663. Britain in the 70s: The Brexit That Never Was (Part 2)

“Wilson once was such a pivotal figure in British politics. Kind of forgotten today, but he won four elections out of five in the 1960s and 1970s, a record that seems very unlikely to be equaled anytime soon. As a politician, he's resilient, he's pragmatic, he's very cunning, his wiliness is legendary. He has moved over the course of his career, starting out on the left and moving steadily more and more towards the centre.”

“This is the story of today's episode. It's about the first Brexit referendum in June 1975 when Britain took the fateful decision not to leave what became the EU. And it's about how Harold Wilson struggled to stop Britain plunging into hyperinflation and complete economic meltdown in the course of 1975. A very demoralised and sort of hangdog Britain was reeling after the 1973 oil shock.”

“To remind people, a very demoralised and sort of hangdog Britain is reeling after the 1973 oil shock. The Tory Prime Minister Ted Heath has tried to impose his wage controls. The coal miners rebelled. They blew his economic policy apart. He called an election in February 74. The result was stalemate. Back came Harold Wilson, the leader of the Labour Party as Prime Minister for the second time.”

“Wilson is drinking a lot. Bernard Donoghue's diaries from 1975 often describe him drinking four or five glasses of brandy or whisky at lunch, especially when he's got to go to the Commons and argue with Margaret Thatcher. In November 1975, Donoghue recalls that Wilson went to a diplomatic lunch, and then at this lunch, Joe Haynes said he was all over the place and drank too much. He then went to the Commons and gave an absolutely shambolic performance.”

“Marcia is Wilson's political secretary and she has this extraordinary and inexplicable hold over him. So every now and again, she would lift up her handbag, point to her handbag and say to his other aides, whom she hated, 'one call to the Daily Mail and he will be finished. I will destroy him.' She supposedly said to Wilson's wife, Mary, 'I have only one thing to say to you. I went to bed with your husband six times in 1956 and it was not satisfactory.'”