Wilson announced his decision to Cabinet on the morning of 16 March 1976. This blog post to mark the 40th anniversary of this event is not concerned with such theories – as always, our approach is to highlight the story as told through the public records. The unexpected nature of Wilson’s departure gave rise to various conspiracy theories, and a suspicion in some quarters that Wilson’s resignation was forced, for some secret reason.

Wilson’s resignation was unusual because, for most of his party and the general public, the announcement came ‘from out of the blue’, and was not (seemingly) prompted by any obvious health issues Harold Macmillan had been the last prime minister to resign while in office, in October 1963, on the grounds of illness. It has been said by some that Wilson’s greatest achievement as Prime Minister was keeping British troops out of Vietnam. He achieved further social reforms during 1974-76 but had to wrestle with the problem of soaring inflation. Wilson returned as Prime Minister following the February 1974 election, forming a minority government, and then called another election in October 1974 at which he secured a majority of three. Harold Wilson at National Coal Board Gala, 1950 (catalogue reference: COAL 80/1119)Īs Prime Minister leading two Labour administrations between 19, Wilson was keen to bring about a modernisation of Britain’s economy and society. Under his leadership, the Labour governments introduced liberal social policies, including the abolition of capital punishment and the decriminalisation of homosexual acts in private between two men, and changed abortion law.

Harold wilson by ben pimlott