Why Harold Wilson should be remembered as one of our finest Prime Ministers - Greg Wright

In the years following his retirement, Wilson’s reputation took a battering as critics lambasted the apparent cronyism of his resignation honours list and reports emerged of his paranoia regarding the activities of the security services. His consensual approach was often compared unfavourably with the conviction politics of Margaret Thatcher. It’s time to re-assess Wilson’s record. The case for the defence is made by Nick Thomas-Symonds in his biography “Harold Wilson – The Winner” which, although acknowledging Wilson’s flaws, makes a strong case for placing Wilson among the top rank of Britain’s Prime Ministers.

There are two areas where Wilson deserves special praise; he kept Britain out of the Vietnam war and secured the result he wanted in a European referendum. Wilson’s decision not to commit British ground troops in Vietnam, which infuriated the US President Lyndon Johnson, has looked even more impressive as the years have passed, according to Thomas-Symonds. Wilson skillfully balanced his support for the US position with attempts to offer himself as a go-between to secure peace. In 1975, Wilson called a referendum on Britain’s continued membership of the European Communities and got the “Yes” vote he desired.

As Christopher Tugendhat, the former European Commissioner, says in his book, The Worm in the Apple, which charts the Conservative party’s post war relationship with Europe: “There was no doubt in the minds of those closest to the action that Wilson’s aim all along had been to keep Britain in, to reconcile his party to membership, and to put an end to the controversy in the country at large.”

During the referendum Tugendhat notes that Wilson took care to avoid issues that he thought would not interest the British people, such as the budget, and concentrated on what he rightly judged would play well with them if he succeeded, such as enhanced access for Commonwealth foodstuffs. In 1975, the British people gave a resounding ‘Yes’ to the EEC, with nearly 17.4m people, 67 per cent, voting to stay in. According to Wilson, this victory was all part of a carefully worked out long term plan. To quote Thomas-Symonds book: “The next morning (after the referendum vote was declared), Wilson sat with his new principal private secretary Ken Stowe. He told Stowe the result had taken him 10 years to achieve.” Our current crop of policymakers could learn much from studying the canny political life of Harold Wilson.

Greg Wright is the deputy business editor of The Yorkshire Post