JAMES HAROLD WILSON (UNITED KINGDOM)

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06791483
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: March 8, 2023
• Document Release Date: September 4, 2019
• Case Number: F-2018-02307
• Publication Date: December 2, 1964

Approved for Release: 2019/07/31 C06791483
James Harold WILSON
Prime Minister and First Lord
of the Treasury
Harold Wilson at 48 became the
youngest British Prime Minister in this
century when the Labor Party won a nar-
row victory in the October 1964 elec-
tion. Party leader only since February
1963, he successfully united Labor's
diverse elements within a few months,
bringing it back into power after 13
years in opposition. He has shown the
same managerial skill in his government
appointments, placing "moderates" in key
cabinet posts, assigning safe spots to
"leftists." The juxtaposition, which
gives him room for maneuvering, should
enable him to retain effective control
of the government.
A former economics don and statistician, Wilson has
a brilliant mind, organizational ability, debating skill
and wit, and unusual political acumen. Since he entered
Parliament in 1945, he has held a series of important
posts: President of the Board of Trade in the Attlee gov-
ernment (1947-51); Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
(1955-61); and Shadow Foreign Secretary (1961-63). He has
never been personally popular with the Labor MP's but is
respected for his talents. The center and right wing in par-
ticular accused him of overweening ambition, opportunism, de-
viousness, and shifting political loyalties. He was elected
party leader apparently because he was the only Labor MP with
the necessary qualities for a potential prime minister. Al-
though he has "flirted" with the left, Wilson is not a doc-
trinaire socialist. He is above all a pragmatist, well aware
of the realities of power. His commitment to close Anglo-US
relations is not based solely on sentiment.
Called variously a "loner," "a cold fish," and "a cat who
walks by himself," Wilson has no close political friends, and
shuns ordinary social life. It is said he trusts no one com-
pletely, and vice versa. Before going to Downing Street, he
and his wife and two sons lived quietly in a modest house in
Hampstead. He has few interests, apart from politics, read-
ing, and golf. A short, stocky man, he smokes a pipe con-
stantly, enjoys simple food (canned salmon, cold roast beef),
and drinks moderately (lager, bourbon whiskey). The Wilsons
will celebrate their silver wedding anniversary on New Year's
Day 1965.
1
TIAL
Approved for Release: 2019/07/31 C06791483