Harold Wilson

by Ben Pimlott

Ben Pimlott's biography of Hugh Dalton won the Whitbread Prize, now the author turns his attention to Harold Wilson. The book combines scholarship and observations to illuminate the life and career of one of Britain's most controversial post-war statesmen. Wilson is one of the most enigmatic personalities of recent British history. He held office as Prime Minister for longer than any other Labour leader, and longer than any other premier in peacetime apart from Mrs Thatcher. His success at winning General Elections - four in all - has so far not been matched. His grasp of economic policy was better than that of any other Prime Minister, and he enjoyed a high reputation among foreign leaders. Yet, in retrospect, he seems a master tactician rather than a strategiest - and he is regarded today with more curiosity than respect, when he is not treated with contempt.

Genres: Biography, Politics, History, Nonfiction, British Literature

811 pages, Paperback

First published October 22, 1992

About the author

A professor of modern British political history, Ben Pimlott was professor of contemporary history at Birkbeck College, London, from 1987 to 1998, and warden of Goldsmith's College from 1998 until his death in 2004.

Reviews

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

History has not been kind to Harold Wilson. His administrations are remembered primarily for their crises - devaluation, In Place of Strife, rocketing inflation and the turmoil of the seventies. The circumstances of his resignation were strange, the only British Prime Minister last century to leave office at a time of his own choosing, when not forced to do so by political events, illness or electoral defeat. The infamous lavender list left a nasty taste in a country recently rocked by Poulson.

Yet it the achievements of Wilson's governments were significant. They represented a sea-change from the previous administration (13 of Macmillan's cabinet had gone to Eton) which was much more in tune with a rapidly changing society. Wilson's famous words on the "white heat of the technical revolution" stuck a chord with the voters, and Labour was swept to power in 1964 with a mandate to modernise. Whilst the its attempt to direct investment more efficiently through a National Plan created by the new Department of Economic Affairs was a failure, its attempt to create a fairer society through the expansion of university education was undoubtedly of lasting significance. Capital punishment was abolished, abortion and homosexuality were legalised, the Lord Chancellor's censorship of the theatre was swept away. Later events were to show that the ideas behind In Place of Strife were undoubtedly correct, and the subsequent emasculation of the Trade Union movement under Thatcher indicate that the Trade Union movement's opposition to the White Paper was misplaced.

Wilson's administration redefined the nature of Britain's armed forces, reduced defence spending from 8% to 5% of GDP in keeping with Britain's post-colonial role, whilst withdrawing from traditional commitments "East of Suez". Perhaps his greatest achievement was to keep British troops out of Vietnam despite intense pressure from a United States government on whom Britain was dependent for economic support during recurring balance of payments crises. Only a funambulist with the skill of Wilson could have achieved this balancing act.

Yet Wilson's tragedy came in two electoral shocks - his unexpected defeat in 1970, and his equally unexpected victory in 1974. He was shaken to the core by his loss, and when he regained power in 1974 the drive and attention to detail was no longer there. Pimlott shows conclusively that Wilson was planning his resignation almost as soon as he had taken power, thus dispelling rumours of lurking scandals or MI5 conspiracies to unseat him.

Pimlott's is a classic political biography: comprehensive, detailed, sympathetic but not uncritical. He presents Wilson as a highly capable administrator, whose mercurial brilliance allowed him to paper over the deep divisions between right and left in the labour party. He felt deeply betrayed by his protégée Anthony Wedgwood Benn's swing to the left, and the widening chasm between him and the Jenkinsites of the right contributed to his deepening sense of disillusionment. Wilson was no ideologue, but Pimlott gives a sense that in Wilson's final administration he no longer believed that he was capable of transforming Britain into the fairer, more efficient and better run state that he had worked for all his life.

Taken from my Blog http://roderick-random.blogspot.co.uk...

[Andrew Pratley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who would want to a Labour Leader never mind a Labour Prime Minister? Aside from the "saintly" Attlee all of the ones who made it to become Prime Minister have had their subsequent reputations trashed & their achievements traduced.

Harold Wilson like Tony Blair was successful & also very able. Like Blair he had his faults. Both of these multiple general election winners have since stepping down & even before whilst in office have had to endure fire from both the Tory dominated establishment & those on the left who accuse them selling out or worse.

This book seeks to tell a more balanced version of Harold Wilson's story & it succeeds brilliantly. The book came out before the death of its subject but it has not been bettered since.

[Albert Farrugia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good biography of a Labour Party who won four of five elections and kept his party together.

[Monty Milne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pimlott, though leaving me in no doubt of his left wing sympathies, nevertheless gives what feels to me like a very balanced and well judged assessment of Wilson. The man had many achievements to put on the credit side of his time in office: abolition of the death penalty, partial decriminalisation of homosexuality, the creation of the Open University, progress on race relations and gender equality. And yet, the debit balance is also pretty painful: poor industrial relations, economic decline and mismanagement, and a strong whiff of cronyism and corruption.I was hoping to find out lots about his wonderfully colourful secretary Marcia Falkender (the "Lady Forkbender" I remember being widely mocked by Private Eye when I was a lad). Pimlott does not disappoint: one is left agog at the descriptions of her screaming tantrums at Number 10, and the list of dodgy crooks she wrote down on her lavender writing paper for Wilson to ennoble (the notorious "Lavender List"). But Pimlott also left me convinced that they were not in fact lovers (there was something curiously physically unattractive about Wilson - though not Marcia - he was such a pipe and slippers domestic bore that one cannot imagine him keeping a mistress - I am persuaded that the relationship was one of emotional dependence but no sexual attraction).

I am also prepared to give Pimlott and Wilson the benefit of the doubt and acquit him of personal corruption as well. There is no doubt that he aided and abetted a lot of deeply corrupt and unpleasant pleasant people (e.g. Lord Kagan, the manufacturer of the famous Gannex raincoats that Wilson loved to wear). This makes Wilson a poor judge of character rather than a crook himself; I see no evidence he benefited personally from these unsavoury connections. He was undoubtedly a slippery man and a consummate politician, well versed in the art of sticking the knife in the back of friends and colleagues, and in his political life utterly untrustworthy and deceitful. But nevertheless I don't think he had his fingers either in the till or in Marcia's knickers.

Was he any good? There's a question. Certainly he was clever - much cleverer than the hapless James Callaghan who succeeded him as Labour leader. Callaghan was better balanced, nicer, and more honest. But Wilson was far more effective. On balance, I would have preferred the country to be run by Wilson, and I would even have preferred Wilson's company for a drink - he was less of a bore than Callaghan.

As an undergraduate at Oxford in the 1980's I was at a black tie drinks party for some purpose I cannot now remember when suddenly Lord Wilson of Rievaulx - as he then was - appeared in our midst. He had been dining in another part of the college and was himself in black tie, on the way out, when he spotted us and stopped, and launched into a wonderfully witty and discursive anecdote. It was cleverly done - he charmed us by being apparently self deprecating, by giving us a conspiratorial wink and letting us know that politics was just a game and that he was letting us into the secret. None of us were in political sympathy with him, but we were all enraptured by his charisma and his presence. And yet, when he tottered off into the night, we were left unable to recall precisely what he had said - and there remained a sensation that here was someone clever, witty....evanescent, and shallow.

[Jemma · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very good biography, of a subject little known by my generation. We tend to skip over this period, or if we do look at it, it's the NHS, decolonisation and the Cold War. So it is fascinating to discover the intricacies of British politics of this time from a different perspective. Even worrying sometimes, as it became apparent that even under Attlee and Wilson, two of the most successful C20th PMs, there was significant criticism of them. It seems that Labour's current difficulties have long roots and that it was pretty much only the lack of one member one vote which prevented Labour going the way it recently has but under Bevan perhaps.

Also underlined, is how difficult it is for Labour to get elected. When they finally do, they have had to offer more than could ever be delivered - in this case the White Heat of Technology - and get dismissed from office for not living up to their, self-imposed, impossible standards. Yet, a government such as Wilson's has a great reforming record (from the theatre, to homosexuality, to equal pay etc.) which is much more than Heath's did. The electorate really should be more prepared to give Labour the benefit of the doubt and view the Tories more critically.

The reason this biography doesn't score higher (and it nearly did) is because it peters out before Wilson's death and because it doesn't really cover Wilson and social change. As the biography was updated, with a new preface, a concluding chapter covering Wilson's demise would've been welcome (by another author of course) and it would've been good to hear more about Wilson and the Swinging Sixties, of which he is an unlikely progenitor, beneficiary and victim, in differing ways. A quick look at Wikkipedia and you'll discover a great little tale about Wilson and the Move's Flowers in the Rain, but little of that kind of thing is included here. More social history in the mix please.

[Ken Punter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the type of book that used to be called a 'tour de force'. It's a detailed, pacy and swirling journey through the life of one of Britain's most successful politicians (he won 4 general elections as a party leader - a joint record).

Taking the advice that non-fiction needs to be understood rather than read word-for-word, this is a work that lends itself to 'focused scanning'. Pimlott's book is so well structured, organised and written that reading the start and end of each chapter, then scanning each paragraph works really well. For the real fan, this is a book you can luxuriate in; it's long but covers every key event in Wilson's life so comprehensively and eloquently that it wouldn't disappoint (however, I've got things to do and books to read).

Wilson was at the periphery of my very early political consciousness, so I had some idea of his stature and place in mid to late(ish) 20th century politics. I'd also heard about the 'slippery' and difficult reputation, plus the 'was he a Soviet spy?' thing. I'd also been aware that he'd kept the UK out of the Vietnam war despite the desire of, and pressure from, Washington. I'd also seen pictures of him pre-shadowing Blair's Cool Britannia when entertaining the Beatles at Downing Street and then there was 'the white heat of industry' speech placing him as the future-thinking visionary. But I wanted to know more and see the full picture; Ben Pimlott's book delivers in spades.

So which was he, slippery or pragmatist? Of the Left or of the Right? Oxford Don, or Northern working class lad? Man with the common touch or aloof and reclusive? All of these questions continue to make Wilson a really interesting person to read about.

This is long and beginning to show its age in places but it remains an excellent, readable, well researched, page turner of a book.

[Adam Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Managed to plough my way through to the end but afraid this felt like rather a slog. Not sure if that was ultimately down to the style or something to do with the subject - Harold Wilson comes across as a difficult man to really get to know.

This is a sympathetic biography of a Prime Minister whose reputation has suffered as being part of a series of crises, before the post-war consensus was swept away by Thatcher. The author does a fair job of explaining why much of his first term was overshadowed by the struggle with devaluation but it does complicate the narrative, as much was happening outside Wilson's control and seemingly slightly beyond his economic understanding. The second term is presented as a slightly strange swansong in which Wilson had lost his zeal and was willing to opt for a managerial style.

The best part for me was the study of his early life, which neatly showed how Wilson's academic drive and ability helped drive him to the top despite not being in the same social circles as much of the Labour political elite of the time.

The author never quite seems to be able to handle the issue of the various conspiracy rumours and the topic of his relationship with Marcia Williams. There's a vague sense that Pimlott doesn't really want to draw attention to them and is much keener to discuss various now-arcane points of industrial policy but then there is a large section toward the end, wading through the various allegations in exhausting detail. Obviously writing about potentially fictitious intelligence operations presents some difficulties but either it was worth a brisker dismissal or some stronger conclusions on the potential truth.

[Mervyn Whyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book on Wilson's public life, but - certainly after he becomes leader of the Labour Party - less good on his private. Maybe because Pimlott wrote it with the assistance of the Wilsons he didn't feel comfortable writing about the more personal stuff. Or maybe Pimlott himself is not interested in such things. Or - and I think this is a real possibility - like just about everyone else, maybe Pimlott was unable to break through that seemingly impenetrable Wilson carapace of emotional and intellectual guardedness. The book is particularly good on the rumours about Wilson being a Soviet spy and other MI5 induced smears. I was struck by the vitriolic attacks on Wilson after he stood down as PM. There was a real attempt to destroy his reputation. Like there is now with Tony Blair. The two most successful leaders of the Labour Party. It's as if the media and the Establishment feel they have to completely obliterate the legacies and reputations of such people in the hope that they might stop the same from ever coming to power again. I don't see the same tarnishing of the legacies and reputations of those on the right. Mrs Thatcher is treated like some secular saint.

[Pinko Palest · Rating 2 out of 5]

readable, but feels like scratching the surface at times. Doesn't always capture what Wilson was like, and is rather weak on the intellectual development of the Left between 1930 and 1980, but also on the social developments, particularly during the late 60s and 70s, which Wilson very much helped to bring about. Especially unfair on Crosland and the grammar schools (in a very revealing passage for how unlikeable the author really was), and also unfair on Tony Benn and the Left. Maybe a more left-wing author would have done a better job on one of the most underappreciated political leaders of our times

[Oonagh · Rating 2 out of 5]

So so so detailed. I persevered until the end but it took me about six months as I had to move onto other books. It was so detailed that any overarching narrative was lost.

[TreforL · Rating 4 out of 5]

This huge tome is beautifully written and offers masses of detail. Reading it 30 years on, there are many ironies in its assumptions about the way things were heading. We get a very clear portrait of Wilson and his dithering, pragmatic, paranoid style of leadership. In such a big book, it’s a shame that quite so much detail is given to the saga of Wilson’s approach to devaluation of the pound, and to the endless intriguing over who might succeed him.

Lasting social reforms, such as the abolition of the death penalty and decriminalisation of homosexuality, are given little space and there is no mention at all of the Aberfan disaster, surely a dreadful measure of Britain’s post-war decline.

Wilson is credited with setting up the Open University and expanding higher education via new universities, but less is said about the successes achieved by his rival Roy Jenkins at the Home Office; the Health And Safety At Work Etc. Act, or the first attempts at equalities legislation.

Overall, this is a long but rewarding biography and a great memorial to its author, who died far too young.

[Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating biography of Harold Wilson, a four time election winning Prime Minister, who moved from the hard-left of the Labour, through the soft-left, to almost a Gaitskellite finish. His personality remains as opaque as the legend suggests, even after the 1000 pages, but his decency, intelligence and productivity shines through. A quietly brilliant man, steering Britain through a remarkably tough time; you will wince through the economic struggles of the time. His ultimate legacy was taking Britain into, what became the EU; his legacy shattered by a Tory party obsession with itself. The shame speaks for itself. What Britain would do for a Wilson-like figure in these times. Win four elections? He would walk them.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

One of the most richly detailed biographies that I’ve ever read. Lots of good stuff in here about Wilson’s intellectual tendencies and the diplomacy of Labour Party politics (and the relationship between them).

Two things:

The middle chapters on Wilson’s first government seem to hinge on the balance of payments deficit, the currency and the debate over devaluation. But from 1970 or so this focus disappears from view. So much so that the IMF crisis in 1976 gets only a paragraph.

The obsessive focus on the internal politics of Wilson’s cabinet is at the expense of (what feels like, sometimes) almost everything else. This is a biography that situates Wilson in the context of Westminster and Labour’s Transport House, more than in the broad sweep of the middle twentieth century.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

A superbly written biography, not sycophantic or fawning nor carping or over-critical of a complex character. The biography paid equal weight to Wilson's faults and flaws as well as his merits and achievements. However, reading this biography of a politician and the events of the 1960's, 1970's and early 1980's brings back not only reminders of that period but also provides descriptions of the background details and decisions surrounding these events and their aftermath. It also provides a potential insight to many subsequent political events and similarities of characters can be summised in todays politicians i.e. the desire to climb the greasy pole to power at the highest level.

[Graham Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A remarkable book. Started reading when Corbyn was Labour leader in an effort to try and understand more of the labour party and its many factions. Finished with Starmer as leader, which sort of proves what a broad church labour is and to be fair always has been.
Wilsons great skill was, in the most part, unifying those factions. He had the Gaitskell followers, further right than Starmer and the Bevanites then Tony Benn to keep happy.
The book is very detailed and can be a hard slog but well worth it. Modern labour could learn lot from Wilson. Don't alienate each faction and try and keep all on board.

[Carlos Filipe Bernardino · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting biography about Harold Wilson.
The problem with the book is that it is dated 1992, so it has not been updated and revised with the most recent work and documents.
Recorded in our memory is the management that any British prime minister has to do with the different internal factions in his party and the effects that those struggles have on parliamentary work and government action.
In the Foreword by Peter Hennessy, loved this part:
QUOTE
" ... Labour Party management. Wilson was a supple and serpentine party
manager. He was a quantum physicist among politicians in his
understanding of what it took to keep its volatile subatomic particles
together."
UNQUOTE

[Matthew Eyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the picture on the front cover because off camera Wilson preferred cigars A mate of mine worked at Transport House and told me Harold was forever cadging fags. Superb and measured, what that guy had to put up with If you ever want a good laugh, watch the episode of The Crown where Harold Wilson first appears- now that is pure fiction...

[Kieran · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Labour Prime Minister from the party’s left... Who governed in an era of upheaval and division, including getting the country through a European referendum on the way... Along the way winning four general elections...

What has Harold Wilson got to teach us in 2019?!

[Jacob Winter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent example of how awful the labour party is yet how compelling some of its key individuals are. I think I probably preferred it to Citizen Clem, which I read earlier in the year, but I think that may well be because Wilson had a more interesting life.

[Mike Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extensive and scholarly study of one of the more intriguing Prime Ministers of the twentieth century

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

A generally objectionable human writ large on Labour UK history. Interesting read but largely indicative of power: the working class just don't have it.

[Peter Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Readable. Detailed. Very interesting. Too deferential - maybe because the subwas still alive when the biography was published.

[Igor Zurimendi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps the single best biography I've ever read. Pimlott strikes the perfect balance of the personal, the intellectual and the political - you feel you know Harold.Wilson by the end of it, not just what Harold Wilson did.

[Ipswichblade · Rating 5 out of 5]

First class biography of Harold Wilson which gives a very balanced view of his career

[imngrer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read and it quite brought my childhood back to me.

[Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and judicious biography of this clever man.

[Chris Purser · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best political bios I have read. Wilson certainly deserves to have a bio of this standard written about him.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over 800 pages of a masterly work: frankly I skipped a lot, but the full story of Wilson still seems shrouded in mystery as his character was continuously under attack from dark forces within the intelligence community. The book "Spycatcher" by Peter Wright (BTW he never ever caught a spy) a former MI5 officer displays how ludicrous and foolish that department was, yet it still wielded immense power. Power enough to snuff out Wilson? I believe it certainly coloured his resignation. The Machiavellian intrigues of Trade Unions and the enormous egos within his party made his life exceptionally difficult.
Despite the size of the book, necessary to cover all the detail, I enjoyed it.
Essential reading for anyone trying to understand politics within the UK