Editing Harold Wilson (section)

==Member of Parliament (1945–1947)==
As the war drew to an end, he searched for a seat to contest at the impending general election. He was selected for the constituency of [[Ormskirk (UK Parliament constituency)|Ormskirk]], then held by [[Stephen King-Hall]]. Wilson agreed to be adopted as the candidate immediately rather than delay until the election was called, and was therefore compelled to resign from his position in the Civil Service. He served as [[Praelector]] in Economics at University College between his resignation and his election to the House of Commons. He also used this time to write ''A New Deal for Coal'', which used his wartime experience to argue for the nationalisation of the coal mines on the grounds of the improved efficiency he predicted would ensue.

In the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945 general election]], Wilson won his seat in the Labour landslide. To his surprise, he was immediately appointed to the government by Prime Minister [[Clement Attlee]] as [[Parliamentary Secretary]] to the [[Ministry of Works (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Works]]. Two years later, he became [[Secretary for Overseas Trade]], in which capacity he made several official trips to the [[Soviet Union]] to negotiate supply contracts.

The boundaries of his Ormskirk constituency were significantly altered before the [[1950 United Kingdom general election|general election of 1950]]. He stood instead for the new seat of [[Huyton (UK Parliament constituency)|Huyton]] near Liverpool, and was narrowly elected; he served there for 33 years until 1983.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HwyCAgAAQBAJ&q=wilson+mp+for+ormskirk&pg=PA283|title=The Routledge Companion to Britain in the Twentieth Century|isbn=9781134476954|last1=Clapson|first1=Mark|date=23 June 2009|publisher=Routledge |access-date=1 November 2020|archive-date=17 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417194149/https://books.google.com/books?id=HwyCAgAAQBAJ&q=wilson+mp+for+ormskirk&pg=PA283|url-status=live}}</ref>