View source for Harold Wilson

{{Short description|Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1964–1970, 1974–1976)}}
{{Other people}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2026}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix    = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name                = The Lord Wilson of Rievaulx
| honorific_suffix    = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KG|OBE|PC|FRS|FSS}}
| image               = President Gerald Ford and British Prime Minister Harold Wilson (crop).jpg
| caption             = Wilson in 1975
| office              = [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]]
| monarch             = [[Elizabeth II]]
| term_start          = 4 March 1974
| term_end            = 5 April 1976
| predecessor         = [[Edward Heath]]
| successor           = [[James Callaghan]]
| monarch1            = Elizabeth II
| term_start1         = 16 October 1964
| term_end1           = 19 June 1970
| 1blankname1         = {{nowrap|[[First Secretary of State|First Secretary]]}}
| 1namedata1          = {{ubl|[[George Brown, Baron George-Brown|George Brown]]|[[Michael Stewart, Baron Stewart of Fulham|Michael Stewart]]|[[Barbara Castle]]}}
| predecessor1        = [[Alec Douglas-Home]]
| successor1          = [[Edward Heath]]
| office2             = [[Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Leader of the Labour Party]]
| deputy2             = {{unbulleted list|George Brown|[[Roy Jenkins]]|[[Edward Short, Baron Glenamara|Edward Short]]}}
| term_start2         = 14 February 1963
| term_end2           = 5 April 1976
| predecessor2        = [[Hugh Gaitskell]]
| successor2          = James Callaghan
{{Collapsed infobox section begin|last = yes|Senior political offices
| titlestyle       = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder
| embed            = yes
| office3             = [[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Leader of the Opposition]]
| prime_minister3      = Edward Heath
| term_start3         = 19 June 1970
| term_end3           = 4 March 1974
| monarch3            = Elizabeth II
| predecessor3        = Edward Heath
| successor3          = Edward Heath
| prime_minister4      = {{unbulleted list|[[Harold Macmillan]]|Alec Douglas-Home}}
| term_start4         = 14 February 1963
| term_end4           = 16 October 1964
| monarch4            = Elizabeth II
| predecessor4        = George Brown
| successor4          = Alec Douglas-Home
{{Collapsed infobox section end}}}}
{{Collapsed infobox section begin|last=yes|Ministerial offices
|titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes
 |office5 = [[President of the Board of Trade]]
 |prime_minister5 = [[Clement Attlee]]
 |term_start5 = 29 September 1947
 |term_end5 = 23 April 1951
 |predecessor5 = [[Stafford Cripps]]
 |successor5 = [[Hartley Shawcross]]
 |office6 = [[Secretary for Overseas Trade]]
 |prime_minister6 = Clement Attlee
 |term_start6 = 10 July 1947
 |term_end6 = 29 September 1947
 |predecessor6 = [[Hilary Marquand]]
 |successor6 = [[Arthur Bottomley]]
 |office7 = [[Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works]]
 |prime_minister7 = Clement Attlee
 |minister7 = {{unbulleted list|[[George Tomlinson (British politician)|George Tomlinson]]|[[Charles Key]]}}
 |term_start7 = 26 July 1945
 |term_end7 = 10 July 1947
 |predecessor7 = [[Reginald Manningham-Buller]]
 |successor7 = [[Evan Durbin]]
{{Collapsed infobox section end}}}}
{{collapsed infobox section begin |[[Shadow cabinet]] offices
|cont=yes  |titlestyle=border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes
|office8 = [[Shadow Foreign Secretary]]
|leader8 = {{unbulleted list|Hugh Gaitskell|George Brown}}
|term_start8 = 2 November 1961
|term_end8 = 14 February 1963
|predecessor8 = [[Denis Healey]]
|successor8 = [[Patrick Gordon Walker]]
|office9 = [[Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer]]
|leader9 = Hugh Gaitskell
|term_start9 = 14 December 1955
|term_end9 = 2 November 1961
|predecessor9 = Hugh Gaitskell
|successor9 = James Callaghan
{{Collapsed infobox section end}}}}
|office10 = Member of the [[House of Lords]]
|status10 = [[Lord Temporal]]
|term_label10 = [[Life peer]]age
|term_start10 = 16 September 1983
|term_end10 = 23 May 1995
|office11 = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]
|term_start11 = 5 July 1945
|term_end11 = 13 May 1983
|predecessor11 = [[Stephen King-Hall]]
|successor11 = ''Constituency abolished''
|constituency11 = [[Ormskirk (UK Parliament constituency)|Ormskirk]] (1945–1950)<br>[[Huyton (UK Parliament constituency)|Huyton]] (1950–1983)
| birth_name          = James Harold Wilson
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1916|03|11|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Cowlersley]], Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1995|05|23|1916|03|11|df=y}}{{efn|name = Death}}
| death_place         = London, England
| resting_place       = [[St Mary's Old Church, St Mary's]], Isles of Scilly, England
| party               = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Mary Wilson, Lady Wilson of Rievaulx|Mary Baldwin]]|1 January 1940}}
| children            = 2, including [[Robin Wilson (mathematician)|Robin]]
| alma_mater          = [[Jesus College, Oxford]]
| occupation          = {{hlist|Politician|author|lecturer}}
| signature           = 
}}
{{Harold Wilson sidebar}}
'''James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx''' (11 March 1916 – 23 May 1995{{efn|name = Death|Most news sources give Wilson's date of death as 24 May 1995. However, his biography on [[gov.uk]] states that he died on 23 May 1995,<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.gov.uk/government/history/past-prime-ministers/harold-wilson|title = Harold Wilson|website = [[Gov.uk]]|accessdate = 16 September 2024}}</ref> as does his entry in the ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', which cites his death certificate.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite ODNB|id=58000|title=Wilson, (James) Harold, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx|last = Jenkins|first = Roy|author-link = Roy Jenkins|date=7 January 2016}}</ref>}}) was a British politician who twice served as [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]], from 1964 to 1970 and from 1974 to 1976. He was [[Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Leader of the Labour Party]] from 1963 to 1976, [[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Leader of the Opposition]] twice from 1963 to 1964 and again from 1970 to 1974, and a [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) from [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945]] to [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983]]. Wilson is the only Labour leader to have formed a government after a general election four separate times.

Born in [[Huddersfield]], Yorkshire, to a politically active [[lower middle-class]] family, Wilson studied [[philosophy, politics and economics]] at [[Jesus College, Oxford]]. He was later an [[Economic History]] lecturer at [[New College, Oxford]], and a research fellow at [[University College, Oxford]]. Elected to Parliament in 1945, Wilson was appointed to the [[Attlee government]] as a [[Parliamentary secretary]]; he became [[Secretary for Overseas Trade]] in 1947, and was elevated to the Cabinet shortly thereafter as [[President of the Board of Trade]]. Following Labour's defeat at the [[1955 United Kingdom general election|1955 election]], Wilson joined the [[Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom)|Shadow Cabinet]] as [[Shadow Chancellor]], and was moved to the role of [[Shadow Foreign Secretary]] in 1961. When Labour leader [[Hugh Gaitskell]] died in January 1963, Wilson won the [[1963 Labour Party leadership election (UK)|leadership election]] to replace him, becoming Leader of the Opposition.

Wilson led Labour to victory twice over the next half a decade; first with a narrow victory in the [[1964 United Kingdom general election|1964 election]], followed by another with an increased majority in [[1966 United Kingdom general election|1966]]. His [[Labour government, 1964–1970|first term as prime minister]] saw a period of low unemployment and economic prosperity that was hindered by significant problems with Britain's external [[balance of payments]]. His government oversaw significant societal changes, abolishing both [[Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965|capital punishment]] and [[Theatres Act 1968|theatre censorship]], [[Sexual Offences Act 1967|partially decriminalising male homosexuality]] in England and Wales, relaxing [[Divorce Reform Act 1969|divorce law]]s, limiting immigration, outlawing [[Race Relations Act 1965|racial discrimination]], and liberalising [[birth control]] and [[Abortion Act 1967|abortion law]]. In response to the intensifying [[1969 Northern Ireland riots|sectarian violence]] in Northern Ireland, he [[Operation Banner|sent over British troops to contain the violence]] in 1969, which contributed to further escalation of [[The Troubles|the Troubles]].

After unexpectedly losing the [[1970 United Kingdom general election|1970 election]] to [[Edward Heath]]'s [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]], Wilson remained as leader of the party, resuming the role of Leader of the Opposition for another four years before once again leading Labour to victory in the [[February 1974 United Kingdom general election|February 1974 election]] albeit with a [[hung parliament]]. He was appointed prime minister [[Labour government, 1974–1979|for a second time]], calling a [[October 1974 United Kingdom general election|snap election]] eight months later, giving Labour a small majority. During his second term, he oversaw the [[1975 United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum|referendum]] that confirmed the UK's membership of the [[European Communities]], and his government set up the [[Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention]] as an attempt to deal with constitutional issues surrounding Northern Ireland. Wilson resigned as prime minister in March 1976, citing his steadily worsening mental and physical health. He remained in the House of Commons until retiring in 1983, when he was elevated to the [[House of Lords]] as Lord Wilson of Rievaulx. Suffering from [[Alzheimer's Disease]], he would maintain a relatively low profile in his later years until his death in May 1995.

While seen by admirers as leading the Labour Party through difficult political issues with considerable skill, Wilson's reputation was low when he left office, and is still disputed in historiography. Some scholars praise his unprecedented electoral success for a Labour prime minister and holistic approach to governance,<ref>Nicholas-Thomas Symonds, ''Harold Wilson: The Winner'' (Orion Publishing Company, 2023).</ref> while others criticise his political style and handling of economic issues.<ref>Andrew S. Crines and Kevin Hickson, eds., ''Harold Wilson: The Unprincipled Prime Minister?: A Reappraisal of Harold Wilson'' (Biteback Publishing, 2016) p. 311.</ref> Several key issues which he faced while prime minister included the role of public ownership, whether Britain should seek the membership of the European Communities, and British involvement in the [[Vietnam War]].<ref name="guardian-19950525">{{cite news |last=Goodman |first=Geoffrey |author-link=Geoffrey Goodman |title=Harold Wilson obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/1995/may/25/obituaries |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |date=1 July 2005 |access-date=10 April 2014 |archive-date=14 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614222946/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/1995/may/25/obituaries |url-status=live}}</ref> His stated ambitions of substantially improving Britain's long-term economic performance, applying technology more democratically, and reducing inequality were to some extent unfulfilled.<ref>Ben Pimlott, ''Harold Wilson'' (1992), pp. 604–605, 648, 656, 670–677, 689.</ref>
{{TOC limit|limit=4}}

==Early life==
James Harold Wilson was born on 11 March 1916 at Warneford Road, [[Cowlersley]], in the western suburbs of the mill town of [[Huddersfield]], in the [[West Riding of Yorkshire]], England. He came from a political family: his father James Herbert Wilson was a works chemist who had been active in the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]], serving as [[Winston Churchill]]'s deputy election agent in a 1908 by-election, but later joined the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]]. His mother Ethel (''née'' Seddon) was a schoolteacher before her marriage; in 1901 her brother [[Harold Seddon]] settled in [[Western Australia]] and became the 8th [[President of the Western Australian Legislative Council]] in 1946. When Wilson was eight, he visited London and a much-reproduced photograph was taken of him standing on the doorstep of [[10 Downing Street]]. At the age of ten, he went with his family to Australia, where he became fascinated with the pomp and glamour of politics. On the way home, he told his mother, "I am going to be prime minister."<ref>Ben Pimlott, ''Harold Wilson'' (1992), pp. 3–20, quote p. 20.</ref>

===Education===
Wilson won a scholarship to attend [[Royds Hall Grammar School]] in [[Huddersfield]], Yorkshire.<ref>{{cite web |last=Major |first=John |title=Mr Major's Commons Tribute to Harold Wilson – 24 May 1995 |url=https://johnmajorarchive.org.uk/1995/05/24/mr-majors-commons-tribute-to-harold-wilson-24-may-1995/ |website=The Rt. Hon. Sir John Major KG CH |date=24 May 1995 |access-date=24 April 2023}}</ref> His father, working as an industrial chemist, was made redundant in December 1930, and it took him nearly two years to find work; he moved to [[Spital, Merseyside|Spital]], on the [[Wirral Peninsula]], to do so. Wilson continued his education in the Sixth Form at the [[Wirral Grammar School for Boys]], where he became [[Head Boy]].

[[File:Wilson banner.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Order of the Garter|Garter]] banner of Harold Wilson in the chapel at [[Jesus College, Oxford]], where he studied PPE]]

Wilson did well at school and, although he missed getting a scholarship, he obtained an [[Exhibition (scholarship)|exhibition]]; this, when topped up by a county grant, enabled him to study at [[Jesus College, Oxford]], from 1934. At Oxford, Wilson was moderately active in politics as a member of the Liberal Party but was strongly influenced by [[G. D. H. Cole]]. His politics tutor, [[R. B. McCallum]], considered Wilson to be the best student he ever had.<ref>Kenneth O. Morgan, ''Labour People: Leaders and Lieutenants, Hardie to Kinnock'' (Oxford University Press, 1987), p. 247.</ref> He graduated in PPE ([[philosophy, politics and economics]]) with "an outstanding first class Bachelor of Arts degree, with alphas on every paper" in the final examinations, and a series of major academic awards.<ref>Ben Pimlott, ''Harold Wilson,'' (1993), p. 59.</ref> Biographer [[Roy Jenkins]] wrote:
<blockquote>Academically his results put him among prime ministers in the category of [[Robert Peel|Peel]], [[Gladstone]], [[Asquith]], and no one else. But...he lacked originality. What he was superb at was the quick assimilation of knowledge, combined with an ability to keep it ordered in his mind and to present it lucidly in a form welcome to his examiners.{{sfn|Jenkins|2004}}</blockquote>

He continued in academia, becoming a research assistant to [[William Beveridge]] in the late-1930s, he also found work lecturing part-time at [[University College, Oxford|University College]] from 1938.{{sfn|Routledge|2006|pp=20–21}}

===War service===
On the outbreak of the [[Second World War]], Wilson volunteered for military service, but was classed as a specialist and moved into the civil service instead. For much of this time, he was a research assistant to [[William Beveridge]], the Master of University College, working on the issues of unemployment and the trade cycle. Wilson later became a statistician and economist for the coal industry. He was Director of Economics and Statistics at the [[Ministry of Fuel and Power]] in 1943–44 and was made an [[OBE]] for his services.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kynaston |first=David |author-link=David Kynaston |title=Austerity Britain 1945–51 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury]] |year=2008 |pages=236, 237 |isbn=978-0-7475-9923-4}}</ref>

He was to remain passionately interested in statistics, becoming a Fellow of the [[Royal Statistical Society]] in 1943.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Moore |first=Peter&nbsp;G. |title=Obituary: James Harold Wilson 1916–95. |journal=Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A (Statistics in Society) |volume=159 |number=1 |year=1996 |page=167 |jstor=2983476|doi=10.1111/j.1467-985X.1996.tb00710.x }}</ref> 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 [[UK|Britain]]. He was instrumental as prime minister in appointing [[Claus Moser]] as head of the [[Central Statistical Office, UK|Central Statistical Office]], and was president of the [[Royal Statistical Society]] between 1972 and 1973.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}

==Member of Parliament (1945–1947)==
As the war drew to an end, he searched for a seat to contest at the impending general election. He was selected for the constituency of [[Ormskirk (UK Parliament constituency)|Ormskirk]], then held by [[Stephen King-Hall]]. Wilson agreed to be adopted as the candidate immediately rather than delay until the election was called, and was therefore compelled to resign from his position in 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 the nationalisation of the coal mines on the grounds of the improved efficiency he predicted would ensue.

In the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945 general election]], Wilson won his seat in the Labour landslide. To his surprise, he was immediately appointed to the government by Prime Minister [[Clement Attlee]] as [[Parliamentary Secretary]] to the [[Ministry of Works (United Kingdom)|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.

The boundaries of his Ormskirk constituency were significantly altered before the [[1950 United Kingdom general election|general election of 1950]]. He stood instead for the new seat of [[Huyton (UK Parliament constituency)|Huyton]] near Liverpool, and was narrowly elected; he served there for 33 years until 1983.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HwyCAgAAQBAJ&q=wilson+mp+for+ormskirk&pg=PA283|title=The Routledge Companion to Britain in the Twentieth Century|isbn=9781134476954|last1=Clapson|first1=Mark|date=23 June 2009|publisher=Routledge |access-date=1 November 2020|archive-date=17 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417194149/https://books.google.com/books?id=HwyCAgAAQBAJ&q=wilson+mp+for+ormskirk&pg=PA283|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Cabinet minister, 1947–1951==
===Bonfire of controls===
Wilson was appointed [[President of the Board of Trade]] on 29 September 1947, becoming, at the age of 31, the youngest member of a British Cabinet in the 20th century. Initially Wilson favoured a more interventionist policy, seeking requirements for government officials to be seated on private [[boards of directors]], further [[price controls]], and [[nationalisation]]s of [[Private sector|private industries]] which opposed government policy. However, he abandoned these plans after his colleagues disagreed.<ref>{{cite book |last=Thorpe |first=Andrew |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-1-349-25305-0 |title=A History of the British Labour Party |date=1997 |publisher=Macmillan Education UK |isbn=978-0-333-56081-5 |location=London |pages=122 |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-25305-0 }}</ref> He made it a priority to reduce [[Rationing in the United Kingdom|wartime rationing]], which he referred to as a "bonfire of controls".<ref name=autogenerated1/> Wilson decided that the massive number of wartime controls was slowing the conversion to peacetime prosperity and he was committed to removing them as fast as possible.<ref>Pimlott (1992) pp 135–132.</ref>  He ended rationing of potatoes, bread and jam, as well as shoes and some other clothing controls.

In November 1948 Wilson's Board of Trade removed the need for over 200,000 licences and permits. By March 1949 he promised to remove the need for another 900,000, although meat remained in short supply and was still rationed, as was petrol.<ref>W. N. Medlicott, ''Contemporary England 1914–1964'' (1967) p. 506.</ref>  Henry Irvine argues that Wilson's success with the bonfire of controls established his reputation as a modernizing specialist, with both the general public and the political elite. Irving also argues that the selection timing and especially the publicity Wilson devoted to the bonfire represented the emerging skills of a brilliant young politician. While each major bonfire was justified in terms of technical economic advantages, it was selected and publicised widely to reach the largest possible audience so that everybody could understand that their bread and jam became free again.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Henry |last=Irving |title=The birth of a politician: Harold Wilson and the bonfires of controls, 1948–9 |journal=Twentieth Century British History |volume=25 |issue=1 |date=2014 |pages=87–107 |doi=10.1093/tcbh/hws044 |url=http://eprints.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/2324/2/The%20birth%20of%20a%20politician_%20Harold%20Wilson%20and%20the%20bonfires%20of%20controls,%201948-9.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720140318/http://eprints.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/2324/2/The%20birth%20of%20a%20politician_%20Harold%20Wilson%20and%20the%20bonfires%20of%20controls%2C%201948-9.pdf |archive-date=20 July 2018 }}</ref>

===Three ambitious young men===
In mid-1949, with Chancellor of the Exchequer [[Stafford Cripps]] having gone to Switzerland in an attempt to recover his health, Wilson was one of a group of three young ministers, all of them former economics dons and wartime civil servants, convened to advise Prime Minister Attlee on financial matters. The others were [[Douglas Jay]] ([[Economic Secretary to the Treasury]]) and [[Hugh Gaitskell]] ([[Minister of Fuel and Power]]), both of whom soon grew to distrust him. Jay wrote of Wilson's role in the debates over whether or not to devalue sterling that "he changed sides three times within eight days and finished up facing both ways". Wilson was given the task during his Swiss holiday of taking a letter to Cripps informing him of the decision to devalue, to which Cripps had been opposed.<ref>Dell 1997, pp. 120, 122.</ref> Wilson had tarnished his reputation in both political and official circles.<ref name="autogenerated1"/> Although a successful minister, he was regarded as self-important. He was not seriously considered for the job of Chancellor when Cripps stepped down in October 1950—it was given to Gaitskell—possibly in part because of his cautious role during devaluation.<ref>Dell 1997, p. 137.</ref><ref>Pimlott (1992) pp 133–153.</ref>

Wilson was becoming known in the Labour Party as a left-winger, and joined [[Aneurin Bevan]] and [[John Freeman (British politician)|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]]. At this time, Wilson was not yet regarded as a heavyweight politician: [[Hugh Dalton]] referred to him scornfully as "Nye [Bevan]'s dog".<ref>Campbell 1987, p. 233.</ref>

After Labour lost the [[1951 United Kingdom general election|1951 election]], he became the Chairman of Keep Left, Bevan's political group. At the bitter Morecambe Conference in late 1952, Wilson was one of the [[Bevanites]] elected as constituency representatives to Labour's [[National Executive Committee of the Labour Party|National Executive Committee]] (NEC), whilst senior right-wingers such as Dalton and [[Herbert Morrison]] were voted off.<ref>Campbell 1987, p. 275.</ref>

== In Opposition (1951–1964) ==
===Shadow Cabinet, 1954–1963===
[[File:Harold Wilson (cropped).jpg|thumb|Wilson in 1962]]

Wilson had never made much secret that his support of the left-wing Aneurin Bevan was opportunistic. In early 1954, Bevan resigned from the [[Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom)|Shadow Cabinet]] (elected by Labour MPs when the party was in opposition) over Labour's support for the setting-up of the [[Southeast Asia Treaty Organization]] (SEATO). Wilson, who had been runner-up in the elections, stepped up to fill the vacant place. He was supported in this by [[Richard Crossman]], but his actions angered Bevan and the other Bevanites.<ref>Campbell 1987, p. 289.</ref>

Wilson's course in intra-party matters in the 1950s and early 1960s left him neither fully accepted nor trusted by the left or the right in the Labour Party. Despite his earlier association with Bevan, in [[1955 Labour Party leadership election|1955]] he backed [[Hugh Gaitskell]], the right-wing candidate in internal Labour Party terms, against Bevan for the [[1955 Labour Party leadership election|party leadership election]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Goodman |first=Geoffrey |title=Harold Wilson: Leading Labour beyond pipe dreams |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/1995/may/25/obituaries |work=The Guardian |location=London |date=25 May 1995 |access-date=24 December 2007 |archive-date=31 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071231165647/http://politics.guardian.co.uk/politicsobituaries/story/0,,563492,00.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Gaitskell appointed him [[Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer]] in 1955, and he proved to be very effective.<ref>Pimlott, pp. 211–12.</ref> One of his procedural moves caused a substantial delay to the progress 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 ridicule [[Swiss bank]]ers for selling Britain short and pushing the [[pound sterling]] down by speculation.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Crines |first1=Andrew&nbsp;S. |last2=Hickson |first2=Kevin |title=Harold Wilson: The Unprincipled Prime Minister?: A Reappraisal of Harold Wilson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N-qzCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT62 |publisher=Biteback |date=2016 |page=62 |isbn=9781785900587 |access-date=15 January 2019 |archive-date=4 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200204104636/https://books.google.com/books?id=N-qzCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT62 |url-status=live}}</ref> He conducted an inquiry into the Labour Party's organisation following its defeat in the [[1955 United Kingdom general election|1955 general election]]; its report compared Labour's organisation to an antiquated [[penny-farthing]] bicycle, and made various recommendations for improvements.<ref>Pimlott, pp. 194–196.</ref> Unusually, Wilson combined the job of Chairman of the House of Commons' [[Public Accounts Committee (United Kingdom)|Public Accounts Committee]] with that of Shadow Chancellor from 1959, holding that position until 1963.<ref>Pimlott, p. 228</ref>

Gaitskell's leadership was weakened following the Labour Party's [[1959 United Kingdom general election|1959 defeat]], his controversial attempt to ditch Labour's commitment to nationalisation by scrapping [[Clause IV]], and his defeat at the 1960 Party Conference over a motion supporting unilateral [[nuclear disarmament]]. Bevan had died in July 1960, so Wilson established himself as a leader of the Labour left by launching an opportunistic but unsuccessful [[1960 Labour Party leadership election|challenge to Gaitskell's leadership in November 1960]]. Wilson would later be moved to the position of [[Shadow Foreign Secretary]] in 1961, before he challenged for the deputy leadership in 1962 but was defeated by [[George Brown, Baron George-Brown|George Brown]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}

===Opposition Leader, 1963–64===
[[File:President John F. Kennedy with Leader of the Labour Party of Great Britain, Harold Wilson.jpg|thumb|right|Wilson with US President [[John F. Kennedy]] in April 1963]]
{{further|First Wilson shadow cabinet}}
Gaitskell died in January 1963, just as the Labour Party had begun to unite and appeared to have a very good chance of winning the next election, with the [[Harold Macmillan|Macmillan Government]] running into trouble. Timothy Heppell has explored how Wilson won the [[1963 Labour Party leadership election (UK)|Labour Party leadership election]]. Wilson had alienated the right wing of the party by his angry attempts to defeat Gaitskell in [[1960 Labour Party leadership election|1960]] for the leadership, and George Brown in [[1962 Labour Party deputy leadership election|1962]] for the deputy leadership. These misadventures gave Wilson a reputation for disloyalty and divisiveness. Heppell identifies three factors whereby Wilson overcame these disadvantages. Firstly, he had united the party's left wing behind him and they showed no willingness to compromise. Secondly, the right wing, although more numerous, was deeply split between Brown and [[James Callaghan]]. Wilson took the lead on the first ballot and gained momentum on the second. Finally, Brown proved a poor campaigner, emphasizing divisive factors rather than his own credentials, allowing Wilson to emerge, surprisingly, as the unity candidate, thus becoming the [[Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Leader of the Labour Party]] and the [[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Leader of the Opposition]].<ref>Timothy Heppell, "The Labour Party leadership election of 1963: Explaining the unexpected election of Harold Wilson." ''Contemporary British History'' 24.2 (2010): 151–171.</ref>

At the party's 1963 annual conference, Wilson made his best-remembered speech, on the implications of scientific and technological change. 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.<ref name="'70s">{{cite book |last=Frum |first=David |author-link=David Frum |title=How We Got Here: The '70s |url=https://archive.org/details/howwegothere70sd00frum/page/9 |url-access=registration |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York City |year=2000 |page=[https://archive.org/details/howwegothere70sd00frum/page/9 9] |isbn=978-0-465-04195-4}}</ref>

Labour's [[1964 United Kingdom general election|1964 election campaign]] was aided by the [[Profumo affair]], a ministerial sex scandal that had mortally wounded [[Harold Macmillan]] and hurt the Conservatives. Wilson made capital without getting involved in the less salubrious aspects. (Asked for a statement on the scandal, he reportedly said "No comment&nbsp;... in glorious [[Technicolor]]!").<ref>Pimlott, pp. 285–99.</ref> Sir [[Alec Douglas-Home]] was an [[British aristocracy|aristocrat]] who had given up his [[Peerages in the United Kingdom|peerage]] to sit in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] and become prime minister upon Macmillan's resignation. To Wilson's comment that he was out of touch with ordinary people since he was the 14th [[Earl of Home]], Home retorted, "I suppose Mr. Wilson is the fourteenth Mr. Wilson".<ref>{{cite book|author=Crines and Hickson|title=Harold Wilson: The Unprincipled Prime Minister?: A Reappraisal of Harold Wilson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N-qzCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT258|year=2016|page=258|publisher=Biteback |isbn=9781785900587|access-date=15 January 2019|archive-date=8 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181208210148/https://books.google.com/books?id=N-qzCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT258|url-status=live}}</ref>

==First premiership (1964–1970)==
{{main|First premiership of Harold Wilson}}
{{further|Labour government, 1964–1970}}
{{Cleanup split|Premierships of Harold Wilson |date=August 2025 |dir=to |section=yes}}

=== Appointment ===
Labour won the [[1964 United Kingdom general election|1964 general election]] with a narrow majority of four seats, and Wilson became [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|prime minister]], at 48 the youngest person to hold that office since [[Lord Rosebery]] 70 years earlier. During 1965, by-election losses reduced the government's majority to a single seat; but in [[1966 United Kingdom general election|March 1966]] Wilson took the gamble of calling another general election. The gamble paid off, because this time Labour achieved a 96-seat majority<ref>{{cite news |title=VOTE2001 &#124; THE ELECTION BATTLES 1945–1997 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/vote2001/in_depth/election_battles/1966_over.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=27 December 2011 |archive-date=31 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170331231214/http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/vote2001/in_depth/election_battles/1966_over.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> over the Conservatives, who the previous year had made [[Edward Heath]] their leader.

===Domestic affairs===
The 1964–1970 Labour government carried out a broad range of reforms during its time in office, in such areas as social security,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmselect/cmsocsec/56/9112407.htm|title=House of Commons&nbsp;— Social Security&nbsp;— Minutes of Evidence|work=Publications.parliament.uk|date=13 December 1999|access-date=15 March 2016|archive-date=19 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171119215652/https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmselect/cmsocsec/56/9112407.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> civil liberties,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JbTbAAAAQBAJ&q=labour+government+1967+family+planning&pg=PA489|title=British Political History, 1867–2001: Democracy and Decline&nbsp;— Malcolm Pearce, Geoffrey Stewart&nbsp;— Google Books|page=489|date=13 September 2013|access-date=15 March 2016|isbn=9781136453533|last1=Pearce|first1=Malcolm|last2=Stewart|first2=Geoffrey|publisher=Routledge |archive-date=9 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009103743/https://books.google.com/books?id=JbTbAAAAQBAJ&q=labour+government+1967+family+planning&pg=PA489|url-status=live}}</ref> housing,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfp_sdl12MsC&q=harold+wilson+rent+act+1965&pg=PA75|title=Directions in Housing Policy: Towards Sustainable Housing Policies for the UK&nbsp;— A. E. Holmans&nbsp;— Google Books|page=75|date=28 January 1997|access-date=15 March 2016|isbn=9781446226650|last1=Holmans|first1=A.&nbsp;E.|publisher=Sage Publications (CA) |archive-date=9 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009120846/https://books.google.com/books?id=pfp_sdl12MsC&q=harold+wilson+rent+act+1965&pg=PA75|url-status=live}}</ref> health,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bRwlBQAAQBAJ&q=united+kingdom+1968+clean+air+act+public+health&pg=PA1189|title=Proceedings of the Second International Clean Air Congress&nbsp;— Google Books|page=1189|access-date=15 March 2016|isbn=9781483272436|last1=Englund|first1=H.&nbsp;M.|last2=Beery|first2=W.&nbsp;T.|date=2 October 2013|publisher=Elsevier |archive-date=9 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009093408/https://books.google.com/books?id=bRwlBQAAQBAJ&q=united+kingdom+1968+clean+air+act+public+health&pg=PA1189|url-status=live}}</ref> education,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000132953|title=International yearbook of education, v. 28|publisher=UNESCO International Bureau of Education|year=1967|access-date=12 December 2020|archive-date=17 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417194150/https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000132953|url-status=live}}</ref> and worker's rights.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j9p9pcQ0PY8C&pg=PA28|title=The Great Alliance: Economic Recovery and the Problems of Power, 1945–1951|last=Phillips|first=Jim|date=1 January 1996|publisher=Pluto Press|isbn=9780745310374|access-date=12 December 2020|archive-date=17 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417194152/https://books.google.com/books?id=j9p9pcQ0PY8C&pg=PA28|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Economic policies====
Wilson's government put faith in [[economic planning]] as a way to solve Britain's economic problems. The government's strategy involved setting up a [[Secretary of State for Economic Affairs|Department of Economic Affairs]] (DEA) which would draw up a National Plan which was intended to promote growth and investment. Wilson believed that scientific progress was the key to economic and social advancement, as such he famously referred to the "white heat of technology", in reference to the modernisation of British industry. This was to be achieved through a new [[Ministry of Technology]] (shortened to "Mintech") which would coordinate research and development and support the swift adoption of new technology by industry, aided by government-funded infrastructure improvements.<ref name="Thorpe64702001"/>

In practice, however, events derailed much of the initial optimism. Upon coming to power, the government was informed that they had inherited an exceptionally large deficit of £800 million on Britain's [[balance of trade]]. This partly reflected the preceding government's expansive fiscal policy in the run-up to the 1964 election. Immediately the pound came under enormous pressure, and many economists advocated [[devaluation]] of the pound in response, 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". Wilson also believed that a devaluation would disproportionately harm low-income Britons with savings and poorer [[Commonwealth of Nations]] countries in the [[sterling area]]. The government instead opted to deal with the problem by imposing a temporary surcharge on imports, and a series of deflationary measures designed to reduce demand and therefore the inflow of imports.<ref>{{Harvp|Thorpe|1997|p=125-145}}</ref> In the latter half of 1967, an attempt was made to prevent the recession in activity from going too far in the form of a stimulus to consumer durable spending through an easing of credit, which in turn prevented a rise in unemployment.<ref name="inequality">{{cite book |last=Townsend |first=Peter |editor-last=Bosanquet |editor-first=Nicholas |publisher=[[Fabian Society]] |title=Labour and inequality: Sixteen Fabian Essays |isbn=978-0-7163-4004-1|year=1972 }}</ref>

Following  a costly battle, market pressures forced the government to devalue the pound by 14% from $2.80 to $2.40 in November 1967.<ref name="Thorpe64702001"/> Wilson was much criticised for a broadcast soon after in which he assured listeners that the "pound in your pocket" had not lost its value.<ref>{{cite news |title=1967: Wilson defends 'pound in your pocket' |date=19 November 1967 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/19/newsid_3208000/3208396.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=16 January 2019 |archive-date=24 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200824050638/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/19/newsid_3208000/3208396.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Economic performance did show some improvement after the devaluation, as economists had predicted. The devaluation, with accompanying austerity measures which ensured resources went into exports rather than domestic consumption, successfully restored the trade balance to surplus by 1970. In retrospect Wilson has been widely criticised for not devaluing earlier, however, he believed there were strong arguments against it, including the fear that it would set off a round of competitive devaluations, and concern about the impact price rises following a devaluation would have on people on low incomes.<ref name="Thorpe64702001"/>

The government's decision over its first three years to defend sterling's parity with traditional deflationary measures ran counter to hopes for an expansionist push for growth. The National Plan produced by the DEA in 1965 targeted an annual growth rate of 3.8%, however, under the restrained circumstances the actual average rate of growth between 1964 and 1970 was a far more modest 2.2%. The DEA itself was wound up in 1969. The government's other main initiative Mintech did have some success at switching research and development spending from military to civilian purposes, and of achieving increases in industrial productivity, although persuading industry to adopt new technology proved more difficult than had been hoped.<ref name="Thorpe64702001"/>

The continued relevance of industrial [[nationalisation]] (a centrepiece 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: No significant expansion of public ownership took place under Wilson's government, however, he placated the party's left-wing by renationalising the steel industry under the [[Iron and Steel Act 1967]] (which had been denationalised by the Conservatives in the 1950s) creating the [[British Steel Corporation]].<ref name="Thorpe64702001"/>

Wilson's government presided over a rate of [[Unemployment in the United Kingdom|unemployment]] which was low by historic (and later) standards but did rise during his period in office. Between 1964 and 1966 the average rate of unemployment was 1.6%, while between 1966 and 1970 the average stood at 2.5%.<ref name="Thorpe64702001"/> He had entered power at a time when unemployment stood at around 400,000. It still stood at 371,000 by early 1966 after a steady fall during 1965, but by March 1967 it stood at 631,000. It fell again towards the end of the decade, standing at 582,000 by the time of the general election in June 1970.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.socialiststudies.org.uk/cinc%201930s.shtml|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028013514/http://www.socialiststudies.org.uk/cinc%201930s.shtml|url-status=dead|title=Socialist Studies – Capitalism in Crisis – Unemployment in the 1930s.|archivedate=28 October 2012}}</ref>

====Social reforms====
Wilson's government is perhaps best remembered for its progressive social reforms, notable amongst these was the [[Race Relations Act 1965]] which was the first piece of legislation to address [[race relations]] and [[racial discrimination]], the [[Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965]] which abolished [[Capital punishment in the United Kingdom|capital punishment]] (except for a small number of offences&nbsp;— notably [[High treason in the United Kingdom|high treason]]) the [[Sexual Offences Act 1967]], which partially decriminalised [[male homosexuality]] and the [[Abortion Act 1967]], which legalised [[Abortion in the United Kingdom|abortion]], the abolition of [[theatre censorship]] by the [[Theatres Act 1968]], and the liberalisation of divorce law by the [[Divorce Reform Act 1969]]. While many of these measures were introduced as [[private member's bill]]s, and given a free vote, the government effectively supported them by giving them parliamentary time, this was especially true during [[Roy Jenkins]]' tenure as Home Secretary (1965–1967), with whom the liberal reform agenda is particularly associated.<ref name="Thorpe64702001">{{cite book |last1=Thorpe |first1=Andrew |title=A History of the British Labour Party |date=2001 |publisher=Palgrave |isbn=0-333-92908-X|pages=145–165}}</ref><ref name="Pelling">{{cite book |last1=Pelling |first1=Henry |title=A Short History of the Labour Party |date=1993 |isbn=0-333-59476-2|publisher=St. Martin's Press |pages=131–152}}</ref>  Wilson personally, coming culturally from a provincial non-conformist background, showed no particular enthusiasm for much of this agenda.<ref>''The Battle of Britain: The Home Front'', by George Goldsmith Carter.</ref>

====Education====
[[Education in the United Kingdom|Higher education]] held special significance for a Labourite of Wilson's generation, given its role in both opening up opportunities for ambitious youth from working-class backgrounds and enabling Britain to seize the potential benefits of scientific advances. Under the first Wilson government, for the first time in British history, more money was allocated to education than to defence.<ref name="ReferenceB">''The Decade of Disillusion: British Politics in the Sixties'', edited by David Mckie and Chris Cook.</ref> Wilson continued the rapid creation of new universities, in line with the recommendations of the [[Robbins Report]], a [[bipartisanship (UK)|bipartisan]] policy already in train when Labour took power.

Wilson's government created the [[Open University]], to give adults who had missed out on tertiary education a second chance through [[part-time study]] and [[distance learning]]. Due to his own attatchment to higher education, Wilson himself was immensely proud of it, describing it as a 'brain-child' that he had been toying with since the early 1960s.<ref>Pimlott, pp. 513-514</ref>

Wilson's record on [[Secondary education in the United Kingdom|secondary education]] was motivated by growing pressure for the abolition of the selective principle underlying the "[[eleven-plus]]", and replacement with [[comprehensive school]]s which would serve the full range of children (see the article '[[grammar schools debate]]'). Comprehensive education became Labour Party policy. From 1966 to 1970, the proportion of children in comprehensive schools increased from about 10% to over 30%.<ref name="ReferenceA">''Changing party policy in Britain: an introduction'' by Richard Kelly.</ref>

In 1968, Wilson's first government reluctantly decided it could not fulfil its long-held promise to raise the school leaving age to 16, because budget cuts left it unable to fulfil the investment required in infrastructure, such as tens of thousands  of new classrooms and teachers.<ref name="Thorpe64702001"/>

Overall, public expenditure on education rose as a proportion of GNP from 4.8% in 1964 to 5.9% in 1968, and the number of teachers in training increased by more than a third between 1964 and 1967.<ref name="Pelling"/> The percentage of students staying on at school after the age of sixteen increased similarly, and the student population increased by over 10% each year. Pupil-teacher ratios were also steadily reduced. As a result of the first Wilson government's educational policies, opportunities for the working-class were improved; overall access to education in 1970 was broader than in 1964.<ref name="socialists1">''Socialists in the Recession: The Search for Solidarity'' by Giles Radice and Lisanne Radice.</ref>

====Housing====
Housing was a major policy area under the first Wilson government. During Wilson's time in office from 1964 to 1970, more new houses were built than in the last six years of the previous Conservative government. The proportion of [[Council house|council housing]] rose from 42% to 50% of the total,<ref name="shorthistory">''A Short History of the Labour Party'' by Alastair J. Reid and Henry Pelling.</ref> while the number of council homes built increased steadily, from 119,000 in 1964 to 133,000 in 1965 and 142,000 in 1966. Allowing for demolitions, 1.3&nbsp;million new homes were built between 1965 and 1970,<ref name="ponting">''Breach of Promise – Labour in Power, 1964–70'' by Clive Ponting.</ref> although concerns were raised about the quality of much of the new housing, which was often cheaply built high-rise stock (the latter came in for particular criticism following the [[Ronan Point]] collapse in 1968).<ref name="Thorpe64702001"/>

To encourage homeownership, the government introduced the Option Mortgage Scheme (1968), which made low-income housebuyers eligible for subsidies (equivalent to tax relief on mortgage interest payments).<ref>''Housing policy: an introduction'' by Paul N. Balchin and Maureen Rhoden.</ref> This scheme had the effect of reducing housing costs for buyers on low incomes<ref name="autogenerated2">''Capitalism and public policy in the UK'' by Tom Burden and Mike Campbell.</ref> and enabling more people to become owner-occupiers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britishpoliticalspeech.org/speech-archive.htm?speech=166 |title=Speech Archive |publisher=British Political Speech |access-date=10 April 2014 |archive-date=15 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171015183320/http://www.britishpoliticalspeech.org/speech-archive.htm?speech=166 |url-status=usurped }}</ref> In addition, house owners were exempted from capital gains tax. Together with the Option Mortgage Scheme, this measure stimulated the private housing market.<ref>''The Evolution of the British Welfare State'' by Derek Fraser.</ref> Wilson in a 1967 speech said: "..the grime and muddle and decay of our Victorian heritage is being replaced. The new city centres with their university precincts, their light, clean and well-spaced civic buildings, will not merely brighten the physical environment of our people, they will change the very quality of urban life in Britain."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.britishpoliticalspeech.org/speech-archive.htm?speech=165|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100929013712/http://www.britishpoliticalspeech.org/speech-archive.htm?speech=165|url-status=usurped|archive-date=29 September 2010|title=British Political Speech &#124; Speech Archive}}</ref>

Significant emphasis was also placed on town planning, with new conservation areas introduced and a new generation of new towns built, notably [[Milton Keynes]]. The New Towns Acts of 1965 and 1968 together gave the government the authority (through its ministries) to designate any area of land as a site for a [[new town]].<ref name="byrne1">''Social Services: Made Simple'' by Tony Byrne, BA, BSc(Econ.), and Colin F. Padfield, LLB, DPA(Lond).</ref>

====Social Services and welfare====
[[File:This is a photograph of Harold Wilson visiting an Retirement Home in Washington, UK. The photograph was taken at some point in the late 1960's. (9713931559).jpg|thumb|upright|Wilson on a visit to a retirement home in [[Washington, County Durham]]]]
Wilson's government carried out a merger between the [[National Assistance Board]] and the [[Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance]] to create the [[Ministry of Social Security (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Social Security]]. Wilson's government carried out increases in a number of benefits; family allowances were more than doubled in money terms, whilst redundancy payments were introduced in 1965.<ref name="Pelling"/>

[[Prescription charges]] for medicines were abolished immediately following Labour's 1964 election victory, while pensions were raised to a record 21% of average male industrial wages. Before the 1966 election, the [[widow's pension]] was tripled. Due to austerity measures following an economic crisis, prescription charges were re-introduced in 1968 as an alternative to cutting the hospital building programme, although those sections of the population who were most in need (including supplementary benefit claimants, the long-term sick, children, and pensioners) were exempted from charges.<ref name="ReferenceC">''Labour's First Century'' by [[Duncan Tanner]], [[Pat Thane]] and Nick Tiratsoo.</ref>{{Page needed|date=June 2026}}

In the five years from 1964 up until the last increases made by the First Wilson Government, pensions went up by 23% in real terms, supplementary benefits by 26% in real terms, and sickness and unemployment benefits by 153% in real terms (largely as a result of the introduction of earnings-related benefits in 1967).<ref name="auto1">''The Labour Party in Crisis'' by Paul Whiteley.</ref>{{Page needed|date=June 2026}}

====Northern Ireland====
Wilson's first premiership was marked by the emerging conflict in [[Northern Ireland]]: like all British governments since the [[partition of Ireland]] in 1921, Harold Wilson's Labour government preferred not to intervene in the affairs of Northern Ireland. However in August 1969, [[1969 Northern Ireland riots|escalating sectarian violence]] between the Northern Ireland's [[Ulster Unionism|unionist]] (largely [[Ulster Protestants|Protestant]]) and [[Irish Nationalism|nationalist]] (largely [[Irish Catholics|Catholic]]) communities, and involving members of the [[Royal Ulster Constabulary|police force of Northern Ireland]], gave the [[Government of Northern Ireland (1921–1972)|Government of Northern Ireland]], led by [[Prime Minister of Northern Ireland]] [[Terence O'Neill]], little choice but to ask the British government to intervene directly and send troops. It was Wilson's Home Secretary, [[James Callaghan]], who took the decision to [[Operation Banner|deploy British Army troops]] to Northern Ireland. In return Wilson and Callaghan demanded that various reforms be implemented in Northern Ireland, such as the phasing out of the Protestant paramilitary, the [[B-Specials]]. Their replacement by the [[Ulster Defence Regiment]] was controversial and by 1971 they had lost support from the nationalist population for their covert arrest and internment without trial of Catholic men<ref name=autogenerated8>Ryder p.xvii</ref> and their ''shoot to kill'' policies and involvement in collusion, murder and loyalist crime.<ref>Potter 2001, p. 293</ref><ref>Basic Battle Skills. Army Code No. 71090; HMSO ASIN: B0011BLJXE</ref> Wilson passed reforms to reduce discrimination against Catholics in secular life, including expanding the voting franchise to all citizens in Northern Ireland rather than those (largely unionist) who owned property, and reformed local government boundaries to reduce [[gerrymandering]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Conroy |first=Harry|author-link = Harry Conroy|year=2006 |title=Callaghan (The 20 British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century) |pages=64–71|publisher=Haus Publishing |location=London |isbn= 978-1-904950-70-7 }}</ref>

====International development====
A new [[Ministry of Overseas Development]] was established, with its greatest success at the time being the introduction of interest-free loans for the poorest countries.<ref name="ponting"/> The Minister of Overseas Development, [[Barbara Castle]], set a standard in interest relief on loans to developing nations which resulted in changes to the loan policies of many donor countries, "a significant shift in the conduct of rich white nations to poor brown ones." Loans were introduced to [[developing countries]] on terms that were more favourable to them than those given by governments of all other developed countries at that time. In addition, Castle was instrumental in setting up an Institute of Development Studies at the [[University of Sussex]] to devise ways of tackling global [[Socioeconomic inequality|socio-economic inequalities]]. Overseas aid suffered from the austerity measures introduced by the first Wilson government in its last few years in office, with British aid as a percentage of GNP falling from 0.53% in 1964 to 0.39% in 1969.<ref name="ReferenceN">''The Labour Government 1964–70'' by Brian Lapping.</ref>

====Taxation====
[[File:This is a photograph of Harold Wilson meeting locals of Washington, UK. The photograph was taken at some point in the late 1960's. (9713931603).jpg|thumb|Wilson meeting the public in the late-1960s]]
Wilson's government made a variety of changes to the [[Taxation in the United Kingdom|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 in the United Kingdom|capital gains tax]] (CGT) was introduced across the UK on 6 April 1965.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.warr.co.uk/Changes-To-Capital-Gains-Tax.htm |title=Warr & Co Chartered Accountants – Article – Changes To Capital Gains Tax |publisher=Warr.co.uk |access-date=20 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090531082945/http://www.warr.co.uk/Changes-To-Capital-Gains-Tax.htm |archive-date=31 May 2009}}</ref>

Various changes were also made to the tax system which benefited workers on low and middle incomes. Married couples with low incomes benefited from the increases in the single personal allowance and marriage allowance. In 1965, the regressive allowance for national insurance contributions was abolished and the single personal allowance, marriage allowance and wife's earned income relief were increased. These allowances were further increased in the tax years 1969–70 and 1970–71. Increases in the age exemption and dependant relative's income limits benefited the low-income elderly.<ref name="inequality"/> In 1967, new tax concessions were introduced for widows.<ref name="books.google.co.uk">{{cite book |last1=Thane |first1=Pat |last2=Evans |first2=Tanya |title=Sinners? Scroungers? Saints? |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HZvhMJWK930C&q=harold+wilson+widows+tax+concessions+1967&pg=PA129 |url-status=live |date=May 2012 |publisher=OUP Oxford |access-date=1 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417194151/https://books.google.com/books?id=HZvhMJWK930C&q=harold+wilson+widows+tax+concessions+1967&pg=PA129 |archive-date=17 April 2021 |isbn=9780199578504}}</ref>

Increases were made in some of the minor allowances in the 1969 Finance Act, notably the additional personal allowance, the age exemption and age relief and the dependent relative limit. Apart from the age relief, further adjustments in these concessions were implemented in 1970.<ref name="inequality"/>

1968 saw the introduction of aggregation of the investment income of unmarried minors with the income of their parents. According to Michael Meacher, this change put an end to a previous inequity whereby two families, in otherwise identical circumstances, paid differing amounts of tax "simply because in one case the child possessed property transferred to it by a grandparent, while in the other case the grandparent's identical property was inherited by the parent."<ref name="inequality"/>

In the 1969 budget, income tax was abolished for about 1 million of the lowest-paid and reduced for a further 600,000 people,<ref name="Crossman">Richard Crossman, ''The diaries of a cabinet minister, Volume 3: Secretary of State for Social Services, 1968–1970''.</ref> while in the government's last budget (introduced in 1970), two million small taxpayers were exempted from paying any income tax altogether.<ref>"Le contrat dans les pays anglo-saxons: théories et pratiques" by Jean-Louis Breteau.</ref>

====Industrial relations====
Wilson made periodic attempts to mitigate inflation, largely through [[Wage control|wage]]-[[price controls]]—better known in Britain as "prices and [[incomes policy]]".<ref name="Thorpe64702001"/> (As with indicative planning, such controls—though now generally out of favour—were widely adopted at that time by governments of different ideological complexions, including the [[Presidency of Richard Nixon|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 most 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 [[1966 United Kingdom general election|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), 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]], which strongly opposed the proposals, and internal dissent from [[Home Secretary]] [[James Callaghan]], the government substantially backed-down from its intentions. The Heath government (1970–1974) introduced the [[Industrial Relations Act 1971]] with many of the same ideas, but this was largely repealed by the post-1974 Labour government. Some elements of these changes were subsequently to be enacted (in modified form) during the premiership of [[Margaret Thatcher]].<ref name="Thorpe64702001"/>

===Foreign affairs===
====United States====
[[File:President Lyndon B. Johnson and Prime Minister Harold Wilson (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|Wilson with US President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] at the [[White House]] in 1965]]
Wilson believed in a strong "[[Special Relationship]]" with the United States and wanted to highlight his dealings with the White House to strengthen his prestige as a statesman. President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] disliked Wilson and ignored any "special" relationship. The [[Vietnam War]] was a sore point.<ref>Marc Tiley,  "Britain, Vietnam and the Special Relationship." ''History Today'' 63.12 (2013).</ref> Johnson needed and asked for help to maintain American prestige. Wilson offered lukewarm verbal support and no military aid. Wilson's policy angered the left wing of his Labour Party, who [[opposed the Vietnam War]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vickers |first=Rhiannon |date=2008 |title=Harold Wilson, the British Labour Party, and the War in Vietnam |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26923428 |journal=Journal of Cold War Studies |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=41–70 |doi=10.1162/jcws.2008.10.2.41 |jstor=26923428 |s2cid=57561207 |issn=1520-3972|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Wilson and Johnson also differed sharply on British economic weakness and its declining status as a world power. Historian Jonathan Colman concludes it made for the most unsatisfactory "special" relationship in the 20th century.<ref>Jonathan Colman, ''A 'Special Relationship'? Harold Wilson, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Anglo-American Relations 'At the Summit', 1964–68'' (2004).</ref>  The only point of total agreement was that both Johnson and Wilson emphatically supported Israel in the 1967 [[Six-Day War]].<ref>Six Days: How the 1967 War Shaped the Middle East by Jeremy Bowen</ref>

====Europe====
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F019859-0022, Staatsbesuch Harold Wilson, Ludwig Erhard.jpg|right|thumb|Wilson with West German Chancellor [[Ludwig Erhard]] in 1965]]
Among the more challenging political dilemmas Wilson faced was the issue of [[United Kingdom membership of the European Economic Area|British membership of the European Economic Community]], the forerunner of the present [[European Union]]. An entry attempt was vetoed in 1963 by French President [[Charles de Gaulle]]. The Labour Party in Opposition had been divided on the issue, with Hugh Gaitskell having come out in 1962 in opposition to Britain joining the [[European Communities|European Economic Community]].<ref>{{cite ODNB|id=33309|title=Gaitskell, Hugh Todd Naylor|last = Brivati|first = Brian|author-link = Brian Brivati|date=6 January 2011}}</ref> After initial hesitation, Wilson's Government in May 1967 lodged the UK's second application to join the European Economic Community. It was vetoed by de Gaulle in November 1967.<ref>{{cite book|first=David |last=Gowland|title=Britain and European Integration Since 1945: On the Sidelines|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dvt-AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA69|year=2008|publisher=Routledge|page=69|display-authors=etal|isbn=9781134354528|access-date=15 January 2019|archive-date=10 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200110180415/https://books.google.com/books?id=dvt-AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA69|url-status=live}}</ref> After De Gaulle lost power, Conservative prime minister [[Edward Heath]] negotiated [[Accession of the United Kingdom to the European Communities|Britain's admission to the EEC]] in 1973.

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 [[Referendum Act 1975|hold a referendum]] on whether to stay in the EEC 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. The discussions focused primarily on Britain's net [[Public finance|budgetary]] contribution to the EEC. As a small agricultural producer heavily dependent on imports, Britain suffered doubly from the dominance of:
:(i) agricultural spending in the EEC [[Government budget|budget]],
:(ii) agricultural [[import tax]]es as a source of EEC [[revenue]]s.

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 agreed that Britain would be a major net beneficiary.<ref>Andrew Moravcsik, "The Choice for Europe" (Cornell, 1998).</ref>

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. The electorate [[1975 United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum|voted on 5 June 1975]] to continue membership, by a substantial majority.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/6/newsid_2499000/2499297.stm 1975: UK embraces Europe in referendum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620044520/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/6/newsid_2499000/2499297.stm |date=20 June 2018 }} BBC On This Day.</ref>

====Asia====
[[Joint warfare in South Vietnam, 1963–1969|American military involvement in Vietnam]] escalated continuously from 1964 to 1968 and President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] brought pressure to bear for at least a token involvement of British military units. Wilson consistently avoided any commitment of British forces, giving as reasons British military commitments to the [[Malayan Emergency]] and British co-chairmanship of the [[1954 Geneva Conference]].<ref>Rhiannon Vickers, "Harold Wilson, the British Labour Party, and the War in Vietnam." ''Journal of Cold War Studies'' 10#2 (2008): 41–70. [http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1162/jcws.2008.10.2.41 online] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216133217/https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1162/jcws.2008.10.2.41 |date=16 December 2019}}</ref>

His government offered some rhetorical support for the US position (most prominently in the defence offered by the Foreign Secretary [[Michael Stewart, Baron Stewart of Fulham|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, with Wilson discussing peace proposals with [[Alexei Kosygin]], the [[Premier of the Soviet Union|Chairman]] of the [[USSR Council of Ministers]]. On 28 June 1966 Wilson 'dissociated' his Government from [[Operation Rolling Thunder|American bombing]] of the cities of [[Hanoi]] and [[Haiphong]]. In his memoirs, Wilson writes of "selling LBJ a [[bum steer]]", a reference to Johnson's Texas roots, which conjured up images of cattle and cowboys in British minds.<ref name="Government1"/>

Part of the price paid by Wilson after talks with President Johnson in June 1967 for US assistance with the UK economy was his agreement to maintain a military presence [[East of Suez]].<ref>''The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Army'' (1994), p. 359.</ref> In July 1967 [[Secretary of State for Defence|Defence Secretary]] [[Denis Healey]] announced that Britain would abandon her mainland bases [[East of Suez]] by 1977, although [[Airmobile|airmobile forces]] would be retained which could if necessary be deployed in the region. Shortly afterwards, in January 1968, Wilson announced that the proposed timetable for this withdrawal was to be accelerated and that British forces were to be withdrawn from Singapore, Malaysia, and the [[Persian Gulf]] by the end of 1971.<ref>{{cite book |last=French |first=David |title=The British Way in Warfare, 1688–2000 |publisher=Routledge |year=1990 |page=220 |isbn=978-0-04-445789-3}}</ref>

Wilson was known for his strongly pro-Israel views.<ref>{{cite web |last=Philpot |first=Robert |title=Wilson, true friend of Israel |url=https://www.thejc.com/comment/opinion/wilson-true-friend-of-israel-1.58771 |url-status=live |work=[[The Jewish Chronicle]] |date=7 October 2014 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210828105126/https://www.thejc.com/comment/opinion/wilson-true-friend-of-israel-1.58771 |archive-date=28 August 2021}}</ref> He was a particular friend of Israeli Premier [[Golda Meir]], though her tenure largely coincided with Wilson's 1970–1974 hiatus. Another associate was West German [[Chancellor of Germany (Federal Republic)|Chancellor]] [[Willy Brandt]]; all three were members of the [[Socialist International]].<ref>[http://www.jamd.com/search?assettype=g&assetid=2634403&text=wilson+meir+brandt] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713180501/http://www.jamd.com/search?assettype=g&assetid=2634403&text=wilson+meir+brandt|date=13 July 2015}}</ref>

====Africa====
The British "retreat from Empire" had made headway by 1964 and was to continue during Wilson's administration. [[Southern Rhodesia]] was not granted independence, principally because Wilson refused to grant independence to the white minority government headed by Rhodesian prime minister [[Ian Smith]] which was not willing to extend unqualified [[voting rights]] to the native African population. Smith's defiant response was a [[Unilateral Declaration of Independence (Rhodesia)|Unilateral Declaration of Independence]], on 11 November 1965. Wilson's 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 [[Beira Patrol|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 régime). 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 régime by force. Wilson declined to intervene in Rhodesia with military force, believing the British population would not support such action against their "kith and kin". The two leaders met for discussions aboard British warships, {{HMS|Tiger|C20|2}} in 1966 and {{HMS|Fearless|L10|2}} in 1968. Smith would later attack 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.<ref name="Government1">Harold Wilson, "The Labour Government, 1964–70: a Personal Record".</ref> The matter was still unresolved at the time of Wilson's resignation in 1976.  

Wilson had a good relationship with [[Siaka Stevens]] of Sierra Leone; the two leaders attempted to work together to find a solution to the question of [[Biafra]] in Nigeria.<ref>Biafra by Peter Schwab, 1971 – pg. 105</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=4 January 1998 |title=British interests, Nigerian tragedy |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/british-interests-nigerian-tragedy-1136684.html |access-date=1 December 2022 |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |first1=Michael |last1=Leapman }}</ref> But despite this, the British government was actively sending arms, munitions and other equipment to the [[Military dictatorship in Nigeria|Nigerian military junta]], and consistently denied any wrongdoing by the government of [[Nigeria]]: Nigerian writer [[Chinua Achebe]] wrote that this may have cost him his position.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/21/buried-50-years-britain-shamesful-role-biafran-war-frederick-forsyth |title=Opinion: Buried for 50 years: Britain's shameful role in the Biafran war |first1=Frederick |last1=Forsyth |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=21 January 2000 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Boubjailly |first=Vance |date=25 January 1970 |title=An Epitaph For Biafra |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/25/archives/an-epitaph-for-biafra-an-epitaph-for-biafra.html |access-date=13 July 2024 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

=== Electoral defeat and resignation ===
By 1969, the Labour Party was suffering serious electoral reverses, and by the turn of 1970 had lost a total of 16 seats in by-elections since the previous general election.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/background/pastelec/ge70.shtml |title=BBC Politics 97 |publisher=BBC |date=18 June 1970 |access-date=26 September 2011 |archive-date=20 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120233721/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/background/pastelec/ge70.shtml |url-status=live}}</ref>

By 1970, the economy was showing signs of improvement, and by May that year, Labour had overtaken the Conservatives in the opinion polls.<ref>''Twentieth-century Britain: a political history'' by W. D. Rubinstein, p. 298.</ref> Wilson responded to this apparent recovery in his government's popularity by calling [[1970 United Kingdom general election|a general election]], but, to the surprise of most observers, was defeated at the polls by the Conservatives under Heath. Most opinion polls had predicted a Labour win, with a poll six days before the election showing a 12.4% Labour lead. Writing in the aftermath of the election, ''The Times'' journalist George Clark wrote that the 1970 contest would be "remembered as the occasion when the people of the United Kingdom hurled the findings of the opinion polls back into the faces of the pollsters and at the voting booths proved them wrong—most of them badly wrong".<ref name="ClarkTimes">{{cite book |last=Clark |first=George |title=The Times Guide to the House of Commons 1970 |date=1970 |publisher=Times Newspapers Limited |location=London |page=26 |chapter=The General Election Campaign, 1970}}</ref> Heath and the Conservatives had attacked Wilson over the economy. Towards the end of the campaign, bad trade figures for May added weight to Heath's campaign and he claimed that a Labour victory would result in a further devaluation. Wilson considered Heath's claims "irresponsible" and "damaging to the nation".<ref name="ClarkTimes2">{{cite book |last=Clark |first=George |title=The Times Guide to the House of Commons 1970 |date=1970 |publisher=Times Newspapers Limited |location=London |pages=30–31 |chapter=The General Election Campaign, 1970}}</ref> Ultimately, however, the election saw Labour's vote share fall to its lowest since [[1935 United Kingdom general election|1935]].<ref name="RoseTimes">{{cite book |last=Rose |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Rose (political scientist) |title=The Times Guide to the House of Commons 1970 |date=1970 |publisher=Times Newspapers Limited |location=London |page=31 |chapter=Voting Trends Surveyed}}</ref> Several prominent Labour figures lost their seats, notably [[George Brown (British Labour politician)|George Brown]] who was still Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.<ref name="Times70">{{cite book |title=The Times Guide to the House of Commons 1970 |date=1970 |publisher=Times Newspapers Limited |location=London |page=249}}</ref>

==Return to opposition (1970–1974)==

Following the elections and Labour's subsequent defeat, Wilson survived as leader of the Labour Party in opposition. In August 1973, holidaying on the [[Isles of Scilly]], he tried to board a motorboat from a dinghy and stepped into the sea. He was unable to get into the boat and was left in the cold water for more than half an hour, hanging on to the fenders of the motorboat. He was close to death before he was saved by Paul Wolff, the father of novelist [[Isabel Wolff]]. When word of the incident became public the following month, Wilson downplayed its severity; it was taken up by the press and resulted in some embarrassment. His press secretary, [[Joe Haines (journalist)|Joe Haines]], tried to deflect some of the comment by blaming Wilson's dog Paddy for the problem.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32830379 |title=The strange day my father saved Harold Wilson's life |work=[[BBC News]] |date=23 May 2015 |access-date=25 June 2022}}</ref>

While out of office in late 1971, Wilson had formulated a 16-point, 15-year programme that was designed to pave the way for the unification of Ireland. The proposal was not adopted by the then Heath government.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/issues/72may/donoghue.htm |title=May 1972 &#124; Ireland: The View from Dublin |last=Donoghue |first=Denis |work=The Atlantic |date=31 October 2001 |access-date=20 April 2010 |quote=Edward Heath thanked him without adopting his suggestions. |archive-date=16 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516010227/http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/72may/donoghue.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Early in 1974, Wilson became the victim of a [[personation]] fraud. A Staffordshire [[property developer]], Ronald Milhench, forged a letter purporting to be from the former Prime Minister.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/8/newsid_2539000/2539513.stm |title= Man jailed for forging PM's signature – 8 November 1974|access-date=15 April 2024|work=[[BBC News]] On This Day|date= 8 November 1974 }}</ref>  Milhench was involved in negotiations for a property deal; unable to provide finance, he met a journalist, claiming that Wilson was involved with the deal. Milhench further claimed he wanted to deal "a body blow" to Labour's election chances and that he could sell the letter for £25000. In November 1974, Milhench was convicted of forgery, theft and firearms charges.<ref name="BBC" /><ref>{{cite news |title= Ronald Milhench, who forged Mr Wilson's signature, is jailed for three years |newspaper=The Times |publisher=Times Digital Archive |date= 9 November 1974 |page=4 |issue=59240|url=http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/552/371/35114420w16/purl=rc1_TTDA_0_CS67337065&dyn=3!xrn_2_0_CS67337065&hst_1?sw_aep=linshlib |access-date=14 April 2024 |url-access=subscription |mode=cs2}}</ref>

Economic conditions during the 1970s were becoming more difficult for Britain and many other western economies as a result of the [[Nixon shock]] and the [[1973 oil crisis]], and the Heath government in its turn was buffeted by economic adversity and industrial unrest (notably including confrontation with the coalminers which led to the [[Three-Day Week]]) towards the end of 1973, and on 7 February 1974 (with the crisis still ongoing) Heath called a snap election for 28 February.<ref>{{cite news |title=BBC ON THIS DAY &#124; 7 &#124; 1974: Heath calls snap election over miners |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/low/dates/stories/february/7/newsid_4054000/4054793.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=26 September 2011 |date=7 February 1974 |archive-date=29 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170629090731/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/low/dates/stories/february/7/newsid_4054000/4054793.stm |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Second premiership (1974–1976)==
{{main|Second premiership of Harold Wilson}}
{{further|Labour government, 1974–1979}}
{{Cleanup split|Premierships of Harold Wilson |date=August 2025 |dir=to |section=yes}}
[[File:President Richard Nixon, British Prime Minister Harold P. Wilson, and Henry Kissinger at the U.S. Embassy Residence in Brussels, Belgium.jpg|thumb|Harold Wilson with US President [[Richard Nixon]] and [[Henry Kissinger]] in 1974]]
[[File:Photograph of President Gerald R. Ford and Prime Minister Harold Wilson of Great Britain at the Arrival Ceremony for the Prime Minister's State Visit - NARA - 7518538.jpg|thumb|Harold Wilson with US President [[Gerald Ford]] in 1975, during his second term as prime minister]]

Labour won more seats (though fewer votes) than the Conservative Party in the [[February 1974 United Kingdom general election|general election]] in February 1974, which resulted in a [[hung parliament]]. As Heath was unable to persuade the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberals]] to form a [[coalition]], Wilson returned to 10 Downing Street on 4 March 1974 as prime minister of a minority Labour Government. He gained a three-seat majority in [[October 1974 United Kingdom general election|another election later that year]], on 10 October 1974.

===1975 European referendum===
One of the key issues addressed during his second period in office was the [[1975 United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum|referendum on British membership of the European Community (EC)]] which took place in June 1975: Labour had pledged in its February 1974 manifesto to renegotiate the terms of British accession to the EC, and then to consult the public in a referendum on whether Britain should stay in on the new terms. Although the government recommended a vote in favour of continued membership, the cabinet was split on the issue, and Ministers were allowed to campaign on different sides of the question. The referendum resulted in a near two-to-one majority in favour of Britain remaining in the EC.<ref name="Davies">{{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=A.&nbsp;J. |title=To Build a New Jerusalem |date=1996 |publisher=Abacus |isbn=0-349-10809-9 |pages=342–356}}</ref>

===Social affairs===
The Second Wilson Government made a major commitment to the expansion of the [[British welfare state]], with increased spending on education, health, and housing rents.<ref name="labour1">''Ten Years of New Labour'', edited by Matt Beech and Simon Lee.</ref> To pay for it, it imposed controls and raised taxes on the rich. Wilson's new chancellor [[Denis Healey]] partially reversed the 1971 reduction in the top rate of tax from 90% to 75%, increasing it to 83% in his first budget, which came into law in April 1974. This applied to incomes over £20,000 (equivalent to £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|20000|1974|{{Inflation-year|UK}}|r=0}}}} in {{Inflation-year|UK}}),{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}} and combined with a 15% surcharge on 'unearned' income (investments and dividends) could add up to a 98% marginal rate of personal income tax. In 1974, as many as 750,000 people were liable to pay the top rate of income tax.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ifs.org.uk/bns/bn25.pdf |title=IFS: Long-Term trends in British Taxation and Spending |access-date=6 August 2014 |archive-date=2 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202090902/http://www.ifs.org.uk/bns/bn25.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

Circular 4/74 (1974) renewed pressure for moves towards comprehensive education (progress of which had stalled under the Heath ministry), while the industrial relations legislation passed under [[Edward Heath]] was repealed. The [[Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974]] set up a [[Health and Safety Commission]] and a [[Health and Safety Executive]]; it gave a legal framework for health and safety at work,<ref name="ReferenceA"/>   while the [[Child Benefits Act 1975]] introduced an extra payment for single parents.<ref name="Longman">''The Longman Companion to The Labour Party 1900–1998'' by Harry Harmer.</ref> In June 1975, the government issued the first series of National Savings Retirement Certificates.<ref>Transactions of the Faculty of Actuaries Volume 38 By Faculty of Actuaries in Scotland, 1982, P.82</ref>

The [[Social Security Act 1975]] introduced a maternity allowance fund, while the [[Sex Discrimination Act 1975]] set up an [[Equal Opportunities Commission (United Kingdom)|Equal Opportunities Commission]] and outlawed gender discrimination (both indirect and direct),<ref name="Longman"/> with women given the right in principle to equal access to jobs and equal treatment at work with men.<ref>''Labour's First Century'' by [[Duncan Tanner]], [[Pat Thane]], and Nick Tiratsoo</ref>

However, despite the socially progressive advances made by Wilson's government, the number of unemployed Britons continued to rise, passing one million in April 1975.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.expressandstar.com/days/1950-75/1975.html |title=Those were the days |publisher=Expressandstar.com |access-date=27 December 2011 |archive-date=13 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113140027/http://www.expressandstar.com/days/1950-75/1975.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Economic affairs===
Wilson's second government came into office at a troubled time for the British economy, due to [[1973–1975 recession|a global recession]] and [[stagflation]], caused in large part by the [[1973 oil crisis]] and the preceding government's [[1972 United Kingdom budget|inflationary attempt to boost growth]].<ref name="Britrec">{{cite web |title=British recessions: a short history |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/dec/07/britain-recessions-history |work=The Guardian |date=7 December 2012 |access-date=17 December 2019 |archive-date=17 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217062731/https://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/dec/07/britain-recessions-history |url-status=live }}</ref> In order to deal with inflation (which peaked at 26% in 1975) the government negotiated a '[[Social Contract (Britain)|social contract]]' with the [[Trades Union Congress]] to implement a voluntary [[incomes policy]], in which pay rises were held down to limits set by the government. This policy operated with reasonable success for the next few years, and inflation fell to single figures by 1978.<ref name="Davies"/> By 1976 the recession had ended and economic recovery began,<ref name="Britrec"/> by 1978/79 living standards recovered to the level they had been in 1973/74.<ref>Labour and Inequality: A Fabian Study of Labour in Power, 1974–79 edited by Nick Bosanquet and Peter Townsend</ref> The Labour governments of the 1970s did, however, manage to protect the living standards of many people from the worst effects of the recession and high inflation, with pensions increasing by 20% in real terms between 1974 and 1979, while measures such as rent and [[Price Commission|price controls]] and food and transport subsidies mitigated the adverse impact on the living standards of many more people.<ref>The Labour Party: An introduction to its history, structure and politics edited by Chris Cook and Ian Taylor</ref>

The government's [[industrial policy]] was greatly influenced by the economist [[Stuart Holland]] and the [[Secretary of State for Industry]] [[Tony Benn]]. The centrepiece of the policy was the [[National Enterprise Board]] (NEB) which was established in 1975 and was intended to channel public investment into industry, in return for taking a holding of equity in private companies. The NEB was intended to extend [[public ownership]] of the economy as well as investing in the regeneration of industry, although it had some successes in that aim, in practice one of its main activities became that of propping up failing companies such as [[British Leyland]]. The government also continued its policy of encouraging regional development by increasing Regional Employment Premiums, which had first been established in 1967.<ref name="Davies"/><ref>{{cite web |title=National Enterprise Board (NEB) |url=https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/national-enterprise-board-neb.htm |publisher=National Archives |access-date=17 December 2019 |archive-date=17 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217051202/https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/national-enterprise-board-neb.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Northern Ireland===
Upon returning to office in 1974, Wilson found that the situation had rapidly deteriorated, with the [[Unionists (Ireland)|Unionist]] Ulster Worker's Council calling for [[Ulster Workers' Council strike|the Protestant workforce to go on strike]], essentially bringing the whole of Northern Ireland to a halt. Wilson condemned the strikes, describing them as "[[sectarian]]" - in a televised speech later, he referred to the loyalist strikers and their supporters as "spongers" who expected British taxpayers on the mainland to pay for their lifestyles. He refused to pressure a reluctant [[British Army]] to face down the [[Ulster loyalist]] paramilitaries who were intimidating utility workers. The strike was eventually successful in breaking the power-sharing Northern Ireland executive.<ref>Pimlott, pp. 633-634</ref>

In May 1975, his government set up the [[Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention]] as an attempt to deal with constitutional issues surrounding the status of Northern Ireland. The body, as established in the [[Northern Ireland Act 1974]], was elected; the Act dissolved the [[Northern Ireland Assembly (1973)|Northern Ireland Assembly]]. The Constitutional Convention ultimately failed to achieve cross-community consensus on new constitutional arrangements, before it was permanently dissolved in 1976. The [[Northern Ireland Assembly (1982)|Northern Ireland Assembly]] was only re-established in 1982.

On 11 September 2008, [[BBC Radio 4]]'s ''Document'' programme claimed to have unearthed a secret plan—codenamed ''Doomsday''—which proposed to turn Northern Ireland 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 the Foreign Secretary, James Callaghan, and the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs [[Garret FitzGerald]] who admitted the 12,000-strong [[Irish Army]] would be unable to deal with a civil war.<ref>{{cite news |title=Wilson had NI 'doomsday' plan |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7610750.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |date=11 September 2008 |access-date=11 September 2008 |archive-date=9 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809002945/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7610750.stm |url-status=live}}</ref> Later, Callaghan spoke and wrote despondently about the prospect for a British-derived solution to the Northern Ireland issue, supporting a similar plan to push Northern Ireland towards independent status.<ref>Callaghan, James, ''Time & Chance'' (Collins/Fontana, 1987), p. 520.</ref>

In 1975, Wilson secretly offered Libya's dictator [[Muammar Gaddafi]] £14 million to stop arming the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]], but Gaddafi demanded a far greater sum of money.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/britain-offered-gaddafi-16314m-to-stop-supporting-the-ira-1797754.html |title=Britain offered Gaddafi £14m to stop supporting the IRA |date=5 October 2009 |access-date=13 February 2012 |newspaper=[[The Independent]]|first=Robert|last=Verkaik |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171015193521/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/britain-offered-gaddafi-16314m-to-stop-supporting-the-ira-1797754.html |archive-date=15 October 2017}}</ref> This offer did not become publicly known until 2009.<ref>{{cite news |title=Libya offered £14m over IRA ties |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8290209.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |date=5 October 2009 |access-date=26 September 2011 |archive-date=9 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809002456/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8290209.stm |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Resignation===
When Wilson entered office for the second time, he had privately admitted that he had lost his enthusiasm for the role, telling a close adviser in 1974 that "I have been around this racetrack so often that I cannot generate any more enthusiasm for jumping any more hurdles."<ref name="Davies"/> On 16 March 1976, Wilson resigned as prime minister, taking effect on 5 April. He claimed that he had always planned on resigning at the age of 60 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.<ref name=autogenerated1/> His doctor had detected problems which would later be diagnosed as [[colon cancer]], and Wilson had begun drinking brandy during the day to cope with stress.<ref name="guardian-19950525"/> By 1976 he might already have been aware of the first stages of early-onset [[Alzheimer's disease]], which was to cause his formerly excellent memory and his powers of concentration to fail dramatically.<ref name="Morris 2008">{{cite news |last=Morris |first=Nigel |title=Wilson 'may have had Alzheimer's when he resigned' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/wilson-may-have-had-alzheimers-when-he-resigned-1009829.html |access-date=28 August 2019 |work=The Independent |date=11 November 2008 |archive-date=8 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308232939/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/wilson-may-have-had-alzheimers-when-he-resigned-1009829.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Wilson's [[1976 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours|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 his political secretary [[Marcia Williams]] on lavender notepaper (it became known as the "Lavender List"). [[Roy Jenkins]] noted 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."<ref name=autogenerated1/> Some of those whom Wilson honoured included [[Lord Kagan]], the inventor of [[Gannex]] (Wilson's preferred raincoat), who was eventually imprisoned for fraud, and Sir [[Eric Miller (businessman)|Eric Miller]], who later committed suicide while under police investigation for corruption.

The Labour Party held an [[1976 Labour Party leadership election|election]] to replace Wilson as leader of the Party, and thus prime minister. Six candidates stood in the first ballot; 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, and served as prime minister until May 1979.

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 [[Order of the Garter|Knight Companion of the Garter]] in 1976. He fought one last election in [[1979 United Kingdom general election|1979]] in which he was returned as a backbench MP for Huyton. Following his departure from the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] before the [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983 general election]], after 38 years of service, he was granted a [[life peerage]] as '''Baron Wilson of Rievaulx''', of ''[[Kirklees]] in the County of West Yorkshire'', after [[Rievaulx Abbey]], in the north of his native Yorkshire; the [[Kirklees]] refers to his home address of Huddersfield, and is not part of his title.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=49485 |date=21 September 1983 |page=12361}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/1983-11-15/debates/1ee97dc9-ec07-4444-8291-b72414768b74/LordWilsonOfRievaulx|title=Lord Wilson of Rievaulx – Tuesday 15 November 1983 – Hansard – UK Parliament|access-date=13 October 2021|archive-date=26 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026232043/https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/1983-11-15/debates/1ee97dc9-ec07-4444-8291-b72414768b74/LordWilsonOfRievaulx|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/news/harold-wilson-proclamation/ |title=Harold Wilson proclamation |accessdate=4 May 2024 |publisher=University College, Oxford}}</ref>

==Post-premiership (1976–1995)==
===Retirement===
[[File:Harold_Wilson,_by_Allan_Warren.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Wilson in 1986]]

He was appointed in 1976 to chair the Committee to Review the Functioning of Financial Institutions (the Wilson Committee) which reported in June 1980.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C3025 |title=Committee to Review the Functioning of Financial Institutions (Wilson Committee): Evidence Files and Registered Files (FI Series) |publisher=The National Archives |date= |access-date=22 April 2021 |archive-date=27 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227222416/https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C3025 |url-status=live }}</ref>

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 one of his appearances as one of the "100 Moments of TV Hell".

A lifelong [[Gilbert and Sullivan]] fan, in 1975, Wilson joined the Board of Trustees of the [[D'Oyly Carte Opera Company|D'Oyly Carte Trust]] at the invitation of Sir [[Hugh Wontner]], who was then the [[Lord Mayor of London]].<ref>Wilson and Lloyd, p. 7.</ref> At Christmas 1978, 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 mispronunciation of Morecambe's name made by [[Ed Sullivan]] when the pair appeared on his famous American television show). Wilson appeared on the show again in 1980.

Wilson was not especially active in the [[House of Lords]], although he did initiate a debate on unemployment in May 1984.<ref>''[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1984/may/09/unemployment Hansard] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304092539/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1984/may/09/unemployment |date=4 March 2016 }}'' HL 5ser vol 451 cols 923–1002.</ref> His last speech was in a debate on [[Maritime pilot|marine pilotage]] in 1986, when he commented as an elder brother of [[Trinity House]].<ref>''[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1986/jun/25/marine-pilotage#S5LV0477P0_19860625_HOL_197 Hansard] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830120001/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1986/jun/25/marine-pilotage#S5LV0477P0_19860625_HOL_197 |date=30 August 2017 }}'' HL 5ser vol 477 cols 389-90.</ref> In the same year he played himself as prime minister in an [[Anglia Television]] drama, ''Inside Story''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094486/ |title=Inside Story |publisher=[[IMDb]] }}; see [http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//ITN/1986/02/12/AS120286004 ITNsource] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120031341/http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//ITN/1986/02/12/AS120286004 |date=20 January 2012 }} for video.</ref>

Wilson suffered from advancing Alzheimer's-related dementia in his retirement years, making it difficult for him to earn an income capitalising on his experience as a former prime minister by writing books and giving speeches. According to his former press secretary [[Joe Haines (journalist)|Joe Haines]]: "He never had much money of his own. Because of his mental condition he couldn't write articles or make speeches, and his income would have been his pension as an ex-prime minister," which Haines said was a "comparatively small sum" as Conservative and Liberal former prime ministers were usually aristocrats who had their own wealth or would benefit from wealthy benefactors and by being appointed to corporate boards, and thus did not need to rely on their parliamentary pensions to support themselves. One of Wilson's successors as Labour leader, [[Neil Kinnock]], told ''[[The Guardian]]'': "I heard stories that he was trying to make speeches for money but was unsuccessful because he had lost his fluency." Eventually, Wilson attempted to sell his personal papers to [[McMaster University]] in Canada for £212,500 in order to fund costs of his health care. This arrangement was considered unsuitable by the government and instead, it was arranged in 1991 that anonymous donors would provide funds so that the [[Bodleian Library]] at [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] could buy Wilson's papers in order to keep them in the United Kingdom while also allowing the proceeds to set up a [[trust fund]] for Wilson and his wife.<ref name="papers">{{cite news |last1=Davies |first1=Caroline |title=Sad last days of Harold Wilson revealed by Cabinet Office archives |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/27/sad-last-days-of-harold-wilson-revealed-by-cabinet-office-archives |access-date=27 July 2024 |work=The Guardian |date=27 July 2024}}</ref>

===Death===
[[File:Harold Wilson's grave St Mary's, Old Town - geograph org uk - 934336 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|Wilson's grave in [[St Mary's, Isles of Scilly]]]]

Wilson continued regularly attending the House of Lords until just over a year before his death; the last sitting he attended was on 27 April 1994. He had a picture taken with other Labour Lords on 15 June 1994, just under a year before his death.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.shutterstock.com/editorial/image-editorial/various-personalities-1171067ag|title=Labour Lords including Denis Healy James Callaghan Editorial Stock Photo – Stock Image &#124; Shutterstock|access-date=4 June 2021|archive-date=4 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210604141445/https://www.shutterstock.com/editorial/image-editorial/various-personalities-1171067ag|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>''LJ'' [1994] 342.</ref> He died of [[colon cancer]] and [[Alzheimer's disease]] on 23 May 1995, aged 79.{{efn|name = Death}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a29213646/prime-minister-harold-wilson-facts/|title=Harold Wilson Did Have a Top Secret MI File|first=Lauren|last=Hubbard|date=17 November 2019|website=Town & Country|access-date=29 January 2022}}</ref>

Many in the House of Commons made tributes. Prime Minister [[John Major]] called him a "formidable political opponent" and ended his speech with the following words: "What was Harold Wilson really like? I have formed my judgment. He was a complex man, certainly, a clever man, a sensitive man, a man who could be bruised and hurt and who never wore the armadillo skin of the fictional politician. He was a man of many achievements and, perhaps above all, a very human man who served his country well and honourably and who has earned, by that, a secure place in its history. In the ledger of life, his credit balance is very high. It is a privilege for me, as one, nominally, of his political opponents, to pay him this tribute and I do so unreservedly."<ref>{{citation |work=[[Hansard]] – Commons |volume=260 |date=24 May 1995 |title=Lord Wilson (Tributes) |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1995-05-24/debates/af24ef16-bbaa-4d6e-8826-16e076d90d48/LordWilson(Tributes) }}</ref>

Wilson's memorial service was held in [[Westminster Abbey]] on 13 July 1995. It was attended by [[Charles, Prince of Wales]], the former prime ministers [[Edward Heath]], [[James Callaghan]]  and [[Margaret Thatcher]], the incumbent prime minister [[John Major]], and [[Tony Blair]], then Leader of the Opposition and later prime minister. Wilson was buried at [[St Mary's Old Church, St Mary's|St Mary's Old Church]], [[St Mary's, Isles of Scilly]], on 6 June.<ref name=autogenerated1/> His epitaph is ''{{Lang|la|Tempus Imperator Rerum}}'' (''Time the Commander of Things'').<ref name="ScillyJack">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/27/scilly-harold-wilson-prime-minister|title=Scilly, where Harold Wilson, the first PM to show his knees, found peace|last=Jack|first=Ian|author-link = Ian Jack|date=27 May 2016|work=The Guardian|access-date=27 January 2022}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
On New Year's Day 1940, in the chapel of [[Mansfield College, Oxford]], he married [[Mary Wilson, Lady Wilson of Rievaulx|Mary Baldwin]], to whom he remained married until his death. Mary Wilson became a published poet, and outlived her husband by 23 years. She died on 6 June 2018 at the age of 102. They had two sons, [[Robin Wilson (mathematician)|Robin]] and Giles (named after [[Giles Alington (academic)|Giles Alington]]); Robin became a professor of mathematics, and Giles became a teacher and later a train driver.<ref>{{cite news |title=Son of former PM Harold Wilson swaps teaching for a career as train driver |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/son-of-former-pm-harold-wilson-swaps-teaching-for-a-career-as-train-driver-7210307.html |work=[[Evening Standard]] |date=20 November 2006 |access-date=11 December 2019 |archive-date=8 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200108005911/https://www.standard.co.uk/news/son-of-former-pm-harold-wilson-swaps-teaching-for-a-career-as-train-driver-7210307.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In their twenties, his sons were under a kidnap threat from the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|IRA]] because of their father's prominence.<ref>{{cite news |last=Usborne |first=Simon |title=And you thought your family politics were bad... what's it like to be the child of a politician? |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/and-you-thought-your-family-politics-were-bad-what-s-it-like-to-be-the-child-of-a-politician-8572555.html |work=[[The Independent]] |location=London |date=19 September 2006 |access-date=29 November 2019 |archive-date=5 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200105203241/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/and-you-thought-your-family-politics-were-bad-what-s-it-like-to-be-the-child-of-a-politician-8572555.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In April 2024 [[Joe Haines (journalist)|Joe Haines]], who had served as Wilson's press secretary during his time as prime minister, revealed that Wilson had had an affair with Haines' deputy Janet Hewlett-Davies during his final two years in office. Hewlett-Davies died aged 85 in October 2023.<ref name=times-20240410>{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/harold-wilson-affair-prime-minister-downing-street-press-secretary-2mfkzdljv |title=Revealed: Harold Wilson's secret Downing Street affair |last=Maguire |first=Patrick |newspaper=The Times |location=London |url-access=subscription |date=10 April 2024 |access-date=10 April 2024}}</ref><ref name=telegraph-20240410>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/10/harold-wilson-secret-affair-janet-hewlett-davies/ |title=Harold Wilson had secret affair in second term in No10 – and it wasn't his secretary |last=Rayner |first=Gordon |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |url-access=subscription |date=10 April 2024 |access-date=10 April 2024}}</ref> Speaking on BBC Radio 4's ''[[Today (BBC Radio 4)|Today]]'' programme, Wilson's former adviser [[Bernard Donoughue]] said the affair had provided "a little sunshine at sunset" for Wilson, who was becoming "increasingly paranoid about the security services", was dealing with political difficulties, and was possibly in the early stages of [[dementia]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bracknellnews.co.uk/news/national/24245633.wilsons-affair-gave-sunshine-sunset-says-former-adviser/|title=Wilson's affair gave him 'sunshine at the sunset', says former adviser|date=11 April 2024|website=Bracknell News}}</ref>

== Legacy ==

===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 and other statesmen who had preceded him, as an example of social mobility. He largely retained his [[Yorkshire accent]]. Other features of this persona included his working man's [[Gannex]] raincoat, his pipe (the British Pipesmokers' Council voted him [[Pipe Smoker of the Year]] in 1965 and Pipeman of the Decade in 1976, though in private he preferred cigars), his love of simple cooking and fondness for the popular British relish [[HP Sauce]], and his support for his home town's football team, [[Huddersfield Town]].<ref>[http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?menu=c10400&no=340222&rel_no=1 "A 2012 Chance for David Beckham?"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071020011047/http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?menu=c10400&no=340222&rel_no=1 |date=20 October 2007 }}, OhMy News International Sports, 16 January 2007.</ref> 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".<ref>{{cite book|first=Chris |last=Rowe|title=Britain 1929–1998|url=https://archive.org/details/britain192919980000rowe|url-access=registration|year=2004|publisher=Heinemann|page=[https://archive.org/details/britain192919980000rowe/page/82 82]|isbn=9780435327385}}</ref>

Wilson exhibited his populist touch in June 1965 when he had [[the Beatles]] honoured with the award of [[Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire|MBE]]. 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 cemented Wilson's image as a modernistic leader and linked him to the burgeoning pride in the 'New Britain' typified by the Beatles.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Stuart |last1=Shea|first2=Robert |last2=Rodriguez|title=Fab Four FAQ: Everything Left to Know about the Beatles-- and More!|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5rGn7xU7zHEC&pg=PA73|year=2007|publisher=Hal Leonard|page=73|isbn=9781423421382|access-date=18 November 2019|archive-date=11 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200111020318/https://books.google.com/books?id=5rGn7xU7zHEC&pg=PA73|url-status=live}}</ref> 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 ''[[Revolver (Beatles album)|Revolver]]''—recorded and released after the MBEs.<ref>{{cite book|author=Beatles|title=The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DKG-FXj_HNYC&pg=PA69|year=1991|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|page=69|isbn=9780395594261|access-date=18 November 2019|archive-date=9 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200109095453/https://books.google.com/books?id=DKG-FXj_HNYC&pg=PA69|url-status=live}}</ref>

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]]. 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.<ref>{{cite book|first=Mark |last=Paytress|title=Marc Bolan: The Rise And Fall Of A 20th Century Superstar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-yk4U2LILeMC&pg=PT269|year=2009|publisher=Omnibus Press|page=269|isbn=9780857120236|access-date=18 November 2019|archive-date=4 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200104195217/https://books.google.com/books?id=-yk4U2LILeMC&pg=PT269|url-status=live}}</ref>

Wilson coined the term '[[Selsdon Man]]' to refer to the free market 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 [[Homo erectus|Swanscombe Man]], was part of a British political tradition of referring to political trends by suffixing 'man'.<ref>{{cite book|first=Timothy |last=Heppell|title=The Tories: From Winston Churchill to David Cameron|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eLnfAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA47|year=2014|publisher=A&C Black|page=47|isbn=9781780931142|access-date=18 November 2019|archive-date=18 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200118212149/https://books.google.com/books?id=eLnfAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA47|url-status=live}}</ref> Other memorable phrases attributed to Wilson include "the white heat of the [technological] revolution", and "a week is a long time in politics", meaning that political fortunes can change extremely rapidly.<ref>{{cite book|first=Dominic |last=Sandbrook|title=White Heat: A History of Britain in the Swinging Sixties|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ug_BgAAQBAJ|year=2015|publisher=Little, Brown|page=4|isbn=9780349141282|access-date=18 November 2019|archive-date=4 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200104234636/https://books.google.com/books?id=2ug_BgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> In his broadcast after the 1967 devaluation of the pound, Wilson said: "This does not mean that the pound here in Britain—in your pocket or purse—is worth any less" and the phrase "the pound in your pocket" subsequently took on a life of its own.<ref>{{cite book|first=William |last=Keegan|title=Nine Crises: Fifty Years of Covering the British Economy from Devaluation to Brexit|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NVBwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT47|year=2019|publisher=Biteback Publishing|page=47|isbn=9781785903939|access-date=18 November 2019|archive-date=12 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112161825/https://books.google.com/books?id=NVBwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT47|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Reputation===
Despite his successes, Wilson's reputation took a long time to recover from the low ebb reached after his second premiership. The reinvention of the Labour Party would take the better part of two decades at the hands of [[Neil Kinnock]], [[John Smith (Labour Party leader)|John Smith]] and, electorally and most conclusively, [[Tony Blair]]. Disillusion with Britain's weak economic performance and troubled industrial relations, combined with campaigning 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 Blair). An opinion poll in September 2011 found that Wilson came in third place when respondents were asked to name the best post-war Labour Party leader. He was beaten only by John Smith and Tony Blair.<ref>[http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/archives/4099 More from YouGov/Sunday Times] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190117141201/http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/archives/4099 |date=17 January 2019 }}, UKPollingReport blog. [http://today.yougov.co.uk/sites/today.yougov.co.uk/files/yg-archives-pol-st-results-3009-011011.pdf Full polling results] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006095443/http://today.yougov.co.uk/sites/today.yougov.co.uk/files/yg-archives-pol-st-results-3009-011011.pdf |date=6 October 2011 }}</ref>

According to Glen O'Hara in 2006:<ref>Glen O'Hara "'Dynamic, Exciting, Thrilling Change': the Wilson Government's Economic Policies, 1964–70," ''Contemporary British History'' (2006), 20:3, 383–402, DOI: 10.1080/13619460500407087</ref>

<blockquote>Much of the disillusionment with Harold Wilson as Labour's leader and prime minister was due to his perceived failure on the economic front. He pledged not to devalue sterling, but did exactly that in 1967; he promised to keep unemployment low, but had by 1970 accepted a higher rate of joblessness than the Conservatives had managed. Some of the elements in Labour's programme – the emphasis on steadier growth, for instance – were probably misguided. These problems and defeats have, however, obscured some of the real achievements of the period. Science and education spending grew very quickly; industrial investment rose; government was increasingly well informed and better advised about the performance of the economy. In an increasingly unstable and rapidly changing economic environment, this government's economic record is here shown to be, if not hugely impressive, then at least relatively creditable.</blockquote>

==Possible plots and conspiracy theories==
{{Main|Harold Wilson plot allegations}}

In 1963, Soviet defector [[Anatoliy Golitsyn]] is said to have secretly claimed that Wilson was a [[KGB]] agent.<ref name="Mitrokhin">[[Vasili Mitrokhin]], [[Christopher Andrew (historian)|Christopher Andrew]] (2000). The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West. Gardners Books. {{ISBN|978-0-14-028487-4}}</ref> The majority of intelligence officers did not believe that Golitsyn was credible in this and various other claims, but a significant number did (most prominently [[James Jesus Angleton]], Deputy Director of Operations for [[Counterintelligence]] at the US [[Central Intelligence Agency]]) and factional strife broke out between the two groups. Former [[MI5]] officer [[Peter Wright (MI5 officer)|Peter Wright]] claimed in his memoirs, ''[[Spycatcher]]'', that 30 MI5 agents then collaborated in an attempt to undermine Wilson. He later retracted that claim, saying that there was only one man.<ref>Andrew, ''Defend the Realm'', p. 642.</ref>

In March 1987, James Miller, a former agent, claimed that the [[Ulster Workers' Council strike]] of 1974 had been promoted by MI5 to help destabilise Wilson's government.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch87.htm |title=Chronology of the Conflict 1987 |publisher=Cain.ulst.ac.uk |access-date=1 July 2012 |archive-date=7 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180207062946/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch87.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> 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 (politician)|Chris Mullin]] MP, speaking on 23 November 1988, argued that sources other than Peter Wright supported claims of a long-standing attempt by MI5 to undermine Wilson's government.<ref>[https://publications.parliament.uk/cgi-bin/newhtml_hl?DB=semukparl&STEMMER=en&WORDS=peter%20wright&ALL=&ANY=&PHRASE=%22Peter%20Wright%20%22&CATEGORIES=&SIMPLE=&SPEAKER=&COLOUR=red&STYLE=s&ANCHOR=Debate-9_spnew6&URL=/pa/cm198889/cmhansrd/1988-11-23/Debate-9.html#Debate-9_spnew6 House of Commons Hansard Debates for 23 November 1988] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216074028/https://publications.parliament.uk/cgi-bin/newhtml_hl?DB=semukparl&STEMMER=en&WORDS=peter%20wright&ALL=&ANY=&PHRASE=%22Peter%20Wright%20%22&CATEGORIES=&SIMPLE=&SPEAKER=&COLOUR=red&STYLE=s&ANCHOR=Debate-9_spnew6&URL=%2Fpa%2Fcm198889%2Fcmhansrd%2F1988-11-23%2FDebate-9.html#Debate-9_spnew6 |date=16 December 2018 }} Retrieved 1 July 2012.</ref>

On the [[BBC]] television programme ''The Plot Against Harold Wilson'', broadcast on 16 March 2006 on [[BBC Two]], it was claimed there were threats of a ''coup d'état'' against the Wilson government, which were corroborated by leading figures of the time on both the left and the right. Wilson told two BBC journalists, [[Barrie Penrose]] and [[Roger Courtiour]], who recorded the meetings on a [[cassette tape recorder]], that he feared he was being undermined by MI5. The first time was in the late 1960s after the Wilson government [[devalued]] the pound sterling but the threat faded after [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] leader [[Edward Heath]] won the [[1970 United Kingdom general election|election of 1970]]. However, following the [[1972 United Kingdom miners' strike|1972 British miners' strike]] Heath decided to hold an election to renew his mandate to govern in [[February 1974 United Kingdom general election|February 1974]] but lost narrowly to Wilson. There was again talk of a military coup, with rumours of [[Lord Mountbatten]] as head of an interim administration after Wilson had been deposed.<ref>{{cite news |last=Wheeler |first=Brian |title=Wilson 'plot': The secret tapes |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4789060.stm |url-status=live |work=[[BBC News]] |date=9 March 2006 |access-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215151907/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4789060.stm |archive-date=15 February 2009}}</ref> In 1974, the [[British Army]] occupied [[Heathrow Airport]] on the grounds of training for possible [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|IRA]] terrorist action at the airport. Although the military stated that this was a planned [[military exercise]], [[10 Downing Street]] was not informed in advance, and Wilson himself interpreted it as a show of strength, or warning, being made by the army.<ref>{{cite news |last=Freedland |first=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Freedland |title=Enough of this cover-up: the Wilson plot was our Watergate |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2006/mar/15/comment.labour1 |url-status=live |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |date=15 March 2006 |access-date=10 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129013134/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2006/mar/15/comment.labour1 |archive-date=29 November 2021}}</ref>

Historian [[Christopher Andrew (historian)|Christopher Andrew]]'s official history of MI5, ''[[The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5]]'', included a chapter (section E part 4) specifically alluding to a conspiracy instead of a plot against Wilson in the 1970s:
{{blockquote|The characterisation of Harold Wilson as paranoid does not take account of the political context of the time, which was characterised by a paranoid political style generally which applied to both left and right (including MI5 itself). The suspicion of Wilson and others towards the unlawful activities of the security services and other right-wing figures resulted from concrete domestic and international developments discussed in more detail below. Andrew is correct to be sceptical, and there remains limited evidence of a 'plot' if a plot is defined as a tightly organised high-level conspiracy with a detailed plan. However, there is evidence of a conspiracy: a loosely connected series of unlawful manoeuvres against an elected government by a group of like-minded figures.<ref>Jon Moran, "Conspiracy and contemporary history: revisiting MI5 and the Wilson plot[s]." ''Journal of Intelligence History'' (2014) 13#2, pp. 161–175, quote at p. 162.</ref>}}

The Director-General of the Security Service assured Prime Minister [[Margaret Thatcher]], and she told the House of Commons on 6 May 1987:
{{blockquote|He has found no evidence of any truth in the allegations. He has given me his personal assurance that the stories are false. In particular, he has advised me that all the Security Service officers who have been interviewed have categorically denied that they were involved in, or were aware of, any activities or plans to undermine or discredit Lord Wilson and his Government when he was prime minister.<ref>Jon Moran, "Conspiracy and contemporary history" at fn 32.</ref><ref>See [https://www.mi5.gov.uk/the-wilson-plot MI5, "The Wilson Plot"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180108075322/https://www.mi5.gov.uk/the-wilson-plot |date=8 January 2018}}</ref>}}

In 2009, ''The Defence of the Realm'' 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8288247.stm |title=MI5 kept file on former PM Wilson |date=3 October 2009 |work=[[BBC News]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109025629/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8288247.stm |archive-date=9 November 2020 }}</ref> In 2010 newspaper reports made detailed allegations that the [[Cabinet Office]] had required that the section on bugging of [[10 Downing Street]] be omitted from the history for "wider public interest reasons". In 1963, on Macmillan's orders following the Profumo affair, MI5 bugged the Cabinet room, the waiting room, and the prime minister's study until the devices were removed in 1977 on Callaghan's orders. From the records, it is unclear if Wilson or Heath knew of the bugging, and no recorded conversations were retained by MI5 so possibly the bugs were never activated.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7101127.ece|title=Allegations No.10 was bugged by MI5 'removed' from official history|first=Brendan|last=Bourne|date=18 April 2010|work=The Sunday Times|location=London|access-date=20 April 2010|archive-date=10 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110130537/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Professor Andrew had previously recorded in the preface of the history that "One significant excision as a result of these [Cabinet Office] requirements (in the chapter on The Wilson Plot) is, I believe, hard to justify", giving credence to these new allegations.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M84O5pYh3rcC&q=%22One+significant+excision+as+a+result+of+these%22&pg=PR20 |title=Defend the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5 |date=3 November 2009 |isbn=9780307272911 |access-date=22 April 2021 |last=Andrew |first=Christopher |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing |archive-date=9 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009111759/https://books.google.com/books?id=M84O5pYh3rcC&q=%22One+significant+excision+as+a+result+of+these%22&pg=PR20 |url-status=live}}</ref>

As a result of his concerns about the danger to British parliamentary democracy, Wilson issued instructions that no agency should ever bug the telephones of any members of Parliament, a policy (still in place) which came to be known as the [[Wilson Doctrine]].<ref>{{cite web|first=David |last=Cameron |author-link=David Cameron |title=The Wilson Doctrine: Written statement |url=http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2015-11-04/HCWS291/|publisher=Parliament of the United Kingdom |accessdate=24 June 2026 |date=4 November 2015}}</ref>

==Honours==
* Wilson was elected a [[List of fellows of the Royal Society elected in 1969|Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1969]] under Statute 12 of the Society's regulations, which covers people who have rendered conspicuous service to the cause of science or are such that their election would be of signal benefit to the Society.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Election 1968 |journal=Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London |publisher=Royal Society of London |volume=24–25 |issue=2 |page=323 |year=1970 |s2cid=202574391 |doi=10.1098/rsnr.1970.0023}}</ref>
* In 2013, the [[Government of Bangladesh]] posthumously awarded Wilson with the [[Awards and decorations of the Bangladesh Liberation War|Friends of Liberation War Honour]] for highlighting the plight of the people of Bangladesh during the [[Bangladesh Liberation War]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/south-asia/castro-basu-among-those-honoured-by-bangladesh/article4544641.ece |title=Castro, Basu among those honoured by Bangladesh |date=24 March 2013 |access-date=7 January 2023 |website=[[The Hindu]] |last=Habib |first=Haroon |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240304175328/https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/south-asia/castro-basu-among-those-honoured-by-bangladesh/article4544641.ece |archive-date=4 March 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Statues and other tributes===
[[File:Harold Wilson statue.jpg|thumb|upright|Statue in St George's Square, [[Huddersfield]]]]

A portrait of Harold Wilson, painted by the Scottish portrait artist [[Cowan Dobson]], hangs today at University College, Oxford.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-right-honourable-sir-harold-wilson-19161995-lord-wilson-of-rievaulx-fellow-prime-minister-19641970-19741976-223862|title=The Right Honourable Sir Harold Wilson (1916–1995), Lord Wilson of Rievaulx, Fellow, Prime Minister (1964–1970 & 1974–1976)|publisher=[[Art UK]]|access-date=28 March 2019|archive-date=8 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180708041817/https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-right-honourable-sir-harold-wilson-19161995-lord-wilson-of-rievaulx-fellow-prime-minister-19641970-19741976-223862|url-status=live}}</ref> Two statues of Harold Wilson stand in prominent places. The first, unveiled by the then prime minister [[Tony Blair]] in July 1999, stands outside [[Huddersfield railway station]] in St George's Square, Huddersfield. Costing £70,000, the statue, designed by sculptor [[Ian Walters]], is based on photographs taken in 1964 and depicts Wilson in walking pose at the start of his first term as prime minister. His widow, Mary requested that the eight-foot-tall monument not show Wilson holding his famous pipe as she feared it would make the representation a caricature.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/390348.stm |title=UK PoliticsPipeless Wilson immortalised in bronze |work=[[BBC News]] |date=15 April 2010 |access-date=1 October 2010 |archive-date=10 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810015132/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/390348.stm |url-status=live}}</ref>

In September 2006, [[Tony Blair]] unveiled a second bronze statue of Wilson in the latter's former constituency of [[Huyton]], near [[Liverpool]]. The statue was created by Liverpool sculptor, Tom Murphy, and Blair paid tribute to Wilson's legacy at the unveiling, including the [[Open University]]. He added: "He also brought in a whole new culture, a whole new country. He made the country very, very different".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/blairs-tribute-to-harold-wilson-7218884.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260625193114/https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/blairs-tribute-to-harold-wilson-7218884.html |url-status=live |archive-date=25 June 2026 |title=Blair's tribute to Harold Wilson |work=Evening Standard |location=London |date=15 April 2010 |access-date=26 June 2026}}</ref>

Also in 2006, a street on a new housing development in [[Tividale]], West Midlands, was named Wilson Drive in honour of Wilson. Along with neighbouring new development Callaghan Drive (named after [[James Callaghan]]), it formed part of a large housing estate developed since the 1960s where all streets were named after former prime ministers or senior parliamentary figures.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

A block of high-rise flats in Huddersfield are named after Wilson.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/huddersfields-iconic-harold-wilson-court-6677162|title=Huddersfield’s ‘iconic’ Harold Wilson Court (Richmond Flats to you and me) gets major facelift - take a look inside|website=Yorkshire Live|date=6 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117010148/https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/huddersfields-iconic-harold-wilson-court-6677162|archive-date=17 January 2021|access-date=26 June 2026}}</ref>

==Arms==
{{Infobox COA wide
| image = Coat of arms of Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx.svg
| imagesize = 250px
| motto = Tempus Rerum Imperator
|escutcheon = Argent an ancient ship Proper on a chief Gules a stag's head caboshed Or between two water bougets Argent.<ref>{{cite book|title=Debrett's Peerage |date=1985 |page=P1249}}</ref>
|crest = Upon a rock a lighthouse in front thereof a spade blade downwards and a quill point downwards in saltire all Proper.
|supporters = Dexter a winged lion Purpure charged on the wing with three roses Argent barbed and seeded Proper sinister a griffin Or charged on the wing with three roses Gules barbed and seeded Proper.
| notes = As a Knight Companion of the Garter, Wilson's arms were displayed on a stall plate at St George's Chapel, Windsor.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theheraldrysociety.com/shop/images/wilson-james-harold-kg/ |publisher=The Heraldry Society |accessdate=16 July 2025 |title=Wilson, James Harold KG}}</ref>
| symbolism = 
| previous_versions = 
}}

==Scholastic honours==
; Chancellor, visitor, governor, and fellowships
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
|-
! style="width:20%;"| Location
! style="width:20%;"| Date
! style="width:40%;"| School
! style="width:20%;"| Position
|-
| {{Flagu|England}} || '''1977''' || [[University of Huddersfield]] || Honorary Fellow<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hud.ac.uk/about/honorary-graduates/|title=Honorary graduates – University of Huddersfield|website=www.hud.ac.uk|access-date=8 June 2018|archive-date=8 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308154715/https://www.hud.ac.uk/about/honorary-graduates/|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flagu|England}} || '''1966–1985''' || [[University of Bradford]] || Chancellor<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bradford.ac.uk/about/chancellor/former-chancellors/|title=Former Chancellors – University of Bradford|website=www.bradford.ac.uk|access-date=8 June 2018|archive-date=15 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180515091609/https://www.bradford.ac.uk/about/chancellor/former-chancellors/|url-status=live}}</ref>
|}

;Honorary degrees
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
|-
! style="width:20%;"| Location
! style="width:20%;"| Date
! style="width:40%;"| School
! style="width:20%;"| Degree
|-
| {{Flagu|England}} || '''1964''' || [[Lancaster University]] || [[Doctor of Laws]] (LL.D)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/unihistory/growth/motivations.html|title=University of Lancaster|website=www.lancaster.ac.uk|access-date=8 June 2018|archive-date=14 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180414083225/http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/unihistory/growth/motivations.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/about-us/ourpeople/honorary-degrees/#sixties|title=Honorary Graduates – Lancaster University|website=www.lancaster.ac.uk|access-date=8 June 2018|archive-date=12 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141406/http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/about-us/ourpeople/honorary-degrees/#sixties|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-MhwMTsxG8| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/a-MhwMTsxG8| archive-date=11 December 2021 | url-status=live|title=Harold Wilson's Acceptance Speech|last=Lancaster University|date=29 June 2011|access-date=8 June 2018|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flagu|England}} || '''1965''' || [[University of Liverpool]] || [[Doctor of Laws]] (LL.D)<ref>[https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/media/livacuk/commsec/calendar/Honorary,Graduates,of,the,University.pdf Honorary Graduates of the University] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180207122338/https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/media/livacuk/commsec/calendar/Honorary,Graduates,of,the,University.pdf |date=7 February 2018 }}, [[University of Liverpool]]. Accessed on 31 October 2019.</ref>
|-
| {{Flagu|England}} || '''1966''' || [[University of Sussex]] || [[Doctor of Laws]] (LL.D)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sussex.ac.uk/webteam/gateway/file.php?name=list-of-honorary-graduates.pdf&site=76|title=Honorary Degrees Committee – List of Honorary Graduates as at 01/10/2019|publisher=University of Sussex|access-date=12 December 2020|archive-date=19 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160119063525/https://www.sussex.ac.uk/webteam/gateway/file.php?name=list-of-honorary-graduates.pdf&site=76|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flagu|England}} || '''1966''' || [[University of Nottingham]] || [[Doctor of Laws]] (LL.D)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/registrar/documents/hon-deg-list-feb2018.pdf|title=Honorary Graduates of the University of Nottingham|website=www.nottingham.ac.uk|access-date=12 December 2020|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141436/https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/registrar/documents/hon-deg-list-feb2018.pdf|archive-date=12 June 2018}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flagu|England}} || '''1967''' || [[University of Essex]] || Doctorate<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www1.essex.ac.uk/honorary_graduates/default.aspx|title=Honorary Graduates – Honorary Graduates – University of Essex|website=www1.essex.ac.uk|access-date=8 June 2018|archive-date=12 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612143505/https://www1.essex.ac.uk/honorary_graduates/default.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flagu|England}} || '''18 May 1974''' || [[Open University]] || [[Doctor of the University]] (D.Univ)<ref>[http://www.open.ac.uk/students/ceremonies/sites/www.open.ac.uk.students.ceremonies/files/files/Honorary_graduate_cumulative_list_2017.pdf Honorary graduate cumulative list 2017] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322022157/http://www.open.ac.uk/students/ceremonies/sites/www.open.ac.uk.students.ceremonies/files/files/Honorary_graduate_cumulative_list_2017.pdf |date=22 March 2018 }}, [[Open University]]. Accessed on 31 October 2019.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.open.ac.uk/library/digital-archive/clip/clip:wil_clip6|title=Clip: Honorary Degree – Open University Digital Archive|website=www.open.ac.uk|access-date=8 June 2018|archive-date=12 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612142118/http://www.open.ac.uk/library/digital-archive/clip/clip:wil_clip6|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flagu|Israel}} || '''1976''' || [[Bar-Ilan University]] || Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www1.biu.ac.il/en-about_doctorate|title=Honorary Doctorate Recipients – Bar Ilan University|website=www1.biu.ac.il|access-date=8 June 2018|archive-date=24 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170524133245/http://www1.biu.ac.il/en-about_doctorate|url-status=live}}</ref>
|}

==Cultural depictions==
{{further|Cultural depictions of British prime ministers#Harold Wilson}}

==Works==
* ''New Deal for Coal'' (1945) 
* ''In Place of Dollars'' (1952)
* ''The War on World Poverty'' (1953) 
* ''The Relevance of British Socialism'' (1964)
* ''Purpose in Politics: Selected Speeches'' (1964) 
* ''The Labour Government 1964-1970'' (1971) 
* ''The Governance of Britain'' (1976) 
* ''A Prime Minister on Prime Ministers'' (1977) 
* ''Final Term: The Labour Government 1974-76'' (1979) 
* ''The Chariot of Israel'' (1981) 
* ''Memoirs: The Making of a Prime Minister 1916-64'' (1986)

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==

===Bibliography===
{{main|Harold Wilson bibliography}}
* Wilson, Harold. ''A Personal Record: The Labour Government, 1964–1970'' (1971).
* Wilson, Harold. ''The Labour Government 1964–1970: A Personal Record'' (1979)

===Biographical===
* Farr, Martin. "Wilson, (James) Harold, 1st Baron Wilson 1916–1995." in David Loades, ed., ''Reader's Guide to British History'' London: Routledge, 2003. online at Credo Reference; historiography
* {{cite ODNB |id=58000r |last=Jenkins |first=Roy |author-link=Roy Jenkins |title=Wilson, (James) Harold, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx |year=2004}}
* {{cite book |last=Pimlott |first=Ben |author-link=Ben Pimlott |title=Harold Wilson |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-00-215189-4}}; 830pp; a standard scholarly biography.
* {{cite book |last=Routledge |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Routledge |title=Wilson. Series: The 20 British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century |publisher=[[Haus Publishing]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-904950-68-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Ziegler |first=Philip |author-link=Philip Ziegler |title=Wilson: The Authorised Life of Lord Wilson of Rievaulx |publisher=[[Weidenfeld & Nicolson]] |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-297-81276-0}}, the authorised biography

===Domestic policy and politics===
* Blick, Andrew. "Harold Wilson, Labour and the machinery of government". ''Contemporary British History'' 20#3 (2006): 343–362.
* Butler, David, and Anthony King. ''The British General Election of 1964'' (1965)
* Butler, David, and M. Pinto-Duschinsky. ''The British General Election of 1970'' (1971).
* Butler, David, and Dennis Kavanagh. ''The British General Election of February 1974'' (1974).
* Butler, David, and Dennis Kavanagh. ''The British General Election of October 1974'' (1975).
* {{cite book |last=Campbell |first=John |author-link=John Campbell (biographer) |title=Nye Bevan and the Mirage of British Socialism |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |location=London |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-297-78998-7}}
* Childs, David. ''Britain since 1945: A Political History'' (7th ed. 2012), pp.&nbsp;117–161, 179–196. [https://www.amazon.com/Britain-since-1945-Political-History/dp/0415519527/ excerpt]
* Coopey, Richard, and Steven Fielding. ''The Wilson Governments, 1964–1970'' (1993).
* Davies, Andrew. ''To build a new Jerusalem: the British Labour movement from the 1880s to the 1990s'' (1992), pp.&nbsp;209–231.
* Dell, Edmund. ''The Chancellors: A History of the Chancellors of the Exchequer, 1945–90'' (HarperCollins, 1997) (covers economic policy under the Attlee and Wilson governments)
* Donoughue, Bernard. ''Prime Minister: the conduct of policy under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan'' (1987), highly favourable report by insider.
* Dorey, Pete. "'Well, Harold Insists on Having It!'—The Political Struggle to Establish The Open University, 1965–67." ''Contemporary British History'' 29#2 (2015): 241–272.
* Fielding, Steven, ed. ''The Labour governments, 1964–70, volume 1: Labour and cultural change'' (Manchester UP, 2003).
* Heppell, Timothy. "The Labour Party leadership election of 1963: Explaining the unexpected election of Harold Wilson." ''Contemporary British History'' 24.2 (2010): 151–171. [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Timothy-Heppell/publication/233071119_The_Labour_Party_Leadership_Election_of_1963_Explaining_the_Unexpected_Election_of_Harold_Wilson/links/56fd30de08aea3275abb9d18/The-Labour-Party-Leadership-Election-of-1963-Explaining-the-Unexpected-Election-of-Harold-Wilson.pdf online]
* Holmes, Martin. ''The labour government, 1974–79: political aims and economic reality'' (Macmillan, 1985).
* King, Anthony. ''The British General Election of 1966'' (1966).
* Lapping, Brian. ''The Labour Government, 1964–70'' (Penguin books, 1970).
* Morgan, Kenneth O. ''The People's Peace: British History 1945–1989'' (1990), pp.&nbsp;239–313.
* O'Hara, Glen. ''From dreams to disillusionment: economic and social planning in 1960s Britain'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) [http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1317692/1/271224.pdf online PhD version]
* Ponting, Clive. ''Breach of promise: Labour in power, 1964–1970'' (Penguin, 1989).
* [[Martin Pugh (author)|Pugh, Martin]]. ''[[Speak for Britain!: A New History of the Labour Party]]'' (2010), pp.&nbsp;319–352.
* Rogers, Chris. "From Social Contract to 'Social Contrick': The Depoliticisation of Economic Policy‐Making under Harold Wilson, 1974–751." ''British Journal of Politics & International Relations'' 11#4 (2009): 634–651. [http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/4276/1/WRAP_Rogers_100211-from_social_contract_to_social_contrick_bjpir_14-05-2009.pdf online]
* Sked, Alan and Chris Cook. ''Post-War Britain: A Political History'' (4th ed. 1993), pp.&nbsp;200–253, 292–311.

===Foreign policy===
* Colman, Jonathan. ''A 'Special Relationship'? Harold Wilson, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Anglo-American Relations 'At the Summit', 1964–68'' (2004) [https://www.questia.com/library/120073181/a-special-relationship-harold-wilson-lyndon-b online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924121125/https://www.questia.com/library/120073181/a-special-relationship-harold-wilson-lyndon-b |date=24 September 2018 }}
* Daddow, Oliver J. ''Harold Wilson and European integration: Britain's second application to join the EEC'' (Psychology Press, 2003).
* Dockrill, Saki. "Forging the Anglo‐American global defence partnership: Harold Wilson, Lyndon Johnson and the Washington summit, December 1964." ''Journal of Strategic Studies'' 23#4 (2000): 107–129.
* Ellis, Sylvia A. "Lyndon Johnson, Harold Wilson and the Vietnam War: A Not So Special Relationship?." in Jonathan Hollowell, ed., ''Twentieth-Century Anglo-American Relations''. (Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2001), pp.&nbsp;180–204.
* Haeussler, Mathias. "A Pyrrhic Victory: Harold Wilson, Helmut Schmidt, and the British Renegotiation of EC Membership, 1974–5." ''International History Review'' 37#4 (2015): 768–789.
* Hughes, Geraint. ''Harold Wilson's Cold War: The Labour Government and East-West Politics, 1964–1970'' (2009)
* Parr, Helen. "A question of leadership: July 1966 and Harold Wilson's European decision." ''Contemporary British History'' 19.4 (2005): 437–458.
* Parr, Helen. ''Britain's Policy Towards the European Community: Harold Wilson and Britain's World Role, 1964–1967'' (Routledge, 2005).
* Vickers, Rhiannon. "Harold Wilson, the British Labour Party, and the War in Vietnam." ''Journal of Cold War Studies'' 10.2 (2008): 41–70. [http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1162/jcws.2008.10.2.41 online]
* Young, John W. ed. ''The Labour governments 1964–1970 volume 2: International policy'' (2008).

===Historiography===
* Crines, Andrew S., ed. ''Harold Wilson: The Unprincipled Prime Minister?: A Reappraisal of Harold Wilson'' (2016). evaluations by scholars and politicians; [https://www.amazon.com/Harold-Wilson-Unprincipled-Prime-Minister/dp/1785900315/ excerpt]
* O'Hara, Glen; Parr, Helen. "The Fall and Rise of a Reputation" ''Contemporary British History'' (2006) 20#3, pp.&nbsp;295–302
* Perkins, Anne. "Labour needs to rethink Harold Wilson's legacy. It still matters" [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/10/labour-harold-wilson-legacy-100-years ''The Guardian'', 10 March 2016]
* Pimlott, Ben. ''Frustrate Their Knavish Tricks: Writings on Biography, History and Politics'' (1994) pp.&nbsp;31–36.

==External links==
{{Sister project links|s=Author:Harold Wilson|c=Category:Harold Wilson}}
*{{Hansard-contribs|mr-harold-wilson|Harold Wilson}}
*[https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/relationships/collections1/1968-theatre-censorship/harold-wilson/ Harold Wilson & Censorship – UK Parliament Living Heritage]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100526033640/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/7623253/Lord-Wilson-of-Rievaulx.html Lord Wilson of Rievaulx] obituary in ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]''
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070421180710/http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page129.asp Harold Wilson] on the [[Downing Street]] website
*{{NPG name}}
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