The resignation of Harold Wilson | Labour Party | This Week | 1976

The shock resignation of Prime Minister Harold Wilson not only sent shockwaves through the United Kingdom, but also though the Labour Party.
Jonathan Dimbleby and Llew Gardner discuss the impact Wilsons decision will have on the country and also his Party - and the all important question - Who will succeed him?
Guests:
JONATHAN DIMBLEBY IN STUDIO INTVS RT HON JAMES PRIOR MP & RT HON JEREMY THORPE MP
LLEW GARDNER INTERVIEWS - RT HON JUDITH HART MP, BRIAN WALDEN MP, PETER JENKINS & ROBERT CARVEL
First shown: 16/03/1976
If you would like to license a clip from this video please e mail:
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Quote: VT13557

[@johndcosta7347]

I remember him as the prime minister who kept us out of the Vietnam war. and for that I will always respect him.

[@terencethomas7599]

Yes..... And managed to maintain American financial support which our economy at that time needed from Johnson..... This money paid the students grants who so ferociously opposed the VN war.. That is not to say that I supported the misguided and horrific war in SE Asia..... I did not. But it is a tribute to Wilson s political skills in resisting Johnsons pressure for the UK to at least contribute token forces...... whilst resisting this he managed to maintain the vital American economic support that the UK needed at that time...... Britain's failing industrial sector led to continuous balance of payments crises throughout the 60s together with industrial unrest of frequent strikes and stagflation.

[@thefatkid3365]

There’s a secret in Vietnam (yes I’m a Vietnam citizen just not yet)

[@andrewrobinson8305]

Source?

[@RobertK1993]

@King Royal British never back the USA in Vietnam so US government turned blind eye IRA funding

[@MarkHarrison733]

Actually British soldiers served in the Vietnam War.

[@jonathangammond3019]

They are all more articulate and possess a wider vocabulary than our current politicians.

[@CC-uc4gq]

They all sound intelligent too! Unlike many in politics today!

[@robertmay9798]

And they're all given time to articulate their points! The slower pace of debate is something that would be nice to see nowadays.

[@11Kralle]

That's education for you - and one should mention, that an education worthwhile causes the individual to educate himself on and on all through life.

[@atulnayak5715]

In the 1970s a University degree was highly valued. Employers now do not look at your degree certificate and uniqueness in building expertise. Everything is a dumbed down tick box exercise hence no point in articulating your point!

[@downWithTwattle]

TV interviwers were more intelligent and erudite than the bunch of thick narcissists we have to enure now

[@brianarbenz1329]

I'm a U.S. resident, but I was privileged to hear Harold Wilson speak at my college in the state of Indiana in the early 1980s as part of a speaking tour. He spoke largely on international issues, sharing many anecdotes about the world leaders whom he had met. This was well before the Internet and satellite television, so hearing a perspective from the heart of British government and politics was new and enlightening to me.

[@tombroderick7206]

Wilson kept the UK out of Vietnam and for that we owe him our eternal thanks.

[@MrDaiseymay]

we couldn't afford it

[@terencethomas7599]

There was no chance of Wilson s Labour govt ever entering military assistance in the VN war. Just think of one fact..... Labour Party was very strongly reliant on the TUC and unions' financial support. Any attempt to conscript working class youth destined for apprenticeships at that time, into an 'imperial' war waged by the Americans to support the corrupt Thieu regime...... , would have been out of the question with a vicious backslash from the TUC. America could not even persuade its North American neighbour, Canada, to give support.

[@mikewilson730]

Vietnam was part of the French empire, would have made no sense going in there when we hadn't finished disbanding our own colonies

[@terencethomas7599]

@@mikewilson730 Had been a French colony until they lost a major battle at Diem Bien Phu in 1962...... when the country was split in half with the northern half being now communist under Geneva convention and the South being under a non communist government which the Americans supported first with advisors and then with full on ground forces. The French had therefore ceased to have a Vietnam as a colony in 1962 and withdraw completely as part of the Geneva agreement.

[@MarkHarrison733]

British soldiers served in the Vietnam War.

[@1969delft]

How polite and well behaved the politicians were back in the 1970s and no rude interruptions from the reporters.

[@goldhawkroad]

They commanded respect too & were extremely articulate. Presenters were also keen for the public to learn and unlike the trend started by Paxman, they did not constantly interrupt to become the story

[@th8257]

Wilson was mentally and physically exhausted by this point. He'd been suffering from heart problems, but also the first signs of Alzheimer's had started and begun to affect his memory.

[@MrDaiseymay]

I heard this

[@trollop_7]

Is it possible that Biden is plagiarising this stratagem?

[@misterteaification]

I'm not sure I believe the bit about heart problems. Remember what followed this, that Wilson tried to become a TV chatshow host.

[@MarkHarrison733]

@@misterteaification It was a disaster due to his Alzheimer's.

[@MarkHarrison733]

He had colon cancer by 1975.

[@deborahrobertson8606]

I was 15 when this was broadcast and can remember the shock of his sudden resignation. How far we have fallen as a nation, culturally! People were so much more articulate and cultured then. Just shows you that material affluence does not lead to civilisation. Also the comprehensive system has destroyed state education.Wilson, Heath and Thatcher were all state grammar school pupils, who went to Oxbridge. State grammars offered the finest education to all classes. Now it's back to those with money.

[@zachsmith5515]

me too! i was 14 and even we at school felt the shock

[@MarkHarrison733]

His resignation was widely expected by the end of 1975.

[@stevehillier7018]

Love the way Brian Walden lifts his eyes at Hart. Very funny 😄

[@robertmay9798]

Walden sounded fair-handed even as an MP!

[@highdefboxing8056]

I knew he'd been a Labour MP, but this is the first time I've ever seen him in the role.

[@davidcole8268]

Wilson freely admitted his major achievement was holding the Labour Party together - triangulation in today’s argot. Despite presiding over national decline, a wily act sadly missing from today’s scene.

[@LeftLib]

Funny to watch Judith Hart trying to take the moral high ground before finally admitting she would be supporting Foot.

[@stevebbuk]

Her prediction as to who might finish second was nearer to the others' though.

[@sevenwatson5854]

Loved Brian Walden!!

[@explorer806]

Bwian!

[@stormytempest3907]

@@explorer806 Now Now.😁

[@duncanpriestley964]

Fair enough, I take your point but I put it to you....

[@djlewis5149]

The main who coined the term ‘Victorian values’ for MT

[@CyberspacedLoner]

The last years of the progressive; economic policies/welfare state

[@lukewilliams448]

A system that broke the country in the late 70s - although admittedly we should have followed Norway’s lead.

[@kevindouglas5333]

You do see England today

[@cymonhumphries3246]

Yes it was the worst time & government I remember in my time

[@zachsmith5515]

last years of the UK totally going down the drain thanks to the Trade Union movement

[@ianwilliams6042]

My God! A 14 year old Jonathan Dimbleby.

[@mrlotusmic]

Mr Thorpe looks distracted. Possibly had other things on his mind.

[@briansparks8528]

Yup it sounded like he had a frog in his throat

[@Compleme_Cunm]

He'd likely just seen an advert for Scooby Doo and the guilty feelings rose up

[@davelowe1977]

If there was ever a man who snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

[@bobacrey1068]

He'll resign himself 2 months later

[@ysgol3]

LOL. Rinker??

[@stevehillier7018]

21 years later Brian Walden gives a good account of Callaghan in Labour Leaders . Walden on Callaghan. Worth a watch

[@gnjp8340]

Fascinating to watch !! An other era … everyone so polite , lots of RP English , pipe smoking on screen , . Thorpe all dressed up and wonderfully balanced Liberal gentleman … ( A Dedicated Follower of Fashion ) … but do remember day very well was with my father walking in the street and saw it on one of Evening Standard type paper announcement … my father was knocked back as He thought Wilson had been instrumental in transforming Britain in 60s , … his words on seeing the headline was “Not good , not good at all …”

[@johnking5174]

It truly was a very different era Greg, you are quite correct. I have always had an admiration for Harold Wilson. My own politics is centre-left - some pollster asked me what type of voter I was and I replied that I was a floating voter, except I only ever floated between Labour and the Liberals. Harold Wilson was the epitome of 1960s Britain. His 1966 election landslide was probably his highest point of his political career. When I look back at 1966, it was thee year of the swinging sixties, and Labour was at its peak. Sadly he mad a terrible decision to have a general election in June 1970, which brought in the repulsive Edward Heath as Prime Minister. If Wilson had have waited until September 1970 or early spring 1971, I feel Labour would have won with a decent small majority - Wilson's biggest mistake was the 1970 calling of the election. Totally misjudged the feeling of the electorate.

[@pendragon4905]

Good God, Llew Gardiner!!! Never thought I would see him or hear that distinctive voice again. He died aged 60 in 1990. Quite young; I wonder what happened to him. Can't believe I have outlived him already...

[@WintersWar]

I keep revisiting his interview with Robert Graves. I love it.

[@tonymcmahon_historybear]

Astonishing Harold Wilson was only 60 - he looked ten years older!

[@johnking5174]

That is what being Prime Minister does to you. From 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1976, 8 years of turmoil for the man.

[@Mrrobackenson1]

Loved Thames TV.

[@youmothershouldknow4905]

Benny Hill show

[@liamdoyle8745]

told joe haines in 1974 he was going two years time his biggest achievement that the press never got wind of it

[@flashtheoriginal]

It was hard, tough for him, yet courageous. His brain was showing early signs of the dementia which was eventually to engulf him. His mind, a sharpened, dynamic tool, symbolised by a first class honours degree in one of the ultimate cerebral subjects, sounded danger to him. It must have been a truly terrifying and irreversible devastation. In effect, a time bomb. The increasing stress of our economic outlook would have caused untold mental anguish but, hear this.....when it came to directing a response to the big issues he was a fighter not a quitter Harold Wilson was one of the greatest men this country ever had. A politician, a leader, an Englishman. He actively supported the Ford Motor Company investment in England, he kept us out of the Vietnam War, he respected a sovereign UK outside of any European political union. The Queen respected him and he lionised her.

[@MarkHarrison733]

British troops fought in the Vietnam War.

[@flashtheoriginal]

@@MarkHarrison733 Not under the British Flag. Dunce

[@MarkHarrison733]

@@flashtheoriginal Actually they did.

[@flashtheoriginal]

@@MarkHarrison733 No. They didnt, it was an international concession under US auspices. The UK taxpayer did not fund it

[@MarkHarrison733]

@@flashtheoriginal They fought under the Union Jack. The UK has been a satellite of the United States since Churchill signed the Atlantic Charter, as the Suez Crisis confirmed.

[@danielmurray1490]

The run off was callaghan vs foot,who replaced callaghan in 1980

[@rickwilmot9127]

Harold Wilson has been our best PM in my lifetime. I will be 82 in November 2021.

[@harmlessdrudge]

Even his colleague Denis Healey said Wilson was a terrible Prime Minister. He promised 'the white heat of the technological revolution' and instead presided over a series of economic crises.

[@rickwilmot9127]

Healey would have dragged us into the war in Vietnam!

[@rickwilmot9127]

@King Royal Really????

[@rickwilmot9127]

@King Royal Easier for me to copy and paste. "The only British military personnel that *officially* served in Vietnam were a small number of British Army Royal Military Police MPs who provided security at the British Embassy in Saigon. The detachment never numbered more than a dozen or so at any given time."

[@MarkHarrison733]

@@rickwilmot9127 British soldiers served in the Vietnam War.

[@kevindouglas5333]

I saw that Thames opening and was hoping for Benny Hill

[@mikemartin2957]

Ha ha, Benny's show had been on the previous evening , Wednesday , recorded in the same studio probably at Teddington!

[@AntarcticaTelevision]

@@mikemartin2957 Factual programmes like this were actually shot at Euston.

[@staceygrove5976]

18:00 Judith Hart's appearance and performance in the final minutes of this clip are the highlight of the show, and a bit of a hoot, quite honestly. I was astonished to learn recently that she was an alcoholic who smoked 60 cigarettes a day!

[@hazelwray4184]

"a hoot" - She was right when she said that the future of the Labour movement was at stake. Callaghan won and his 1976 speech at conference marked the end of the (Keynesian) 'postwar consensus'.

[@staceygrove5976]

@@hazelwray4184 I don't doubt that this was the case. See my reply to John King & Kailash Patel elsewhere in these comments. I was simply referring above to Judith's otherworldly appearance here and rather haughty manner!

[@misterteaification]

"an alcoholic" in what sense exactly? Many people drink a fair bit, it doesn't make them 'alcoholics'.

[@staceygrove5976]

@@misterteaification Her own son apparently described her as such. She does look a bit zonked out to me in that close-up before she begins her reply, though she is of course perfectly articulate and coherent here. I appreciate your point however. I drink a bottle of wine most evenings, and like to think I remain fairly functional on such occasions.

[@markshrimpton3138]

@@misterteaification her two son’s said she was ‘a functioning alcoholic’

[@MarkHarrison733]

British soldiers fought in the Vietnam War, although it was denied at the time.

[@securityrobot]

Brian Walden winner of the 1976 Patrick Malahide look-a-like competition.

[@bobacrey1068]

Jones!!!!!

[@ian_b]

He and Patrick had a lucrative side hustle winning each others lookalike competitions. It only came to an end when other lookalikes gave up entering, leading to the competitions' demise.

[@pasha578]

Brian Walden: "I was asked when Harold Wilson would resign and I said oh, about 1995". Turns out that was in fact the year that he died.

[@johnking5174]

He actually said "about 1985"

[@Patriotic_Brit]

I noticed that as well

[@petekadenz9465]

Walden seems so pleased with himself

[@ysgol3]

So funny to see Thorpe there - Norman, Rinka and all that.

[@stephaniehayden7630]

It is a good job Tony Crossland did not win, he was dead the following year and David Owen in as foreign secretary.

[@Nebulous0_o]

He wuz alright wuz ‘arold

[@MrDaiseymay]

but his greatest achievement, was promoting those Gannex Raincoats he wore, for that bloke who was later arrested for fraud. And, don't forget, he made Mike Yarwood famous, and other impressionists.

[@Rob_Walker.]

Ey up all 😊

[@brianwarden7250]

Judith Hart with a near full ashtray and the gin soaked voice. Loved her.

[@Mrrobackenson1]

Judith looks like she's been on the sauce 😂

[@johnking5174]

She was described by her son as a highly functional alcoholic.

[@musiconair]

She looks as though someone has just let off in her face....

[@johnking5174]

@@musiconair She drank heavily

[@zachsmith5515]

she didn't like getting to the point, that's for sure

[@johnking5174]

It does feel that Judith Hart seems to have had a "little drinkie" to settle her nerves before appearing on here. Every time she is asked a question, she wanders off into another land, before being dragged back by Llew Gardner - she was well known for her alcoholism back then.

[@zachsmith5515]

she didn't like getting to the point, that's for sure

[@brucee6123]

I always feel like Jeremy Thorpe and Stanley Baxter were long-lost brothers.

[@ivandinsmore6217]

I just noticed this now 😄😄😄

[@richardsharpe2966]

I remember Llew Gardner what ever happened to him would like to please

[@NickGreenwoodable]

He died in 1999 at the relatively young age of 66.

[@sanderdeboer6034]

I keep on seeing this through Yes Minister eyes. Hard to see it as reality, in stead of a sitcom.

[@johnking5174]

Judith Hart has an accent which sounds she would have suited the Conservative Party rather than the Labour Party.

[@ivandinsmore6217]

Everyone spoke well then.

[@smagic6553]

@@ivandinsmore6217 Everyone had a blocked nose back then

[@atulnayak5715]

It appears you will never be a fine Tory or Labour politician if you had a strong regional accent like a Scouse one.

[@Gwailo54]

And now the Tory benches, sadly, seem to have more than their fair share of mouthy yobbos, there is no other way to describe them. Politics have changed since that time, for the worse. 1979 ushered in a more dogmatic, combative and adversarial approach which I regretted. It has become worse over the decades. I've seen people saying how nice the politicians are not interrupted by the journalists all the time, but back then the politicians did not come out with a sound bite that was incessantly repeated mantra like to fill up a ten minute (at most) interview.

[@albertarthurparsnips5141]

It’s always rather a pleasure to hear old Jim’s surname pronounced with an enunciated ‘g’. I wonder if he ever minded it at all ?…

[@MrGranfield]

It transpired that Jim Callaghan won.

[@darren2514fv]

At the time there was a minority Labour government there was a lot of pressure for a election especially with a majority of 1 with a spate of by-election defeats in 1975-77

[@ThomasBoyd-yf5wm]

Harold Wilson Labour Prime minister resigned in 1976. At time shock by it saddened about it he was meant be like that he he should last longer than that. Margaret Sweeney said Labour party go down tubes politically when Harold Wilson resign in 1976. She said she said he win 1978 General election Harold Wilson Labour government. He socialist Harold Wilson Thomas it Mixed Economy Clement Atlee Labour Britain 1945 to 1979. Ian Ogilvy actor he socialist Thomas he Saint TV series 1978. Art Bezrukavenko win Labour government in 2024 UK general election in England London Britain. Awesome.

[@JamesHenderson-wk4hd]

British soldiers served in Vietnam.

[@pusscat1147]

Why's everybody in a bucket chair 🪣

[@dlk1dlk1]

They were in fashion then.

[@redneckrosey8221]

Reminds me of a watered down Monty Python sketch.

[@Dbdbe1]

Jonathan Dimbleby as Olly Reader from the Thick of It

[@nishimura8964]

Ahh, Bwian Walden. Good nostalgia

[@sarto2010]

Thames TV. 😍

[@martinmcdonald4207]

Smoking and drinking to be damned!

[@johnking5174]

Harold Wilson knew in advance the financial hell his government would face by autumn 1976. The UK Sterling Crisis would see the British needing a huge IMF bailout. Harold's resignation was the last straw for the pound sterling. It started its fall a few weeks after he left office. He knew this would happen, & didn't want to carry the burden, left it to Callaghan.

[@NickGreenwoodable]

I think there might be a bit of post hoc rationalisation here. He told his wife Mary, when he became PM again in February 1974, that he would serve a maximum of two years. And as others have said, he was also detecting a loss in his famous mental powers and photographic memory.

[@kailashpatel1706]

Goverment never needed the IMF loan..they fell for Treasury accounting sleights..

[@staceygrove5976]

@@kailashpatel1706 That's probably true. I think the 'IMF crisis' could well have been engineered so that the Labour establishment could neutralize the Left in the party. This process was already underway, with Benn demoted from Industry Minister in 1975, and Foot moved from the powerful Employment post to 'Leader of the House of Commons' in early '76. The IMF loan was only for £2.5 billion (about £20 billion in today's money) - Osborne was borrowing over £100 billion per year, and Sunak well over double that. Just look at the way Callaghan and Healey were relishing socking it to the Left at the 1976 party conference - 'Crisis, what crisis?'. LOL.

[@peteroneill2991]

The 70’s were turbulent times economically; the gold standard was being ditched and in 1973 we had the oil embargo (1st oil shock). The developed world went into recession with stagflation. There was also the 73/74 world stock market crash with the London stock exchange being hit the hardest. The UK was also hit with the 1973-75 secondary banking crisis caused by an housing crisis (sounds familiar), also the 1974 miners’ strike and 3-day week. The last straw was the sterling crisis in which the bank of England used up its foreign currency reserves in trying to defend the pound. In 1975 the government requested a $3.9 Billion loan; it actually only drew half of that which was paid in full by 4th May 1979. The loan came with harsh conditions which the government fully implemented with drastic budget cuts, relations with the trade unions soured culminating in the 1978/79 winter of discontent. By 1978 the UK had recovered

[@lindanewall9683]

Hence his statement " the pound in your pocket".

[@youmothershouldknow4905]

ThamesTV? Where’s Benny Hill?

[@johnking5174]

Thames made a huge variety of programmes, including a lot of political shows.

[@youmothershouldknow4905]

@@johnking5174 I know. The Benny Hill Show was peak-Thames must-see-TV.

[@johnking5174]

@@youmothershouldknow4905 Benny was a massive star in the US - you could not go to a TV market without his show being on one of the stations by 1976

[@youmothershouldknow4905]

@@johnking5174 Yup 👍! Fun stuff.

[@danielmurray1490]

Michael foot very nearly became prime minister after Wilson's resignation if he had there wouldn't of been a winter of discontent and thatcherism would never of happened

[@johnking5174]

Do you have a crystal ball or a TARDIS? Which ever Labour prime minister was in office then, they would have been confronted by the unions.

[@danielmurray1490]

@@johnking5174 who said I had a crystal ball it's an opinion I'm suggesting that it's a time and a place moment Foot would of been a more successful prime minister in 76 then leader of the opposition in 1980 nobody asked you to comment so don't be smart

[@johnking5174]

@@danielmurray1490 I will comment if I wish. I am a centre left Labour supporter myself.

[@danielmurray1490]

@@johnking5174 I feel Michael foot would of dealt with the winter of discontent better then callaghan the SDP have alot of blame to shoulder for Thatchers 80s election success

[@jonnobloggs8642]

@@danielmurray1490 Nonsense .The Labour Lite Party had nowt to do with The T Lady's success in 1983 .She won on the back of The Falklands conflict .In March 1982 the Tories were in the low 20 per cent then along comes Galtieri a month later looking for a scrap and hey presto jingoism sets into the minds of the public and the conservatives share of the vote rises to 45 per cent and remained there until the election .Even if the SDP had not been formed the Tories would still have won with a whopping majority .

[@fruitychink]

Ill health was the only reason .

[@johnking5174]

Harold Wilson knew in advance the financial hell his government would face by the autumn of 1976. The UK Sterling Crisis would see the British needing a whopping IMF bailout. Harold's resignation was the last straw for the pound sterling. It started its fall a few weeks after he left office. I feel he knew this would happen, and didn't want to carry the burden, left it to Callaghan.

[@tomellis4324]

I stand to be corrected on this but didn't Mr Wilson eventually admit somewhere that he and his government were the political victims of a MI5/ Far Right plot within the security services?

[@fruitychink]

@@tomellis4324 I think there was always a view that the Establishment conspired against all Labour Government from Ramsay MacDonald onwards . The alleged security threat from Wilson when he was in Attlees Cabinet in the Board of Trade has become the present popular currency . I think there was a general disinclination by the Establishment to accept a Labour Government and this was just another manifestation of it . Interesting conspiracy though .

[@tomellis4324]

@@fruitychink I think it has progressed beyond conspiracy theory Alan. Colin Wallace a British army intelligence officer was shadowing the unusual relationship between Loyalist terrorist groups and members of the security forces in Northern Ireland . He was "steered" away from certain individuals. He made waves with his investigations. Thus he was subsequently arrested and convicted for murder, released due to retrial and faulty, contrived evidence. Had been described as a man of integrity and almost irreplaceable by his commanding officer. Again Alan I stand to be corrected but he too or others round him found a correlation between far right figures in the establishment and Mr Wilson. Wilson admitted I think sometime later that members of the security services were actively working against him.

[@freddiejsmith5]

1995 was the year Wilson died

[@radioandtvmemories6178]

Best PM ever

[@MarkHarrison733]

Wilson was a complete disaster.

[@williamdewell6400]

5

[@rajnirvan3336]

Brian Walden was Mr Sunday afternoon

[@kevinlongman007]

Wilson had said privately that he would step down when he reached the age of 60 and he did.

[@MarkHarrison733]

He had colon cancer and Alzheimer's disease by 1975.

[@kevinlongman007]

@@MarkHarrison733 Yes but that does not change the fact he said he would retire at sixty!

[@pusscat1147]

I've never seen Jonathan Dimbleby so young

[@MrDaiseymay]

he was 12 then

[@alankirkby465]

Puss Cat Interestingly enough, I passed him by chance ( don't personally know him ) in Regent Street, Clifton, Bristol. several months ago (2020) Peace to all.

[@pusscat1147]

@@MrDaiseymay Yes 12 months old with a remarkable grasp of the English language

[@pusscat1147]

@@alankirkby465 😲

[@misterteaification]

@@alankirkby465 I met him in February 1991, on the day after the great blizzard. I had struggled to London, with hardly any trains running, to meet a friend visiting from Brazil; that evening Dimbleby was to host Any Questions, and because (with the state of the roads) none of the panellists could travel, the show was hurriedly relocated to London from Nether Herringbonington or wherever they had intended to set it up. Trudging through the slush, I walked past a sign near Piccadilly Circus that said 'BBC Any Questions - in here'. It's just as well that I wasn't from the IRA.

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

A man smoking a pipe on TV!

[@Johnconno]

The Glory Days. The whole of Britain was brown.

[@Ray-xh6gb]

He was bugged by mifive he was removed by the secret elite

[@misterteaification]

The assertions of Carvel and Walden, that the departure was planned, fly in the face of at least two other pieces of evidence. These are a) the well-known story, repeated in biographies and accounts of the politics of the time, that Wilson - a man famous among colleagues for his capacious and efficient memory - suddenly discovered that he had forgotten to process one particular task for a friend, which led him to believe that his mind was deteriorating; and b) the verdict of Crossman, given in his diaries as a result of close observation over many years, that Wilson was (almost the exact words used) a "reckless, impulsive creature".

[@blueb0g]

Well, the much more important evidence is that Wilson had, for many years, confided in a number of people about a departure in late 75 or early 76. When he had expected to win the 70 election, he told several confidants that he expected to carry on as PM only for another 2 years. The evidence that the resignation was planned is absolute, and is confirmed by numerous witnesses. Crossman's judgement of Wilson as "impulsive" - given their turbulent relationship - is neither here nor there.

[@misterteaification]

@@blueb0g name these supposed "witnesses", then. As you will be well aware, statements made at one time expecting one outcome are no evidence at all when the outcome changes.

[@blueb0g]

@@misterteaification The outcome didn't change. Almost the whole cabinet knew the departure date before Wilson's announcement. Read the detailed section of Pimlott's biography providing this at length.

[@Daisy-yq1gi]

What strikes me when watching politicians of yesteryear is how, regardless of education, how much more eloquent they were than the current shower on offer. Give me the Tony Benn type any day. Wilson was, of course, despite his working class roots, a good friend to a system that, very soon, would crush the unions, fail to deal with the divide between rich and poor, and indeed excerbate it. Worse still, Labour's failure to provide effective leadership against the Tories.

[@richardsteele3609]

royal hrh estates crown estates will give work and borrow off intl usa funders

[@MarkHarrison733]

What was Wilson's legacy? Well, in his first term, the economy drifted from one sterling crises to another, in his second term inflation exploded and reached 25-30 % in '75. Industrial relations worsened during his tenure culminating in 68-69, and he completely failed to curb union power as laid out in "In Place of Strife". He tried desperately to solve the problem with South Rhodesia, but failed. He even tried to broker a peace in Vietnam but failed at that also. It was also during his first term that violence in Northern Ireland started to escalate. The "National Plan" was abandoned in favor of deflation to keep the pound afloat. The fundamental problem in the British economy (inefficient state-owned industries) was never tackled. Rather big failing state industries were just merged into huge conglomerates (like British Leyland). And finally he allowed his cabinet to be riddled with factions and mistrust, which shows that his leadership qualities were questionable.

[@staffie1uk]

When Labour was electable, and politicians on both sides had brains. What went wrong?

[@johnking5174]

Labour became un-electable after Harold Wilson resigned. Callaghan, maybe a well meaning man, but he was far too blunt, and ruined himself by his arrogance over when to call a general election in 1978. From that point on, until John Smith became leader in 1992, Labour was totally un-electable.

[@benphilips9918]

One cannot honestly say that he was a very good Prime Minister; a victim of events rather than a shaper. He had a feline quality which enabled him to see off opponents and fight another day but no one in truth knew where he was taking us, including himself. UDI in Rhodesia in '65, the seamen's strike in '66, Devaluation in '67, the failure to get In Place of Strife past his cabinet colleagues in '69 and the capitulation to the miners in '74 suggests a man who was prisoner rather than a master of events. He took Britain from the world of black and white to colour but was otherwise part of Britain's tale of post-war decline. Shortly after his resignation the lid came off the Labour Party and the hostilities between left and right which had been fermenting erupted to the surface. By that stage he was well out of it and forgotten very soon after. Ps - note at 12:00 on the film - inflation at 27% !!!

[@robertmay9798]

Fair assessment, a great winner, but for what purpose. On balance I think I'd still rather Labour had a listless, wily winner like Wilson, than an principaled loser like Foot/Corbyn.

[@euanparker2534]

He was part of an astonishing sea of important and wonderful social change that made Britain a far kinder place to live. Bar Atlee, he was the best PM in the history of the 20th Century.

[@benphilips9918]

@@euanparker2534 beg to disagree. There was nothing good about Britain in the late Seventies. We were the Sick Man of Europe.

[@MarkHarrison733]

@@robertmay9798 Wilson only really won one GE out of five.

[@MarkHarrison733]

@@euanparker2534 Wilson was a Soviet agent like Foot. His vile social reforms destroyed the UK.

[@redneckrosey8221]

The only decent Labour Leader

[@Algolxxxxxx]

Who are these sophisticated cats?

[@petekadenz9465]

And Jim Pryor is just awful.

[@michaelsalt4565]

I actually remember this, my father said he was getting out before the economy imploded. A year later, the UK went to the IMF for a bailout. On 1976 the UK was on the verge of economic collapse and the socialists were at the time the most happiest they have ever been.

[@LeighRichards27]

As it happens, and denis healy later admitted this, the imf deal wasnt needed - the uk economy was already stabilising. And within 18 months inflation had shrunk to single figures and unemployment had fallen to under a million! Within 18 months of thatcher taking over unemployment was 2 and a half million and inflation had doubled!

[@michaelsalt4565]

@@LeighRichards27 and by the time Thatcher left UK government debt was halved. Anyone can take "facts" to justify their political view, the point is the UK economy was in an absolute mess, a top rate of tax of 97% was killing the country. Trade unions were effectively running the country into the ground and until Thatcher came along no politicans was prepared to take them on.

[@davelowe1977]

@@michaelsalt4565 Correct. We need another antidote to 30 years of socialism similar to Thatcher.

[@Luxsky]

@@LeighRichards27 Yes, Mrs Thatcher presided over 22% inflation, mass unemployment - the destruction of one third of the manufacturing base during her first period of office. Dreadful levels of poverty and inequality. She started her period of office by exacerbating a global recession and ended it with another recession.

[@LeighRichards27]

@@davelowe1977 another poll tax you mean? 😱

[@Bill-cv1xu]

Ok then. Let's proceed with all that.

[@jasonayres]

Mr. Reztip, what is your response to Mr. Prior being excluded from the Mr. Men book series? Was he a man Before his time?🎤🤔

[@Mrrobackenson1]

Three years later, Maggie came in!!!!!

[@zapkvr]

And proceeded to gut the middle class

[@zachsmith5515]

she saved us

[@euanparker2534]

@@zachsmith5515 She ended Britain as a great country.

[@MarkHarrison733]

@@euanparker2534 Britain had ceased to be great by the 1930s.

[@euanparker2534]

@@MarkHarrison733 I don't believe so, I think Britain was doing great things domestically with the Welfare State, the NHS, and the Post-War Consensus. No doubt we were no longer a world-power, but power isn't the only measure of worth.

[@QuadMochaMatti]

Mr. Wilson, Mr. Heath, Mr. Kite. It's for his benefit.

[@lindanewall9683]

on trampoline

[@wilsonfisk6626]

@@J.R-Hartley uh uh Mr. Johnson uh uh Mr. Starmer!

[@wombat1238marsupial]

He was always going to go, he promised the unions everything to win the Election in 1974, then left Callaghan to sail the "sinking ship" through the upcoming stormy waters.

[@randynutter5510]

Exactly right. Wilson was a slimy man and pm, a tactical operator who really cared about nothing except being in power. He left just before it all fell apart, having done nothing at all to right the ship.

[@chaddamp2894]

Wilson in his privacy ..smoked cigars and drank brandy,he smoked a pipe in public as he thought that would be more "working class" to attract voters...what a hypocrite !!!!

[@trollop_7]

​@@randynutter5510: _"cared about nothing except being in power"_ Did you have a politician in mind that is somehow exceptional in this regard?

[@misterteaification]

"He was always going to go" Was he, though? He loved being prime minister. He hated being out of office in the early 1970s, not least because of the income drop it entailed (see Cecil King's diary). He was adored by many Labour voters, cynical though they probably were about his ability to actually help them. There is a lot of controversy (and probably always will be) about his real motives for leaving, not least because many claim he came to bitterly regret his decision.

[@misterteaification]

@@randynutter5510 had Wilson "really cared about nothing except being in power", he wouldn't have wanted to go, would he?

[@user-if4zu1ic5b]

He resigned not because the security services confronted him as a communist sympathiser... but as a Soviet spy - it's just not openly discussed - at least in Britain.

[@MarkHarrison733]

Wilson was a Soviet agent, like Foot.

[@nickbaxter8797]

The Wilson governments failed to grapple with the economic decline of the country. Fortunately, Thatcher had the resolution and intellectual heft to do that. But Wilson’s governments enacted some good, progressive social reforms: abolition of capital punishment, decriminalisation of homosexuality, creation of the Open University, legalisation of abortion etc.

[@johnking5174]

Don't forget, it was the Thatcher policies which increased unemployment to over 3 million by the early 1980s, a level not even barely reached under Wilson's governments.

[@nickbaxter8797]

@@johnking5174 true, but that was necessary in order to squeeze inflation and inefficiency out of an economy that was almost on its last legs when Thatcher took over.

[@johnking5174]

@@nickbaxter8797 Yes, the medicine was hard to take. Very hard in fact. Sad that when the medicine was given, it took a long time before the good effects were seen.

[@euanparker2534]

@@johnking5174 So long in fact, that it ended up being the completely wrong approach. Other major economies that stayed the course ended up in far better positions than Thatcher's zombified Britain.

[@MarkHarrison733]

@@johnking5174 Wilson closed twice as many coal mines.

[@caroljones4511]

Harold Wilson one of the UK's greatest Prime Minister's

[@johnking5174]

I preferred him over Edward Heath certainly, as Heath always seemed to me to be a man without a soul - cold as ice, no emotion, with ice water running through his arteries and veins. Wilson was much more warmer.

[@stumagoo2395]

@@johnking5174 I think even most Tories preferred Wilson over Heath.

[@stuartgallagher186]

Harold WAS THE BEST PM ....... He had respect for the position , unlike that disgrace of a human being Johnson ...... !!

[@johnsinclair4111]

Should add. Spot the snout in the trough Dimbleby. BBC nepotism alive and well. Scrap the licence fee.

[@explorer806]

Dimbleby on ITV, you mean?

[@johnking5174]

John Sinclair, are you bloody blind? This was made by Thames Television for ITV. Jonathan would not start any work at the BBC until On the Record in the late 1980s. Do your research!

[@lylahale5284]

could you smoke a pipe indoors in the 70,s ?

[@johnking5174]

Of course - during the 1979 general election on BBC One, Robin Day puffed away on a cigar through the night.

[@riverbraithwaite7741]

You could smoke a pipe indoors in 2005.

[@Gwailo54]

You should see more TV from the 60s, 70s and a much lesser extent the 80s, when workplace smoking bans were slowly introduced. Smoking was also more commonplace in society. The downside was that talented people, like Peter Jenkins, died young of smoking related causes. He and Carvell were on opposite sides politically but would you have known it? I miss those days.

[@zachsmith5515]

of course! we had freedom then

[@TheForkhandles]

His usefulness to Moscow had come to an end.

[@gabrielacobian9137]

HW was forced out and it was well known. He was one of the best PMs in Britain his problem was that he was on the left and that is intolerable in England. I wonder why these people show surprise

[@channelfogg6629]

'HW was forced out and it was well known.' - Well known to you perhaps, but seen as ridiculous by everyone else.

[@gabrielacobian9137]

@@channelfogg6629 Maybe U and your (everyone else) were sleeping or chose to claim ignorance of the fact that HW was forced out because he was considered to be friendly to Russia. Some even said that he was a spy

[@MarkHarrison733]

Wilson was a complete disaster.

[@ferraridinoman]

Silly old bat!! RIP.

[@patrickjoneill5836]

I was with my then boss, a Labour supporter, when we heard that Wilson had resigned. "He'll go down in history as a great man," he said. Only politeness and a desire to keep my job prevented me from bursting out laughing.

[@LeighRichards27]

Er he won 4 general elections - name me anyone else who done that?

[@michaelsalt4565]

@@LeighRichards27 factually correct, although he didn't have enough Labour MPs to govern with any authority after the elections in 1964 and 1974. A prime minister who was both lucky and unlucky at the same time.

[@briandelaney9710]

I think he is more appreciated now then he ever was. Read Ben Pimlott’s biography

[@Witheredgoogie]

@@briandelaney9710 The picture of him surrounded in smoke was an apt cover.

[@kevinbarry4595]

I believe history will be kind to Harold Wilson, he was Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party when our country enduring extremely difficult circumstances. Llew Gardner was always a good, solid interviewer of politicians.

[@Witheredgoogie]

As Prime Minister he made more trips to the USSR than any other leader in history, in fact there was one time the security services lost him for a day over there.....go figure as maybe conscience caught up with him?.

[@LeighRichards27]

The deranged extreme right fantasies of peter wright - he even thought people who read the daily mirror were 'communists' - doesnt constitute proof of anything! Course the actual russian spies and traitirs were toffs like blunt and public school educated philby and maclean!

[@Witheredgoogie]

@@LeighRichards27 yes and Wilson was a toff too, he put his pipe and raincoat away as soon as he shut the front door. In fact most of the Labour cabinet were toffs apart from Sunny Jim and Denis Healey and they were thrown to the wolves as 'militant' engulfed the Labour Party.

[@LeighRichards27]

@@Witheredgoogie how was wilson a toff? He went to a grammar school for goodness sake

[@trollop_7]

@@LeighRichards27 Define toff.

[@alangardner8596]

5 socialists discussing the end of another socialist failed leader.

[@robertmay9798]

I think it would be news to most observers that Jim Prior was a socialist!

[@staceygrove5976]

@@robertmay9798 Margaret Thatcher probably thought he was! Many Neo-Thatcherite types in the comments section of the Daily Telegraph regularly describe anyone more than a couple of degrees to the left of Jacob Rees-Mogg as a 'Marxist'.

[@shayboubbinshaddad7181]

The chief rat left the sinking labour ship🏃🏼 funny comment😂

[@keithhakansson3538]

He was an evil individual

[@johnking5174]

You have just wrote a troll sentence without explaining or reasoning why you believe this. So, please state why Harold Wilson was evil - if you don't, you are simply trolling.