Heath vs Wilson: The 10-Year Duel


Heath vs Wilson: The 10-Year Duel

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For ten tumultuous years from 1965 to '75,

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two men fought THE heavyweight duel of 20th-century British politics.

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One was the Labour leader and Prime Minister, Harold Wilson.

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The Britain that is going to forged in the white heat of this revolution.

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APPLAUSE

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The other was the Conservative leader and Prime Minister, Edward Heath.

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Away with all the short-term gimmickry and instant government we've had for the last few years.

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Heath and Wilson governed in an era of huge upheaval - the swinging sixties and turbulent seventies.

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On their watch, Britain changed irreversibly...

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and become a nation state within Europe.

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The future is yours!

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But it also hit economic and industrial chaos.

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Mr Heath has given the militants the charter they always dreamed of.

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The Heath-Wilson duel spanned four elections...

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their rivalry was both political and personal.

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It was quite extraordinary how much they hated each other when they were opposite each other

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in the House of Commons, and yet in some ways they were extraordinarily similar characters.

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Harold Wilson and Edward Heath were the political titans of their era.

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Two grammar school boys, born in the same year,

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who grew into very different men, bound by political fate.

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They were a double act for 10 years, we began to think

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in those days, it would be like Gladstone and Disraeli, would this double act ever come to an end?

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Their double act did come to an end.

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But by then, the Heath-Wilson duel had redefined a nation.

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# Hey, you, get off of my cloud

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# Hey, you, get off of my cloud. #

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In October 1964, Harold Wilson was elected British Prime Minister.

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It marked a huge change from the public school toffs who had been running the country.

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Wilson's Conservative predecessors had been the old Etonian aristocrat Sir Alec Douglas-Home,

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and before him another old Etonian, Harold Macmillan.

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Harold Wilson was cut from a very different cloth.

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Country estates and grouse moors were another world.

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Well, he were a Yorkshire lad, weren't he?

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Come from Huddersfield.

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I come from Keighley, which is not far away.

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And I think the Yorkshire thing in Harold was very meaningful.

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It meant a lot to him, as it always has to me.

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It means being rather tough, and where there's muck there's brass.

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I remember during the election campaign of 1964,

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we were en route across from Lancashire to Yorkshire,

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and he said, "Would you like to see the house where I was born?"

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And we said, "Oh, yes, please!"

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So we stopped en route outside his birthplace in Huddersfield -

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a very ordinary terraced house - and he stood there,

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and there was a certain humble pride and pleasure

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in feeling that he had risen from

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quite a humble background, with outstanding success.

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'James Harold Wilson, leader of the Labour party,

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'who could be the youngest Prime Minister for nearly 200 years,

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'and perhaps the first with a Yorkshire accent.'

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It was a breakthrough, that here was a grammar school boy,

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no public school boy, done very well, won a scholarship

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at University College Oxford,

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got a first in PPE, and here he was,

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the mascot, as it were, of the new Britain.

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A meritocrat.

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The self-made Yorkshireman, with his homespun pipe, Gannex raincoat

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and humble tastes, revolutionised the political landscape.

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He was, in some senses, quite deeply and naturally a man of the people.

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When I say that, I mean when he chose to spend his holidays in Scilly

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in a small seaside bungalow, that's what he wanted to do.

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He wasn't trying to persuade the media that he was an ordinary man.

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He just was an ordinary man.

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But he was aware that the image

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of the ordinary man with HP Sauce on his sausage,

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drinking his pint of beer...

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was helpful politically.

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-# White light

-White light going messing up my mind

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# White light... #

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In the 1964 campaign Wilson told the British people that, after 13 years of misrule by old fogey Tories,

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he would revitalize the nation with a planned economy and modern, scientific thinking.

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We're restating our socialism

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in terms of the scientific revolution.

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I worked with him fairly closely on the manifesto.

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He made the speech about the white heat of technology.

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The Britain that will be forged in the white heat of this revolution

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will be no place for restrictive practices, or for outdated methods on either side of industry.

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He was mocked as someone who was going to put on a white coat

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and go round and modernise the economy with a blow lamp.

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Actually what he was saying was we are all going to be burned up

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by technical change unless we plan for it.

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NEWSREADER: 'The electorate has chosen.'

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This new man, with his new message, struck a chord...

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and Wilson won the October 1964 election, but only just.

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'A fantastically close result, but a majority for Harold Wilson,

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'When Wilson came in, in 1964...'

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that was the great sun-rising moment

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in the second half of the 20th century in Britain, other than,

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I suppose, Tony Blair in 1997. It was the kind of new dawn.

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The grammar school boy from Yorkshire was off to meet the Queen,

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who would ask him to form the first Labour government in 13 years.

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He was still in his underpants, as a matter of fact,

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changing to go to the palace. And I remember so vividly

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one of his colleagues said to him, "Harold, you can't go to the palace wearing red braces."

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And Harold turned round and said, "Why not?

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"I'm leader of the Labour party, why can't I wear red braces?" "But you can't do it.

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"You've got to meet the Queen."

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"But I haven't got any other braces."

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"OK," said this person, "I'll go out to a local shop

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"and buy you a new pair of black braces," which he did.

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Harold changed from his red braces to his black braces and off he went to the palace.

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The fusty old Etonian Tories had been a soft target for satirists,

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like the magazine Private Eye.

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The homespun but hi-tech Harold Wilson was harder to pin down.

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Their solution was to invent a diary,

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written by Mrs Wilson.

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It was, in a way, a reaction against the image

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that Wilson had projected of the super professional whizz kid,

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to make him a comic bungler,

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and his wife was a simple lady from the North Country, writing crap poems.

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An early entry in Mrs Wilson's Diary imagined their first encounter with

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the posh cook they'd inherited from Alec and Lady Douglas-Home.

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I had the terrible business of Mrs Green.

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There she was at the door, saying, "Oh, I'm so glad you've come,

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"I've got a lovely cote de veau garni aux epinards in the oven for you."

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"Thank you very much," Harold replied, "I think I'll just have some baked beans

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"and a glass of Wincarnis if you don't mind."

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Though the '64 election had been much closer than expected,

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the Conservative Party was terrified by Wilson's success.

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Soon afterwards, Sir Alec Douglas-Home withdrew to the grouse moor,

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and the party began the search for its own Harold Wilson.

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In July 1965, the man they alighted on was Edward Heath.

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Ironically, why Heath became leader of the Conservative Party in 1965

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was because the Conservatives decided they must have someone

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who would be able to deal with Wilson.

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Who was, if you like, although they wouldn't put it this way, a carbon copy of Wilson.

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So I think Wilson, in a way, created Heath.

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Heath would not have got the job if Wilson hadn't already become Prime Minister

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and leader of the Labour party.

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But it was instantly clear that Heath lacked Wilson's silver tongue.

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Good afternoon, Mr Heath, how are you feeling now it's all over?

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I'm feeling very pleased.

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-Are you a very happy man today?

-Very.

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Are you going to celebrate tonight?

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I have a whole series of TV interviews tonight.

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Any chance of a holiday soon?

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Not yet, no. Too much work to be done.

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Thank you very much.

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Ted Heath was born only months after Harold Wilson in 1916,

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and though he hailed from the other side of the country,

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he grew up in seaside Kent.

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His background was every bit as ordinary.

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He didn't talk a great deal about his boyhood.

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His father was a small-town builder, his mother had been a ladies' maid,

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and he'd emerged from that quite humble background

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by working very hard, and his parents had sweated their guts out to give him a start in life.

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He'd achieved that start in life partly due to his parents, partly due to his own hard work.

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The funny thing was both men came from relatively humble backgrounds,

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they didn't have connections to anybody who could forward or help them.

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So it's hugely to their credit they did it on their own.

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Like Wilson, Heath was a grammar school boy who made it to Oxford University in the 1930s.

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He would win an organ scholarship to Balliol,

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but at first it was touch and go as to whether he'd get there.

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His parents weren't at all sure they, even with the help of Kent County Council,

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would be able to afford a son at Oxford.

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It was completely unknown territory to them.

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When they went to Oxford in their Hillman Minx piled high with his possessions that first autumn,

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it was the first time any of them had been to Oxford.

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Heath's future rival was a year ahead of him, just around the corner at Jesus College.

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It's said that Wilson used to occasionally

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go to concerts in which Heath was playing the organ.

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Well, he may have. I bet he did it pretty rarely, because he wasn't at all tuned in to classical music.

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They lived in different worlds.

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Heath quickly plunged into politics, Wilson had no time for these fripperies at all.

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I was at Balliol with Ted Heath from 1936 until the war broke out.

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And he was a year ahead of me so he was chairman of the junior common room

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when I was his secretary, and we got on very well together,

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although at that time I was in the Communist Party,

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and he of course, as always, was a Tory.

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Heath's conservatism went beyond politics,

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and there were early signs of a continuing awkwardness about the opposite sex.

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A mutual friend of ours had gone off to Banbury with his girlfriend, and Ted looked at me in alarm and said,

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"You don't mean to say they're...sleeping together?"

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I said, "I suppose so, but why not?"

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He said, "I can't imagine anybody in the Conservative Association doing that!"

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Unlike Heath, Wilson did not engage in university politics.

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His priority was academic success.

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He got a brilliant first, he got an alpha plus in economic theory, which was almost unheard of.

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They did share one tutor, who compared them, and said that Wilson

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was a brilliant analytical mind, profound thinker, Heath was a plodder.

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Wilson's quicksilver mind was a sign of things to come.

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Almost 3 decades after crossing paths at Oxford, on August 2nd 1965,

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Wilson and Heath faced each other

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in the House of Commons for the first time.

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No-one yet knew how their duel would play out.

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But expectations of Edward Heath,

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the new man the Tories had elected to match Wilson,

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were huge.

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It was a very new departure

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for the Conservative party, and he was elected with much enthusiasm.

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And, of course, my generation were all rather thrilled.

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The thought was that Alec Home, who was his predecessor,

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was just not up to taking Harold Wilson on on the floor of the house.

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Whereas Ted Heath was much more belligerent, or appeared to be

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much more belligerent at that stage, and would take Harold Wilson on.

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-That's the way to do it!

-Oh, no, it isn't!

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-How do you do it then?

-That's the way to do it! Ha-ha!

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Heath's performance at the despatch box was a devastating disappointment.

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Everyone expected him to be brilliant, to shatter Wilson's image.

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Instead, he was ponderous, he was lumbering, he piled in far too many facts.

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He failed to enthuse anyone, and he was outmanoeuvred and made to look silly by Wilson.

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Even when Heath tried a joke about Wilson's brand new Technology Ministry, he was smoothly trumped.

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The Minister of Technology is no tiger.

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That is now plain.

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The Prime Minister has put a tortoise in the tank.

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I was grateful to the right honourable gentleman

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for that memorable phrase about "the tortoise in the tank".

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I must say that I liked that.

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I liked it the first time I saw it in a Sunday Citizen cartoon on 27th June.

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I am sure the House will always be ready to hear the right honourable gentleman again,

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especially if he keeps reminding us of that phrase.

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LAUGHTER

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Wilson sort of waltzed round him.

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And he was just witty.

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Ted resented this.

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Ted was not good at being laughed at.

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Ted had this rather...at once, bland and pompous manner.

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It's difficult to be bland and pompous simultaneously,

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but Ted Heath managed it.

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I always felt he was brushing Harold aside, swatting him,

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but whilst he attempted, he always missed.

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Wilson, I think it's fair to say, he really despised Ted Heath.

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I can hear him saying to me down the years "Heath?

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"Ha! I could knock him around the room any time I like." This kind of thing.

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The personal animosity was palpable to MPs watching them.

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Once, in the House of Commons, there was a slanging match going on

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between the PM and the leader of the opposition,

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and Manny Shinwell chipped in rather wistfully from the back bench,

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"Is this a private matter, or can we join in?"

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I think that was the slight worry

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on the part of Heath's followers, that it was a private matter.

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Heath, perhaps, was not the attack weapon his supporters had hoped for.

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And his lack of ease came as a shock to them.

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One of his previous jobs had been chief whip,

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where he was remembered as being gregarious and sociable.

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But once elected leader of the opposition, he began to display an alarming brusqueness.

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Can you make any comment at all, Mr Heath? Nothing at all so far?

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Anthony Howard went to visit him on holiday in France

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for a Sunday Times feature.

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He greeted me without any great enthusiasm, and said something like, "I suppose you'd like a drink."

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I said, "That would be a good idea, thank you very much."

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"What would you like to have?" I said, "Well, is there any whisky?"

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So he went to a nasty plywood sideboard, opened the door,

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looked at a half bottle of whiskey, saw that it was pretty nearly empty and said, "You'd better have coffee."

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Heath may well have intended it as a joke.

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But, as his friends acknowledge, his mordant sense of humour was an acquired taste.

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Mentally, he was very sharp.

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Sharp is the word, because often he said things which were meant

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to be slightly humorous.

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He cracked a joke, rather like Prince Philip,

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he cracked a joke and was amazed when people took it very seriously.

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He had the best sense of humour,

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as well concealed as anyone's been able to conceal a sense of humour.

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But what was so dementing is his ability to present himself in most angular possible form.

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Gave one homicidal feelings about him quite often!

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You're not even old enough to remember what was going on when we came to power!

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There was... There was food rationing!

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And sweets rationing!

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You were just old enough to eat sweets, and you had to queue up with a little coupon to buy them!

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That was the situation when we came into power!

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It was actually a wooden leg that he wore all his life.

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The more he latched onto the things that he wanted to do in life,

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the more the wooden leg, this wooden manner, came into play.

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We said, "Relax, be yourself!"

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It didn't... The advice never really went down well,

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because I think he wasn't sure what himself was.

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He didn't have a ready-made persona, he didn't have a switch which he could turn on in the way that

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many politicians did, Harold Wilson certainly did.

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The image-conscious Wilson was always ready to milk the latest trend.

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In 1965, it was the new age of pop.

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Thank you very much for giving us this silver heart,

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but I still think you should've given one to good old Mr Wilson.

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LAUGHTER

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Wilson had entered Downing Street promising a whirlwind of activity,

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even comparing himself to America's most recent political hero.

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What I think we're going to need is something like

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what President Kennedy had when he came in

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after years of stagnation in the United States, he had a programme of 100 days of dynamic action.

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It was felt that the Government could do more by greater

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intervention when Labour came in.

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So almost every month there would be some form of tinkering

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with the economy to try to get the level of activity exactly right.

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I was secretary of the Budget Committee at the time and we used to be almost in constant session.

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In spite of his awkwardness, Heath could sometimes score a laugh...

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and Wilson's hyperactivity gave him an early chance.

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'Comrades, we have managed to increase our productivity

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'in the Cabinet - a budget in March, a budget in May, a budget in July.'

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LAUGHTER

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But despite his much-vaunted economic planning,

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Wilson, from the very beginning, found himself at the mercy of events.

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He was buffeted by pressure on the pound,

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which then was set at a fixed exchange rate.

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The obvious solution was to devalue it.

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But Wilson was haunted by the previous Labour government's

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devaluation in 1948.

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It was a very odd thing in those days that we regarded

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the devaluation of the pound as almost a test

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of virtue in politics,

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and so devaluation was almost a sin...

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and that was absolutely ridiculous.

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While the weak pound was the rod across Wilson's back, Heath's -

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from the very outset -

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was the whisperers in his own party.

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Private Eye had named him The Grocer.

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Heath had once been president of the Board Of Trade.

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But for large sections of the Tory Party, that encapsulated

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a disdain of the grammar-school boy with strange-sounding vowels...

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who couldn't even beat his opponent.

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The stupid people turned on him and began to mock his background

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and mock the past that he came from.

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"That's the sort of thing you get when you elect a grammar-school boy."

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I knew quite a grand Tory lady, who was the wife of the chairman of the Party, Lord Latham.

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I remember her saying to me, "What we all have to face about Ted,

0:22:470:22:51

"it's not his fault, poor dear, but he hasn't got any manners."

0:22:510:22:54

Heath's highly personal duel with Wilson,

0:22:550:22:59

and the savaging he was receiving in the House of Commons,

0:22:590:23:03

began to have a significant psychological impact.

0:23:030:23:05

He retreated into his shell,

0:23:080:23:09

comfortable only with his trusted circle of close advisers and friends.

0:23:090:23:14

It was politics at its juvenile-playpen worst.

0:23:140:23:20

What I didn't realize, until looking back on it,

0:23:200:23:24

it made an appalling and searing and lasting impression on Ted.

0:23:240:23:30

Wilson was oozing confidence.

0:23:310:23:34

In spring 1966, with his new opponent posing so little threat,

0:23:340:23:39

his highly-tuned political antennae sensed that the time was ripe to increase his slender majority,

0:23:390:23:45

before events began to overtake him.

0:23:450:23:48

Harold timed it exactly. I remember talking to Roy Jenkins,

0:23:480:23:52

saying, "When is the election going to come?"

0:23:520:23:55

and Roy saying, "Don't you and I worry about it.

0:23:550:23:56

"We can do some things. The man who will chose the election date

0:23:560:24:01

"to the 'nth degree, perfect on that date, is Harold Wilson."

0:24:010:24:05

For Harold Wilson, unlike Heath, elections, and the razzamatazz surrounding them,

0:24:070:24:12

were the stuff of life, ever since he'd first entered Parliament in 1945.

0:24:120:24:18

He was political to his fingertips.

0:24:180:24:22

I once said to him... I was talking politics to him, and he said that

0:24:220:24:25

it had always been his worry

0:24:250:24:27

in 1953 when the King died, he feared that Winston Churchill

0:24:270:24:33

would take advantage of that and call a quick general election.

0:24:330:24:38

I said, "I was too young to think like that in those days, Harold."

0:24:380:24:42

"Were you? I've thought like that since the day I was born."

0:24:420:24:46

The 1966 election trail threw Wilson and Heath's very different styles

0:24:460:24:51

onto streets and TV screens across the country.

0:24:510:24:56

That's where the mismatch between Harold and Ted came out.

0:24:560:25:01

One, the political arc lamps

0:25:010:25:04

came on full at the glimmer of being seen by outsiders

0:25:040:25:11

or the pubic, whereas Ted...

0:25:110:25:12

the arc lights tended to go off.

0:25:120:25:15

It was tragically ludicrous.

0:25:150:25:18

'The first point I want to make is, yesterday there was yet another warning from

0:25:200:25:25

'the Building Societies Association that the mortgage rates must rise...

0:25:250:25:32

"again..."

0:25:320:25:34

Now, just to break for a moment before I turn to the other subject I want to deal with...

0:25:350:25:41

The half time scores are as follows...

0:25:410:25:44

LAUGHTER

0:25:440:25:47

It was a terrible campaign. We were fighting a losing battle the whole way through the campaign.

0:25:470:25:53

Wilson sat back and enjoyed the ride,

0:25:540:25:57

rarely deigning even to engage with his opponent...

0:25:570:26:00

'After all these words, what has been the result in productivity.

0:26:000:26:06

'Just 1 per cent.

0:26:060:26:08

'One miserable one per cent.

0:26:080:26:11

'Well, is Mr Wilson proud of it?

0:26:130:26:15

'Apparently not.

0:26:150:26:17

-'< He is.

-You think he is?

0:26:170:26:19

'Well, ask him why he doesn't come onto television

0:26:190:26:21

'and face me there and argue it out?!'

0:26:210:26:23

APPLAUSE

0:26:230:26:24

Harold would never put him on an equal level with him.

0:26:240:26:29

He'd never agree to a television debate or anything like that with him.

0:26:290:26:36

Wilson was a masterly electioneerer, partly by

0:26:360:26:41

ostentatiously appearing everywhere with his wife, therefore making it perfectly clear that poor Heath

0:26:410:26:46

as a bachelor didn't understand what was going on.

0:26:460:26:48

Heath's bachelor status was another gift to the whisperers.

0:26:490:26:54

In private,, Wilson relished alluding to it.

0:26:540:26:57

When he made the speech once about the importance of family, Harold's only remark was,

0:26:570:27:05

"Those who don't play the game shouldn't make the rules."

0:27:050:27:09

All these rumours about how he might be homosexual,

0:27:090:27:12

totally without foundation as far as I'm concerned, but they certainly swirled around, these rumours.

0:27:120:27:17

My feeling, for what it's worth, though I'm not medically qualified, is that he's one of these people -

0:27:170:27:22

they do exist - he was pretty asexual, it just didn't interest him.

0:27:220:27:26

'Let's say we average them out to around 4.5 per cent.

0:27:300:27:33

'which is the average of these four national polls,

0:27:330:27:36

'pointing to something like a 150 majority...'

0:27:360:27:38

On March the 31st 1966, in the first of their four general election battles,

0:27:380:27:46

Wilson humiliated Heath.

0:27:460:27:48

Labour's majority over the Conservatives was well over a hundred.

0:27:480:27:53

In the summer of '66, it seemed that Britain was rocking.

0:27:550:28:00

# Sunshine came softly

0:28:000:28:02

# Through my

0:28:020:28:04

# Window today

0:28:040:28:07

# Could have tripped out easy

0:28:080:28:12

# But I've a-changed my ways... #

0:28:120:28:13

England, for the first time, even managed to win the World Cup.

0:28:150:28:20

England's victory in the 1966 World Cup is now taken as

0:28:220:28:26

a kind of high point of the 1960s,

0:28:260:28:28

so we think that '66 is the culmination

0:28:280:28:31

of swinging London and the optimism and change and whatnot,

0:28:310:28:34

but I think there is a nice coincidence, because the day after England's victory

0:28:340:28:38

in the World Cup final is the day that the Colonial Office,

0:28:380:28:41

the very symbol of British imperialism and British power, closes its doors for the last time.

0:28:410:28:48

We won the war, but at great cost.

0:28:480:28:51

We were living with the end of Empire and there were people about,

0:28:510:28:56

including senior civil servants, who saw what we were doing as the management of decline.

0:28:560:29:01

Wilson was much much closer to those who thought we were in the business of managing decline than Heath was.

0:29:010:29:08

I think Heath had greater optimism.

0:29:080:29:12

Once again, it was the weak pound that seemed the overwhelming symbol of decline.

0:29:160:29:21

In the autumn of 1967,

0:29:230:29:25

Wilson and his chancellor, James Callaghan, were finally forced into devaluation.

0:29:250:29:32

What concerned Wilson more than anything was how to present this surrender to the British people.

0:29:320:29:39

That morning, I'd been rung by a brother-in-law from Leeds,

0:29:390:29:43

and he had said,

0:29:430:29:47

"Is my money in the bank going to be devalued?

0:29:470:29:51

"Will it be worth as much as it was yesterday?"

0:29:510:29:55

So when Harold was doing the "pound in your pocket or in your purse",

0:29:550:30:00

I suggested that he added "in your bank".

0:30:000:30:02

Wilson made the infamous statement,

0:30:020:30:05

implying nothing had really changed.

0:30:050:30:08

'From now on, the pound abroad is worth 14% or so less

0:30:080:30:13

'in terms of other currencies.

0:30:130:30:15

'That doesn't mean, of course, that the pound here in Britain,

0:30:150:30:19

'in your pocket or purse or in your bank, has been devalued.'

0:30:190:30:22

I was an accomplice in that error, but it was

0:30:220:30:25

an error meant to reassure people,

0:30:250:30:28

however...

0:30:280:30:30

..It has lived on in infamy ever since.

0:30:320:30:35

CROWD: Wilson out! Wilson out!

0:30:350:30:37

For Heath, devaluation was an affront.

0:30:370:30:40

He was extremely patriotic.

0:30:420:30:44

When Britain devalued the pound

0:30:440:30:46

in 1967, he thought this was a great humiliation for us

0:30:460:30:51

and said so.

0:30:510:30:52

Whereas, actually, economically there was a lot to be said for it,

0:30:520:30:55

but he forgot the economics and was just interested in the blow to our prestige.

0:30:550:31:00

'As Mr Wilson himself said a few years ago -

0:31:000:31:06

"Devaluation is an acknowledgment of defeat.

0:31:060:31:08

"Last Saturday night was defeat."

0:31:100:31:13

Devaluation,

0:31:160:31:18

and the way it was presented,

0:31:180:31:19

was a psychological turning point in the Heath-Wilson duel.

0:31:190:31:23

# I know when I've had enough... #

0:31:230:31:27

For Wilson, it was the first real defeat.

0:31:270:31:31

He never regained full mastery of his colleagues...

0:31:320:31:36

and in the country beyond, he was never again as trusted.

0:31:360:31:39

For Heath, it was a vital stimulant.

0:31:420:31:46

Now more than ever he saw his mission as ridding the nation of Harold Wilson...

0:31:460:31:51

a man he deemed an unprincipled creature, who put style over substance every time.

0:31:510:31:58

Essentially, the great difference between them

0:31:580:32:01

was that Ted saw himself and felt himself to be

0:32:010:32:04

an outstanding, clean,

0:32:040:32:07

clear, uninfluenceable,

0:32:070:32:11

public servant, working for nation's good,

0:32:110:32:13

and he therefore thought of Wilson as being a scraggy politician.

0:32:130:32:18

Ted Heath would not have thought of himself as being a politician at all, despite having been chief whip.

0:32:180:32:24

Ted and Harold

0:32:240:32:26

had totally different approaches to the work of politics.

0:32:260:32:32

Um...

0:32:320:32:33

WORK of politics would have been Ted's attitude.

0:32:330:32:37

The GAME of politics was more Harold's natural habitat.

0:32:370:32:45

Ted used to get irritated by the behaviour of some MPs in the House.

0:32:460:32:52

Harold would encourage it.

0:32:540:32:55

Harold once described the Tory MP Bernard Braine as a misnomer.

0:32:550:33:02

Ted would never have thought of something like that.

0:33:020:33:04

Heath was a serious man, believed that Wilson stood for everything

0:33:040:33:08

that was wrong in British public life.

0:33:080:33:10

Gimmicks, government by press leak, all the rest of it.

0:33:100:33:15

He really morally disapproved of Wilson. I think that's true.

0:33:150:33:19

It wasn't just a political disagreement. He thought that Wilson

0:33:190:33:23

symbolized, and was the emblem, of everything that had gone wrong with Britain.

0:33:230:33:29

Heath's principled stiffness and Wilson's political adroitness was one key contrast.

0:33:330:33:40

Another was how they saw the world beyond Britain.

0:33:400:33:43

Wilson was a classic, little England,

0:33:480:33:51

introverted patriot.

0:33:510:33:52

He was only comfortable at home, really.

0:33:570:34:00

When he went abroad to conferences,

0:34:000:34:02

he would come back as quickly as possible,

0:34:020:34:05

and look for excuses to come back.

0:34:050:34:07

For his food, he loved all the traditional English foods.

0:34:070:34:12

He loved beans on toast, he loved HP sauce.

0:34:120:34:16

He once said to me, "I do go on holiday abroad,

0:34:160:34:19

"I go to the Scillies!"

0:34:190:34:21

And that for him was about the outermost Siberia of his imagination.

0:34:210:34:26

Heath was every bit as patriotic,

0:34:280:34:32

but he was an internationalist, with an appetite for seeing the world.

0:34:320:34:36

This went right back to his time as an undergraduate.

0:34:370:34:40

Oddly enough, we both cycled through Germany

0:34:430:34:47

in those days when Hitler was there.

0:34:470:34:49

I think all of us who did journeys through Europe before the war were enormously influenced

0:34:500:34:57

by it because, of course, of the terrible things that happened to Europe during the war itself.

0:34:570:35:02

He went to Germany as a soldier,

0:35:070:35:10

as an officer, and he saw the wreck and the ruin caused by the bombing.

0:35:100:35:15

He'd fought in the war. He'd been part of it.

0:35:150:35:18

Heath had a distinguished military record in the Second World War.

0:35:210:35:26

Wilson had been a civil servant on the Home Front, organizing coal stocks...

0:35:260:35:31

a vital role but somehow not quite the same.

0:35:310:35:34

It did leave...not a scar,

0:35:340:35:39

but he was always conscious of the fact

0:35:390:35:42

that he hadn't fought.

0:35:420:35:44

He was rather resentful about the fact that Heath got one up on him that way.

0:35:440:35:48

I think it did change people's attitudes.

0:35:480:35:51

I mean, I don't suppose for one moment Harold Wilson

0:35:510:35:54

didn't feel exactly the same about preventing a world war,

0:35:540:35:59

but I think it coloured one's vision of things.

0:35:590:36:03

Ted Heath's wartime experience led to a lifetime ambition for a united Europe,

0:36:040:36:10

which could never again tear itself apart, with Britain at its heart.

0:36:100:36:15

The vision of a united Europe, to him, was civilisation.

0:36:170:36:23

It wasn't just politics.

0:36:230:36:25

It was the beginning of teaching the planet how human beings ought to live.

0:36:250:36:29

It was almost as big a vision as that.

0:36:290:36:31

Back in 1963, Heath had spearheaded Britain's first attempt -

0:36:360:36:40

by the Tory prime minister, Harold Macmillan -

0:36:400:36:43

to join what was then called the Common Market.

0:36:430:36:46

But it was rebuffed by the French president, Charles de Gaulle.

0:36:490:36:54

In 1967, Harold Wilson decided he'd have a go.

0:36:550:36:59

But for reasons rather different from Heath's.

0:36:590:37:02

I think Harold wanted to be a member of the community...

0:37:040:37:07

not for the rather grander reasons, or he thought, the grand design.

0:37:070:37:12

Harold was an economist. He regarded Europe as economies of scale.

0:37:120:37:16

I guess he decided that, on balance, it was in Britain's interest to be in.

0:37:160:37:21

The Labour Party had opposed the Heath-Macmillan attempt to join.

0:37:210:37:26

Wilson always had to balance his priority to keep his party united

0:37:260:37:30

against its traditional fear of joining Europe.

0:37:300:37:34

Harold's principle object in politics

0:37:340:37:37

was to keep the Labour Party together.

0:37:370:37:40

That's really like putting Humpty Dumpty together after he's fallen off the wall.

0:37:400:37:46

So he had to duck and dive and weave

0:37:460:37:49

and go with the flow, sometimes when the flow was bad,

0:37:490:37:53

but he never lost sight of the fact that we'd end up in Europe one day.

0:37:530:38:01

The next 10 years, the next 20 years,

0:38:040:38:06

the unity of Europe is going to be forged.

0:38:060:38:09

Heath was so anxious that Britain should go into Europe,

0:38:090:38:12

but I think he was slightly horrified when it looked, at one moment,

0:38:120:38:17

as if Wilson might be the man who would bring it off.

0:38:170:38:21

Heath needn't have worried.

0:38:220:38:24

The French President de Gaulle once again vetoed Britain's entry.

0:38:240:38:29

For Wilson, the timing was dreadful.

0:38:320:38:33

The veto came just one week after the trauma of devaluation.

0:38:350:38:39

At the close of 1967, his administration was on the skids.

0:38:400:38:45

Things weren't going to get much better in 1968.

0:38:450:38:48

# Fire

0:38:480:38:50

# I'll take you to burn... #

0:38:510:38:52

As revolutions and riots erupted across the globe,

0:38:540:38:58

both Heath and Wilson had their own explosive issues to face at home.

0:38:580:39:02

For Heath, it was troubles with his own party again...

0:39:080:39:12

this time from the firebrand Enoch Powell,

0:39:120:39:15

who was exploiting the racial tensions emerging across Britain.

0:39:150:39:18

I told Mr Powell that he could not remain a member of the Shadow Cabinet

0:39:180:39:22

because of the inflammatory nature of his speech in Birmingham.

0:39:220:39:25

Wilson deftly managed to keep Britain out of the political minefield

0:39:290:39:33

that was Vietnam, despite pleas from the Americans.

0:39:330:39:38

'Phantom F4s... Napalm.'

0:39:380:39:39

But he faced an internal war of his own,

0:39:400:39:43

with Labour's traditional allies... the trade unions.

0:39:430:39:46

'Strikes, especially unofficial strikes, are a major factor in Britain's economic difficulties.'

0:39:460:39:52

The unions would be both Wilson's, and later Heath's, running sore.

0:39:520:39:57

Today one might say that banking or finance is the biggest problem for prime ministers.

0:40:020:40:07

At that time, it was clearly the trade unions.

0:40:070:40:10

In both cases, this huge interest didn't really see itself as part of society.

0:40:100:40:16

It saw itself as getting the most it could out of society for itself,

0:40:160:40:19

but not contributing to society, and both Harold Wilson and Ted Heath tried to bring

0:40:190:40:26

the trade union leaders into, as it were, sharing the responsibility.

0:40:260:40:30

CROWD CHANTS: Wilson out! Castle out!

0:40:300:40:35

Wilson and his employment secretary, Barbara Castle, tried to bring in new laws

0:40:350:40:39

to curb the unions and make them more democratic.

0:40:390:40:44

Their plan was quickly sabotaged by their Cabinet colleagues.

0:40:440:40:47

THEY CHANT: White paper out! White paper out!

0:40:480:40:51

After yet another failure, Wilson's prospects by the beginning of 1969 were pretty bleak.

0:40:510:40:59

I started at Number 10

0:41:020:41:04

in January 1st 1969,

0:41:040:41:08

and Harold was 23 points behind

0:41:080:41:14

in the opinion polls at that time. And he said to me quite early on,

0:41:140:41:20

"Joe, what can you offer me?" I said, "Complacency,

0:41:200:41:24

"because you've got too much of the other - hysteria!"

0:41:240:41:27

Violence in Northern Ireland, with British troops deployed on the streets,

0:41:320:41:36

added to the feeling that Britain was going off the rails,

0:41:360:41:41

and that the man at the wheel, Harold Wilson, was powerless to stop it.

0:41:410:41:46

Heath was looking more comfortable at the helm.

0:41:540:41:56

He'd become an ocean-going sailor,

0:41:590:42:01

with great success.

0:42:010:42:03

In the last days of 1969, he even won the highly-prestigious Sydney-Hobart yacht race.

0:42:040:42:10

That, I think, improved his image enormously in the country and also with the Party.

0:42:130:42:18

All the old grey beards who were very worried about him sailing a boat at all,

0:42:180:42:23

suddenly became enamoured with Ted Heath, about how wonderful he was.

0:42:230:42:27

I was there to arrange the parties and the receptions and so on, in case he won.

0:42:270:42:31

And he did win, and we had a great time in Sydney.

0:42:310:42:35

And, of course, it was politically advantageous.

0:42:350:42:38

It did ring a bell in people's minds because it was unexpected.

0:42:380:42:41

Wilson was being upstaged.

0:42:440:42:46

Mrs Wilson's Diary imagined him plotting his counter-strike.

0:42:460:42:50

"Harold, seated at the controls, wearing antique goggles and a balaclava helmet,

0:42:520:42:59

"with an Isodora Duncan scarf,

0:42:590:43:01

"gave Mr Kaufman the thumbs-up sign to remove the chocks.

0:43:010:43:04

"Then, with a cry of, 'This'll show Heath where he gets off!',

0:43:040:43:08

"he piloted the aircraft some 200 yards over the bumpy grass

0:43:080:43:12

"and turned with a roar of its tiny engine to begin the take-off.

0:43:120:43:15

"As the engine thundered to full throttle, there was a dramatic explosion

0:43:150:43:19

"and Harold was catapulted forward with a despairing cry, to land with a splash."

0:43:190:43:25

But just when Heath had seemed to be finally outdoing Wilson, something curious happened.

0:43:300:43:37

Their political fortunes went into abrupt reverse.

0:43:400:43:43

The economy was improving under a capable new chancellor, Roy Jenkins.

0:43:450:43:50

Somehow, the country seemed more at ease.

0:43:510:43:54

Life wasn't so bad after all.

0:43:540:43:57

The opinion polls began to show that Wilson was staging a remarkable recovery.

0:43:590:44:05

As the summer of 1970 approached, he had a double-digit lead.

0:44:050:44:10

For Heath, the infuriation was that it continued to seem all about style, not substance,

0:44:100:44:16

particularly in the cockpit of the House of Commons.

0:44:160:44:20

He used to say to me in moments of almost despair,

0:44:200:44:24

"What's gone wrong? Why can't I get it right?

0:44:240:44:26

"Why can't I perform better?"

0:44:260:44:28

I think he found it very very difficult.

0:44:280:44:32

The more difficult he found it, the worse it really became, because he became even more screwed up,

0:44:320:44:39

but he never got it right until the last appearance

0:44:390:44:42

before the general election in 1970,

0:44:420:44:46

and on that occasion he absolutely walloped Harold Wilson - so much so

0:44:460:44:51

that he said to me afterwards, "Why have I only just started doing this?

0:44:510:44:55

"I ought to have been doing this for four years

0:44:550:44:58

"and the Party ought to have been supporting me for four years", but hadn't.

0:44:580:45:02

Wilson sensed that the time was ripe for the next round with Heath.

0:45:060:45:10

'The battle is on.

0:45:100:45:12

The Prime Minister has taken the plunge -

0:45:120:45:15

a general election on June 18th.

0:45:150:45:17

When we started the election, we were running about 10-12% behind the Labour Party,

0:45:170:45:24

having moved from, in the space of about three or four months, from being in a commanding position

0:45:240:45:30

to being in this very terrible position,

0:45:300:45:33

and so it looked as if it was going to be awful.

0:45:330:45:37

The 1970 election was the epicentre of the Heath-Wilson duel.

0:45:410:45:46

For Heath, it was personal.

0:45:470:45:50

'What I am going to create is a new style of government,

0:45:510:45:55

'which is honest, well thought out. and which takes account of

0:45:550:45:59

'the long term, away with all the short-term gimmickry and instant government

0:45:590:46:03

'which we've had for the last few years.'

0:46:030:46:05

Ted wanted not just a change of policy, but a change of style,

0:46:050:46:10

and that was all a dig at what he thought was the sheer flippancy of Wilson.

0:46:100:46:14

But Heath's serious message seemed to be

0:46:140:46:18

missing the mark...once again.

0:46:180:46:20

I was sat on by people...

0:46:200:46:24

from all over the country, who said that Heath was the drawback,

0:46:240:46:28

the grocer's mind, the lack of vision, the inarticulateness.

0:46:280:46:35

The candidates were tearing the photograph of the leader

0:46:350:46:39

out of the manifesto before putting it through people's doors when canvassing,

0:46:390:46:45

because it was... Ted was a complete turn-off.

0:46:450:46:48

There was a newlywed couple in a restaurant, I remember, and everybody was waiting,

0:46:480:46:54

the press, to see if Ted would go and talk to the couple and wish them well, and he didn't.

0:46:540:47:01

He didn't for about a quarter of an hour.

0:47:010:47:02

He sat there, rather solidly eating whatever he was eating, and then as soon as the

0:47:020:47:08

press had gone, he went up, and went over, and was very nice

0:47:080:47:13

and jolly, and they were impressed,

0:47:130:47:16

but he had completely missed the boat as far as the press was concerned, who scribbled,

0:47:160:47:21

"He can't even be bothered to pass the time of day with a newlywed couple."

0:47:210:47:24

This kind of episode was constantly happening.

0:47:240:47:27

Wilson, by contrast, was avoiding the issues...

0:47:280:47:31

but glad-handing the people

0:47:310:47:33

Prime Minister, you haven't actually kissed any babies yet.

0:47:330:47:36

You've come close sometimes.

0:47:360:47:38

-Why did you chose this style of campaign?

-I wanted to take the campaign to the people.

0:47:380:47:44

Not to ask them to come, especially on hot summer evenings or weekends,

0:47:440:47:49

to city halls, miles from where they live.

0:47:490:47:51

Wilson had treated the election as if it was a kind of coronation.

0:47:540:47:59

He went round the country waving at people.

0:47:590:48:00

He didn't really make any speeches or anything like that.

0:48:000:48:03

Harold had got the idea, he'd seen the Queen doing walkabouts,

0:48:050:48:10

so he concluded that his role would be to be seen around the place, being filmed everywhere.

0:48:100:48:17

He saw himself as being above politics, which he wasn't.

0:48:170:48:21

You can't be a prime minister and above politics.

0:48:210:48:23

And you couldn't play the part of the Queen, which he rather hoped he might!

0:48:260:48:30

It's Theresa's birthday, shall we sing for her?

0:48:300:48:33

# Happy birthday to you

0:48:330:48:36

# Happy birthday to you... #

0:48:360:48:38

Rather in desperation, because Wilson was doing so well

0:48:380:48:42

with his walkabouts, we put it in

0:48:420:48:44

and I remember, in Chatham and Rochester, we did that.

0:48:440:48:49

We did it in Edinburgh, and then we gained confidence, and he gained confidence...

0:48:520:48:58

and he was rather good at it.

0:48:580:49:00

'He's having to do, rather belatedly, what I started doing a week last Sunday.

0:49:000:49:04

'I'm sure he'll be encouraged to know

0:49:040:49:06

'that I'm 29 marginals ahead of him. He'll have to get round at quite a rate to catch up.'

0:49:060:49:11

'It doesn't bother me what he says.

0:49:140:49:16

'I've covered practically all the marginals in this country

0:49:160:49:18

'with our party work. I'd covered them all in-between elections.

0:49:180:49:22

'I've been speaking at meetings with workers from all the marginals.'

0:49:220:49:26

Some of the walkabouts were terrible.

0:49:270:49:30

I always remember one in Norwich, in which I had to participate.

0:49:300:49:36

We chose a half-day holiday anyhow.

0:49:360:49:40

We walked down a street in Norwich, a long street in Norwich

0:49:400:49:45

and there was absolutely no-one there at all!

0:49:450:49:49

There wasn't a sign of anyone.

0:49:490:49:50

It seemed that Harold Wilson was about to humiliate his rival once again.

0:49:520:49:57

And he was enjoying every minute of it.

0:49:570:50:00

Perhaps you could point to... the last election, in which

0:50:000:50:05

a party won the election

0:50:050:50:10

with its leading trailing behind the other leader in the personal ratings,

0:50:100:50:15

particularly if you can find one where he was trailing nearly 2-1 behind the other leader.

0:50:150:50:20

I mean, we had a 14% lead in the Daily Mail

0:50:200:50:23

the Friday before polling day, but then over the weekend,

0:50:230:50:28

and with the trade figures and everything else, it all fell apart.

0:50:280:50:32

Three days before the country went to the polls, the latest balance of trade figures -

0:50:340:50:38

then critical indicator of how Britain's economy was doing -

0:50:380:50:41

were released.

0:50:410:50:43

For the first time in months, they were in deficit.

0:50:440:50:47

Then, on election eve, one opinion poll put the Heath just ahead.

0:50:480:50:53

The experts said it was a rogue poll.

0:50:550:50:57

A very famous political correspondent Robert Carvel

0:50:580:51:01

said on the World at One, "The opinion poll's phoney.

0:51:010:51:04

"Take it from me, Labour is home and dry."

0:51:040:51:07

"I went to the Tory press conference this morning

0:51:070:51:09

"and saw Mr Heath fighting for the soul of the Conservative Party in defeat."

0:51:090:51:13

We waited then for the results to come in and the first result

0:51:150:51:19

that came in showed quite a swing towards us,

0:51:190:51:22

we could hardly believe our eyes when we saw the results coming in!

0:51:220:51:26

David Howell, Conservative - 27,203...

0:51:260:51:31

We drove back to London, and the radio kept on producing the most extraordinary news.

0:51:310:51:37

We were winning! We were not winning just this seat and that seat, we were winning

0:51:370:51:43

the whole damned election...

0:51:430:51:44

..I was delighted. I was delighted not so much because Labour was losing, but because

0:51:500:51:53

all those clever, well-informed people

0:51:530:51:56

who had been with us for the last fortnight were going to have to eat their words!

0:51:560:52:02

Two of them had actually been writing a book explaining why Ted had lost,

0:52:020:52:05

and they had to rewrite it rather rapidly.

0:52:050:52:08

I was with him in Bexley when it was clear he had won.

0:52:160:52:19

It was a great surprise, but he says not to him!

0:52:190:52:24

-'How do you feel at this moment?

-I feel in excellent form.

0:52:250:52:29

'I thoroughly enjoyed this campaign,

0:52:290:52:31

'I've enjoyed today particularly, here in my own constituency,

0:52:310:52:35

'and I'm delighted with tonight's result here in Bexley,

0:52:350:52:38

'and I'm much encouraged by the results of the rest of the country.'

0:52:380:52:40

'Labour has suffered serious losses in these...'

0:52:400:52:44

In his suite in the Adelphi Hotel, near his constituency in Huyton,

0:52:440:52:49

Harold Wilson watched the shock results come in.

0:52:490:52:53

'A great upset has occurred... #

0:52:530:52:55

That was a really really mortal blow to Wilson.

0:52:550:52:58

He'd actually gone to press conferences. People had asked questions about the Party's prospects

0:52:580:53:03

and he'd say, "You tell me the last time a party whose leader has lagged behind the rival by 12 points

0:53:030:53:10

"and the last time that party won the election." He was totally given to bragging, Wilson, and so he got

0:53:100:53:15

his comeuppance.

0:53:150:53:16

'Some applause from the people outside...

0:53:160:53:19

'a small crowd of spectators.'

0:53:190:53:21

It was unpleasant on the day. I mean, I looked out the window

0:53:210:53:28

at Number 10 and there was a goodly crowd of Tories booing us

0:53:280:53:33

and waiting to see us go. It's not nice.

0:53:330:53:36

'To all intents and purposes you've given up any hope?

0:53:360:53:39

'I think the figures speak for themselves.

0:53:390:53:41

'When do you expect to go to the Palace?

0:53:430:53:44

'That I don't know.'

0:53:440:53:46

And we got to Number 10,

0:53:460:53:47

and there was quite a big crowd there, so we were feeling pretty pleased about life by that time.

0:53:470:53:53

Ted was in very good form, and of course we then wanted something to drink

0:53:530:53:58

and Harold Wilson's secretary said that all they'd got were a few sandwiches and a glass of beer.

0:53:580:54:05

I think we wanted rather more than that. I think we could do with a little champagne on

0:54:050:54:10

an occasion of that nature!

0:54:100:54:11

The Queen has asked me to form the next government, and I am indeed proud to accept.

0:54:150:54:22

To govern is to serve.

0:54:220:54:26

I was sitting with my predecessor in the Private Office and the door

0:54:300:54:34

opened from the Cabinet Room and the Prime Minister came in

0:54:340:54:37

and he looked at me and said, "Oh, are you here?

0:54:370:54:39

"It's going to be very hard work, you know",

0:54:390:54:41

and went back into the Cabinet Room.

0:54:410:54:44

And this seemed a very sort of off-hand...

0:54:440:54:50

rather off-putting way of welcoming me into the team,

0:54:500:54:55

but then he was like that, and you got used to it.

0:54:550:54:58

Heath offered the Wilsons the use of the prime minister's country house, Chequers,

0:54:580:55:03

while they looked for somewhere to live.

0:55:030:55:06

But there was a strange sequel- to do with Wilson's dog.

0:55:060:55:11

It was called Paddy.

0:55:110:55:12

A big, yellow Labrador that he was always being photographed with,

0:55:120:55:18

taking it down to the Scilly Islands and that sort of a thing.

0:55:180:55:20

I think he felt he ought to have a dog,

0:55:200:55:22

because when he left, he left the dog when he left Chequers.

0:55:220:55:27

To my total amazement when we went down there after he'd gone, the dog was still there.

0:55:270:55:31

I don't think Ted really liked the dog.

0:55:310:55:33

He thought that he was looking at Wilson every time.

0:55:330:55:35

I was a bit worried that it might bite, but it was actually quite a nice dog.

0:55:350:55:42

Wilson was gone...

0:55:420:55:44

and eventually Paddy went with him too...

0:55:440:55:47

but, for Heath, Wilson was to be out of mind as well as out of sight.

0:55:470:55:52

The first thing he wants to do is to he gets rid of every

0:55:520:55:56

taint of the dreadful Harold Wilson,

0:55:560:55:59

so the wallpaper goes. In comes all of Heath's furniture that he has been amassing over the years.

0:55:590:56:04

In comes the piano. And this is classic Heath. He basically...

0:56:040:56:09

He sees Wilson as a kind of disease that he wants to eradicate completely from British politics.

0:56:090:56:15

Instead of learning the lessons from Wilson's time, particularly Wilson's emphasis on

0:56:150:56:20

public relations, that all has to go.

0:56:200:56:22

Everything must go. Whitewash the lot, and that I think was a great failing of Heath's...

0:56:220:56:27

his over-obsession with Wilson.

0:56:270:56:29

The morning after the election, Wilson had shown some generosity to his victorious opponent.

0:56:330:56:38

'Could we look at the campaign for a moment. Just your feelings this morning

0:56:410:56:45

'towards Mr Heath. Do you admire him as an opponent?

0:56:450:56:48

'I've always admired him, and I've said this many times, much more than many other people.

0:56:480:56:53

'Even in his own party.'

0:56:530:56:55

But behind closed doors, Wilson was fuming - defeat had been unthinkable...

0:56:550:57:01

and it was now personal.

0:57:010:57:04

A few weeks later, over a very trivial matter,

0:57:060:57:10

he suddenly lost his temper.

0:57:100:57:12

I only, in all the time I knew Wilson,

0:57:120:57:16

only saw him lose his temper twice,

0:57:160:57:18

and that was one of the times.

0:57:180:57:21

The sheer dismay and disappointment must have been seething inside him.

0:57:210:57:28

He didn't like to talk about it, but he sometimes referred to it,

0:57:290:57:32

and how humiliating it was to be bundled out of 10 Downing Street.

0:57:320:57:38

Out through the back door with his furniture carried out,

0:57:380:57:43

while Ted Heath came through the front door.

0:57:430:57:44

His whole objective after that was to walk back into Number 10

0:57:440:57:50

as Prime Minister.

0:57:500:57:52

Heath pitched camp to tackle the serious business of government,

0:57:540:57:58

which he believed Wilson had so trivialized.

0:57:580:58:01

'We begin Panorama live from Number 10.

0:58:010:58:04

'People must face up to their own responsibilities, and when I say that I mean all of us,

0:58:040:58:10

'the Government has certain responsibilities - to change policies as we are doing.'

0:58:100:58:16

Wilson had arrived at Number 10 with the white heat of technology,

0:58:160:58:21

but that had fizzled out.

0:58:210:58:23

Heath's plans were even bigger.

0:58:230:58:25

Heath had a couple of really large ideas about how to change Britain...

0:58:250:58:30

entering Europe and also huge building projects.

0:58:300:58:33

Heath started building the Channel Tunnel -

0:58:330:58:35

that's lost to history now. He wanted to build a huge off-shore airport off the coast of Essex,

0:58:350:58:40

which is very similar to what Boris Johnson wants to do now.

0:58:400:58:43

So, Heath had big ideas.

0:58:430:58:45

But, almost immediately, Heath suffered a major setback.

0:58:450:58:50

His new chancellor, Iain Macleod, considered the cleverest Tory of his generation,

0:58:500:58:56

died suddenly in Downing Street.

0:58:560:58:59

The telephone rang at home and the prime minister came on the line and said,

0:58:590:59:04

in a flat kind of voice, "Iain's dead.

0:59:040:59:07

"You'd better come in."

0:59:070:59:08

And so that was half past ten.

0:59:080:59:10

I went straight in, of course, and I did then feel

0:59:100:59:14

that it was very lonely sitting up in that great house,

0:59:140:59:18

without a wife, without anybody close to him, as it were,

0:59:180:59:22

but always denied that he was lonely until very late in his life.

0:59:220:59:25

Heath had huge battles ahead.

0:59:250:59:28

Now he would have to face them without his closest ally.

0:59:280:59:32

# Now I'm a union man... #

0:59:350:59:38

First up were the unions that had so plagued Wilson.

0:59:380:59:43

# ..I'll say what I think That the company stinks

0:59:430:59:45

# Yes, I'm a union man... #

0:59:450:59:47

Within Heath's first months, council workers struck.

0:59:470:59:52

Then the lights went out in an electricity dispute.

0:59:520:59:56

# ..You don't get me I'm part of the union

0:59:560:59:58

# Till the day I die... #

0:59:581:00:00

Heath was determined to succeed where Wilson failed

1:00:001:00:03

and introduced new laws to control the unions.

1:00:031:00:07

In a foretaste of what was to come, the workers took to the streets in protest.

1:00:101:00:15

NEWSREADER: The 5,000 men who marched in Birmingham today

1:00:151:00:18

came mainly from the Austin-Morris factory at Longbridge.

1:00:181:00:22

'In a way, Ted was ahead of his time.

1:00:221:00:25

'We were trying to do things the country was not yet ready for.'

1:00:251:00:30

It's an extraordinary thing about the British -

1:00:301:00:33

we have to go through a lot of misery

1:00:331:00:35

before we actually decide what we want to do.

1:00:351:00:38

For the political satirists at Private Eye, the apparently humourless Heath was an easy target.

1:00:391:00:45

They cast him as the managing director

1:00:451:00:48

of an embattled company called Heathco Ltd.

1:00:481:00:51

Heathco was a sort of run down company operating

1:00:511:00:56

in the suburbs of London,

1:00:561:00:58

and it had all gone pear-shaped, and this man

1:00:581:01:00

was trying to keep it going

1:01:001:01:02

but was continually frustrated by the workers.

1:01:021:01:06

"To all employees.

1:01:061:01:08

"I would like to address a few words to all of you about our new code

1:01:081:01:12

"of industrial behaviour at Heathco's.

1:01:121:01:14

"Let me say, here and now, that I am fully conversant with the fact

1:01:141:01:19

"that some of you may find these new regulations a bitter pill to swallow."

1:01:191:01:23

CHANTING

1:01:231:01:25

The unions would be one common thread that bound Heath and Wilson.

1:01:251:01:30

The second was the irreversible change in Britain's identity.

1:01:301:01:35

Britain had ceased to be an imperial world power.

1:01:371:01:41

For Heath, its new role had to be the one he'd so long dreamed of

1:01:411:01:46

at the heart of a unified Europe.

1:01:461:01:48

France's General de Gaulle had first rebuffed Harold Macmillan in 1963,

1:01:521:01:58

then Harold Wilson in 1967.

1:01:581:02:01

But there was now a new French President, Georges Pompidou,

1:02:031:02:07

and Heath made it his business to make Pompidou open the door.

1:02:071:02:12

On 22nd January, 1972, Heath took Britain into Europe.

1:02:121:02:17

That was a personal achievement. Whether you think it is right for us

1:02:191:02:24

to be in Europe or not,

1:02:241:02:26

I think he has to be credited with that achievement.

1:02:261:02:29

'Certainly Ted Heath felt a sense of triumph,

1:02:321:02:37

'of personal triumph...'

1:02:371:02:39

..to have won where Wilson had failed added a certain extra savour to the achievement.

1:02:411:02:48

Wilson was profoundly irritated that Heath had succeeded where he'd missed out.

1:02:521:02:58

Though Heath's terms of entry were much the same as Wilson would have accepted,

1:02:581:03:03

he now used them to perform a political somersault.

1:03:031:03:07

But the terms Mr Heath accepted mean that Britain has to accept

1:03:071:03:11

terms and burdens and sacrifices

1:03:111:03:14

which no other members of the six would have accepted for themselves.

1:03:141:03:20

Our hopes have been fulfilled. We have succeeded.

1:03:201:03:25

There is nothing that infuriates the prophets and apostles of gloom and defeat

1:03:261:03:32

more than success.

1:03:321:03:34

Heath, understandably, took a low view of this kind of volte-face that Wilson had committed.

1:03:341:03:41

Basically, he got the party to stand on its head

1:03:411:03:43

and waggle its legs in the air and pretend it had never

1:03:431:03:46

stood in favour of Europe at all but it had.

1:03:461:03:49

It's Heath who gets it through so Wilson manages to rain on

1:03:491:03:53

even that parade. Tellingly, he won't even go and mark the event

1:03:531:03:58

in Brussels or in London or whatever.

1:03:581:04:01

He goes off to watch a football match instead,

1:04:011:04:03

when Britain accedes to the European Community.

1:04:031:04:05

Heath's great achievement came amid gathering economic gloom.

1:04:091:04:15

Two days before he signed the treaty, unemployment in Britain,

1:04:151:04:20

which had quietly been creeping up since the 1960s,

1:04:201:04:23

finally reached one million.

1:04:231:04:26

'When unemployment hit a million,'

1:04:261:04:30

the House of Commons had to be suspended,

1:04:301:04:33

there was so much opposition and so much noise.

1:04:331:04:36

The very fact that unemployment went to three million or more

1:04:361:04:41

under Margaret Thatcher and very nearly as high again under Labour a few years later,

1:04:411:04:49

didn't alter the fact that for unemployment to reach a million

1:04:491:04:54

was regarded as being a terrible political blunder.

1:04:541:04:58

Heath was deeply troubled.

1:04:581:05:00

Unemployment went against everything he believed in.

1:05:001:05:05

It marked the beginning of a terrible few weeks

1:05:061:05:09

On 30th January 1972, 13 men were shot dead on the streets of Derry by the British Army.

1:05:161:05:23

Bloody Sunday.

1:05:231:05:25

Then the miners walked out on strike - the first national miners' strike since 1926.

1:05:281:05:34

The crucible was a coke depot on the outskirts of Birmingham - Saltley -

1:05:381:05:42

where the miners were using flying pickets to block lorries.

1:05:421:05:45

Heath knew this was where the battle would be won or lost.

1:05:501:05:55

The climax came during a cabinet meeting on 10th February.

1:05:551:06:00

Ted asked Reggie Maudling, who was Home Secretary at the time,

1:06:001:06:04

whether he could give us any information on it

1:06:041:06:08

and Maudling said he'd just been talking

1:06:081:06:12

to the Chief Constable of Birmingham who had said

1:06:121:06:17

that under all circumstances he was going to keep the gasworks open.

1:06:171:06:23

An hour later, a message came in from Reggie Maudling

1:06:231:06:27

to say that the Chief Constable

1:06:271:06:30

had just rung up to say that the pressure had become too great.

1:06:301:06:34

He had closed the gates

1:06:341:06:36

and no lorries were getting in or out and, therefore,

1:06:361:06:42

the unions had won.

1:06:421:06:43

Heath had lost the first big battle of wills with the unions.

1:06:431:06:49

Harold Wilson sniffed his opportunity.

1:06:521:06:56

He'd kept a low profile since his election defeat.

1:06:561:06:59

But now it was time to take on his adversary once again.

1:06:591:07:03

Mr Heath was going to deal with strikes. He was going to end them once and for all.

1:07:031:07:08

In fact we've lost far more man days through disputes

1:07:081:07:12

under this government in 20 months than in the whole five years, eight months of the Labour government.

1:07:121:07:20

It was only halfway through Heath's administration when things started to go badly wrong.

1:07:201:07:26

Wilson pricked up his ears and said, "Back into the battle."

1:07:261:07:30

One million unemployed had seriously rattled Heath.

1:07:311:07:36

He'd been elected on a promise to make British industry competitive

1:07:361:07:41

and let lame ducks go to the wall.

1:07:411:07:43

But in 1972, he went into abrupt reverse

1:07:431:07:47

and poured in government money to rescue failing businesses,

1:07:471:07:51

most notably Upper Clyde Shipbuilders in Glasgow.

1:07:511:07:55

He took the view that unemployment was such an evil thing to happen

1:07:551:08:01

that he decided that he had to do what was then known as a U-turn.

1:08:011:08:07

Of course, looking back on it, I think he was wrong because the welfare state had intervened

1:08:071:08:14

and unemployment, though awful, didn't have the same sort of horrors

1:08:141:08:19

that it had before the Second World War.

1:08:191:08:21

# Ch-ch-ch-changes... #

1:08:211:08:22

Heath's U-turn astonished the nation.

1:08:221:08:26

And it was only the beginning.

1:08:261:08:28

He now decided that government, far from letting the free market rule,

1:08:281:08:33

should run the economy itself in collaboration with business and the unions.

1:08:331:08:37

It sounded just like Harold Wilson.

1:08:371:08:40

They are both really Social Democrats.

1:08:421:08:44

They both believe in a large state and quite high taxation.

1:08:441:08:47

They both hold positions at various times,

1:08:471:08:50

almost deliberately holding the opposite position to the other and as soon as they are elected,

1:08:501:08:54

they switch back.

1:08:541:08:56

'Wilson once told me, "Do you know I am quite surprised that Ted Heath ever became a Tory."

1:08:561:09:00

'Famously, when Ted Heath completely turned the Tory party'

1:09:001:09:04

in a terrific U-Turn,

1:09:041:09:06

he once criticised Ted Heath with the jibe,

1:09:061:09:11

"He's just a socialist."

1:09:111:09:13

And I don't think Heath liked that.

1:09:131:09:16

TV ANNOUNCER: 'Do you know Britain's favourite game?

1:09:161:09:21

'It's called inflation...'

1:09:211:09:23

Heath was battling rocketing inflation at home,

1:09:231:09:26

and complex global economic forces.

1:09:261:09:29

In October 1973, oil prices soared after war broke out in the Middle East.

1:09:291:09:37

Heath introduced government control of prices and incomes,

1:09:371:09:41

pleading with the unions to work with him.

1:09:411:09:43

Mr Barker Brierfield, would you please put your question to the Prime Minister?

1:09:431:09:48

CALLER: What is the purpose of discussing prices and incomes

1:09:481:09:53

with the TUC when it is known

1:09:531:09:56

they could never be seen cooperating with a Tory government?

1:09:561:10:02

I wouldn't accept your final point,

1:10:021:10:04

that they could never be seen cooperating with a Tory government.

1:10:041:10:08

We've been having these talks over the past 15 few months and they've been extremely valuable.

1:10:081:10:13

But now, at Heath's moment of maximum weakness, the miners came back for more.

1:10:131:10:19

'By the second time, it was not just money they were after.'

1:10:191:10:24

It was to overthrow the government.

1:10:241:10:27

The miners went on strike.

1:10:271:10:30

Heath introduced a three-day week and restrictions on energy to conserve coal stocks.

1:10:301:10:36

I was, for about ten minutes, Secretary for Energy when there wasn't any.

1:10:361:10:40

There was no light, the three-day week and everybody was miserable.

1:10:401:10:46

It was a horrible time. One didn't see an end of it and there couldn't

1:10:461:10:50

be an end of it until you settled the miners' strike.

1:10:501:10:53

HEATH: It is the fall in coal production and delivery,

1:10:541:10:57

as a result of industrial action, that makes today's severe measures essential,

1:10:571:11:03

so we must all use less electricity.

1:11:031:11:06

In terms of comfort, we shall have a harder Christmas than we have known since the war.

1:11:061:11:12

WILSON: There's a deep feeling in the hearts of our people that they would like

1:11:121:11:17

to get back to a spirit of conciliation, to unite the country,

1:11:171:11:22

in place of all these confrontations which divide it.

1:11:221:11:27

Once Heath began to go down, Wilson was on him like

1:11:271:11:30

a ferret on a rabbit and got his teeth firmly into the Prime Minister's throat.

1:11:301:11:37

At times, the three-day week was pure tragicomedy.

1:11:371:11:40

Never had a better deal, have they?

1:11:401:11:43

'One of the things was saunas,'

1:11:431:11:46

and so I asked my officials, "What can we do about it?

1:11:461:11:50

Surely there don't need to be any saunas

1:11:501:11:52

during this...

1:11:521:11:53

And they came back and said, "Well, Minister, there are three sorts of saunas.

1:11:531:11:58

"There are saunas in health clubs and there are saunas in hotels

1:11:581:12:01

"and there are dubious saunas." And I said, "Well they can all be asked to be switched off."

1:12:011:12:07

But I loved the expression "dubious saunas". One knew what they meant.

1:12:071:12:13

The government was writing the script for comedians

1:12:131:12:17

without the need for any editors!

1:12:171:12:20

It was a great time to be engaged in politics. A pretty awful time to live in Britain.

1:12:201:12:25

That was the reality.

1:12:251:12:26

There were a number of silly things that happened

1:12:261:12:30

but they were very difficult days.

1:12:301:12:34

They were days that no other government really has had to face.

1:12:341:12:39

Most of Heath's closest colleagues and advisers urged him to go

1:12:401:12:44

for an early election to take the wind out of the miners', and Harold Wilson's, sails.

1:12:441:12:50

'It's all very well appealing to Dunkirk spirit

1:12:501:12:52

'but Dunkirk spirit lasts for days more than weeks.

1:12:521:12:56

'I only remember seeing Ted once about then and saying exactly that

1:12:561:13:02

and he was cross, not to put too fine a point on it.

1:13:021:13:05

Heath was determined to hang in and get a deal with the miners.

1:13:051:13:12

At one point he informally agreed a solution with the miners' leader

1:13:121:13:16

Joe Gormley which involved paying miners for washing time.

1:13:161:13:21

Wilson sabotaged it.

1:13:211:13:24

Gormley rather rashly told Harold Wilson what he'd suggested.

1:13:241:13:28

Harold Wilson promptly wrote

1:13:281:13:31

a more or less open letter to Heath suggesting it,

1:13:311:13:35

putting it forward as the solution,

1:13:351:13:37

which, of course, meant Heath in turn felt bound to turn it down.

1:13:371:13:41

Gormley believed that Wilson had done this deliberately to scupper

1:13:411:13:46

the negotiations, and that otherwise this could have been a solution.

1:13:461:13:50

The miners voted on Heath's final offer.

1:13:501:13:54

He was desperate for them to accept it.

1:13:541:13:57

They didn't.

1:13:571:13:59

I had to go and tell him the result of this ballot.

1:13:591:14:02

I remember taking it up to Downing Street one morning,

1:14:021:14:05

realising the significance of it

1:14:051:14:07

and I remember him sitting in his chair and looking at the result

1:14:071:14:11

and said, "What can I do now?" and I said to him that it wasn't my job to give him political advice.

1:14:111:14:18

I think there's only one thing you can do which is to have a General Election.

1:14:181:14:23

On 7th February, 1974, Heath finally called an election.

1:14:261:14:32

HEATH: This time, the strife has got to stop.

1:14:331:14:36

Only you can stop it.

1:14:361:14:38

It's time for you to speak with your vote.

1:14:381:14:42

It's time for you to say to the extremists, the militants,

1:14:421:14:46

and to the plain and simple misguided, "We've had enough!"

1:14:461:14:50

CHANTING: Heath out! Heath out! Heath out! Heath out!

1:14:501:14:54

Ted Heath started to try to make the election about who runs the country.

1:14:541:14:58

Is it the unions or the elected government?

1:14:581:15:00

That argument survived about three days because the public by that time were very cross, very cross.

1:15:001:15:07

Tories out! Go and sail your yacht! You've taken the country down the river!

1:15:071:15:13

Heath, in asking the question, "Who rules Britain?"

1:15:131:15:17

was going to get the answer from huge numbers of people, "Not you, mate!"

1:15:171:15:21

'Wilson had a much keener nose for public opinion than Mr Heath.'

1:15:231:15:29

Wilson was almost feline.

1:15:291:15:32

I believe that the voters recognise who it is that has encouraged the militants over the past three years.

1:15:321:15:38

Mr Heath has given the militants the charter they always dreamed of.

1:15:381:15:43

He was offering the public the option of not dealing

1:15:431:15:48

with the trade union problem, really, and that was put off

1:15:481:15:52

because the public wasn't yet ready to face it.

1:15:521:15:54

They faced it with Margaret Thatcher but they weren't yet ready for that.

1:15:541:15:59

The result was extremely close.

1:16:021:16:04

ANNOUNCER: For the first time since 1929,

1:16:041:16:06

a British general election has produced no clear result...

1:16:061:16:11

Wilson won most seats, though not an overall majority,

1:16:111:16:15

but Heath won most votes.

1:16:151:16:17

ANNOUNCER: Mr Heath going back to Number 10...

1:16:171:16:21

Heath stayed put in Downing Street and tried to do a deal

1:16:211:16:24

with the Liberal Party and its leader Jeremy Thorpe.

1:16:241:16:27

Heath made a rather flat-footed attempt to form

1:16:271:16:31

the sort of coalition we've got now.

1:16:311:16:33

He would say, and his supporters would say,

1:16:331:16:35

he made a more principled attempt.

1:16:351:16:37

He said to Jeremy Thorpe, "There's a national emergency.

1:16:371:16:40

"We want you to support the emergency but we can't buy you

1:16:401:16:44

"with seats in the Cabinet."

1:16:441:16:45

That was rather typical of Heath.

1:16:451:16:47

A man of principle but nevertheless applying his principles in a flat-footed way.

1:16:471:16:51

The coalition would never come about.

1:16:511:16:53

I remember Jeremy Thorpe coming out of Number 10

1:16:531:16:56

and saying on the TV, "He wont give us anything."

1:16:561:16:59

That was Mr Heath all over.

1:16:591:17:00

The last day in Number 10 was on the Monday and we sat round the cabinet table,

1:17:001:17:06

and the person who really expressed our feelings on that occasion was Margaret Thatcher

1:17:061:17:12

who was the one who expressed admiration

1:17:121:17:16

for what Ted Heath had done as Prime Minister

1:17:161:17:20

and for the way he had behaved towards colleagues

1:17:201:17:23

and how sad it was that it ended in that way.

1:17:231:17:27

And that was Margaret Thatcher.

1:17:271:17:29

It didn't always work out like that afterwards.

1:17:291:17:32

He was deeply depressed and it was emotional for all of us, really,

1:17:321:17:38

because there was a sense in which, because Heath had no close family of his own, the people

1:17:381:17:44

at Number 10 felt like an extended family

1:17:441:17:47

and that was coming to an end.

1:17:471:17:49

So it was an emotional time.

1:17:491:17:51

I feel sad because I believe in three and a half years, we've achieved a very great deal.

1:17:521:17:57

But we've left unfinished business.

1:17:571:18:00

At Buckingham Palace, Heath came out of one door whilst Wilson went into another.

1:18:011:18:07

He went up to see the Queen and handed in his resignation,

1:18:071:18:11

which he did and I had some rather unpleasant sherry

1:18:111:18:16

with the Queen's secretary downstairs.

1:18:161:18:20

Harold Wilson and his wife Mary

1:18:201:18:23

went in their little car and the rest of us in his

1:18:231:18:27

personal team went in a separate big car and we all drove to the palace.

1:18:271:18:33

And then, eventually, he came down and we walked out to the door

1:18:331:18:38

and there was no car. Our car had gone.

1:18:381:18:41

Our driver who we had had for four and half years.

1:18:411:18:44

So we said, "Where the hell's the car gone?"

1:18:441:18:46

"Oh, he's gone to pick up Mr Wilson," they said.

1:18:461:18:49

Half an hour later, he came out

1:18:491:18:53

and there was an official Number 10 car waiting, and he got in.

1:18:531:18:57

Then I watched him get in

1:18:571:19:00

and I thought, "He's Prime Minister."

1:19:001:19:03

ANNOUNCER: Mr Wilson, having kissed hands as Prime Minister,

1:19:031:19:06

has returned from the palace to Number 10 Downing Street...

1:19:061:19:09

We've got a job to do.

1:19:091:19:11

We can only do that job as one people.

1:19:121:19:16

And I'm going right in to start that job now.

1:19:161:19:19

When we walked into Number 10, we all went and had a look around,

1:19:191:19:24

and Wilson was very intrigued by all the changes,

1:19:241:19:28

new wallpaper and all of this,

1:19:281:19:31

and Harold turned to me and said, "Ted's ponced it up a bit!"

1:19:311:19:36

Wilson immediately bought off the miners.

1:19:391:19:43

He ordered a pay review, which gave them a massive increase.

1:19:431:19:48

It was storing up trouble ahead but, for now, the nation had chosen peace and submission.

1:19:481:19:55

From one week writing speeches for Ted Heath

1:19:551:19:58

about how important it was to resist the miners,

1:19:581:20:02

found myself the next week writing speeches

1:20:021:20:05

for Harold Wilson saying that all this had been a waste of time

1:20:051:20:08

and the problem could be easily settled.

1:20:081:20:10

The public preferred a quiet life under Harold.

1:20:121:20:17

And he didn't understand Ted Heath

1:20:171:20:20

for what he felt was creating a lot of disorder and chaos.

1:20:201:20:25

He wasn't a revolutionary. He wasn't very radical.

1:20:251:20:29

Ted Heath was much more radical than Harold Wilson.

1:20:291:20:33

There is an actual, if not animosity, a real feeling

1:20:341:20:36

between the two of you?

1:20:361:20:38

Well, I think in politics it's not a question of liking one another.

1:20:381:20:42

-It's a question of dealing with people.

-Do you like him?

1:20:421:20:46

Again, it's not a question of likes or dislikes.

1:20:461:20:51

-But do you like him?

-That'll have to remain to be seen.

1:20:511:20:56

The nature of the Prime Minister himself

1:20:581:21:00

was very different under Wilson.

1:21:001:21:02

In personal terms, he and I got on very well together.

1:21:021:21:05

I enjoyed him. He had small talk in a way that

1:21:051:21:09

Ted Heath never had and, in that sense, it was a much easier relationship,

1:21:091:21:14

but you didn't have the same sense...

1:21:141:21:19

of confidence and trust that you had with Heath.

1:21:191:21:22

You felt with Heath that you could always trust him.

1:21:221:21:25

With Wilson you could never be quite sure what he would be up to.

1:21:251:21:28

"By the Queen, a proclamation,

1:21:281:21:32

"dissolving the present Parliament and declaring the calling of another."

1:21:321:21:38

In October, 1974, Wilson called another election,

1:21:381:21:43

the fourth between himself and Heath.

1:21:431:21:46

Heath was drinking in the last chance saloon.

1:21:471:21:50

By the time we came to the Autumn of 1974,

1:21:501:21:54

the message coming through

1:21:541:21:57

to MPs and people who canvassed on the streets

1:21:571:22:01

was, "We've got to get rid of this man."

1:22:011:22:03

The feeling that Ted Heath's time had come and gone.

1:22:031:22:07

Wilson won again.

1:22:091:22:12

Only just, but it was enough to defeat Ted Heath, for the third

1:22:121:22:17

and what would be the final time.

1:22:171:22:19

Heath's party did not forgive him.

1:22:221:22:25

In February 1975, a surprise challenger,

1:22:271:22:30

Margaret Thatcher, took him on in the Tory leadership contest.

1:22:301:22:35

When the ballot for leadership came, I was up fulfilling a political engagement in the Midlands

1:22:351:22:42

and the train arrived back in London an hour and a half late

1:22:421:22:46

and I got to the House of Commons too late to vote.

1:22:461:22:49

So I wasn't in a very strong position all round.

1:22:491:22:53

And as I got to

1:22:531:22:56

the House of Commons,

1:22:561:22:59

none other than Kenneth Clarke

1:22:591:23:02

came running out of Westminster Hall,

1:23:021:23:07

saying, "She's won, she's won!"

1:23:071:23:09

After ten dramatic years, the Heath-Wilson duel was suddenly over.

1:23:121:23:18

Wilson at first looked pleased

1:23:201:23:23

because he had seen off his opponent throughout much of his career

1:23:231:23:28

and then he suddenly looked own and said,

1:23:281:23:33

"I'm not sure that's a good thing."

1:23:331:23:35

He said to me, "You know, Bernard, I've been studying him for decades. I've watched his every move.

1:23:351:23:43

"I think I know what he'll say in any situation.

1:23:431:23:47

"I know how to provoke him.

1:23:471:23:50

"I know how to respond to him, I know what he'll do and now he's gone."

1:23:501:23:55

There was one final piece of unfinished business

1:23:561:23:59

in the topsy-turvy course of Heath and Wilson - Europe.

1:23:591:24:05

Wilson had opposed Heath's entry, saying the terms were wrong.

1:24:051:24:11

In 1975, he renegotiated the terms. The changes were entirely superficial

1:24:111:24:15

but allowed Wilson to recommend the country to vote in a referendum

1:24:151:24:22

to stay in.

1:24:221:24:23

Heath, from the backbenches, was at the forefront of the "yes" campaign.

1:24:251:24:30

"Is Britain stronger inside Europe? Yes!"

1:24:301:24:35

Wilson, ever fearful of splits in his party, kept a low profile.

1:24:351:24:40

In the 1975 referendum, the British people voted overwhelmingly

1:24:421:24:48

to stay in Europe.

1:24:481:24:49

I'm delighted with the result. I've worked for this for 25 years.

1:24:491:24:53

I was the Prime Minister who led...

1:24:531:24:54

Every democrat will accept the result, you and all!

1:24:541:25:00

It was the outcome both Heath, publicly and vociferously,

1:25:001:25:04

and Wilson, privately and furtively, had wanted.

1:25:041:25:08

But it had been a curious double act to get there.

1:25:081:25:12

Wilson had always said to those close to him he'd do two more years and retire at 60.

1:25:161:25:21

Fatigue and mental decline were beginning to show.

1:25:211:25:25

I left in April '75 and I came back in December '75 for some function.

1:25:251:25:32

I'd never met a man so absolutely tired and exhausted.

1:25:321:25:37

It was like a piece of elastic where all the rubber has gone.

1:25:371:25:40

And I now think that the signs of his eventual mental decline

1:25:401:25:45

were beginning to show.

1:25:451:25:46

On 16th March, 1976, just over a year after Heath

1:25:491:25:54

had been ditched by the Conservative party,

1:25:541:25:57

Harold Wilson resigned as Prime Minister

1:25:571:26:00

and slowly slipped out of British politics.

1:26:001:26:04

Heath set up home in Salisbury but remained active in the Commons

1:26:071:26:11

for the next 25 years.

1:26:111:26:13

When they both got old, Ted was really quite kind.

1:26:131:26:18

When Wilson had lost his marbles, he would ask Wilson and his wife Mary

1:26:181:26:24

down to Salisbury for Sunday lunch and that kind of thing.

1:26:241:26:27

And after Wilson died, he would ask Mary on her own and I think he got on

1:26:271:26:31

quite well with Mary Wilson.

1:26:311:26:33

That wasn't the problem. The problem was Harold. They were chalk and cheese.

1:26:331:26:37

Lord Harold Wilson died on 24th May, 1995, aged 79.

1:26:401:26:46

Sir Edward Heath ten years later, on 17th July, 2005, aged 89.

1:26:501:26:57

Their duel now seems another era

1:26:591:27:03

yet the problems they faced are oddly familiar.

1:27:031:27:07

Britain's identity within Europe is still debated.

1:27:081:27:12

Trade unions are gearing up against a Conservative-led government.

1:27:121:27:17

The economy is fragile.

1:27:171:27:19

The shadow of Heath and Wilson hangs over us.

1:27:211:27:24

But as for the two men themselves, was there a winner?

1:27:261:27:31

Harold Wilson retired at a time he chose,

1:27:311:27:35

under no particular pressure to do so, whilst still in office.

1:27:351:27:39

Ted Heath was first defeated in an election and then hounded

1:27:391:27:44

from leadership of the party. So, in those terms, Wilson won.

1:27:441:27:49

Looked at another way, I'm not quite so sure.

1:27:491:27:53

Ted Heath had a passionate crusade,

1:27:531:27:56

an ideal in which he believed - Britain in Europe -

1:27:561:27:59

and in which he succeeded and his success lasted after he had gone.

1:27:591:28:05

Howard Wilson had no such ambition, no such crusade.

1:28:051:28:11

His only concentration was on keeping the party united,

1:28:111:28:15

which he did very successfully but which was not a noble cause

1:28:151:28:20

in the sense that Heath had.

1:28:201:28:22

So perhaps Heath won after all.

1:28:221:28:25

# Chalk and cheese

1:28:361:28:37

# We're as different as Chalk and cheese

1:28:371:28:39

# Were there ever two people more Out of step before?

1:28:391:28:43

# More unlike, if you please... #

1:28:431:28:45

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