Harold Wilson

Latest news on harold wilson

George Osborne claims UK economy is 'worst prepared' in world for recession

George Osbourne today dismissed criticism that he lacked judgment in predicting a run on the pound, insisting it was his job to tell "the truth about the British economy".The shadow Chancellor was forced to defend himself after Labour aides and small business organisations accused him of talking down sterling despite a convention that politicians do not predict currency collapses. Kenneth Clarke, the man some MPs now want to replace Osborne, had to ride to his rescue, insisting his words were "perfectly sensible".In an interview in yesterday's Times, Osborne warned that excessive government borrowing to shore up the economy meant there was a risk of "a proper sterling collapse, a run on the pound".Labour officials said it was "unbelievable" that Osborne would discuss the weakness of sterling at such a sensitive time, arguing that his remarks could be the catalyst for a run on the pound that would make it harder for the Bank of England to cut interest rates. "What he said could result in the very outcome he was warning about," said a senior government official.Stephen Alambritis from the Federation of Small Businesses warned: "It is important that politicians rally together at times like these and do not use terms like 'run on the pound'."Asked about his actions on this morning's Andrew Marr show on BBC1, Osborne rejected the criticism."My job as shadow chancellor is to tell the British people the truth about the British economy. The truth that it is the worst prepared economy in the world for recession," he said."The truth that we have got the highest personal debt in the world. The truth that the pound has fallen by a record amount against other currencies."I am telling the public the truth and that is the job of elected politicians, particularly opposition politicians, in difficult times."Asked whether he felt secure in his position given that the Tory leader, David Cameron, had failed so far to publicly support him on the issue, Osborne said: "I feel absolutely sure that I am doing the right thing now, making the right calls on the economy."Osborne made his comments on the pound as Gordon Brown used his appearance at an international economic summit in Washington to showcase what is expected to be a multi-billion-pound package of tax cuts for low and middle earners, coupled with public spending to kick-start the economy.The Conservatives, Osborne said this morning, were "totally serious about fiscal responsibility, about not taking risks with public money, about not storing up a mountain of debt and a tax bombshell that will damage out economy in the future".With a YouGov poll for today's Sunday Times showing that the Tory lead over Labour has narrowed to five points, its lowest in comparable polls this year, the shadow Chancellor's future could depend on the currency markets. If the pound - which sank to a 13-year low on Friday - plummets further this week he risks being blamed.Brown, who hinted that people could start feeling the benefit of his fiscal package even before Christmas, dismissed claims it would damage the economy, although he avoided discussing any impact on sterling. "People are looking to politicians to be responsible and to show leadership," he said.After the Washington summit of 20 nations, the Prime Minister said: "There was widespread agreement that at a time like this when the world faces huge uncertainty ... this is the time you need to support our economies."Plans under consideration to inject cash into the ailing economy and help the victims of a downturn include proposals to build more council housing to help those who have their homes repossessed. Figures this week from the Council of Mortgage Lenders are expected to show another sharp rise in repossessions, while Whitehall officials estimate evictions by banks will add 9,000 people to council-house waiting lists this year.The falling pound is a concern because it creates pressure to keep interest rates high and makes commodities priced in dollars more expensive to import. It is also a sign of dwindling investor confidence in a country.Clarke insisted last night that there was no convention preventing politicians discussing currency movements: "The foreign exchange markets had already made their minds up about the pound, regardless of any political comment. Gordon Brown reminds me of Harold Wilson blaming the weakness of sterling on people 'selling the pound short' when it had already been weakened by his government's own policies."However the row has not helped Osborne's reputation, already weakened by the controversial meetings with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and the lukewarm reception for his own economic proposals. Yesterday Tory party donor Lord Kalms, a supporter of former shadow Home Secretary David Davis, demanded that Osborne be replaced as shadow Chancellor by Davis.George OsborneGordon BrownEconomic policyConservativesCurrenciesInterest ratesCredit crunchguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Alan Rusbridger reflects on the legacies of Hugo Young following the publication of the legendary columnist's papers

On July 21 1997, Tony Blair, Hugo Young and I met for tea in the garden of Number 10. The prime minister was reasonably assiduous in talking things over with columnists and editors and on this day we chatted in the summer sun for 90 minutes or so. A couple of days later an immaculate record of the meeting arrived in the post from Hugo. He had taken no notes during the conversation - but here it was in perfect summary. It was the first time I perceived this particular facet of Hugo's distinction as a political columnist. I had often seen him asking penetrating questions - questions that hinted at the quality of Hugo's mind, accumulated knowledge and intellect - but I'd never before seen how he systematically noted and ordered his reporting. His columns, first for the Sunday Times and from 1984 onwards for the Guardian, were like icebergs: readers saw a sunlit tip of crystal argument. They may have guessed but they never truly saw what lay beneath. When Hugo died in 2003 he left behind more than 30 years of meticulous notes of lunches, phone calls and briefings with the great players of the age. Each set had been typed up as soon as he returned to his study, while the detail of a conversation was still fresh. Any policeman or lawyer will tell you of the value of contemporaneous notes. Historians of modern British politics would have formed a queue around the block from his home in London's Christchurch Hill for access to those files. Here was a dilemma; aside from a few general exchanges at social events most of the conversations had to be considered off the record. One option would have been to destroy the papers. But it had been Hugo's stated wish that they be preserved, at the very least for the benefit of scholars, though he gave no clear instructions about the circumstances, or timescale, under which they could be used. Modern-day politics operates in the uncertain twilight domain of not quite public, not quite private. Since Richard Crossman and Tony Benn there has been a torrent of diaries from people in British public life. Time frames have become compressed: where once it was considered decent to wait 30 years before opening the filing cabinets to public scrutiny, the main players now rush to do deals before their market - or simple curiosity - value fades. The Blair government has already been chronicled by a swarm of the participants - political, diplomatic and mandarin. Robin Cook, Mo Mowlam, Clare Short, Alastair Campbell, David Blunkett, Jonathan Powell, Christopher Meyer, Cherie Blair, Giles Radice and John Prescott are among those who have published inside accounts of Tony Blair's time in power - and Blair is working on his own version. Margaret Thatcher, John Major and Paddy Ashdown and a host of others have contributed to a small library of memoirs of life in government and opposition. Freedom of Information legislation now allows journalists more or less immediately to prise open some doorways into public life that used to be sealed for decades. Today, even the 30-year rule that once delayed the release of the vast bulk of public documents is being reviewed. But where does this new freedom for politicians and their associates to tell all leave journalists? Every day, politicians tell journalists things that are "unattributable", on "lobby terms", "for guidance only" or "off the record". Their motives may be mixed - from misleading and spinning via persuasion and advocacy to enlightening and informing. Some journalists (and not a few readers) nurse anxieties about the amount of information which is not clearly attributable. Most journalists appreciate the trade off: they can often get the reader closer to what is actually happening if they can disguise their sources. A journalist who keeps a meticulous record of who unattributably said what at a particular moment creates an archive of potential significance. Where that journalist is a figure of Hugo's distinction and access, the archive grows into something historically important. After Hugo's death, a small group of his family and friends met to resolve the issue. It would have been unthinkable either to destroy Hugo's papers or to place them immediately in the public domain. The collection was taken to the Guardian archive, which had been established with Hugo's enthusiastic support, and, after cataloguing, a decision was taken to publish extracts from the papers so long as every living participant in the off-the-record conversations was traced and gave permission.It's fair to say that a small number of Hugo's former confidantes thought that his papers should be kept under lock and key. Some considered that a fundamental accord between politicians and the fourth estate would be broken if the former believed their off-the-record conversation would ever be made public.The overwhelming majority of those we contacted were, however, perfectly relaxed about publication, though some asked for minor passages to be excised. "It was off the record at the time," a distinguished former cabinet minister rang me to say, "but I'm happy for it to be published now. But can you take out one sentence about X. I stand by it, but he is currently very unwell and I have no wish to add to his family's unhappiness at the moment."Many were surprised that Hugo had recorded their long-forgotten exchanges but several declared themselves "fascinated" to be reminded. Some had quibbles about use of language ("I think Hugo was para-phrasing what I said") or small details of fact. But most were pleased that their exchanges with Hugo should now see the light of day; some even offered their help decoding his cryptic abbreviations. Even among the minority who declined, a few apologised for doing so. "If I were out of government, I wouldn't hesitate to greenlight this," said one.There are precedents. All of CP Scott's diaries and letters and notes have been in the public domain for decades. Anyone can read his encounters and correspondence with Lloyd George, Kerensky, Churchill, Woodrow Wilson, Lord Curzon, Lord Smuts, Ramsay MacDonald. Similarly Alastair Hetherington, editor of the Guardian between 1956 and 1975, bequeathed all his papers to the LSE. His diaries record that he had 99 deeply off-the-record meetings with Harold Wilson, 54 of them during Wilson's premierships. Many of them took place with no one else in the room: Wilson talked about the major issues of the day, including Rhodesia, Vietnam, Profumo, the Middle East, nuclear defence, the timing of general elections and future Cabinet appointments. An interesting thesis remains to be written comparing these exchanges with contemporary public pronouncements and the paper's coverage of the "official" story. Political memoirs are written with hindsight. The value of Hugo Young's papers is that we glimpse what politicians thought at the time; what was happening behind scenes, or what they thought was happening. That might be quite different from the contemporary narrative that was publicly available or from the narrative subsequently constructed with half an eye on history. Besides this, the papers contain a lesson for all aspiring - and practising - journalists in seeing how a great writer and reporter such as Hugo worked. The diligent taking of notes helped make Hugo the formidable commentator he was. Collectively they make the case for the eternal value of reporting. The Guardian's centenary history makes the claim that Peterloo [as recorded by the Manchester Guardian's founder, John Edward Taylor] "is the debut of the reporter in English public life". Hugo's work stands in that tradition.Politicsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Wilson 'had Alzheimer's when PM'

An analysis of former Prime Minister Harold Wilson's speeches suggests he may have had early Alzheimer's disease while still in office.

Former minister Lord Thomson dies

Lord George Thomson, a minister in Harold Wilson's government and chair of the Independent Broadcasting Authority, dies.