Editing Harold Wilson (section)

== Legacy ==

===Political style===
Wilson regarded himself as a "man of the people" and did much to promote this image, contrasting himself with the stereotypical aristocratic conservatives and other statesmen who had preceded him, as an example of social mobility. He largely retained his [[Yorkshire accent]]. Other features of this persona included his working man's [[Gannex]] raincoat, his pipe (the British Pipesmokers' Council voted him [[Pipe Smoker of the Year]] in 1965 and Pipeman of the Decade in 1976, though in private he preferred cigars), his love of simple cooking and fondness for popular British relish [[HP Sauce]], and his support for his home town's football team, [[Huddersfield Town]].<ref>[http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?menu=c10400&no=340222&rel_no=1 "A 2012 Chance for David Beckham?"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071020011047/http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?menu=c10400&no=340222&rel_no=1 |date=20 October 2007 }}, OhMy News International Sports, 16 January 2007.</ref> His first general election victory relied heavily on associating these down-to-earth attributes with a sense that the UK urgently needed to modernise after "thirteen years of Tory mis-rule".<ref>{{cite book|first=Chris |last=Rowe|title=Britain 1929–1998|url=https://archive.org/details/britain192919980000rowe|url-access=registration|year=2004|publisher=Heinemann|page=[https://archive.org/details/britain192919980000rowe/page/82 82]|isbn=9780435327385}}</ref>

Wilson exhibited his populist touch in June 1965 when he had [[the Beatles]] honoured with the award of [[Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire|MBE]]. The award was popular with young people and contributed to a sense that the prime minister was "in touch" with the younger generation. There were some protests by conservatives and elderly members of the military who were earlier recipients of the award, but such protesters were in the minority. Critics claimed that Wilson acted to solicit votes for the next general election (which took place less than a year later), but defenders noted that, since the minimum voting age at that time was 21, this was hardly likely to impact many of the Beatles' fans who at that time were predominantly teenagers. It cemented Wilson's image as a modernistic leader and linked him to the burgeoning pride in the 'New Britain' typified by the Beatles.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Stuart |last1=Shea|first2=Robert |last2=Rodriguez|title=Fab Four FAQ: Everything Left to Know about the Beatles-- and More!|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5rGn7xU7zHEC&pg=PA73|year=2007|publisher=Hal Leonard|page=73|isbn=9781423421382|access-date=18 November 2019|archive-date=11 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200111020318/https://books.google.com/books?id=5rGn7xU7zHEC&pg=PA73|url-status=live}}</ref> The Beatles mentioned Wilson rather negatively, naming both him and his opponent [[Edward Heath]] in [[George Harrison]]'s song "[[Taxman]]", the opener to 1966's ''[[Revolver (Beatles album)|Revolver]]''—recorded and released after the MBEs.<ref>{{cite book|author=Beatles|title=The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DKG-FXj_HNYC&pg=PA69|year=1991|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|page=69|isbn=9780395594261|access-date=18 November 2019|archive-date=9 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200109095453/https://books.google.com/books?id=DKG-FXj_HNYC&pg=PA69|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1967, Wilson had a different interaction with a musical ensemble. He sued the pop group [[the Move]] for libel after the band's manager [[Tony Secunda]] published a promotional postcard for the single "[[Flowers in the Rain]]", featuring a caricature depicting Wilson in bed with his female assistant, [[Marcia Williams]]. Gossip had hinted at an improper relationship, though these rumours were never substantiated. Wilson won the case, and all royalties from the song (composed by Move leader [[Roy Wood]]) were assigned in perpetuity to a charity of Wilson's choosing.<ref>{{cite book|first=Mark |last=Paytress|title=Marc Bolan: The Rise And Fall Of A 20th Century Superstar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-yk4U2LILeMC&pg=PT269|year=2009|publisher=Omnibus Press|page=269|isbn=9780857120236|access-date=18 November 2019|archive-date=4 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200104195217/https://books.google.com/books?id=-yk4U2LILeMC&pg=PT269|url-status=live}}</ref>

Wilson coined the term '[[Selsdon Man]]' to refer to the free market policies of the Conservative leader [[Edward Heath]], developed at a policy retreat held at the [[Selsdon Park Hotel]] in early 1970. This phrase, intended to evoke the 'primitive throwback' qualities of anthropological discoveries such as [[Piltdown Man]] and [[Homo erectus|Swanscombe Man]], was part of a British political tradition of referring to political trends by suffixing 'man'.<ref>{{cite book|first=Timothy |last=Heppell|title=The Tories: From Winston Churchill to David Cameron|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eLnfAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA47|year=2014|publisher=A&C Black|page=47|isbn=9781780931142|access-date=18 November 2019|archive-date=18 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200118212149/https://books.google.com/books?id=eLnfAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA47|url-status=live}}</ref> Other memorable phrases attributed to Wilson include "the white heat of the [technological] revolution", and "a week is a long time in politics", meaning that political fortunes can change extremely rapidly.<ref>{{cite book|first=Dominic |last=Sandbrook|title=White Heat: A History of Britain in the Swinging Sixties|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ug_BgAAQBAJ|year=2015|publisher=Little, Brown|page=4|isbn=9780349141282|access-date=18 November 2019|archive-date=4 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200104234636/https://books.google.com/books?id=2ug_BgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> In his broadcast after the 1967 devaluation of the pound, Wilson said: "This does not mean that the pound here in Britain—in your pocket or purse—is worth any less" and the phrase "the pound in your pocket" subsequently took on a life of its own.<ref>{{cite book|first=William |last=Keegan|title=Nine Crises: Fifty Years of Covering the British Economy from Devaluation to Brexit|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NVBwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT47|year=2019|publisher=Biteback Publishing|page=47|isbn=9781785903939|access-date=18 November 2019|archive-date=12 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112161825/https://books.google.com/books?id=NVBwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT47|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Reputation===
Despite his successes, Wilson's reputation took a long time to recover from the low ebb reached after his second premiership. The reinvention of the Labour Party would take the better part of two decades at the hands of [[Neil Kinnock]], [[John Smith (Labour Party leader)|John Smith]] and, electorally and most conclusively, [[Tony Blair]]. Disillusion with Britain's weak economic performance and troubled industrial relations, combined with campaigning by figures such as Sir [[Keith Joseph]], had helped to make a radical market programme politically feasible for [[Margaret Thatcher]] (which was, in turn, to influence the subsequent Labour leadership, especially under Blair). An opinion poll in September 2011 found that Wilson came in third place when respondents were asked to name the best post-war Labour Party leader. He was beaten only by John Smith and Tony Blair.<ref>[http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/archives/4099 More from YouGov/Sunday Times] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190117141201/http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/archives/4099 |date=17 January 2019 }}, UKPollingReport blog. [http://today.yougov.co.uk/sites/today.yougov.co.uk/files/yg-archives-pol-st-results-3009-011011.pdf Full polling results] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006095443/http://today.yougov.co.uk/sites/today.yougov.co.uk/files/yg-archives-pol-st-results-3009-011011.pdf |date=6 October 2011 }}</ref>

According to Glen O'Hara in 2006:<ref>Glen O'Hara "'Dynamic, Exciting, Thrilling Change': the Wilson Government's Economic Policies, 1964–70," ''Contemporary British History'' (2006), 20:3, 383–402, DOI: 10.1080/13619460500407087</ref>

<blockquote>Much of the disillusionment with Harold Wilson as Labour's leader and prime minister was due to his perceived failure on the economic front. He pledged not to devalue sterling, but did exactly that in 1967; he promised to keep unemployment low, but had by 1970 accepted a higher rate of joblessness than the Conservatives had managed. Some of the elements in Labour's programme – the emphasis on steadier growth, for instance – were probably misguided. These problems and defeats have, however, obscured some of the real achievements of the period. Science and education spending grew very quickly; industrial investment rose; government was increasingly well informed and better advised about the performance of the economy. In an increasingly unstable and rapidly changing economic environment, this government's economic record is here shown to be, if not hugely impressive, then at least relatively creditable.</blockquote>