Harold, Iain and Jo

[SteveW]

Parliament, being in a state of dissolution, was not recalled. Wilson decided he would now have to act if he wanted to stay in power- postponing the election was not an option. He called for all British troops in Singapore and Malaya to go onto a war footing. Ringing Sukarno, he got no response. War was inevitable.

The Indonesian invasion of Papua was going badly meanwhile. Tribesmen were fighting hard in the jungle to keep the invaders out, and the Australians were pounding any Indonesian naval vessels in the Torres Straits.

 

[SteveW]

The Australia-Indonesia Conflict lulled for several weeks as the Indonesians became bogged down in the jungles of Papua and the Australians cleared their northern coast of all Indonesian vessels. For now, and especially for a concerned Menzies, attention turned to the British elections.

Thursday 14th January 1965 came and the pollsters had no idea what to expect. It would be tight, but in whose favour?

At around 11:30pm, the first declarations came in. Many British viewers remember where they were when Cliff Michelmore switched coverage over to Belper for this declaration:

"...and I therefore declare that John Lowther is duly returned as Member of Parliament for Belper constituency".

That was it. In the most shocking event of the night, the Minister for Economic Affairs, George Brown, had been evicted from his seat.

 

[MrHola]

I truly wonder what the long-term effects will be. Keep up the good work SteveW!

 

[SteveW]

From "Election '65", as repeated recently on BBC Parliament:

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is now 5 a.m. and it is time for a round-up of the declarations so far.

Mr. Wilson's Labour Party has emerged as the largest party once again with 305 seats. Mr. MacLeod's Conservatives are second with 301, followed by the Ulster Unionists and Liberals on 10 apiece. In the surprise results of the night, 2 seats were taken by the new Northern Ireland Social Democrats and 2 by the Welsh nationalist Plaid Cymru.

Mr. Wilson has expressed disappointment that he has not received a clear mandate, but has pledged to fight to form a new government".

 

[SteveW]

Harold Wilson went to the Queen on the morning of Friday 15th January 1965. With trouble in Indonesia looming, he had absolutely no way of forming a viable government-but then nor did MacLeod. To his great surprise, she asked him to form a government of national unity for the remainder of the crisis. And it was certainly required. Indonesian troops had been reported on the Malayan border, and had been attacking shipping off Singapore.

Wilson returned to the Labour HQ at Transport House and told the rest of the Cabinet, there was some disagreement. They were feeling gloomy about George Brown having lost his seat along with ten other Labour men. In the end, James Callaghan and Roy Jenkins rallied to the idea. And it was Callaghan above all who persuaded the recalcitrant members:

"I have no desire to co-operate with the Tories, but it's temporary and the national interest demands it".

With that, Wilson returned to Buckingham Palace in the early hours, accompanied by Iain MacLeod. MacLeod had actually gained seats in this election, but not many: the seeming drop came from the Ulster Unionists renouncing the Tory whip.

 

[SteveW]

On Sunday 17th January 1965, after a number of emergency meetings (Wilson at the Parliamentary Labour Party, MacLeod before the 1922 Committee, Grimond and others before their respective groups), an emergency Cabinet was announced.

Prime Minister: Harold Wilson
Economic Affairs: Roy Jenkins
Lord Chancellor: Lord Carrington (Con)
Lord President of the Council: William Whitelaw (Con)
Lord Privy Seal: Lord Longford
Chancellor: James Callaghan
Foreign and Deputy PM: Iain MacLeod (Con)
Home: Frank Soskice
Agriculture: Richard Crossman

Colonies: Ray Gunter
Commonwealth: Enoch Powell (Con)
Defence: Denis Healey
Education: James Allason (Con)
Housing: Jo Grimond (Liberal)
Overseas Development: Michael Stewart
Labour: Fred Peart
Duchy of Lancaster: Margaret Thatcher (Con)
Power: Margaret Herbison
Scotland: William Ross
Technology: Joan Vickers (Con)
Board of Trade: Douglas Jay
Wales: Jim Griffiths
Transport: Bill Deedes (Con)
Pensions and National Insurance: Kenneth Robinson
Health: Eric Lubbock (Liberal)

The reason for extending the invitation to the Liberals was simple- if they had to work together, neither MacLeod nor Wilson wanted Grimond portraying himself after as "the real opposition". Unsurprisingly, no party demanded a say in policy in return for a Cabinet seat at this hour.

 

[V-J]

George Brown unseated? Yay!

 

[SteveW]

It was reported by the CIA to Lyndon Johnson on the day of the British election that Sukarno was now receiving Chinese weaponry and funds.

"Well then. We'll let the Aussies and the Brits f**k him over".

Johnson was not willing to have a Chinese sympathiser sat in Jakarta. Especially with all the trouble going on in South Vietnam. Plus, getting the British and Australians to deal with it was a cheap option.

On Saturday 16th January 1965, the first transfers of money were made to Menzies' government in Canberra.

Meanwhile, Indonesia was massing her forces for an amphibious landing in the Northern Territory: the famed 'landing that never was'.

 

[SteveW]

Thursday 21st January 1965 saw Sukarno's enemies hit back hard. At 6 a.m, an enormous raid by the RAAF levelled the docks at Kupang on West Timor, sinking 9 ships and killing over 300 service personnel. 2 RAAF fighters and one bomber were lost.

At 7 a.m, a second raid hit Sukarnopoura on Irian Jaya. 2 ships were lost. The RAAF suffered no casualties.

At 7:30 a.m, British aircraft from Singapore strafed a number of Indonesian ships out at sea, and ten minutes later a British bomber detachment pounded Padang on Sumatra.