Goodbye Great Britain? 1976-

Background

On 16th March 1976, Harold Wilson announced his intention to resign as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party, five days after his sixtieth birthday. The precise reason why Mr. Wilson suddenly resigned after eight years as Prime Minister, and thirteen years as Labour Leader, was a mystery that many speculated upon but few understood. There were whispers of an MI5 plot to reveal evidence of his alleged status as a Soviet agent, or a compromising affair with his close adviser Marcia Williams. A more plausible explanation was that the Prime Minister was suffering from the onset of Alzheimer's disease, with his once formidable memory and political acumen diminishing. But politics is a cruel business, and no sooner did observers ponder the cause of Mr. Wilson's departure than they turned to the matter of who would succeed him.

As dictated by Labour's Constitution, the chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) Cledwyn Hughes immediately began devising the procedure for the election of a new party leader and Prime Minister. It was the first time that the party had selected its leader in office. After agreement was reached on electoral arrangements at a meeting of the PLP that evening, three MPs were nominated as candidates: Denis Healey, Roy Jenkins and Michael Foot.

As the 'Lobby' - parliamentary journalists - scrambled to cover the surprise leadership election, they anointed the Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey as the immediate frontrunner. Mr. Healey was the candidate of the Right of the Labour Party, and as the party leader is selected by the Right-leaning PLP, the press and the bookmakers were confident in casting him as the favourite to win the contest. As Chancellor, he laid claim to an impressive record, steering the British economy from the brink of disaster in 1974 to calmer waters. Under his stewardship, unemployment and inflation had both fallen and a voluntary agreement on pay and benefits, commonly known as 'the Social Contract', was secured with the trade unions.

Once the heir apparent, Roy Jenkins now faced an uphill struggle for the leadership. As Home Secretary, he had presided over the most wide-ranging social reforms of the 1960s, and as Chancellor restored Labour's economic credibility after the devaluation of the pound in 1967. In opposition, however, his standing within the party was damaged by his support for Britain's entry into the EEC - European Economic Community in 1973. When Labour returned to government, he was passed over as Foreign Secretary and returned to the Home Office. A passionate pro-European in an overwhelmingly Eurosceptic party, Mr. Jenkins found himself isolated and wondered if the contest was his last chance to claim the top prize of British politics.

The standard bearer of the party's Left in the contest was Michael Foot, for years a rebellious backbencher and journalist, now a loyal minister in the Labour government. As editor of Tribune, he had been a harsh critic of past Labour leaders who deviated from his vision of 'democratic socialism'. But after the disastrous collapse in relations between the Heath Government and the trade unions, Mr. Foot played an essential role in securing the trade unions' support for the Labour government's pay policy as the Secretary of State for Employment. The odds in this contest, however, seemed to be stacked against him: the press calculated that only 127 of Labour's 319 MPs were on the Left of the party.


On 17th March, two new candidates entered the race. The first was another candidate of the Right, Tony Crosland. One of the party's foremost intellectuals, he had published The Future of Socialism in 1956, urging Labour to replace its traditional affinity for nationalisation with a focus on equality. During the 1960s he had the chance to put his philosophy into practice as Education Secretary, replacing the majority of selective grammar schools with comprehensive schools. He had recently assumed the office of Foreign Secretary, but despite his myriad of credentials, Mr. Crosland was not a natural politician and had few personal followers in the PLP.

The second was the ambitious radical of the new Left, Tony Benn. Once a loyal disciple of Labour leaders Hugh Gaitksell and Harold Wilson, Mr. Benn rapidly became disillusioned with the compromises and failures of political office and began advocating drastic solutions to the nation's problems, including an 'Alternative Economic Strategy' of import controls and investment in industry. in 1975, he was sacked as Secretary of State for Industry for advocating these ideas and was demoted to Secretary of State for Energy. Many of his colleagues on the Left were puzzled by his decision to stand given the candidacy of Mr. Foot, but Mr. Benn revelled in the opportunity to break collective responsibility and express his views more freely.

Following a week of frenzied campaigning, Cledwyn Hughes announced the results of the first ballot on 25th March:


Labour Leadership Election, First Ballot

Michael Foot: 108
Denis Healey: 73
Roy Jenkins: 68
Tony Benn: 35
Tony Crosland: 30


It was clear from the first ballot that Mr. Foot had performed far better than most MPs and commentators had anticipated, gaining a clear lead over the other candidates. He benefited greatly from the split in the Right, with Healey, Jenkins and Crosland all jostling for the same votes whilst Mr. Foot consolidated support across the Left and Centre of the PLP. Mr. Benn had managed a respectable showing but it was clear that there was no space for another candidate of the Left in the election, and he withdrew in favour of Mr. Foot. As he finished last, Mr. Crosland was automatically eliminated. He refused to endorse a candidate, but his campaign manager Roy Hattersley began to canvass frantically for Mr. Healey.

In terms of arithmetic, there were clearly more right-wing members of the PLP than the Left, but the Right was weakened by personal and ideological differences. Mr. Jenkins, Mr. Crosland, and Mr. Healey all coveted the leadership and were suspicious of each others intentions, preventing the emergence of a united front on the Right. Roy Jenkins resented his two colleagues' agnosticism on the issue of Europe, believing that they placed political opportunism above principle. As somewhat of a loner and technocrat within the PLP, Denis Healey was never close socially to either man and resented their interventions on economic issues during his tenure as Chancellor.

In ideological terms, it was becoming increasing clear that Mr. Jenkins was drifting even further rightward than the other contenders. In January, he had warned that increasing public spending would threaten 'the values of a plural society with adequate freedom of choice', a stance that was closer to the Liberal Party's policies than Labour's. This intervention was bitterly criticised by the Keynesian Crosland, who had long argued that a high level of spending was necessary to reduce unemployment and inequality. The Chancellor, on the other hand, had little time and inclination for these theoretical disputes and followed a more pragmatic course. His policy expertise lay more in the field of foreign affairs than economic theory.


While the Right of the Labour Party had been consumed by in-fighting and introspection, the Left began to organise and broaden their support. Shaken by the defeat of the Eurosceptic cause in the 1975 referendum on Britain's membership of the EEC, they rebounded with full force in the leadership election. Michael Foot left most of the campaigning to his able deputies: Eric Heffer, Albert Booth and his young protégé Neil Kinnock, who began the task of ward-heeling across the PLP. Political commentators were surprised by the success of their efforts, but on closer inspection Mr. Foot's clear lead on the first ballot is not difficult to explain.

Since the internal party conflict in the 1950s between the Bevanites and Gaitskellites, political journalists had grown accustomed to reporting upon a split between the 'Left' and the 'Right' of Labour, with both sides engaged in a bitter struggle to wrestle control of the Party. It was commonly assumed that the Right possessed a numerical advantage in the PLP, thereby blocking the Left's chances of ever winning the leadership. Harold Wilson won the leadership in 1963 as a 'unity candidate', winning support from both wings of the Party, though over time alienating both and re-opening the conflict at the heart of the Party.

The reality of the PLP, however, was far more complex than this interpretation allowed. There were ideological groupings of the Left and Right within the Party, but as Peter Kellner and Christopher Hitchens of the New Statesman observed, there was also a significant number of MPs in the middle with more fluid allegiances. There were the union-sponsored MPs, whose support required the cultivation of close relationships with union leaders, such as David Basnett of the General and Municipal Workers. Here, Mr. Healey succeeded in gaining the support of the GMW, but Mr. Foot swept support among the other key unions such as the Transport Workers and the National Union of Mineworkers. There were also the MPs of the Celtic fringe, with whom Mr. Foot performed surprisingly well, cultivating close relationships with MPs from Scotland and Wales. The success of Mr. Foot and the failure of Mr. Healey in wooing MPs from these groups allowed the former to consolidate a broad coalition of support from across the Party.

Figures on the Right of the Party had good reason to panic and were anxious to prevent a Foot victory at any cost. The results of the second ballot were announced on 30th March:


Labour Leadership Election, Second Ballot:

Michael Foot: 153
Denis Healey: 90
Roy Jenkins: 70


On first glance, the second ballot seemed to confirm Mr. Foot's status as the frontrunner in the leadership contest. As well as sweeping up the former supporters of Tony Benn, he had gained the support of eight centrist MPs who had supported Mr. Crosland in the first round. But despite Mr. Foot's runaway lead, it seemed unlikely that many of Mr. Jenkins' supporters, if any, would support Mr. Foot in the third ballot. Shortly after Mr. Jenkins' elimination from the contest, three of his supporters David Marquand, Robert Maclennan and David Owen penned an article in The Guardian warning against the dangers of a Foot leadership and pledging their support for Denis Healey. If all of Mr. Jenkins' supporters backed Mr. Healey, then he would narrowly win the leadership with 160 votes to Mr. Foot's 153. But if Mr. Foot won the support of four more MPs, he would be elected Leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister...

The results of the third ballot were announced on 5th April 1976:


Labour Leadership Election, Third Ballot:

Denis Healey: 158
Michael Foot: 155


The Labour leadership contest concluded with a narrow victory for Denis Healey, who secured just three more votes than his challenger. Mr. Healey had secured almost all of Mr. Jenkins’ supporters as expected, with two idiosyncratic exceptions. Douglas Jay voted for Mr. Foot because of a shared antipathy to Europe, while Brian Walden, soon to leave Parliament, voted for Mr. Foot because he was ‘a man of principle.’

The result was given to Denis Healey, who was waiting in his room in the House of Commons, by Cledwyn Hughes. Mr. Healey breathed a sigh of relief and turned to his campaign manager Joel Barnett like an giddy schoolboy, 'Well, as the Duke of Wellington said at Waterloo, it has been the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life. Prime Minister! Phew!' In the office of the Right Honourable Michael Foot MP, the mood was sombre but reflective. The ambitious firebrand Neil Kinnock tried to cheer his mentor up. 'We've lost this fight, but we've got Healey by the short and curlies. They can't ignore us now.' Eric Heffer nodded vigorously in assent.

A special meeting of the parliamentary Labour Party followed at 4pm in the House of Commons. Denis Healey delivered a bravura performance of almost half an hour, promising to overcome Britain’s economic problems and smash the Tory opposition. Michael Foot followed with a softer and gracious speech that was well received by MPs, talking of unifying the party after the contest. Harold Wilson spoke to loud cheers, and whispered afterwards to Cledwyn Hughes, ‘Remember to tell the lobby I had a standing ovation.’

As dictated by constitutional convention, Denis Healey was called to an audience with the Queen at Buckingham Palace and was asked to form a government. After returning from this audience, Denis and Edna Healey entered 10 Downing Street.

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I'm trying, but can't see, what has happened to this timeline's Foreign Secretary BEFORE Tony Crosland took the job?

Has Callaghan fallen down a well or something?
 
I'm trying, but can't see, what has happened to this timeline's Foreign Secretary BEFORE Tony Crosland took the job?

Has Callaghan fallen down a well or something?

I think a mine would be much more fitting considering he is a Welsh MP.
 
Interesting, and the result of a very tight Healey win sounds entirely plausible. What happened to Callaghan? Presumably some fate - political? - must have seen him withdraw from the front bench before 1976?
 
January-April 1976

4th-5th January 1976:

The Ulster Volunteer Force shoots dead six Catholic civilians in two targeted attacks in County Armagh, despite the ongoing PIRA truce with the British government. In retaliation, the South Armagh Republican Action Force shoots dead ten Protestant civilians, the 'Kingsmill Massacre'. In response, Prime Minister Harold Wilson announces the deployment of the Special Air Service (SAS) in Armagh. Three weeks later, the PIRA truce is officially brought to an end.

18th January 1976:

Several Labour members, angered by the Labour Government's failure to secure a devolved Scottish Assembly, announce the formation of the breakaway Scottish Labour Party (SLP). They are led by MPs Jim Sillars and John Robertson. This immediately raises fears that Labour could lose as many as 20 to 30 seats to the popular Scottish National Party (SNP) in a general election.

19th January 1976:

The Leader of the Opposition, Margaret Thatcher, gives a speech on foreign affairs in which she claims that the Soviet Union is 'hell-bent on world domination' and criticises government cuts to defence. The following week, newspapers report that the Kremlin has named her the 'Iron Lady' or 'Iron Maiden', to the delight of her advisers.

21st January 1976:

The latest unemployment figures are released, showing a rise in unemployment to 1.3 million people. The unemployment rate is 5.6%, the highest recorded since before the Second World War. This is quickly seized upon by Mrs. Thatcher and the Conservative Party, who label Labour as 'the natural party of unemployment'.

22nd January 1976:

The Radcliffe Report on Ministerial Memoirs is published, recommending that ministers should be free to publish accounts of their time in office with obvious exceptions relating to issues of national security. This represents a blow to the Civil Service and Cabinet Secretary, who attempted to block the publication of former minister Richard Crossman's diaries on the basis that his in-depth description of Cabinet meetings threatened the principle of collective responsibility within government.

29th January 1976:

Twelve bombs planted by the IRA explode in the West End of London during the night, injuring one man. They are the first bombings in central London for over a year.

2nd February 1976:

A former Liberal MP Peter Bessell, who fled to the United States after fraud allegations, reveals in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph that the Liberal Leader Jeremy Thorpe is being blackmailed by a former homosexual lover Norman Scott. Scott, in turn, claims that Thorpe is behind a conspiracy to kill him, after an armed gunman, Andrew Newton, shoots his dog Rinka. Andrew Newton awaits trial whilst the press declares open season on Thorpe.

George Thomas, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is elected unanimously as Speaker of the House of Commons, succeeding Selwyn Lloyd.

12th February 1976:

The Cabinet approves direct elections for the European Assembly, as proposed by the Council of Ministers. The Treaty of Rome (1957) had specified that the European Parliament must be elected by universal suffrage using a common voting system, but as a stop-gap measure, members had been appointed to the Parliament by the member states from their own national parliaments. The Parliament became unhappy with this and threatened to take the Council to the European Court of Justice, leading to the Council agreeing to hold elections.

21st February 1976:

The Concorde enters service as a commercial aircraft, with flights on the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes. It is the second supersonic transport to enter service, after the Tupolev in the Soviet Union.

22nd February 1976:

Jim Callaghan announces his resignation as Foreign Secretary and retirement from front-bench politics following a minor heart attack scare two weeks prior. Harold Wilson pays tribute to Mr. Callaghan in the House of Commons and appoints Tony Crosland as his successor as Foreign Secretary. Tony Crosland is succeeded as Secretary of State for the Environment by Fred Peart.

Four years earlier in January 1972, Mr. Callaghan was admitted into Bart's hospital for a serious operation on his prostate. Fortunately, the operation was a total success and there was no malignancy, but with the first intimations of mortality, Mr. Callaghan became significantly anxious about his health and his political future. With this second health scare, the 64-year-old Callaghan decides to bow out and focus his energies on his other passions, his farm on the Sussex Weald and his grandchildren. He begins a deeply satisfying retirement of rural tranquility, rising in the dark of the small hours to check the well-being of his stock and the security of his fences, without contemplating the political trials and tribulations he has left behind.

23rd February 1976:

The Trades Union Congress (TUC)-Labour Party Liaison Committee meets. The Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey faces an angry audience of trade unionists dismayed by the Government's cautious economic management. Responding to the recent rise in unemployment, they demand £2 billion in reflation, the introduction of import controls and further investment in industry. Mr. Healey reminds them of the government's precarious position: Labour has a majority of one in the House of Commons.

25th February 1976:

The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Labour Party meets and re-affirms its support for the Labour Government and, in particular, for Harold Wilson as Prime Minister. The Left remains weakened by their failure to secure a 'No' vote in the 1975 referendum on Britain's membership of the European Economic Community (EEC), and the apparent success of the Social Contract between the Government and the trade unions. Meanwhile a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) devolves into a heated row over public expenditure, with Denis Healey branding the Left of the Party as 'silly billies'.

1st March 1976:

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Merlyn Rees, announces the phasing out of Special Category Status (SCS) for prisoners convicted of terrorist crimes. SCS grants prisoners de facto prisoner-of-war status as specified by the Geneva Convention, granting them privileges such as not being forced to wear prisoner uniforms or do prison work, housing within paramilitary factions, extra visits and food parcels. It is argued that SCS undermines prison discipline. Those convicted of terrorist offences would now serve their sentence in the Maze Prison in what became known as the 'H-Blocks'. This change in policy would lead to a violent reaction from IRA prisoners.

4th March 1976:

Merlyn Rees announces the dissolution of the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention, resulting in the direct rule of Northern Ireland by the British Parliament. The Convention had failed after elections produced a majority of Unionists who were opposed to sharing power with the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).

The Coventry North-West by-election, called after the death of Labour MP Maurice Edelman, results in Labour holding the seat with a reduced majority. The new MP is the businessman Geoffrey Robinson, formerly of British Leyland and Jaguar Cars. The Liberal Party vote falls, a development that former leader Jo Grimond blames on the ongoing scandals surrounding Jeremy Thorpe. Mr. Grimond suggests that Mr. Thorpe "must think of stepping down."

10th March 1976:

The Government loses a vote on its White Paper on Inflation and Public Expenditure, which recommends cuts of £1.6 billion in 1977-78, as 37 Labour MPs of the left-wing Tribune Group abstain. As the result of the vote is announced, the House erupts as Tories cheer and Labour Members begin shouting at the Tribune Group. The Chancellor in particular launches a violent tirade against the Labour rebels and flashes the 'V' sign, souring his already fractured relationship with the Labour Left. The government's position within the House is secure for now, however, as Tribune MPs signal that they will not vote against the government if a no confidence motion is tabled.

11th March 1976:

Two by-elections are held in safe Conservative seats. In Carshalton, Nigel Forman is elected to succeed the former Secretary of State for Employment Robert Carr, who is elevated to the House of Lords. Mr. Forman is a rising star on the Left of the Party, having served in the Conservative Research Department from 1968 to 1976. In Wirral, the retiring Speaker of the House of Commons Selwyn Lloyd is succeeded by David Hunt.

16th March 1976:

Harold Wilson announces his intention to resign as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party at a meeting of Cabinet. At Prime Minister's Questions, MPs pay tribute to Mr. Wilson's service. The Leader of the Opposition, Mrs. Thatcher wishes him well and calls for a general election. The press notes in particular the favourable tribute of the Ulster Unionist and former Conservative MP Enoch Powell, who contrasts the present stability of Northern Ireland under Wilson's leadership with the 'disastrous policies' pursued by the Heath Government in the region.

The trial of Andrew Newton, accused of attempting to murder Jeremy Thorpe's ex-lover Norman Scott, begins at Exeter Crown Court. At the trial, Mr. Scott repeats his allegations against Mr. Thorpe despite the efforts of the prosecution's lawyers to silence him. Mr. Newton is found guilty and sentenced to two years' imprisonment, but does not incriminate Mr. Thorpe. The Sunday Times prints Mr. Thorpe's answer to the allegations under the heading "The Lies of Norman Scott". Nevertheless, public support for the Liberal Party continues to erode and many of the party's senior figures begin to plot Mr. Thorpe's downfall.

24th March 1976:

Britain's most famous general of the Second World War, Bernard Montgomery, the Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, passes away at the age of 88.

25th March 1976:

The first ballot of the Labour Leadership contest is announced, with Michael Foot leading with 108 votes. As the least popular candidate, Tony Crosland is eliminated from the contest, while Tony Benn withdraws and endorses Michael Foot.

30th March 1976:

The second ballot of the Labour Leadership contest is announced, with Michael Foot far ahead on 152 votes. He is followed by Denis Healey on 91 votes, and Roy Jenkins on 70 votes. Mr. Jenkins is eliminated from the contest, as Michael Foot and Denis Healey advance to the third ballot.

5th April 1976:

Denis Healey is elected Leader of the Labour Party in the third and final ballot of Labour MPs, winning 158 votes to Michael Foot's 155. In accordance with constitutional convention, Mr. Healey is called to Buckingham Palace by the Queen who asks him to form a government. Harold Wilson leaves 10 Downing Street and Mr. Healey enters the same day as Labour's fourth Prime Minister, following Ramsay MacDonald, Clement Attlee and Mr. Wilson.

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King of All the Shadows

Denis Healey, 1971: "I always feel as a shadow minister very much like Achilles, who was met by Odysseus in hell in the old Greek fable of the Odyssey. Odysseus asked him what he felt about it, and Achilles said: I would rather be the meanest swineherd on earth than king of all the shadows."

Ian Mikardo: "Denis Healey is an outstanding talent, equalled by very few people I've met in the whole of my long innings. When he speaks on international affairs, he speaks with the authority that derives from an unmatched knowledge of what's going on in almost every country in the world, and his analysis of all those movements of events is almost always penetrating and enlightening. He is a cultured man of parts, of many interests outside politics - those politicians whose lives contain nothing but politics are always second-class politicians. He's a bubbly, witty man who can be a charming and entertaining companion."

Harold Wilson: "I made Denis Healey Minister of Defence. He is a strange person. When he was at Oxford he was a communist. Then friends took him in hand, sent him to the Rand Corporation of America, where he was brainwashed and came back very right wing. But his method of thinking was still what it had been: in other words, the absolute certainty that he was right and everybody else was wrong, and not merely wrong through not knowing the proper answers, but wrong through malice. I had very little trouble with him on his own subject, but he has a very good quick brain and can be very rough. He probably intervened in Cabinet with absolute certainty about other departments more than any minister I have ever known, but he was a strong colleague and much respected."

---

6th April 1976:

On his first full day as Prime Minister, Denis Healey was brimming with confidence, pacing boisterously through the corridors of Number 10 and grinning wildly at the 'Garden Room Girls' he passed - the elite secretaries who oiled the wheels of the Downing Street Machine. The previous day he, alongside his wife Edna, had been 'clapped in' by the Downing Street staff and he had attended to the duty that all new Prime Ministers must first attend to - the writing of top-secret instructions to the commanders of Britain's nuclear-armed Polaris submarines in the event of the British Government's destruction.

The Prime Minister's first formal meeting was with the nation's most powerful civil servants, the Cabinet Secretary Sir John Hunt, and the Principal Private Secretary Ken Stowe. Their job was to manage the Prime Minister's professional life and to protect, guide and inform. The resignation of Harold Wilson had presented them with an opportunity. They had grown increasingly unimpressed with Mr. Wilson: he was forgetful and erratic in carrying out decisions, his once brilliant mind deteriorating with age and brandy. Like a latter-day Wolsey, Sir John was a civil servant of unusual ambition would laboured hard to build a personal power-base across Whitehall and guide economic policy-making. The incoming Prime Minister had a reputation as a technocrat, willing to adapt his ideological convictions to the advice of experts - at the Treasury he had pursued a middle way between Keynesian and monetarist doctrine. This endeared him to senior civil servants who saw in Denis Healey a kindred spirit, a man who would rise above the petty party politics of the modern era.

The Prime Minister was settling down to work in the Cabinet Room when the colleague he had dreaded meeting had arrived. Michael Foot entered as dishevelled but determined as ever to fight for the Left's influence in the Party. His charm, persistence and thoughtfulness elevated him to a position of power that few other left-wing rebels could attain.

'Well, Prime Minister, we've fought many battles together in the past and I dare say we shall fight many more in the years to come, but I hope you won't find it amiss of me to offer some suggestions for the Cabinet?

Following last month's rebellion in the House, the Party are uneasy. They feel that the Government is not listening to them and there is a strong call for change. They cannot stomach a Labour Government making renewed cuts to public expenditure whilst unemployment and poverty soar. If we don't do something drastic soon, then given our position in the House, we will find the ourselves without a majority and letting the Tories in. It is not just the usual rebels on the hard Left, it is right across the whole Party. Taking this into consideration, I believe that you should appoint Peter [Shore] as Chancellor. I believe that he can build upon what you have already accomplished and unite the party behind a common economic platform.'

Healey eased back and fixed his gaze on his adversary. He had expected the Left to push back, especially after the closeness of the result. But unlike Harold, he was not going to go out of his way to appease them. The phoney consensus of the past thirteen years had only poisoned the Labour Party and the Government, and now tough discipline was necessary. He replied calmly, but with a firmness and confidence that surprised Foot.

'That is simply out of the question. I will not have a Chancellor who is in favour of autarky and import controls. It would destroy confidence among our European partners and in Washington. It would derail the course this Government has pursued since the last election, a course we in Cabinet, the NEC, and the trade unions have all pledged to support. Sterling would plunge. No, it will never happen. Our situation in the House is difficult as you say, but can you imagine how difficult it will be if the economy and our pay policy fail? Any other suggestions?'

Foot sat momentarily stunned before continuing, panicked, 'Well Prime Minister, there is another issue. If Tony Crosland is going to the Treasury, then Roy [Jenkins] cannot go to the Foreign Office. We cannot have a Foreign Secretary who is militantly in favour of Britain's membership of the Common Market. Government cuts are one thing, but placing a outright federalist in our nation's foreign policy would tear our Party apart!'

'I have no intention of sending Roy to the Foreign Office, so that is an academic point. As Prime Minister, I expect to leave a considerable imprint on foreign affairs, and as you know, my views on the Common Market are more nuanced than his. I did not support his position on entry and I will not allow him, or anyone else within the party for that matter, to undermine this Government's position on the EEC.'

'That is re-assuring Prime Minister, thank you. I have another request - rumours have been circulating that Barbara [Castle] is about to go. I think that it would be disastrous for the Party to lose such an experienced and talented minister. I very much hope that we are on the same page here.'

'On this matter, we are of the same mind. Though I'm sure I'll live to regret keeping her, ha! Well, I appreciate your views Michael and I hope that we will work closely in the coming years as we have done on pay policy.'

'Excellent, Prime Minister. Now about junior ministers...'

---

8th April 1976

Following discussions with civil servants, special advisers and senior figures within the Labour Party, Prime Minister Denis Healey forms his first Cabinet. Incoming and outgoing ministers are invited one by one to 10 Downing Street to receive news of their future.

The Paymaster General and former Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Edmund Dell, is appointed to succeed Mr. Healey as Chancellor of the Exchequer. This is hailed as a bold and courageous decision by political journalists, and is strongly welcomed by the City. Mr. Dell was a key ally of Mr. Healey in the leadership election and has been rewarded by the top post in Cabinet. Unusually for a Labour MP, he worked in business for Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) in Manchester until his election to Parliament in 1964. He is known to have a strong grasp of the nation's economic problems and his experience outside of politics is received well by the financial markets and press. Another key ally of the Prime Minister, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury Joel Barnett, is promoted to Secretary of State for Trade. Replacing Mr. Barnett as Chief Secretary is another member of the Prime Minister's former Treasury team, the junior Treasury minister Denzil Davies.

It had been expected that either Tony Crosland or Roy Jenkins would succeed Mr. Healey as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Mr. Crosland, a talented economist with strong Keynesian beliefs has always coveted the position and is bitterly disappointed by the news. He remains as Foreign Secretary, grappling primarily with the issues of Rhodesia, NATO and Détente. Mr. Jenkins, whose tenure as Chancellor from 1967 to 1970 gained plaudits from across the political spectrum, also remains in his post of Home Secretary. It is widely reported that Mr. Jenkins covets the Foreign Office and rumours spread of an explosive row in Downing Street with the new Prime Minister over this issue. Friends of Mr. Jenkins note that he is growing unhappy and increasingly detached from the internal politics of the Labour Party.

The Prime Minister's rival in the leadership contest, Michael Foot, is appointed Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council, replacing Ted Short. It is expected that Mr. Foot will play a key role in attempting to breach the gap between the leadership and the Left of the Party. Replacing Mr. Foot as Secretary of State for Employment is his deputy Albert Booth, believed to be Mr. Foot's personal choice. It is reported that Tony Benn argued furiously with the Prime Minister for his desire to take the position, but the Prime Minister refused, leaving Mr. Benn as Secretary of State for Energy. Peter Shore, formerly Secretary of State for Trade, is now Secretary of State for the Environment, replacing Fred Peart after just one month in office, who becomes Minister for Transport. John Smith, a rising star on the Right of the Party, replaces Willie Ross as Secretary of State for Scotland. As a gesture to the Left of the Party, Stanley Orme, Eric Deakins and John Silkin are promoted to Cabinet as Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Minister for Social Security, and Minister for Local Government and Planning respectively. The Prime Minister resists calls to appoint Eric Heffer and Judith Hart to Cabinet, however.

There are also many continuities from the Wilson era. Roy Mason remains as Secretary of State for Defence, while Fred Mulley remains Secretary of State for Education. Despite expectations that she may retire, Barbara Castle remains Secretary of State for Social Services. The notable right-winger, Eric Varley remains as Secretary of State for Industry, and Shirley Williams as Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection. Merlyn Rees remains as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and John Morris as Secretary of State for Wales. Harold Lever and Reg Prentice both remain in Cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for Overseas Development respectively.
 
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