, Harold Wilson’s reputation has yet to recover altogether from the low ebb reached immediately following his second premiership. Some accuse him of undue deviousness, some claim he did not do enough to modernise the Labour Party’s policy positions on issues such as the respective roles of the state and the market or the reform of industrial relations. This line of argument partly blames Wilson for the civil unrest of the late 1970s (during Britain’s Winter of Discontent), and for the electoral success of the Conservative party and its ensuing 18-year rule. His supporters argue that it was only Wilson’s own skillful management (on issues such as nationalisation, Europe and Vietnam) that allowed an otherwise fractious party to stay politically united and govern. In either case this co-existence did not long survive his leadership, and the factionalism that followed contributed greatly to the Labour Party’s electoral weakness during the 1980s. The reinvention of the Labour Party would take the better part of two decades, at the hands of Neil Kinnock, John Smith andlectorally, most conclusively — Tony Blair.

In 1964, when Wilson took office, the mainstream of informed opinion (in all the main political parties, in academia and the media, etc.) strongly favored the type of technocratic, “indicative planning” approach that Wilson endeavoured to implement. Radical market-orientated reforms, of the kind eventually adopted by Margaret Thatcher, were in the mid-1960s backed only by a ‘fringe’ of enthusiasts (such as the leadership of the later-influential Institute of Economic Affairs), and had almost no representation at senior levels even of the Conservative Party. Fifteen years later, disillusionment with Britain’s weak economic performance and troubled industrial relations, combined with active spadework by figures such as Sir Keith Joseph, had helped to make a radical market programme politically feasible for Margaret Thatcher (which was in turn to influence the subsequent Labour leadership, especially under Tony Blair). To suppose that Wilson could have adopted such a line in the late 1960s or early 1970s is, however, unrealistic: like almost any political leader, Wilson was for the most part fated to work (sometimes skillfully and successfully, sometimes not) with the ideas that were in the air at the time.

Discussion of possible plots and conspiracy theories

Main article: Harold Wilson conspiracy theories

MI5 plots?

In 1963, Soviet defector Anatoliy Golitsyn is said to have secretly claimed that Wilson was a KGB agent. The majority of intelligence officers did not believe that Golitsyn was a genuine defector but a significant number did (most prominently James Jesus Angleton, the Deputy Director of Counter-Intelligence at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and factional strife broke out between the two groups. The book Spycatcher (an expos of MI5) alleged that 30 MI5 agents then collaborated in an attempt to undermine Wilson. The author Peter Wright (a former member of MI5) later claimed that his ghostwriter had written 30 when he had meant 3. Many of Wright’s claims are controversial, and a ministerial statement reported that an internal investigation failed to find any evidence to support the allegations.

Several other voices beyond Wright have raised claims of “dirty tricks” on the part of elements within the intelligence services against Wilson while he was in office. In March 1987, James Miller, a former MI5 agent, claimed that MI5 had encouraged the Ulster Workers’ Council general strike in 1974 in order to destabilise Wilson’s Government. See also: Walter Walker and David Stirling. In July 1987, Labour MP Ken Livingstone used his maiden speech to raise the 1975 allegations of a former Army Press officer in Northern Ireland, Colin Wallace, who also alleged a plot to destabilise Wilson. Chris Mullin, MP, speaking on 23 November 1988, argued that sources other than Peter Wright supported claims of a long-standing attempt by the intelligence services (MI5) to undermine Wilson’s government.

A BBC programme The Plot Against Harold Wilson, broadcast in 2006, reported that, in tapes recorded soon after his resignation on health grounds, Wilson stated that for eight months of his premiership he didn’t “feel he knew what was going on, fully, in security”. Wilson alleged two plots, in the late 1960s and mid 1970s respectively. He said that plans had been hatched to install Lord Louis Mountbatten, Prince Charles’s uncle and mentor, as interim Prime Minister (see also Other conspiracy theories, below). He also claimed that ex-military leaders had been building up private armies in anticipation of “wholesale domestic liquidation”.

In the documentary some of Wilson’s allegations received partial confirmation in interviews with ex-intelligence officers and others, who reported that, on two occasions during Wilson’s terms in office, they had talked about a possible coup to take over the government.

On a separate track, elements within MI5 had also, the BBC programme reported, spread “black propaganda” that Wilson and Williams were Soviet agents, and that Wilson was an IRA sympathiser, apparently with the intention of helping the Conservatives win the 1974 election.

In 2009, Defence of the Realm, the authorised history of MI5 by Christopher Andrew, held that while MI5 kept a file on Wilson from 1945, when he became an MP because communist civil servants claimed that he had similar political sympathies there was no bugging of his home or office, and no conspiracy against him.

Other conspiracy theories

Richard Hough, in his 1980 biography of Mountbatten, indicates that Mountbatten was in fact approached during the 1960s in connection with a scheme to install an “emergency government” in place of Wilson’s administration. The approach was made by Cecil Harmsworth King, the chairman of the International Publishing Corporation (IPC), which published the Daily Mirror newspaper. Hough bases his account on conversations with the Mirror’s long-time editor Hugh Cudlipp, supplemented by the recollections of the scientist Solly Zuckerman and of Mountbatten valet, William Evans. Cudlipp arranged for Mountbatten to meet King on 8 May 1968. King had long yearned to play a more central political role, and had personal grudges against Wilson (including Wilson’s refusal to propose King for the hereditary earldom that King coveted). He had already failed in an earlier attempt to replace Wilson with James Callaghan. With Britain’s continuing economic difficulties and industrial strife in the 1960s, King convinced himself that Wilson’s government was heading towards collapse. He thought that Mountbatten, as a Royal and a former Chief of the Defence Staff, would command public support as leader of a non-democratic “emergency” government. Mountbatten insisted that his friend, Zuckerman, be present (Zuckerman says that he was urged to attend by Mountbatten son-in-law, Lord Brabourne, who worried King would lead Mountbatten astray). King asked Mountbatten if he would be willing to head an emergency government. Zuckerman said the idea was treachery and Mountbatten in turn rebuffed King. He does not, however, appear to have reported the approach to Downing Street.

The question of how serious a threat to democracy may have existed during these years continues to be contentious key point at issue being who of any consequence would have been ready to move beyond grumbling about the government (or spreading rumours) to actively taking unconstitutional action. Cecil King himself was an inveterate schemer but an inept actor on the political stage. Perhaps significantly, when King penned a strongly worded editorial against Wilson for the Daily Mirror two days after his abortive meeting with Mountbatten, the unanimous reaction of IPC’s directors was to fire him with immediate effect from his position as Chairman. More fundamentally, Denis Healey, who served for six years as Wilson’s Secretary of State for Defence, has argued that actively serving senior British military officers would not have been prepared to overthrow a constitutionally-elected government.

By the time of his resignation, Wilson’s own perceptions of any threat may very well have been exacerbated by the onset of Alzheimer’s disease; his inherent tendency to chariness was undoubtedly stoked by some in his inner circle, notably including Marcia Williams. He reportedly shared with a surprised George H. W. Bush, at the time the Director of the CIA, his fear that some of the portraits in 10 Downing Street (specifically including Gladstone’s portrait in the Cabinet Room) concealed listening devices being used to bug his discussions. Files released on 1 June 2005 show that Wilson was concerned that, while on the Isles of Scilly, he was being monitored by Russian ships disguised as trawlers. MI5 found no evidence of this, but told him not to use a walkie-talkie.

Wilson’s Government took strong action against the controversial, self-styled “Church” of Scientology in 1967, banning foreign Scientologists from entering the UK, a prohibition which remained in force until 1980. In response, L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology’s founder, accused Wilson of being in cahoots with Soviet Russia and an international conspiracy of psychiatrists and financiers. Wilson’s Minister of Health, Kenneth Robinson, subsequently won a libel suit against the Scientologists and Hubbard.

Harold Wilson’s first government, October 1964 June 1970

Initial Cabinet

Harold Wilson Prime Minister

George Brown First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs

Lord Gardiner Lord Chancellor

Herbert Bowden Lord President of the Council

Lord Longford Lord Privy Seal

James Callaghan Chancellor of the Exchequer

Patrick Gordon Walker Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs

Sir Frank Soskice Secretary of State for the Home Department

Fred Peart Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

Anthony Greenwood – Secretary of State for the Colonies

Arthur Bottomley Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations

Denis Healey Secretary of State for Defence

Michael Stewart Secretary of State for Education and Science

Richard Crossman Minister of Housing and Local Government

Barbara Castle Minister for Overseas Development

Ray Gunter Minister of Labour

Douglas Houghton Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

Frederick Lee Minister of Power

William Ross Secretary of State for Scotland

Frank Cousins Minister of Technology

Douglas Jay President of the Board of Trade

Thomas Fraser Minister of Transport

Jim Griffiths Secretary of State for Wales

Margaret Herbison Minister of Pensions and National Insurance

Changes

January 1965 Michael Stewart succeeds Patrick Gordon Walker as Foreign Secretary. Anthony Crosland succeeds Stewart as Education Secretary.

December 1965 Barbara Castle succeeds Thomas Fraser as Minister of Transport. Anthony Greenwood succeeds Castle as Minister of Overseas Development. Lord Longford succeeds Greenwood as Colonial Secretary. Sir Frank Soskice succeeds Lord Longford as Lord Privy Seal. Roy Jenkins succeeds Soskice as Home Secretary.

April 1966 Lord Longford succeeds Sir Frank Soskice as Lord Privy Seal. Frederick Lee succeeds Longford as Colonial Secretary. Richard Marsh succeeds Lee as Minister of Power. Douglas Houghton resigns as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. His successor is not in the cabinet. Cledwyn Hughes succeeds Jim Griffiths as Welsh Secretary.

July 1966 Tony Benn succeeds Frank Cousins as Minister of Technology.

After reshuffle, August 1966

Harold Wilsonrime Minister

Michael Stewart First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs

Lord Gardiner Lord Chancellor

Richard Crossman – Lord President of the Council

Lord Longford Lord Privy Seal

James Callaghan Chancellor of the Exchequer

George Brown Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs

Roy Jenkins – Secretary of State for the Home Department

Fred Peart Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

Herbert Bowden Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs

Denis Healey Secretary of State for Defence

Anthony Crosland Secretary of State for Education and Science

Anthony Greenwood Minister of Housing and Local Government

Arthur Bottomley Minister for Overseas Development

Ray Gunter Minister of Labour

Richard Marsh Minister of Power

William Ross Secretary of State for Scotland

Tony Benn Minister of Technology

Douglas Jay – President of the Board of Trade

Barbara Castle Minister of Transport

Cledwyn Hughes Secretary of State for Wales

Changes

January 1967 Lord Shackleton and Patrick Gordon Walker enter the cabinet as Ministers without Portfolio.

August 1967 Peter Shore succeeds Michael Stewart as Secretary of State for Economic Affairs. Stewart remains First Secretary of State. George Thomson succeeds Herbert Bowden as Commonwealth Secretary. Anthony Crosland succeeds Douglas Jay as President of the Board of Trade. Patrick Gordon Walker succeeds Anthony Crosland as Education Secretary. Arthur Bottomley, Minister of Overseas Development, leaves the cabinet. His successor in that office is not in the cabinet.

November 1967 Roy Jenkins succeeds James Callaghan as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Callaghan succeeds Jenkins as Home Secretary

January 1968 Lord Shackleton succeeds Lord Longford as Lord Privy Seal.

After reshuffle, April 1968

Harold Wilson Prime Minister

Barbara Castle First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity

Lord Gardiner – Lord Chancellor

Richard Crossman Lord President of the Council

Fred Peart Lord Privy Seal

Roy Jenkins Chancellor of the Exchequer

Peter Shore Secretary of State for Economic Affairs

Michael Stewart Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs

James Callaghan Secretary of State for the Home Department

Cledwyn Hughes Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

George Thomson Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs

Denis Healey Secretary of State for Defence

Edward Short Secretary of State for Education and Science

Anthony Greenwood Minister of Housing and Local Government

Ray Gunter Minister of Labour

Ray Gunter Minister of Power

William Ross Secretary of State for Scotland

Tony Benn Minister of Technology

Anthony Crosland President of the Board of Trade

Richard Marsh Minister of Transport

George Thomas Secretary of State for Wales

Lord Shackleton Paymaster General

Changes

July 1968 Roy Mason succeeds Ray Gunter as Minister of Power.

October-November 1968 Fred Peart succeeds Richard Crossman as Lord President. Lord Shackleton succeeds Fred Peart as Lord Privy Seal. Judith Hart succeeds Shackleton as Paymaster-General. The Foreign and Commonwealth Offices are merged, with Michael Stewart as Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary. Jack Diamond, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, enters the cabinet. The office of Secretary of State for Social Services is created, with Richard Crossman as Secretary. George Thomson enters the cabinet as Minister without Portfolio.

October 1969 Anthony Greenwood, Minister of Housing and Local Government, leaves the cabinet. George Thomson becomes Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Anthony Crosland, becomes the Secretary of State for Local Government and Regional Planning. Roy Mason succeeds Crosland as President of the Board of Trade. His previous position of Minister of Power is abolished. Harold Lever succeeds Judith Hart as Paymaster General. Richard Marsh resigns as Minister of Transport. His successor is not in the cabinet.

Harold Wilson’s second government, March 1974 April 1976

Harold Wilson – Prime Minister

Lord Elwyn-Jones – Lord Chancellor

Edward Short – Lord President of the Council

Lord Shepherd – Lord Privy Seal

Denis Healey – Chancellor of the Exchequer

James Callaghan – Foreign Secretary

Roy Jenkins – Home Secretary

Fred Peart – Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

Roy Mason – Secretary of State for Defence

Reginald Prentice – Secretary of State for Education and Science

Michael Foot – Secretary of State for Employment

Eric Varley – Secretary of State for Energy

Anthony Crosland – Secretary of State for the Environment

Barbara Castle – Secretary of State for Health and Social Security

Tony Benn – Secretary of State for Industry

Harold Lever – Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

Merlyn Rees – Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

William Ross – Secretary of State for Scotland

Shirley Williams – Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection

Peter Shore – Secretary of State for Trade

John Morris – Secretary of State for Wales

Robert Mellish – Chief Whip

Changes

October 1974 – John Silkin although working to the Secretary of State for Environment enters the cabinet as Minister of Planning and Local Government.

June 1975 – Fred Mulley succeeds Reginald Prentice as Secretary for Education and Science. Prentice becomes Secretary for Overseas Development. Tony Benn succeeds Eric Varley as Secretary for Energy. Varley succeeds Benn as Secretary for Industry.

Titles from birth to death

Harold Wilson, Esq (11 March 19161 January 1945)

Harold Wilson, Esq, OBE (1 January 194526 July 1945)

Harold Wilson, Esq, OBE, MP (26 July 194529 September 1947)

The Right Honourable Harold Wilson, OBE, MP (29 September 19476 December 1969)

The Right Honourable Harold Wilson, OBE, FRS, MP (6 December 196923 April 1976)

The Right Honourable Sir Harold Wilson, KG, OBE, FRS, MP (23 April 19769 June 1983)

The Right Honourable Sir Harold Wilson, KG, OBE, FRS (9 June16 September 1983)

The Right Honourable The Lord Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, PC (16 September 198324 May 1995)

Wilson on television

Shortly after resigning as Prime Minister Wilson was signed by David Frost to host a series of interview/chat show programmes. The pilot episode proved to be a flop as Wilson appeared uncomfortable with the informality of the format.

Wilson also hosted two editions of the BBC chat show Friday Night, Saturday Morning. He famously floundered in the role, and in 2000, Channel 4 chose it as one of the 100 Moments of TV Hell.

In 1978, Harold Wilson appeared on the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special. Eric Morecambe’s habit of appearing not to recognise the guest stars was repaid by Wilson, who referred to him throughout as ‘Morry-camby’ (the mis-pronunciation of Morecambe’s name made by Ed Sullivan – who read announcements from cue-cards – when the pair appeared on his famous American television show).

Journalist and broadcaster Francis Wheen scripted a BBC Four 2006 drama The Lavender List, a fictionalised account of the Wilson Government of 197476. Kenneth Cranham played Wilson, Gina McKee Marcia Williams and Celia Imrie has a supporting role as Wilson’s wife. The play concentrated on Wilson and Williams’ relationship and her conflict with the Downing Street Press Secretary Joe Haines.

Also in 2006, The Plot Against Harold Wilson aired on BBC Two at on Thursday 16 March. The drama detailed previously unseen evidence that rogue elements of MI5 and the British military plotted to take down the Labour Government, believing Wilson to be a Soviet spy. Harold Wilson was portrayed by James Bolam.

Again in 2006, Wilson was portrayed by Robert Pugh in the Channel 4 drama Longford, which depicted the life of Lord Longford. In one scene, Wilson was seen dismissing Longford from his cabinet in 1968, in part because of the adverse publicity the latter was receiving for his public campaign to support the Moors Murderer Myra Hindley.

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be …

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