JAMES HAROLD WILSON (UNITED KINGDOM)

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06790972
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: March 8, 2023
• Document Release Date: September 4, 2019
• Case Number: F-2018-02307
• Publication Date: January 29, 1976

Approved for Release: 2019/07/31 C06790972
UNITED KINGDOM
Prime Minister
Labor Party leader and
Prime Minister Harold Wilson
successfully led his party to
victory in the general election
held on 10 October 1974. For
the previous 7 months he had
headed Britain's first minority
government in more than 40
years. A Labor Member of
Parliament since 1945, he also
served as Prime Minister
during 1964-70. He is a
consummate politician�
skillful, shrewd and subtle.
(James) Harold WILSON
('97k)
Wilson has long been a favorite of Labor's left wing. He is
not a doctrinaire socialist, but rather he is a pragmatist who is
keenly aware of the realities of power. He has shown great skill
in persuading the diverse and sometimes conflicting elements
within his party to work together. He has a serious problem of
maintaining discipline within the rambunctious Parliamentary
Labor Party�the Laborite Members of Parliament�and has had to
take a firm stand to control the extremists in his government.
his position on British membership in the
European Communities (EC) eventually he
was forced to voice his support for continued membership. His
party was deeply split over EC membership in the 1970's: The
anti-Marketeers argued that Britain would ultimately lose control
over its own affairs; the pro-Marketeers argued that without
membership, the British economy would flounder and the country's
already muted voice in world affairs would diminish further. To
keep his party together, Wilson devised the plan of negotiating
better terms for Britain's membership and letting the voters
decide whether they wanted continued membership. Following the
referendum in June 1975 in which the voters overwhelmingly
endorsed continued membership, Wilson moved the most vocal
opponent to another Cabinet position.
Wilson's political survival is apparently a measure of his
resourcefulness and a reflection of the inability of his party
opponents to mount a broad-based challenge to his leadership.
There is no readily recognized heir apparent and the party would
be hard pressed to find another leader so highly skillful and
resilient.
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(James) Harold WILSON
The Prime Minister has made some progress in correcting
Britain's economic problems, but admitted in October 1974 and
again in January 1976 that "it will indeed be a hell of a slog for the
next couple of years."
Because of economic restraints, the government passed a
10-year defense review which pared defense spending. Wilson has
asserted, however, that Labor will continue its support for NATO
as an instrument of detente as well as of defense.
The keystone of Labor's foreign policy has been good
relations with the United States, and Wilson proudly states that
Anglo-US relations are now better than they have been for some
years. He is personally friendly toward this country and
unhesitatingly admits that US-UK relations have top priority in his
government. j
Wilson has visited the United States often during the past 10
years. He met former President Richard Nixon several times
during 1974 in European capitals. On a state visit to Washington in
January 1975, he met President Gerald Ford; the two leaders also
met in London and elsewhere in Europe several times in 1975.
Early Life and Career
The son of an industrial chemist, James Harold Wilson was
born in Yorkshire on 11 March 1916. He won scholarships to
secondary schools and to Jesus College, Oxford, where he
graduated with first class honors in philosophy, politics and
economics. In 1937, at the age of 21, he became a lecturer in
economics at New College, Oxford, and the following year he was
a fellow of University College.
During 1940-41 Wilson was economic assistant to the War
Cabinet Secretariat, and in 1942-43 he served as secretary of the
Greene board of investigation into miners' wages. In 1943 he was
appointed director of economics and statistics in the Ministry of
Fuel and Power.
Wilson was first elected a Labor Member of Parliament in
1945. He represented the Ormskirk Division of Lancashire until
1950 and has represented the Huyton Division of Lancashire ever
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(James) Harold WILSON
since. He was appointed parliamentary secretary to the Ministry
of Works in 1945 and transferred to the Trade Ministry as
secretary for overseas trade in March 1947. In October 1947 he
received his first Cabinet-level post as President of the Board of
Trade, at the unusually early age of 31. Wilson resigned that post
in April 1951 in protest against the heavy cost of the government's
rearmament program. Later, while in opposition, he served as his
party's chief spokesman on financial affairs, and then on foreign
affairs, until his election as leader in 1963.
Prime Minister (1964-70)
Wilson became the youngest British Prime Minister in this
century when he led the Labor Party to a narrow victory in the
October 1964 general election. During his first year in office, he
successfully met a series of financial and political crises and
established himself as a national leader. His party was returned
to power with a substantial majority in the general election of
March 1966, and he formed his second government.
Beginning in 1967, political and economic setbacks at home
and abroad seriously reduced the morale and prestige of Wilson's
government and its standing before the electorate. A series of
strikes, defeats in by-elections, failure to gain Common Market
membership, and a reduced loyalty among leading Cabinet
members all combined to create a "crisis in confidence" in his
leadership. He called a snap election in June 1970, a year before
his term of office formally expired; and in spite of consistently
favorable polls throughout the 3-week campaign, his party was
defeated.
The defeat was attributed to a combination of
overconfidence, Labor Party apathy and an unexpectedly strong
consumer revolt over continuing inflation. The single most
important issue, however, was the dispute between the Wilson
government and the trade unions over Wilson's attempt to
establish a strong legal framework to bring some order to Britain's
fractious industrial relations. Wilson's position within the party
remained unchallenged, however, and in July 1970 he was
overwhelmingly reelected as leader by the Labor Members of
Parliament. He served as opposition leader in Parliament during
1970-74.
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(James) Harold WILSON
Since 1974
In February 1974 Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath
called an election to determine, as he said, who really rules
Britain�the government or the trade unions.. (His government was
unable to reach a negotiated settlement with the coal miners and
trade unions, and the resulting shortages forced him to implement
a 3-day work week and other austerity measures.) After the
election, in which neither the Conservatives nor the Laborites
gained a majority, Heath resigned. Wilson's Labor Party won
fewer popular votes but more seats in Parliament-301 to 296 for
the Conservatives and 38 scattered among other parties�and the
Queen charged him with forming a minority government. In the
October 1974 general election, Wilson's party won 319 seats in
Parliament, resulting in a 3-seat margin. Since then, because of
deaths, resignations and by-elections, Wilson's working majority
has been reduced to one.
Personal Data
Wilson's colleagues regard him as more of a compromiser
than a man of strong convictions. He likes to listen to all views
on a subject and then try to make the decision that will satisfy the
most people. His brilliant mind, political acumen and phenomenal
debating skill and wit are offset, in the eyes of his critics, by a
record of opportunism, deviousness and � shifting loyalties. He
inspires admiration and, at times, respect�but not affection.
His deftness in parliamentary
_maneuvering and persuasion
A short, stocky man, Wilson smokes a pipe constantly, enjoys
'plain food, and drinks moderately (lager or bourbon). He shuns
social life, keeps his personal life private, and apparently has no
close political cronies. Raised as a Congregationalist. Wilson is Fi
man of simple tastes and habits./
Apart from his family and politics, reading and
an occasional round of golf are his only known relaxations. He
follows soccer, dislikes cocktail parties and shows no interest in
music or the theater.
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(James) Harold WILSON
Family
In 1940 Wilson married Gladys Mary Baldwin, the daughter of
a Congrezationalist minister.
The Wilsons have two grown sons.
Both Wilson and his wife are authors. Mrs. Wilson's Selected
Poems was on the bestsellers list in 1970. The Prime Minister's
books include: 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, 1964; The New Britain, 1964;
Purpose in Power, 1966; and The Labor Government, 1964-70,1971.
CIA/DDI/CRS
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29 January 1976
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