tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4870143465614132758.post2158095837851682058..comments2023-06-25T04:43:54.742-07:00Comments on Test5 testing: Memories of Harold WilsonPaul Walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00525444717679391831noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4870143465614132758.post-25386126492501527302007-06-23T14:59:00.000-07:002007-06-23T14:59:00.000-07:00In fairness to Blair, though, he recognised that h...In fairness to Blair, though, he recognised that he needed to change the Labour Party in order for them to become electable - and that was never going to make him popular within it.<br><br>Wilson was in charge at a time when social democratic notions of what to do with the economy we very much in vogue so he was working with the grain on that. Not sure what some of the more old Labour types would have made of his liberalising social agenda though.<br><br>The interesting thing about Wilson for me is his political skill. Judging by the various diaries (of admittedly biased observers including hopeless snobs like Crossman), cabinet management wasnt his strength. But his ability to spin his personal image to the public was enviable. He was a good deal more 'Uddersfield than Oxbridge in his public persona - deliberately masking a considerable intellect.Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18097506047093013889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4870143465614132758.post-87512312060537618072007-06-23T13:31:00.000-07:002007-06-23T13:31:00.000-07:00Interesting thoughts Ed. The contrast between Wils...Interesting thoughts Ed. The contrast between Wilson, refusing to give Lyndon Johnson "even an army band" in Vietnam, and Blair's committing troops with the US in Iraq, is very sharp and will, I think, be one of the clearest historical perspectives on Blair. One wonders if Wilson was much more acutely conscious of the Labour party than Blair, and that perhaps this was at the heart of their sharply different behaviours in remarkably similar situations.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00525444717679391831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4870143465614132758.post-25364233407028336692007-06-23T11:46:00.000-07:002007-06-23T11:46:00.000-07:00HE was a Liberal at university. The social reform...HE was a Liberal at university. The social reforms enacted during his first term in office are the foundations of everything the Daily Mail hates about Britain (therefore they must be good). <br><br>He was a political pragmatist who kept Britain out of an American war and while there was much to criticise about his record he worked within the constraints of his party and his time. <br><br>Its interesting to speculate how things would have gone in the first half of the 1970s if Labour had won the 1970 election - would the best post-war prime minister we never had (Jenkins) have steered a more competent course as Chancellor than did Tony Barber? Would Barbara Castle have followed through on union reforms. Would the SDP and the Alliance ever have happened if Labour had been in power when the UK joined the Common Market? And England might not have got beaten by Germany in the quarter finals of the 1970 World Cup either of course.Ednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4870143465614132758.post-45846690203063293392007-06-23T10:49:00.000-07:002007-06-23T10:49:00.000-07:00Thanks very much, Ed. Yes, he certainly seemed to ...Thanks very much, Ed. Yes, he certainly seemed to have a reasonably collegiate approach, especially in contrast to Tony Blair. I think I read somewhere that Wilson's father was a Liberal.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00525444717679391831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4870143465614132758.post-85179428240789653862007-06-23T08:31:00.000-07:002007-06-23T08:31:00.000-07:00Absolutely fascinating. One day I will write a bo...Absolutely fascinating. One day I will write a book rehabilitating Wilson - a much maligned man and in some senses Britain's last Liberal Prime Minister.Edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18097506047093013889noreply@blogger.com