History UsefulNotes / HaroldWilson

Ironically, Wilson himself had no qualms about using MI5 against the British invasion band Music/TheMove. In the 1960s, Wilson was rumored to be having an affair with his secretary. The Move's publicity-minded manager, Tony Secunda, circulated a promotional postcard for the band's single "Flowers in the Rain," which depicted Wilson and his secretary in bed. Not only did Wilson involve the MI5, he also sued the band for libel. He won the case and had the band donate royalties from "Flowers in the Rain" to charity.

* In ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'', an AlternateHistoryNaziVictory mod for ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIronIV'', Harold Wilson is a member of the undeground [[LaResistance Left Resistance]] in the Collaborationist England and a potential socialist Prime Minister of Free England, leading the fractious alliance of Socialists, Social Democrats and Communists of the Socialist Labour Party.

His first premiership coincided with the peak of the British post-war boom: the days of Swinging London, Music/TheBeatles, the 1966 World Cup, and miniskirts.[[note]]He capitalised on the Fab Four and the Lions.[[/note]] By TheEighties, however, he had come to be considered one of Britain's worst prime ministers ever, his ministry seen as the beginning of [[DorkAge the "sick man of Europe" era]] with devaluation, industrial stagnation, UsefulNotes/TheTroubles, and polarisation over social reforms and immigration composing his most lasting legacy, lingering by the time he returned to 10 Downing (which, incidentally, no subsequent PM has done as of 2020) in 1974. For Americans reading this, his first government can be seen as roughly [[TransatlanticEquivalent analogous]] to the presidency of UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson, who faced similar domestic turmoil (over the Vietnam War and the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement) during his administration that eventually caused him not to seek reelection. During his second term, public opinion really turned against Wilson, having to deal also with runaway inflation, industrial strife, and his inability to bring his cabinet in line, dashing any hopes for his reputation to recover for the foreseeable future. Even many Labour supporters see his time leading the party as a missed opportunity for greater reforms and his failures as having given rise to nearly two decades of Conservative dominance, and while he managed to hold Labour together while he was running it, in his absence the party spent TheEighties tearing itself apart. Since the 1990s, however, his reputation has somewhat improved, as the liberal reforms enacted during his first government have been increasingly acknowledged. In prime ministerial ranking lists he generally makes it into the top half of the post-war holders of the office (although considering the general reputation of modern prime ministers, that may not be saying much). He was UsefulNotes/ElizabethII's first Labour ''and'' working-class Prime Minister, and by many accounts the one she got on with best personally (excepting perhaps Churchill), with the two forming a classically OddFriendship.[[note]]She and Wilson ''were'' relatively close in age - only ten years apart. That may not seem so impressive but no other PM was born within a decade of the Queen except for UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher (born about a year before the Queen, and whose values and personality were so different from Her Majesty's that their relationship was a weird mix of testiness and mutual respect).[[/note]] As a symbol of this, Wilson the only PM the Queen dignified with the honour of attending dinner at Downing Street -- other than Churchill, that is.

* Music/TheBeatles' song "Taxman", from their ''Music/{{Revolver|Beatles Album}}'' album, mentions "Mr. Wilson" and "Mr. Heath" (Harold Wilson and then-opposition leader UsefulNotes/EdwardHeath) as a dig at the Wilson government for their "Supertax," which raised the tax on the top income bracket (which only affected a few thousand of the richest people in Britain) to an unprecedented 95%. A year before the song's release, Wilson -- savvy to the mood of the public regarding the band -- had them awarded the [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever MBE]] (Member of the Order of the British Empire).

His first premiership coincided with the peak of the British post-war boom: the days of Swinging London, Music/TheBeatles, the 1966 World Cup, and miniskirts.[[note]]He capitalised on the Fab Four and the Lions.[[/note]] By TheEighties, however, he had come to be considered one of Britain's worst prime ministers ever, his ministry seen as the beginning of [[DorkAge the "sick man of Europe" era]] with devaluation, industrial stagnation, UsefulNotes/TheTroubles, and polarisation over social reforms and immigration composing his most lasting legacy, lingering by the time he returned to 10 Downing (which, incidentally, no subsequent PM has done as of 2020) in 1974. For Americans reading this, his first government can be seen as roughly [[TransatlanticEquivalent analogous]] to the presidency of UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson, who faced similar domestic turmoil (over the Vietnam War and the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement) during his administration that eventually caused him not to seek reelection. During his second term, public opinion really turned against Wilson, having to deal also with runaway inflation, industrial strife, and his inability to bring his cabinet in line, dashing any hopes for his reputation to recover for the foreseeable future. Even many Labour supporters see his time leading the party as a missed opportunity for greater reforms and his failures as having given rise to nearly two decades of Conservative dominance, and while he managed to hold Labour together while he was running it, in his absence the party spent TheEighties tearing itself apart. Since the 1990s, however, his reputation has somewhat improved, as the liberal reforms enacted during his first government have been increasingly acknowledged. In prime ministerial ranking lists he generally makes it into the top half of the post-war holders of the office (although considering the general reputation of modern prime ministers, that may not be saying much). He was UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen's first Labour ''and'' working-class Prime Minister, and by many accounts the one she got on with best personally (excepting perhaps Churchill), with the two forming a classically OddFriendship.[[note]]She and Wilson ''were'' relatively close in age - only ten years apart. That may not seem so impressive but no other PM was born within a decade of the Queen except for UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher (born about a year before the Queen, and whose values and personality were so different from Her Majesty's that their relationship was a weird mix of testiness and mutual respect).[[/note]] As a symbol of this, Wilson the only PM the Queen dignified with the honour of attending dinner at Downing Street -- other than Churchill, that is.

* He is a major character in ''Theatre/TheAudience'', where he gets the most focus of any featured PM, due to his OddFriendship with UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen. The actor who played him (Richard [=McCabe=]) won an Olivier on the West End, and was one of five actors to move to Broadway, where he won a Tony. [=McCabe=] commented when the play opened in New York that Wilson wasn't particularly well-known in the US, and that many American viewers would likely be confused by Wilson's prominence over better-known [=PMs=] like Churchill or Thatcher or Blair.

His first premiership coincided with the peak of the British post-war boom: the days of Swinging London, Music/TheBeatles, the 1966 World Cup, and miniskirts.[[note]]He capitalised on the Fab Four and the Lions.[[/note]] By TheEighties, however, he had come to be considered one of Britain's worst prime ministers ever, his ministry seen as the beginning of [[DorkAge the "sick man of Europe" era]] with devaluation, industrial stagnation, UsefulNotes/TheTroubles, and polarisation over social reforms and immigration composing his most lasting legacy, lingering by the time he returned to 10 Downing (which, incidentally, no subsequent PM has done as of 2020) in 1974. For Americans reading this, his first government can be seen as roughly [[TransatlanticEquivalent analogous]] to the presidency of UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson, who faced similar domestic turmoil (over the Vietnam War and the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement) during his administration that eventually caused him not to seek reelection. During his second term, public opinion really turned against Wilson, having to deal also with runaway inflation, industrial strife, and his inability to bring his cabinet in line, dashing any hopes for his reputation to recover for the foreseeable future. Even many Labour supporters see his time leading the party as a missed opportunity for greater reforms and his failures as having given rise to nearly two decades of Conservative dominance, and while he managed to hold Labour together while he was running it, in his absence the party spent TheEighties tearing itself apart. Since the 1990s, however, his reputation has somewhat improved, as the liberal reforms enacted during his first government have been increasingly acknowledged. In prime ministerial ranking lists he generally makes it into the top half of the post-war holders of the office (although considering the general reputation of modern prime ministers, that may not be saying much). He was UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen's first Labour ''and'' working-class Prime Minister, and by many accounts the one she got on with best personally (excepting perhaps Churchill), with the two forming a classically OddFriendship.[[note]]She and Wilson ''were'' relatively close in age - only ten years apart. That may not seem so impressive but no other PM was born within a decade of the Queen except for UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher (born about a year before the Queen, and whose values and personality were so different from Her Majesty's that their relationship was a weird mix of testiness and mutual respect).[[/note]] As a symbol of this, Wilson the only PM the Queen has dignified with the unique honour of attending dinner at Downing Street--other than Churchill, that is.

* Decolonisation in general, and Rhodesia's unilateral declaration of independence in particular. (Wilson was praised for imposing sanctions and maintaining a tough stance on Rhodesia's unwillingness to transition to majority rule.)

* A national referendum of membership of the EEC in 1975 (to resolve a split in Labour, where members were allowed to campaign on either side), which led to a vote to stay winning with 67.2%.[[note]]The only areas to vote against were the Shetlands and Outer Hebrides.[[/note]]

* Music/TheBeatles' song "Taxman", from their ''Music/{{Revolver|Beatles Album}}'' album, mentions "Mr. Wilson" and "Mr. Heath" (Harold Wilson and then-opposition leader UsefulNotes/EdwardHeath). A year before the song's release, Wilson -- savvy to the mood of the public regarding the band -- had them awarded the [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever MBE]] (Member of the Order of the British Empire).

* He is a major character in ''Theatre/TheAudience'', where he gets the most focus of any featured PM, due to his OddFriendship with UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen. The actor who played him (Richard [=McCabe=] won an Olivier on the West End, and was one of five actors to move to Broadway, where he won a Tony. [=McCabe=] commented when the play opened in New York that Wilson wasn't particularly well-known in the US, and that many American viewers would likely be confused by Wilson's prominence over better-known [=PMs=] like Churchill or Thatcher or Blair.

* He is a major character in ''Theatre/TheAudience'', where he gets the most focus of any featured PM, due to his OddFriendship with UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen.

* He is portrayed by Jason Watkins in in Season 3 of ''Series/TheCrown2016'', which opens with Labour having won a majority and Wilson becoming PM as a result. The Season 3 premiere touches upon how Wilson's middle-class background[[note]]Again, ''not'' actually working-class, as his chemist father and schoolteacher mother were both what we would call educated professionals. That said, neither running a pharmacy nor teaching school required especially high levels of education in those days, so he was definitely ''middle'' class, not upper-middle--''petite bourgeoisie'' in French terms.[[/note]] stands in stark contrast to the Queen's previous upper-class (and Conservative) [=PMs=] (UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill, UsefulNotes/AnthonyEden, UsefulNotes/HaroldMacmillan, and UsefulNotes/AlecDouglasHome) and people's suspicions that Wilson was a potential Soviet [[TheMole mole]].

* He is portrayed by Jason Watkins in in Season 3 of ''Series/TheCrown2016'', which opens with Labour having won a majority and Wilson becoming PM as a result. The Season 3 premiere touches upon how Wilson's middle-class background (and working-class sympathies) stands in stark contrast to the Queen's previous upper-class (and Conservative) [=PMs=] (UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill, UsefulNotes/AnthonyEden, UsefulNotes/HaroldMacmillan, and UsefulNotes/AlecDouglasHome) and people's suspicions that Wilson was a potential Soviet [[TheMole mole]].

* He is portrayed by Jason Watkins in in Season 3 of ''Series/TheCrown2016'', which opens with Labour having won a majority and Wilson becoming PM as a result. The Season 3 premiere touches upon how Wilson's working-class background stands in stark contrast to the Queen's previous upper-class (and Conservative) [=PMs=] (UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill, UsefulNotes/AnthonyEden, UsefulNotes/HaroldMacmillan, and UsefulNotes/AlecDouglasHome) and people's suspicions that Wilson was a potential Soviet [[TheMole mole]].

His first premiership coincided with the peak of the British post-war boom: the days of Swinging London, Music/TheBeatles, the 1966 World Cup, and miniskirts.[[note]]He capitalised on the Fab Four and the Lions.[[/note]] By TheEighties, however, he had come to be considered one of Britain's worst prime ministers ever, his ministry seen as the beginning of [[DorkAge the "sick man of Europe" era]] with devaluation, industrial stagnation, UsefulNotes/TheTroubles, and polarisation over social reforms and immigration composing his most lasting legacy, lingering by the time he returned to 10 Downing (which, incidentally, no subsequent PM has done as of 2020) in 1974. For Americans reading this, his first government can be seen as roughly [[TransatlanticEquivalent analogous]] to the presidency of UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson, who faced similar domestic turmoil (over the Vietnam War and the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement) during his administration that eventually caused him not to seek reelection. During his second term, public opinion really turned against Wilson, having to deal also with runaway inflation, industrial strife, and his inability to bring his cabinet in line, dashing any hopes for his reputation to recover for the foreseeable future. Even many Labour supporters see his time leading the party as a missed opportunity for greater reforms and his failures as having given rise to nearly two decades of Conservative dominance, and while he managed to hold Labour together while he was running it, in his absence the party spent TheEighties tearing itself apart. Since the 1990s, however, his reputation has somewhat improved, as the liberal reforms enacted during his first government have been increasingly acknowledged. In prime ministerial ranking lists he generally makes it into the top half of the post-war holders of the office (although considering the general reputation of modern prime ministers, that may not be saying much). He was UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen's first Labour ''and'' working-class Prime Minister, and by many accounts the one she got on with best personally (excepting perhaps Churchill), with the two forming a classically OddFriendship.[[note]]She and Wilson ''were'' relatively close in age - only ten years apart. That may not seem so impressive but no other PM was born within a decade of the Queen except for UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher.[[/note]] As a symbol of this, Wilson the only PM the Queen has dignified with the unique honour of attending dinner at Downing Street--other than Churchill, that is.

His first premiership coincided with the peak of the British post-war boom: the days of Swinging London, Music/TheBeatles, the 1966 World Cup, and miniskirts.[[note]]He capitalised on the Fab Four and the Lions.[[/note]] By TheEighties, however, he had come to be considered one of Britain's worst prime ministers ever, his ministry seen as the beginning of [[DorkAge the "sick man of Europe" era]] with devaluation, industrial stagnation, UsefulNotes/TheTroubles, and polarisation over social reforms and immigration composing his most lasting legacy, lingering by the time he returned to 10 Downing (which, incidentally, no subsequent PM has done as of 2020) in 1974. For Americans reading this, his first government can be seen as roughly [[TransatlanticEquivalent analogous]] to the presidency of UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson, who faced similar domestic turmoil (over the Vietnam War and the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement) during his administration that eventually caused him not to seek reelection. During his second term, public opinion really turned against Wilson, having to deal also with runaway inflation, industrial strife, and his inability to bring his cabinet in line, dashing any hopes for his reputation to recover for the foreseeable future. Even many Labour supporters see his time leading the party as a missed opportunity for greater reforms and his failures as having given rise to nearly two decades of Conservative dominance, and while he managed to hold Labour together while he was running it, in his absence the party spent TheEighties tearing itself apart. Since the 1990s, however, his reputation has somewhat improved, as the liberal reforms enacted during his first government have been increasingly acknowledged. In prime ministerial ranking lists he generally makes it into the top half of the post-war holders of the office (although considering the general reputation of modern prime ministers, that may not be saying much). He was UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen's first Labour ''and'' working-class Prime Minister, and by many accounts the one she got on with best personally (excepting perhaps Churchill), with the two forming a classically OddFriendship.[[note]]She and Wilson ''were'' relatively close in age - only ten years apart. That may not seem so impressive but no other PM was born within a decade of the Queen except for UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher.[[/note]]

* Music/TheBeatles' song "Taxman", from their ''Music/{{Revolver}}'' album, mentions "Mr. Wilson" and "Mr. Heath" (Harold Wilson and then-opposition leader UsefulNotes/EdwardHeath). A year before the song's release, Wilson -- savvy to the mood of the public regarding the band -- had them awarded the [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever MBE]] (Member of the Order of the British Empire).

* Wilson is depicted in the HBO film ''Longford''.

His first premiership coincided with the peak of the British post-war boom: the days of Swinging London, Music/TheBeatles, the 1966 World Cup, and miniskirts.[[note]]He capitalised on the Fab Four and the Lions.[[/note]] By TheEighties, however, he had come to be considered one of Britain's worst prime ministers ever, his ministry seen as the beginning of [[DorkAge the "sick man of Europe" era]] with devaluation, industrial stagnation, UsefulNotes/TheTroubles, and polarisation over social reforms and immigration composing his most lasting legacy, lingering by the time he returned to 10 Downing (which, incidentally, no subsequent PM has done as of 2020) in 1974. For Americans reading this, his first government can be seen as roughly [[TransatlanticEquivalent analogous]] to the presidency of UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson, who faced similar domestic turmoil (over the Vietnam War and the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement) during his administration that eventually caused him not to seek reelection. During his second term, public opinion really turned against Wilson, having to deal also with runaway inflation, industrial strife, and his inability to bring his cabinet in line, dashing any hopes for his reputation to recover for the foreseeable future. Even many Labour supporters see his time leading the party as a missed opportunity for greater reforms and his failures as having given rise to nearly two decades of Conservative dominance, and while he managed to hold Labour together while he was running it, in his absence the party spent TheEighties tearing itself apart. Since the 1990s, however, his reputation has somewhat improved, as the liberal reforms enacted during his first government have been increasingly acknowledged. In prime ministerial ranking lists he generally makes it into the top half of the post-war holders of the office (although considering the general reputation of modern prime ministers, that may not be saying much).

James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever KG, OBE, PC]], FRS, FSS (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1964 to 1970 and again from 1974 to 1976. He served as a member of the Labour Party and led it during five general elections, winning four of them. He represented the now-defunct constituencies of Ormskirk (from 1945 to 1950) and much longer for Huyton (from 1950 to 1983[[note]]He was the only Member of Parliament that constituency had.[[/note]]).

Wilson surprised everyone when he stood down in March 1976. He had Alzheimer's disease, which became apparent after he left.[[note]]Upon receiving his Alzheimer's diagnosis, Wilson intended to resign immediately, but was persuaded by a meeting of the full Cabinet to defer resignation for three months; he used the time to answer the letters sent to the PM by members of the public appealing for help, and was astonished by how many there were. In one example, a woman from Colchester with five children faced eviction, and the local council refused to help. Wilson telephoned the council's leader in person, threatening to send the Local Government Audit Commission to go over the Council's books (councillors held responsible for discrepancies could be "surcharged" and barred from public office); the woman and her family were rehoused the next day.[[/note]] He had informed UsefulNotes/JamesCallaghan, his eventual successor, of his decision to resign some months beforehand, thus Callaghan was able to get a head start on his rivals in the race for the Labour leadership. Another possible partial influence may have been his discovery, according to his former press secretary Bernard Donoughue in his autobiography ''Downing Street Diary: Volume 1; with Wilson In Number 10'', that his best and oldest friend, Lord Wigg, Paymaster General during his first term in office 1964–1970, had been an [=MI5=] "mole", passing details of Cabinet meetings to the secret service -- who in turn passed them on to journalist Chapman Pincher at the ''Daily Express'', a man and a paper who had personally despised Wilson since the "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-notice_affair D-Notice]]" scandal of 1967. Apparently, Wigg had a secret "second family", and [=MI5=] had used their discovery of this to blackmail him.

Under his leadership, Labour narrowly defeated Douglas-Home's Tories in 1964, winning a majority of four. This quickly proved unworkable, so he called another election in 1966 and this time won a {{landslide|Election}} victory. He lost the 1970 election to UsefulNotes/EdwardHeath in a surprise defeat. It is often said that Wilson/Labour lost because England had been knocked out of the World Cup just four days before the vote, though the announcement of an unusually bad balance of payments -- ''on election day'', no less -- and anti-immigration sentiment may have had more to do with it. The hung parliament of February 1974 led to Labour winning most seats but not most votes, Wilson becoming PM and then took the country to the polls again in October. This time, Labour got a majority of three. Once the majority disappeared, Labour had to rely on the Liberals to stay in power for the remainder of his term.

Wilson's time in office, the longest for any Labour Prime Minister until UsefulNotes/TonyBlair, saw:
* The decision to devalue the pound in 1967, after three years of unsuccessfully attempting to prevent it. (Labour had previously had to devalue the pound in 1949, and Wilson was concerned that Labour would become "the party of devaluation".)

His first premiership coincided with the peak of the British post-war boom: the days of Swinging London, Music/TheBeatles, the 1966 World Cup, and miniskirts.[[note]]He capitalised on the Fab Four and the Lions.[[/note]] By TheEighties, however, he had come to be considered one of Britain's worst Prime Ministers ever, his ministry seen as the beginning of [[DorkAge the "sick man of Europe" era]] with devaluation, industrial stagnation, UsefulNotes/TheTroubles, and polarisation over social reforms and immigration composing his most lasting legacy, lingering by the time he returned to 10 Downing in 1974. For Americans reading this, his first government can be seen as roughly [[TransatlanticEquivalent analogous]] to the Presidency of UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson, who faced similar domestic turmoil (over UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement) during his administration that eventually caused him not to seek reelection. During his second term, public opinion really turned against Wilson, having to deal also with runaway inflation, industrial strife, and his inability to bring his cabinet in line, dashing any hopes for his reputation to recover for the foreseeable future. Even many Labour supporters see his time leading the party as a missed opportunity for greater reforms and his failures as having given rise to nearly two decades of Conservative dominance, and while he managed to hold Labour together while he was running it, in his absence the party spent TheEighties tearing itself apart. Since the 1990s, however, his reputation has somewhat improved, as the liberal reforms enacted during his first government have been increasingly acknowledged. In prime ministerial ranking lists he generally makes it into the top half of the post-war holders of the office (although considering the general reputation of modern Prime Ministers...).

Wilson surprised everyone when he stood down in March 1976. He had Alzheimer's disease, which became apparent after he left.[[note]]Upon receiving his Alzheimer's diagnosis, Wilson intended to resign immediately, but was persuaded by a meeting of the full Cabinet to defer resignation for three months; he used the time to answer the letters sent to the PM by members of the public appealing for help, and was astonished by how many there were. In one example, a woman from Colchester with five children faced eviction, and the local council refused to help. Wilson telephoned the council's leader in person, threatening to send the Local Government Audit Commission to go over the Council's books (councillors held responsible for discrepancies could be "surcharged" and barred from public office); the woman and her family were rehoused the next day.[[/note]] He had informed UsefulNotes/JamesCallaghan, his eventual successor, of his decision to resign some months beforehand, thus Callaghan was able to get a head start on his rivals in the race for the Labour leadership. Another possible partial influence may have been his discovery, according to his former press secretary Bernard Donoughue in his autobiography ''Downing Street Diary: Volume 1; with Wilson In Number 10'', that his best and oldest friend, Lord Wigg, Paymaster General during his first term in office 1964–1970, had been an [=MI5=] "mole", passing details of Cabinet meetings to the secret service -- who in turn passed them on to journalist Chapman Pincher at the ''Daily Express'', a man and a paper who had personally despised Wilson since the "D-Notice" scandal of 1965. Apparently, Wigg had a secret "second family", and [=MI5=] had used their discovery of this to blackmail him.

James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever KG, OBE, PC]], FRS, FSS (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1964 to 1970 and again from 1974 to 1976. He served as a member of the Labour Party and led it during five general elections, winning four of them.

Born in Huddersfield, Wilson won a scholarship to a local grammar school. However, due to a failure to get work, his father moved the family to Spital, on the Wirral, and he then became the first head boy of the school he attended for [[UsefulNotes/BritishEducationSystem Sixth Form]], and then he went to Oxford. After a brief time as a Liberal, he became a Labour member and was one of the very large class of Labour [=MPs=] that arrived in the 1945 landslide, after being a civil servant during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.

In 1947, he got the Cabinet-level job of President of the Board of Trade (now generally known as Business Secretary), but resigned from the Cabinet in 1951 in protest over Hugh Gaitskell's shadow budget. In 1960, he challenged Gaitskell for the Labour leadership but failed. When Gaitskell suddenly died less than three years later, Wilson became leader. As leader, Wilson crafted an image as a "man of the people" to [[SlobsVersusSnobs contrast with the aristocratic background and peerage of his Conservative opponent]], Sir UsefulNotes/AlecDouglasHome,[[note]]Wilson's [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] of Home's status as the 14th Earl of Home led the latter to retort, "I suppose Mr. Wilson is the fourteenth Mr. Wilson."[[/note]] and emphasised his party's technocratic leanings over their nationalisation programme.

Under his leadership, Labour narrowly defeated Douglas-Home's Tories in 1964, winning a majority of four. This quickly proved unworkable, so he called another election in 1966 and this time won a {{landslide|Election}} victory. He lost the 1970 election to UsefulNotes/EdwardHeath in a surprise defeat. It is often said that Wilson/Labour lost because England had been knocked out of the World Cup just four days before the vote, though the announcement of an unusually bad balance of payments in the same month and anti-immigration sentiment may have had more to do with it. The hung parliament of February 1974 led to Labour winning most seats but not most votes, Wilson becoming PM and then took the country to the polls again in October. This time, Labour got a majority of three. Once the majority disappeared, Labour had to rely on the Liberals to stay in power for the remainder of his term.

Wilson surprised everyone when he stood down in March 1976. He had Alzheimer's, which became apparent after he left. He had informed UsefulNotes/JamesCallaghan, his eventual successor, of his decision to resign some months beforehand, thus Callaghan was able to get a head start on his rivals for the Labour leadership.

His first premiership coincided with the peak of the British post-war boom: the days of Swinging London, Music/TheBeatles, the 1966 World Cup, and miniskirts.[[note]]He capitalised on the Fab Four and the Lions.[[/note]] By TheEighties, however, he had come to be considered one of Britain's worst Prime Ministers ever, his administration seen as the beginning of [[DorkAge the "sick man of Europe" era]] with devaluation, industrial stagnation, UsefulNotes/TheTroubles, and polarisation over social reforms and immigration composing his most lasting legacy, lingering by the time he returned to 10 Downing in 1974. For Americans reading this, his first government can be seen as [[TransatlanticEquivalent analogous]] to the Presidency of UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson, who faced similar domestic turmoil (over UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement) during his administration that eventually caused him not to seek reelection. During his second term, public opinion really turned against Wilson, having to deal also with runaway inflation, industrial strife, and his inability to bring his cabinet in line, dashing any hopes for his reputation to recover for the foreseeable future. Even many Labour supporters see his time leading the party as a missed opportunity for greater reforms and his failures as having given rise to nearly two decades of Conservative dominance, and while he managed to hold Labour together while he was running it, in his absence the party spent TheEighties tearing itself apart. Since the 1990s, however, his reputation has somewhat improved, as the liberal reforms enacted during his first government have been increasingly acknowledged. In prime ministerial ranking lists he generally makes it into the top half of the post-war holders of the office (although considering the general reputation of modern Prime Ministers...).

* He was the first Prime Minister to have a regular parody in ''Magazine/PrivateEye'' ("Mrs. Wilson's Diary", supposedly his day-to-day routine as told by his wife, Mary, frequently satirising Wilson's working class pretensions) and was commonly nicknamed "Wislon", after a typographical error that made him sound like an alien menace.

* Wilson's decision to resign in 1976 may have been at least partially influenced by his discovery, according to his former press secretary Bernard Donoughue in his autobiography ''Downing Street Diary: Volume 1; with Wilson In Number 10'', that his best and oldest friend, Lord Wigg, Paymaster General during his first term in office 1964-1970, had been an [=MI5=] "mole", passing details of Cabinet meetings to the secret service -- who in turn passed them on to journalist Chapman Pincher at the ''Daily Express'', a man and a paper who had personally despised Wilson since the "D-Notice" scandal of 1965. Apparently, Wigg had a secret "second family", and [=MI5=] had used their discovery of this to blackmail him.
* Upon receiving his Alzheimer's diagnosis, Wilson intended to resign immediately, but was persuaded by a meeting of the full Cabinet to defer resignation for three months; he used the time to answer the letters sent to the PM by members of the public appealing for help, and was astonished by how many there were. In one example, a woman from Colchester with five children faced eviction, and the local council was refusing to help. Wilson telephoned the council's leader in person, threatening to send the Local Government Audit Commission to go over the Council's books (councillors held responsible for discrepancies can be "surcharged" and barred from public office); the woman and her family were rehoused the next day.

* He is portrayed by Jason Watkins in in Season 3 of ''Series/TheCrown2016'', which opens with Labour having won a majority and Wilson becoming PM as a result. The Season 3 premiere touches upon how Wilson's working-class background stands in stark contrast to the Queen's previous upper-class [=PMs=] and the suspicions people had about Wilson potentially being a Soviet mole.