Unsafe Foundations. A British 1970s Timeline

nezza

Joe Haines: "It was 2.13 in the morning, I remember it well. The phone rang. It was Bernard. Wilson had told Mary that he was feeling unwell. He had been acting oddly all day, speaking slowly during PMQ's and getting rattled when Selwyn Lloyd allowed time to run over.

I raced over to Downing Street to find Bernard, Mary and Marcia in the living quarters. You could hear a pin drop. The door opened and in walked Joe Stone, Wilson's personal doctor.

'He's had a heart flutter'.

Mary took a deep breath and started to sob quietly.

'He wants to see you' said Stone. Mary followed Stone out of the room.

The three of us stood there. Marcia turned to me and started instructing me to write a statement explaining what had happened.

'The hell I will, we say nothing to anyone yet'

If looks could have killed....

Bernard and I retreated to our office. Marcia tried to follow us but I slammed the door in her face

Michael Cockerell "You lied"

JH"Yes, yes I lied and I was right to lie"

MC: "You were the Prime Minister's press agent and you told a pack of lies to the media with the statement you made that morning. You said that Wilson had the flu when the truth was he had had a heart flutter, why?

JH: "We were in a bloody mess, the coalition was fractured, the pound was not just on the floor but through the floor, Benn and his cronies were howling like banshees. If the news had got out that Wilson had had heart problems then everything would have gone to pieces and there was no way that Thorpe was going to swan in to Downing Street and take over"

MC: "Even though Thorpe was Deputy Prime Minister"

JH:" It was just a title, it didn't mean what it means now."

The Downing Street Patient 2004
 
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nezza

"I was not surprised by the result of the referendum. The British people have been lied to about the full conpiratorial nature of the EEC. This is not the end. Far from it"

Benn 9th June 1975
 

nezza

"Compared to what came before and what came after the period just after the referedum was dull. It was as if normality had regained its grip on the country. Two of the unsung heroes of the coaltion were Michael Foot and Alan Beith. One of the Liberal's conditions for staying in the government was the adoption into law of worker participation. Despite being from different parties and differing ideologies their innate good manners and willingness to work together certainly smoothed the path towards what could be claimed to be one of the biggest piece of legislation of that time. The Management and Staff Co-Operation at Work Act 1976 was alongside the various employment acts in its importance in changing workplace practices in the UK forever."

(Cole 1995)
 

JamesHunter

nezza said:
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Frankly its inevitable and can't be averted by any real POD that sees Labour winning in 1974. Probably best he goes quietly before the illness gets to far gone. That said of course until the truth comes out some (as OTL) may assume he's deserted a potentially sinking ship.
 

nezza

"Why did Wllson resign? That's a question I've asked myself for years. The official answer was that he was in the early stages of the Alzheimers that has reduced him to a shadow. But the conspiracy theories still abound. One is that he was leading a commuist cell within Downing Street, another claimed documents had been stolen from his desk that would reveal a huge scandal whilst a third stated that he had a million pounds in uncut diamonds from South Africa in a safe at Downing Street.

I personally believe that he was ill and that the first signs of the illness was becoming evident in the early 1970's. Bernard Donaghue told me many years later that Wilson's famous memory was showing signs of decline and he was becoming more irritable. One story surrounded how Wilson had forgot to recommened an honour for a civil servant and when he realised he had tears in his eyes.

We don't know exactly when Wilson was diagnosed but if it was before he formed the coalition in 1974 then it was a courageous step. Whatver you may think about Harold Wilson and there are many opinions his leaving of Downing Street in 1976 endowed him with nobility and a certain reverance that he was prepared to put the country that he loved over his own health.

(Cole 1995)
 

nezza

For speed's sake I'll simply lift the OTL results into this TL

Jim Callaghan beat Michael Foot in the third ballot to be named Labour Leader

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SELECTED CABINET POSITIONS
Prime Minister: Jim Callaghan
Foreign Secretary: Tony Crosland
Chancellor: Denis Healey
Home Secretary: Roy Jenkins

European Affairs Secretary: Jeremy Thorpe
Trade and Industry Secretary: David Owen
Education Secretary: David Steel
Prices and Consumer Protection Secretary: Roy Hattersley

Leader Of The House: Michael Foot
Employment Secretary: John Smith
Transport Secretary: Shirley Williams

Energy Secretary: Merlyn Rees
NI Secretary: Roy Mason
 
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nezza

Michael Cockerell "How did you feel when you heard Wilson was to resign?"
Joe Haines "At first I thought 'you bastard, why didn't you tell me' and then I thought 'you poor bastard' I remember Bob Mellish the Chief Whip, a real bruiser in tears"#
MC: I'm looking at you now and you're trying to compose yourself
JH: "Yes, I am, Harold Wilson was a first class prime minister and a first class human being. He saved this country time after time and even though he knew he was ill he had the balls to enter a coalition government with the Liberals and stopped us from going down the drain"
MC: Why did you decide not to stay on as Jim Callaghan's press secretary?"
JH: Its because Jim had Tom McCaffrey, a brilliant press secretary himself"
MC: "What is your impression of Bernard Donaghue"
JH: "We had a lot of disagreements between '74 and '76 but I respected him then and still do"

(The Downing Street Patient 2004)
 

nezza

"Some say that Jim Callaghan was a bully, a bruiser. Those who said that didn't understand the man. Yes he could be brusque with people but that brusqueness was born out of a sense of desire. Here was a man who's father died while was still young and who had to rely on charity. He said to me years later that if he was direct then it was because he wanted to make sure that those who had little didn't lose what they had.

Jim came to power not just with a wealth of exprience has the only politician of modern times to have been Chancellor, Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary but also of being in the heat of the coaltion government. He and Thorpe had got on reasonably well during their time at the Foreign Office but now he was Prime Minister it was set to be very different."

(Cole 1995)
 

nezza

Michael Cockerell: "When Jim Callaghan took over as Prime Minister what kind of pressure did he feel"
Bernard Donaghue: "As far as I can recall he was feeling no pressure. There was a certain emotional element to him after all he had just risen to the highest office in the land. He was quite calm and almost lacksadasical after all he'd been a regular in Downing Street for the past 10 to 15 years. I remember he and i sat in the cabinet room with Tom Macaffery his press secretary and he said to me that 'I haven't got Harold's brain and I do have my own ideas about things but I do need help'. That to me was a sign that he was prepared to reach out and disregard any feelings of superiority. As a results we worked very well together"

MC: "Why wasn't Tony Benn restored to the cabinet"
BD: "Jim knew that there was a lot of trouble to come. The economy was still in dire straits and Denis Healey had made it clear to him that help had to be sought from the IMF. The last thing he wanted, needed or even deserved was anyone stirring up dissent in the cabinet"

(How To Be Prime Minister, BBC, 1996)
 

nezza

"When in March 1976 the government lost the vote of the Public Expenditure White Paper on the floor of the Commons two things became clear as far as I was concerned. Firstly the selfish, stupid actions of the left wing proved to me that they were not Labour in their soul. Secondly it made the IMF loan inevitable. Yes, it was a humiliation but it was also the beginning of a change in this country's path"

(Denis Healey "The Time Of My Life" 1989)
 

sarahz

nezza said:
"When in March 1976 the government lost the vote of the Public Expenditure White Paper on the floor of the Commons two things became clear as far as I was concerned. Firstly the selfish, stupid actions of the left wing proved to me that they were not Labour in their soul. Secondly it made the IMF loan inevitable. Yes, it was a humiliation but it was also the beginning of a change in this country's path"

(Denis Healey "The Time Of My Life" 1989)
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Of course OTL this was actually a stand by facility, which was not actually drawn upon, so a garauntee rather than an actual loan, although the non labour press liked to obscure the difference.
 

nezza

sarahz said:
Of course OTL this was actually a stand by facility, which was not actually drawn upon, so a garauntee rather than an actual loan, although the non labour press liked to obscure the difference.
Click to expand...


It was indeed and in this TL it will have huge consequences for Callaghan.
 

nezza

"Roy Jenkins was the lynchpin of the Callaghan government. Now that's a bold statement but it's the truth. Callaghan was less enamoured of Thorpe than Wilson was. Again it has some personal roots. Callaghan wasn't homophobic but his views of them were slightly dimmer. It's claimed that Jim wasn't even aware of gays until he was well into adulthood. I find that very hard to believe.

Roy Jenkins was the bridge between Labour and the Liberals. It was said that the "little chats" that Jenkins and Thorpe consisted mainly of Roy passing messages and ideas between Wilson/Callaghan and Thorpe.

Its rumoured that during one disagreement that Jenkins told Wilson that if things didn't go a certain way then he, the Liberals and a "smattering" of centrist Labour MP's would cross the floor of the Commons and form a new party. I could never get that confirmed or denied. But within a few weeks of Jim settling in at Number 10 he would need that unity more than ever"

(Cole 1995)
 

JamesHunter

nezza said:
"Roy Jenkins was the lynchpin of the Callaghan government. Now that's a bold statement but it's the truth. Callaghan was less enamoured of Thorpe than Wilson was. Again it has some personal roots. Callaghan wasn't homophobic but his views of them were slightly dimmer. It's claimed that Jim wasn't even aware of gays until he was well into adulthood. I find that very hard to believe.

Roy Jenkins was the bridge between Labour and the Liberals. It was said that the "little chats" that Jenkins and Thorpe consisted mainly of Roy passing messages and ideas between Wilson/Callaghan and Thorpe.

Its rumoured that during one disagreement that Jenkins told Wilson that if things didn't go a certain way then he, the Liberals and a "smattering" of centrist Labour MP's would cross the floor of the Commons and form a new party. I could never get that confirmed or denied. But within a few weeks of Jim settling in at Number 10 he would need that unity more than ever"

(Cole 1995)
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Forewarned about the SDLP? That's useful, hopefully if the purge of the Marxist left can be moved up a decade it can either be avoided or they're the ones who bugger off and the Lib Lab pact can merge into a permanent centre left party.
 

nezza

JamesHunter said:
Forewarned about the SDLP? That's useful, hopefully if the purge of the Marxist left can be moved up a decade it can either be avoided or they're the ones who bugger off and the Lib Lab pact can merge into a permanent centre left party.
Click to expand...


Everything comes to they who wait...

MC: " What are your recollections of the IMF discussions"

BD: "It was both the highlight of Jim's style of government and the best of the cabinet model. Jim and Denis were of the opinion that the loan was needed but he also knew that despite Benn being out of the Cabinet there was still a left-wing element in the cabinet. Jim chose to act as an impartial judge, an honest broker if you will. He allowed both sides Healey and Shore (probably acting as Benn's proxy) to explain their plans and answer questions. I will admit now that before the discussions Jim asked my self and the Policy Unit to prepare questions for the more moderate pro-loan ministers in order to poke holes in to the anti-loan factions' arguments. I remember Jeremy Thorpe asking the unit's questions as well as his own with his usual customary flourish.

There were 8 solid days of discussions. From 9AM to 6PM the cabinet discussed the options, questioned the pros and cons of both arguments and at the end of the discussions they agreed to apply for the loan. It was a masterpiece of cabinet government. Something which perhaps be used more often today"
 

nezza

16th December 1976
BBC Radio 4 News at 6PM

"Good Evening. Within the last few minutes three Labour MP's have resigned from the party and have announced the formation of a new political group"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The press conference to introduce "The True Socialists" was unlike anything that I have experienced up until that point. On College Green outside parliament on a freezing cold December day Tony Benn, Eric Heffer and Dennis Skinner stood on a platform surrounded by the likes of Arthur Scargill, the actress Glenda Jackson and a multitude of trade unionists.

Benn said the formation of the party was a direct response to as he saw it 'the outright betrayal of the British socialist movement by the centre and right coalition that has humiliated the UK by going cap in hand to the IMF.

The aims of TTS were simple
1. A total withdrawal from the EEC and NATO
2.All industries to be nationalised
3. The TUC and Labour to form a coalition to provide 'a true socialist solution' to the nation's issues
4. 80% of all the UK's manufacturing needs to be made in the UK
5. A constitution and bill of right to check 'the untrammelled power of those who seek to control and manipulate the nation

After the conference I was at my desk at The Observer when I received a phone call from a Conservative MP who was chuckling with glee. 'we've got the bastards now' he started"

(Cole 1995)
 
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