Harold Wilson

Harold Wilson was born in Huddersfield in 1916, the son of a chemist and a teacher, and graduated from Oxford with a first in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He entered Parliament in 1945 and at 31 became President of the Board of Trade under Attlee. After serving as Shadow Chancellor and Shadow Foreign Secretary, he won the Labour leadership in 1963 after Hugh Gaitskell's death. He won four of the five general elections he contested as leader, governing from 1964 to 1970 and again from 1974 until his surprise resignation in March 1976. His second period in office was dominated by inflation, industrial disputes, the renegotiation of European membership and the 1975 referendum, and unsuccessful efforts to resolve the Troubles in Northern Ireland. He was made a life peer in 1983 and died in 1995.

Supporters credit Wilson with holding a divided Labour Party together, overseeing liberal social reforms, expanding higher education and keeping Britain out of Vietnam. Critics on the right point to sterling crises, devaluation, high top income tax rates and rising unemployment, while some on the left felt his governments abandoned socialist goals. Biographers have described his foreign policy role as that of an honest broker. His tactical skill was praised by admirers and viewed by critics as short-termism.