Our Man in Belfast

[SteveW]

1966 was to prove to be a difficult year for two leaders not far away geographically.

The first was Charles de Gaulle. He had convincingly defeated Francois Mitterrand in December 1965 in the presidential election. However, a more pertinent worry had come from that. Mitterrand himself had only narrowly defeated the mildly centre-right Jean Lecanuet. This gave Lecanuet hope that he could be the eventual standard bearer of the Centre Right, and he began to challenge de Gaulle.

Dissatisifed with Pompidou, de Gaulle sacked him as Prime Minister on the 22nd January 1966 and appointed a war hero, hopeful this would solidify the Right: Jacques Chaban-Delmas.

Meanwhile, in Ireland, another man was trying to keep his troubles quiet. For Sean Lemass, Ireland's greatest Taioseach, was being consumed by lung cancer.

 

[SteveW]

On the 14th February 1966, Megan Lloyd George, MP for Carmarthen, died. It was by-election time. And even more so when, on the 18th February, Henry Solomons of Hull North expired at Westminster Hospital.

Wilson moved the writ for the same day, Thursday 10th March. But he would come to regret this when the Party realised that defending two seats on one day at opposite ends of the country was a serious stretch of their resources.

 

[MrHola]

As I recall correctly, Pompidou was more liberal then De Gaulle himself in some matters. Will his sacking have any effects for UK entry in the EEC?

 

[SteveW]

As I recall correctly, Pompidou was more liberal then De Gaulle himself in some matters. Will his sacking have any effects for UK entry in the EEC?

Yep, might delay it but haven't decided yet. It'll all be interesting thougn(I hope!)

 

[Jape]

Very interesting threat you have here, I've sometimes wondered if the secular Labour (and/or Liberal) groups could have nipped the Troubles in the bud

 

[SteveW]

It is now widely agreed that the Northern Irish Question was the key to the shocks at the by-elections.

The SNP activist Winnie Ewing's article four days before the election, in the Scotsman newspaper, said "If the government trust Ulster to run its own affairs, why not Scotland?" Gwynfor Evans tried a similar tack in Wales in a late surge, as scores of Plaid members headed for Carmarthen.

And thus it was, on the morning of Friday 11th March, that Wilson was woken to be told that Plaid Cymru had come from nowhere to take Carmarthen by 131 votes. But there was worse.

Possibly swayed by a promise by Edward Heath that an incoming Tory government would build a Humber Bridge, a policy belatedly echoed by Labour, Toby Jessel seized Hull North for the Tories-by 9 votes.

 

[SteveW]

On 19th March 1966, Sean Lemass died suddenly of a heart attack, doubtless linked to his heavy smoking. His cancer was killing him anyway. The architect of modern Ireland was gone. Jack Lynch was chosen unopposed to replace him, and pointedly made his first telephone call as leader to James Chichester-Clark. Chichester-Clark, who had met Lemass when he had visited Terence O'Neill, sent his sympathies publicly, which infuriated the hardline DUP types and some UU hardliners, but won plaudits from the Irish press.

The next day, yet more death was to cause trouble. At Glasgow Pollok, Labour's Alexander Garrow passed away. And with the loss at Hull North, Wilson now had a majority of just two. If Pollok were lost, he would be dependent on the casting vote of Dr. Horace King, the Speaker (a Labour man). Things were about to get ugly, and Ulster was about to fade from public consciousness.

 

[SteveW]

The day of nemesis came. In a sensational victory, the Tory Esmond Wright took Glasgow Pollock, sowing panic in the government ranks. On hearing of the loss, he brought the Cabinet into an emergency meeting.

"It was tense", recalls Michael Stewart, then Foreign Secretary. "Wilson was talking of a pact with the Liberals; even with the Ulster Unionists. Irony was, we were on the whole polling well. Callaghan at this point realised that his moment had come".

Callaghan, building on his recently-cultivated image as a man who didn't pull punches, told Wilson in no uncertain terms that a pact with the UU would not be acceptable. Plus, he disliked the Liberals.

 

[Fletch]

This means the Tory decline in Scotland which began in the '64 general election is possibly going to be reversed(they only lost the seat in '64), this would be the result of the Tories regaining a seat like this. It also puts Wilson in a very difficult position.

Methinks he needs a big success and quickly.

 

[SteveW]

The trouble came to a head when Wilson invited Jo Grimond, the Liberal leader, to talks on 22nd April 1966. Dangling the prospect of proportional representation (albeit via a working group to look into it, who would reject it), the Prime Minister tried to entice Grimond into a supply and confidence pact.

On hearing the news, the Agriculture Minister Fred Peart resigned. The same evening, Callaghan stormed into Number Ten, livid. Wilson had told him nothing of these informal talks. In particular, as a representative of a Cardiff seat, Callaghan felt that he had much to fear from PR.

At 8:18 p.m, in time for the evening news bulletins later in the evening, Callaghan gave the following statement to gathered journalists on Downing Street:

"The Prime Minister has seen fit to engage with Jo Grimond in such a way that I believe will damage the Party and the nation. I intend to have no truck with this. I have therefore tonight resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer, with immediate effect".

 

[SteveW]

Quickly rushing Barbara Castle into the Foreign Office as the UK's first female to hold one of the four great offices of state, Wilson tried damage limitation.

Whilst taking advantage of the general political climate, Edward Heath was beginning to explore some more unusual means of breaking Labour down. The most intriguing was a plan submitted by Teddy Goldsmith.

The plan called for a "Big Bang" in the nascent renewable energy sector. Goldsmith convinced the Tory front bench that this could help move away from coal, both freeing Britain from dependence on foreign oil producers and most importantly on the mining unions. In addition, they were less risky than nuclear. The plan called for:

-Major geothermal power sites at Camelford, Wadebridge and Liskeard in Cornwall.
-Secondary geothermal plants at Manchester, Reading, Coventry and Wrexham.
-Investment into British Energy for the purpose of exploratory wind power installation on the east coast.

 

[SteveW]

The government was now in a total and utter bind. The coming bill was the Iron and Steel Bill on nationalising steel. Wilson was already concerned that he would have to use the Speaker to push bills through.

On 28th April 1966, the bill came before the House. The Tories, Liberals and Northern Irish parties smelled blood. Their need for blood was satisfied when Labour rebels Desmond Donnelly and Woodrow Wyatt voted against Wilson as expected.

Edward Heath called for a vote of no confidence in the government. On 29th April, every MP was hunted down to attend, regardless of prior commitments or state of health. Wilson was defeated by one vote (Wyatt voted with him, but Donnelly rebelled).

 

[SteveW]

The Queen granted the dissolution of Parliament the following day, and Wilson called an election. Some suggested a snap election, but he was hoping that a good few weeks of positive coverage would wipe away the problems of recent times.

2nd June 1966 would be the date.

 

[SteveW]

The tension was palpable as the campaign went on. Wilson was doing his best but was shaken by the clear divisions in his camp, and Heath was working hard. The results came in as the night wore on and Labour fingernails were chewed:

Total seats: 630
Labour: 294 (-23)
Conservatives: 321 (+17)
Liberals: 14 (+5)
Plaid Cymru: 1

With a majority of 6, Edward Heath had squeaked into office. It was notable that a number of the gains had been in Wales, where a strong Plaid challenge had split the vote and let the Tories through.

 

[Fletch]

I'm not sure energy would have been as prominent at this stage. Also, any move away from coal could lead to big trouble with the miners, losing the tories support in the traditional mining areas. Unless of course this is talked down. How did the Tories get on in the North of England, South Wales and Scotland?

Whats happened to the NI Parties in Westminster. Have the nationalists as per the course refused their seats?

I'm also unsure of Heath. He was, to put it mildly wooden. Whats going to happen with Wilsons famous white heat? Will it be a return to paternalistic Toryism or an alternative to Wilsons populist and seemingly(at the time) young technocrat style regime?

 

[SteveW]

I'm not sure energy would have been as prominent at this stage. Also, any move away from coal could lead to big trouble with the miners, losing the tories support in the traditional mining areas. Unless of course this is talked down. How did the Tories get on in the North of England, South Wales and Scotland?

Whats happened to the NI Parties in Westminster. Have the nationalists as per the course refused their seats?

I'm also unsure of Heath. He was, to put it mildly wooden. Whats going to happen with Wilsons famous white heat? Will it be a return to paternalistic Toryism or an alternative to Wilsons populist and seemingly(at the time) young technocrat style regime?

Heath was indeed wooden but remember that he managed to defeat a unified Labour party in 1970- here he has edged them out when they're disunited. He will not be here forever.

Energy is not a big plank of this new government, but it will have massive effects in time. It's around this time IOTL that Goldsmith and others were becoming vocal over the environment.

As for the NI parties- I should have put them in but forgot as there was no change. The Nats have indeed not taken their seats.

In terms of psephology, the Tory gains were lucky. They were helped by soft left Labourites going Liberal and Plaid on a surge. Their gains here have been in parts of Wales (split) and the Midlands almost exclusively. And the Midlands has always been the key.

 

[SteveW]

In the meantime, Austria had seen an unusual and groundbreaking election. The populist right-wing DFP, lead by former SPO minister Franz Olah, managed to get over the mandate hurdle of 5% and into Parliament. The seats were:

OeVP: 82 (+1)
SPOe: 70 (-6)
FPOe: 7 (+1)
DFP: 6 (+6)

Out of nowhere, there was now a populist right-wing group in the Nationalrat. Worse, the OeVP was one short of a majority. The Chancellor, Josef Klaus, was unwilling to deal with the DFP.

For the first time ever, the OeVP would go into government with the Freedom Party.

NB: At this point, the Freedom Party is primarily a classical liberal party.

 

[SteveW]

Heath named his Cabinet on 8th June 1966. There were some interesting nominations:

Prime Minister: Edward Heath
Chancellor: Iain MacLeod
Home Secretary: Willie Whitelaw
Foreign Secretary: Sir Alec Douglas-Home
Health and Social Security: Enoch Powell
Education: Reginald Maudling
Transport: Margaret Thatcher
Agriculture: James Prior
Defence: Anthony Barber
Employment: Robert Carr
President of the Board of Trade: George Currie (Ulster Unionist)
Scotland: Gordon Campbell
Wales: Peter Thomas
Duchy of Lancaster: James Prior

 

[MrHola]

An earlier Heath Cabinet? Interesting.

 

[SteveW]

Sorry for the delay, been moving house!