His Finest Hour—for How Long?

Back in the unlamented 1960s in Britain, in the sour political atmosphere following the failed 1967 devaluation of the pound, a joke spread rapidly through the governing classes at the expense of the reformist Labour prime minister of the day. It ran simply: “There are two things I dislike about Harold Wilson. His face.”

Wilson, who was a very kind and honorable man in his personal life, had earned a reputation for duplicity because of a series of U-turns he had executed on everything from the exchange rate of sterling to Britain’s membership in the European Economic Community. It led to his gradual political emasculation because he became so distrusted that he was unable to keep together the coalitions needed to push through the moderate pre-Thatcher labor-union reforms he favored. And his name became a byword for dishonesty, cynicism, and what was not then called spin.

About the Author

John O’Sullivan

John O’Sullivan is a senior fellow at National Review Institute and a contributing editor of National Review.

Back in the unlamented 1960s in Britain, in the sour political atmosphere following the failed 1967 devaluation of the pound, a joke spread rapidly through the governing classes at the expense of the reformist Labour prime minister of the day. It ran simply: “There are two things I dislike about Harold Wilson. His face.”

Wilson, who was a very kind and honorable man in his personal life, had earned a reputation for duplicity because of a series of U-turns he had executed on everything from the exchange rate of sterling to Britain’s membership in the European Economic Community. It led to his gradual political emasculation because he became so distrusted that he was unable to keep together the coalitions needed to push through the moderate pre-Thatcher labor-union reforms he favored. And his name became a byword for dishonesty, cynicism, and what was not then called spin.