JAMES HAROLD WILSON (UNITED KINGDOM)

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06790970
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• 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: March 19, 1974

Approved for Release: 2019/07/31 C06790970
(James) Harold WILSON
Prime Minister
Addressed as:
Mr. Prime Minister
Upon taking office as
Prime Minister in March
1974, Labor Party leader
Harold Wilson, 58, became
head of the first minority
Cabinet in 45 years. He
has chosen a moderate
Cabinet and has presented
a domestic legislative
program that he feels will
receive opposition support. He'apparently intends
to defer more radical measures, e.g., nationaliza-
tion, until he feels ready to stand the test of
another general election.
Wilson favors the "renegotiation" of Britain's
EC entry terms. He has pledged to cut defense
spending but has made clear his firm support of
the Atlantic Alliance. Wilson, who met with
President Nixon at the White House in 1970, will
probably continue close Anglo-US relations.
A political pragmatist, Wilson has demonstrated
great skill in uniting the diverse elements of his
party. His deftness in parliamentary maneuvering
UNITED KINGDOM
and persuasion
Despite
his 29 years in Parliament, Wilson has never been
a popular leader. 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.
A man of simple tastes and habits, Wilson shuns
ordinary social life. He apparently has no close
political "cronies." Apart from his family and
politics, reading and golf are his chief interests.
Married, he has two sons.
19 March 1974
Approved for Release: 2019/07/31 C06790970