"unsuccessful challenge to Gaitskell's leadership in November 1960. Wilson would later be moved to the position of Shadow Foreign Secretary in 1961, before he challenged for the deputy leadership in 1962 but was defeated by George Brown. Gaitskell died in January 1963, just as the Labour Party had begun to unite and appeared to have a very good chance of winning the next election, with the Macmillan Government running into trouble. Wilson was adopted as the left-wing candidate for the leadership, defeating Brown and James Callaghan to become the Leader of the Labour Party and the Leader of the Opposition."
"of most observers, was defeated at the polls by the Conservatives under Edward Heath. Members of the Cabinet are in bold face. Labour government, 1964–1970 Harold Wilson was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by Queen Elizabeth II on 16 October 1964 and formed the first Wilson ministry, a Labour Party government, which held office with a thin majority between 1964 and 1966. In an attempt to gain a workable majority in the House of Commons, Wilson called a new election for 31 March 1966, after which he formed the second Wilson ministry, a government which held office for"
"Labour government, 1964–1970 Harold Wilson was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by Queen Elizabeth II on 16 October 1964 and formed the first Wilson ministry, a Labour Party government, which held office with a thin majority between 1964 and 1966. In an attempt to gain a workable majority in the House of Commons, Wilson called a new election for 31 March 1966, after which he formed the second Wilson ministry, a government which held office for four years until 1970. The Labour Party won the 1964 general election by a majority of four seats. The Profumo affair had"
"Second Shadow Cabinet of Harold Wilson Harold Wilson of the Labour Party would form his Second Shadow Cabinet, as Leader of Her Majesty’s Most Loyal Opposition, after losing the 1970 general election to Conservative Edward Heath. He would retain leadership of the Opposition for the length of the Heath Ministry, from 1970 − 1974. In February 1974, his party would narrowly win an election. Wilson was then forced to form a minority government, which would only last until another election in October of that year. After that election, Wilson would form a majority government, known as the Second Wilson Ministry."
"Second Shadow Cabinet of Harold Wilson Harold Wilson of the Labour Party would form his Second Shadow Cabinet, as Leader of Her Majesty’s Most Loyal Opposition, after losing the 1970 general election to Conservative Edward Heath. He would retain leadership of the Opposition for the length of the Heath Ministry, from 1970 − 1974. In February 1974, his party would narrowly win an election. Wilson was then forced to form a minority government, which would only last until another election in October of that year. After that election, Wilson would form a majority government, known as the Second Wilson Ministry."
"Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916– 24 May 1995) was a British Labour politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1976. Entering Parliament in 1945, Wilson was appointed a parliamentary secretary in the Attlee ministry and rose quickly through the ministerial ranks; he became Secretary for Overseas Trade in 1947 and was elevated to Cabinet shortly thereafter as President of the Board of Trade. In opposition to the next Conservative government, he served as Shadow Chancellor (19551961) and Shadow Foreign Secretary (19611963). Hugh Gaitskell,"
"1970. His head for figures and tenacity made him a good candidate for Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee in the House of Commons, succeeding Harold Wilson in this post after Wilson was elected Leader of the Labour Party in 1963. When, after 13 years in government, the Conservative Party was defeated in October 1964, Houghton became a cabinet minister in Wilson's first government and was appointed a Privy Counsellor. The post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster after 1964 gave Houghton a position in the cabinet and special responsibility for Social Services but not an actual department over"
"and Gunter was one of the opponents. (1) Following Hugh Gaitskell's death in 1963, Harold Wilson was elected leader of the Labour Party and Gunter continued to be a Labour shadow cabinet member. Labour narrowly won the 1964 general election and Harold Wilson made Gunter Minister of Labour. The dilemma Gunter faced was his trade unionist's natural view that trade unions should be able to negotiate responsible pay rates for their members through ""free collective bargaining"" but on the other hand the wildcat strikes in some parts of British industry were often seen as damaging to the economy, and ""wage"
"nationalisation and Gaitskell wanted scrapped). Under Gaitskell, Labour lost their third general election in a row in 1959. In 1963, Gaitskell's sudden death from a rare illness made way for Harold Wilson to lead the party. A downturn in the economy and a series of scandals in the early 1960s (the most notorious being the Profumo affair) had engulfed the Conservative government by 1963. The Labour Party returned to government with a 4-seat majority under Wilson in the 1964 general election but increased its majority to 96 in the 1966 general election. Wilson's government was responsible for a number of"
"only returned to the Parliamentary Labour Group in 1963, when Harold Wilson became Labour leader after the sudden death of Hugh Gaitskell. Harold Wilson—the subject of an enthusiastic campaign biography by Foot published by Robert Maxwell's Pergamon Press in 1964—offered Foot a place in his first government, but Foot turned it down, instead becoming the leader of Labour's left opposition from the back benches. He opposed the government's moves to restrict immigration, join the European Communities (or ""Common Market"" as they were referred to) and reform the trade unions, was against the Vietnam War and Rhodesia's unilateral declaration of independence,"
"Maudling replaced Selwyn Lloyd as Chancellor, and Lord Kilmuir was replaced as Lord Chancellor by Lord Dilhorne, while Peter Thorneycroft returned to the cabinet as Minister of Defence. Rab Butler was also promoted to the office of First Secretary of State. The reshuffle was controversial within the Conservative Party, and was seen as a betrayal by many. Macmillan's credibility was also affected by the 1963 Profumo affair; he was now in his 69th year, and had until after his 70th birthday to call the next general election. The election of Harold Wilson as Labour Party leader early in the year,"
"in 1963 brought in Harold Wilson with whom Donnelly was not pleased; although his skills would have merited appointment to Wilson's government after the 1964 election, Wilson offered Donnelly nothing. In the mid-1960s, Donnelly decided to call for an alliance between the Labour Party and the Liberal Party. He also joined with another Labour MP, Woodrow Wyatt, to publicly oppose the Labour Party policy of nationalising the Steel industry; given the narrow majority which Wilson's government had in its first term, their opposition would have been enough to vote down the plan, and any moves had to be postponed until"
"third in the leadership contest, which was won by Harold Wilson. However, he did gain the support of right-wingers, such as Denis Healey and Anthony Crosland, who wanted to prevent Wilson from being elected leader but who also did not trust George Brown. In October 1964, Conservative Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home (who had only been in power for 12 months since the resignation of Harold Macmillan) was forced to call a general election, the parliament being about to expire. Labour won a narrow majority, gaining 56 seats for a total of 317 to the Conservatives' 304. The new Labour"
"his job was to improve Labour's by-election campaigning, and he was successful in winning several – most notably, Middlesbrough West. Gaitskell's sudden death in January 1963 made his challenge for the party leadership inevitable. However, he mishandled the campaign badly. At the first Shadow Cabinet meeting after Gaitskell's death, Brown and his leadership rival Harold Wilson agreed to a clean fight. Wilson, who was accused by the right of undermining party unity, then informed the press that each agreed to serve under the other, which countered his reputation for plotting; Brown repudiated any such agreement, laying himself open to that"
"Harold Wilson. Douglas-Home became Leader of the Opposition. In July 1965, Edward Heath defeated Reginald Maudling and Enoch Powell to succeed him as Conservative Party leader. Enoch Powell was given the post of Shadow Defence Secretary and became a figure of national prominence when he made the controversial Rivers of Blood speech in 1968, warning on the dangers of mass immigration from Commonwealth nations. It is possible that the Conservatives' success in the 1970 general election was a result of the large public following Powell attained, even as he was sacked from the shadow cabinet. In 1964, Labour regained the"
"Denis Healey Denis Winston Healey, Baron Healey, (30 August 1917 – 3 October 2015) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 to 1970, Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979 and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1980 to 1983. He was a Member of Parliament for 40 years (from 1952 until his retirement in 1992) and was the last surviving member of the cabinet formed by Harold Wilson after the Labour Party's victory in the 1964 general election. A major figure in the party, he was twice defeated"
"General Council of the Trades Union Congress and was President of the International Transport Workers' Federation from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1964. Cousins played a significant role in helping Harold Wilson become leader of the Labour Party and served in Wilson's cabinet as Minister of Technology from October 1964 until his resignation on 11 June 1966 to protest against a Government-backed law freezing incomes and prices. His appointment as a Minister was notable as he is only one of two recent Ministers (the other being Patrick Gordon-Walker) who was appointed to the role without being either a Member"
"be the Labour candidate for his home town, where the sitting Labour Member of Parliament (MP) George Benson was retiring from Parliament. He was narrowly selected in June 1963 and duly held the Chesterfield seat in the 1964 election. Despite rebelling against the government's application to join the Common Market in 1967, Varley became an Assistant Whip later that year, and Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister Harold Wilson in November 1968. He served briefly as a junior minister under Tony Benn at the Ministry of Technology from 1969. During the Labour Party's period of opposition in the early"
"from May to October 2003. Before then, the last Secretary of State for a major department drawn from the Lords was David Lord Young of Graffham, serving between 1985 and 1989 as Secretary of State for Employment until 1987 and Secretary of State for Trade and Industry until 1989. The number of junior ministers who are peers has increased since 1997. Occasionally cabinet members are selected from outside the Houses of Parliament and if necessary granted a peerage. Harold Wilson appointed Frank Cousins and Patrick Gordon Walker to the 1964 cabinet despite their not being MPs at the time. On"
"for the party, heavily based on the success of the centralised industries of France and West Germany, by the 1960s the latter's economy surpassing the UK for the first time since 1915 as Europe's largest economy. Harold Wilson and Anthony Wedgwood Benn further developed the idea, becoming the backbone of the party's manifesto for the 1964 election. Britain's economy remained strong with low unemployment into the 1960s, but towards the end of the decade this growth began to slow and unemployment was rising again. Harold Wilson, the Labour leader who had ended 13 years of Conservative rule with a narrow"
"contemporary and ally of North East Labour stalwart Andy Cunningham, who was also brought down by the Poulson scandal and served a jail sentence. On the day after the 1964 general election, Smith waited for what he thought would be a certain phone call to invite him to become a cabinet minister in Harold Wilson's government. However, Wilson had a vague suspicion of Smith, and Smith's alliance with the more moderate side of the Labour Party meant that no such invitation was made. In early 1965, George Brown appointed Smith as chairman of the Northern Economic Planning Council, on which"
"Labour Party politicians of the 20th century, Castle developed a close political partnership with Harold Wilson and served in several Cabinet roles during both his premierships. As Minister of Transport (1965–1968) she oversaw the introduction of permanent speed limits, breathalysers and seat belts. Castle was then elevated to Secretary of State for Employment and First Secretary of State (1968–1970), and successfully intervened in the strike by Ford sewing machinists against pay discrimination. Following this Castle introduced the Equal Pay Act 1970. During her time in government Castle also served as Minister for Overseas Development and Secretary of State for Health"
"than 150 years (a distinction later taken by John Major in 1990, Tony Blair in 1997 and David Cameron in 2010). Both major parties had changed leadership in 1963; after the sudden death of Hugh Gaitskell early in the year, Labour chose Harold Wilson (who was then thought of as being on the party's centre-left), while Sir Alec Douglas-Home (then the Earl of Home) had taken over as Conservative leader and Prime Minister in the autumn after Harold Macmillan announced his resignation. Douglas-Home shortly afterwards disclaimed his title under the Peerage Act 1963 in order to lead the party from"
"which he could preside. This made it hard to be particularly effective as a minister, and in a 1966 reshuffle, Wilson made him Minister without Portfolio. Houghton became a Companion of Honour on 5 January 1967 and was dropped from government in 1967 and became Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) which is a post designed to help shape and reflect the backbench Labour MPs' views but keep them in dialogue with the Labour leadership. His predecessor, Emanuel Shinwell, could be rather fiery and unpredictable. By contrast, Houghton had a tenacity and command of detail that made him a"
"in 1963, as well as in the 1964 and 1966 General Elections, consistently coming last with 2-3% of the vote. In 1965 Ramelson was appointed National Industrial Organiser of the Communist Party and in 1966, during the seamen's strike of 1966, he was one of a number of men accused by Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson of being members of ""a tightly knit group of politically motivated men who, as the last General Election showed, utterly failed to secure acceptance of their views by the British electorate. Some of them are now saying very blatantly that they are more concerned"
"Trade and Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development, and oversaw the abolition of retail price maintenance. After the Conservative Party lost the general election of 1964, the defeated Home changed the party leadership rules to allow for a ballot by MPs, and then resigned. The following year, Heath—who was Shadow Chancellor at the time, and had recently won favourable publicity for leading the fight against Labour's Finance Bill—unexpectedly won the party's leadership contest, gaining 150 votes to Reginald Maudling's 133 and Enoch Powell's 15. Heath became the Conservatives' youngest leader and retained office after the party's defeat"
"best thing that has happened to Hugh for years"". He rose to become the party's Director of Publicity between 1962 and 1964. During the same period he was a local councillor for the new town of Harlow (1957–63), becoming chairman between 1960 and 1961 and leader of the Labour group between 1961 and 1963. Harris became a political adviser when Labour came into government following the 1964 general election, firstly to Foreign Secretary Patrick Gordon Walker, and then to Roy Jenkins at the Ministry of Aviation, the Home Office, and then the Treasury until the 1970 general election when Labour"
"election in October 1964 returned the Labour Government 1964–1970 under Prime Minister Harold Wilson after 13 years of Conservative government. During the election campaign Labour had promised to halt rail closures if elected, but they quickly backtracked, and later oversaw some of the most controversial closures. Tom Fraser was appointed Transport Minister, but was replaced by Barbara Castle in December 1965. Castle published a map, Network for Development, in 1967 showing the railway system ""stabilised"" at around 11,000 route miles (17,700 km). Section 39 of the Transport Act 1968 made provision for grants to be paid in relation to loss-making"
"Party led by Harold Wilson narrowly won the 1964 general election, manual workers had accounted for 63%. Furthermore, they were beginning to turn against the trade unions – alienated, perhaps, by the difficulties of the winter of 1978–9. In contrast, Conservative policies stressed wider home ownership, which Labour refused to match. Thatcher did best in districts where the economy was relatively strong and was weaker where it was contracting. As Prime Minister, she implemented policies focused on economic liberalism, using populism, and pragmatism, known as Thatcherism. Thatcher introduced a series of political and economic initiatives intended to reverse high unemployment"
"in food subsidies, pensions and other benefits. When Harold Wilson stood down as Leader of the Labour Party in 1976 Healey stood in the contest to elect the new leader. On the first ballot he came only fifth out of six candidates. However, he also contested the second round, coming third of the three candidates but increasing his vote somewhat. Labour lost the general election to the Conservatives (led by Margaret Thatcher) in May 1979, following the Winter of Discontent during which Britain had faced a large number of strikes. On 12 June 1979 Healey was appointed a Companion of"
"of the Greater London Council's London Transport Executive from 1975 to 1978, and of the Arts Council of Great Britain from 1977 to 1982. He was knighted in April 1983 for services to the Arts. Robinson died in London on 16 February 1996. Robinson wrote a biography of Wilkie Collins (1951), and a young person's guide to Parliament, ""Look At Parliament"" (1962). Kenneth Robinson Sir Kenneth Robinson (19 March 1911 – 16 February 1996) was a British Labour politician who served as Minister of Health in Harold Wilson's first government, from 1964 to 1968, when the position was merged into"
"issue, Harold Wilson's Labour Government lodged the UK's second application (in May 1967) to join the European Community, as it was now called. Like the first, though, it was vetoed by de Gaulle. In 1973, with DeGaulle gone, Conservative Prime Minister Heath negotiated terms for admission and Britain finally joined the Community. In opposition, the Labour Party was deeply divided, though its Leader, Harold Wilson, remained in favour. In the 1974 General Election, the Labour Party manifesto included a pledge to renegotiate terms for Britain's membership and then hold a referendum on whether to stay in the EC on the"
"the Conservative Party at the February 1950 general election. However, in the October 1951 general elections the Conservatives returned to power under Winston Churchill. Labour was to remain out of office for the next thirteen years, until 1964, when Harold Wilson became Prime Minister. Members of the Cabinet are in bold face. Attlee ministry Clement Attlee was invited by King George VI to form the Attlee ministry in the United Kingdom in July 1945, succeeding Winston Churchill as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The Labour Party won a landslide victory at the 1945 general election, enacting much of the"