Labour Party - Harold Wilson interview - Common Market - 1975 

Huh? I can assure you that England was in Vietnam.

he sold out Rhodesia, fuck him

@Daniel Clark Clark They were certainly "special", crazed killers. We trained with English soldiers in Vietnam. Some told me that they were fighting for the wrong side. They just wanted to kill Catholics. Most English soldiers were fighting against the Catholics, prior to going to Vietnam.

@Soumyakanti Panda nah, just didn't want the white Rhoedsia to be lost

SugarTomAppleRoger you Sir, are a total Cretan .

Long Island NY....I am fascinated with Britain’s political system, yes after watching the crown season three I’m looking everything up as possible on the Prime Minister, I find it fascinating again

Yes me too!!

I had chills when I heard that voice, he nailed that voice

John Hayes Bohemia Our systems weird, The Queen is the boss but then the PM can also boss the Queen around so technically they’re the boss who knows😂😂😂

Will Edwards Yes spot on . I watched The Crown last week and was amazed at the accuracy of the portrayal of Wilson.

British soldiers served in Vietnam.

​@@MarkHarrison733 Certainly British soldiers served in French Indo China & only British Special Forces served in Vietnam.

@@jamesmonaghan6843 British soldiers served in Vietnam during Wilson's premiership, and the RAF dropped supplies to the American forces.

@@MarkHarrison733 A small "yes" and a big "no"! I will repeat a small number of British soldiers served in Vietnam during Wilson's premiership, and I repeat the RAF dropped supplies to the American forces. Harold Wilson did not commit to Vietnam as LBJ & the Yanks wished. My American cousins did serve in Vietnam but thanks to Harold Wilson no one living in Britain including myself had to go to Vietnam & fight.

@@jamesmonaghan6843 2,000 British soldiers fought in Vietnam. The Conservatives were strongly against sending troops due to the Suez Crisis. Powell stopped Wilson's attempt to send more men.

Quite right. However this was a time when mainstream politicians didn't bullshit themselves through interviews like they do now.

I think because we know politicians lie so much or give an answer to deflect the question. Journalists have to keep asking the same question repeatedly to get a straight answer

@@dantory1 It's the fact that politicians used to talk more seriously about governance, now they speak in simple messages and sound bites because they discovered how little time the public spends caring about politics.

That's because he isn't lieing

daniel clarke they were also given a lot more slack by the press

Wal---she missed her dear old dad, you see, and saw old Wilson as a chummy substitute

I rather think she doesn't give s toss what the PM is saying unless it relates to cutting taxpayer funding of the House of Hapsburg, or better still having the balls of the French people and doing away, quite rightly, with the monarchy and aristocracy

Only one she's ever call by name instead of Mr/Mrs

Apparently its well known in palace circles that the Queen has never got on with those PMs who have come from a privileged background especially 'Supermac', Eden, Dodgy Dave Cameron and Major Disaster (aka Boris Johnson). Not suprising really considering what they put her and her subjects through e.g. Profumo, Suez, austerity, brexit and an illegal proroguing of parliament. The exception being Churchill of course. Odd really considering that those eton-educated PMs and the Queen probably do not come from a too disimilar backgrounds.

@@fman02 you’re bitter aren’t you

Precisely

--because they give the WRONG answer

@@MrDaiseymay But Corbyn wasn't even able to finish a question. He was mocked for saying let me finish a lot but that was because he was never able to finish.

@@MrThorfan64 If only Corbyn loved his country and stood up for his country he would have been a great leader.

@@andrewclark8630you can disagree with someone’s politics, but it seems silly to guess that they don’t “love their country”. Honestly, it’s that sort of weird party tribalism that’s part of the problem with politics now.

He has been dead for 26 years John.

Great Britain needs you Harold Wilson, Harry will you please come home

Indeed it was

Daniel Clark Clark Wasn’t labour in power in 70s?

@@joestewart-paul7181 The good old days!

@@z0770z They truly were!

Yes, they were liars then too. 16:40 - "We don't have to pay more for food as a result of being in the market".

Theresa May was the epitome of somebody exposed as being in the wrong job and painfully lying to themself about it. Being 'better than Corbyn' wasn't saying much.

These old school politicians were something else entirely. So articulate, so dignified, just so well informed and generally _smart_ even though it was harder and more onerous to gather information in those days. We have dumbed down severely. I remember the early-mid 90s and back then even the chavs and criminals were more polite and articulate, swore less, had a better level of general education and had more common sense and general knowledge.

Wilson was an Oxford Don at the age of 21. Intellectually, he didn't have anything to prove. Current leaders seem to struggle to justify their own existence. Boris Johnson would not have a chance faced with the intellect and wit of Harold Wilson or Denis Healey. This tory government is (literally) getting away with murder. Quote: " I'd rather see bodies piled high..." !

Absolutely CORRECT and true

Hardly.

He had a very sharp mind which was sadly robbed by the onset of Alzheimer's.

@@prben2 it was a sad fate for a man who, in comparison with today’s third-rate chancers, was a pretty competent politician. I’m not a socialist or even a Labour voter, but this summer will be visiting St Mary’s in the Scilly Isles and will visit his grave there.

*Cleverest* 😂 Britbongs are more fucking stupid than Americans, yet they think they're smarter; Wilson fucked your economy, your future, mining shit happened because of him.

It's clearly a pipe.

It's a pipe. Cigar is what Churchill used.

@@rogerpenroset.blaine4233 Wilson smoked expensive cigars in private.

Me too.

Haha I'm labour all the way, but think it's so important to have decent debate and swap sides from time to time so we don't end up veering to one extreme (which I think we're doing under the current tories)...

I’m a Conservative member but I like patriotic Old Labour. Labour has made many important developments to our way of life since 1945. If only we had a patriotic Labour today.

@@violinstar5948 I'd say Corbyn is very much old labour - he epitomises it, esp if you look beyond the media spin

@@OnTheLooseGoose Corbyn is the epitome of old labour opposition. He's like a relic from the 1980s.

I listened more at the time and I can assure you he and his government were unworthy of your support!

I suppose you preferred Edward Heath and his complete shambles of a government, now that was a total disaster.

Me too! But he committed a big mistake to let Jim Callaghan and his kin (Dennis Healey and the like) to succeed him. That mistake cost us Thatcher 's inferno.

daniel clarke I know many people who flirted with voting remain, but couldn't bear to allow Cameron's squalid campaign to triumph.

daniel clarke Cameron doesn't know what time of day it is.

Wilson was NEUTRAL in the 1975 referendum. He didn't campaign.

@@conveyor2 The interview clearly manifests his position as pro-EEC, but I think you're right in the implication that he didn't want to highlight the issue lest his Cabinet sundered.

@@wystanisles4094 It was not a Party Political event, and why people thought it was defeats me!!

My late grandad won the Churchill travelling fellowship award in 1983. He met James Callaghan too

@King Royal why was he a disaster? I wasn’t around then. I am genuinely curious, but the “unelectable for 30 years” comment is sensationalist and emotional. He hasn’t been involved in politics in my lifetime.

​@King Royal Can you elaborate? What policies? Because Labour was elected again within 30 years - James Callaghan, who paid the price for overbearing trade unions more so than failed policies. Then Thatcher came in and fucked up more than Wilson and Callaghan combined.

@King Royal They may not have won a GE in the truest sense, but they secured sufficient seats to force a hung parliament and Heath refused to play ball. I wouldn't take that to mean the people felt Labour was unelectable. I'm still curious to know which policies though? It seemed to have more to do with Unions having Callaghan's nuts in a vice than anything else.

@King Royal Nobody had a majority, which is why Heath was in talks to form a coalition in the first place. This is bias being presented as fact.

tubularbill Keeping the Labour Party of the 70s together would definitely have taken its toll.

Being labour leader for 13 years would certainly do that.

Prime minister 1964-1970 and then again 1974-1976 ... that's enough to age anyone.

@James Henderson He later had Alzheimer's, and many people felt that he was showing the very first signs of it then, which was partly the reason which led him to resign in 1976

I think people just looked older then.

He sent troops to Vietnam.

What troops did Harold Wilson send to Vietnam?

Precisely. Given our current leadership the difference is STARK.

@@andrewcraig-bennett3659 The SAS served in Vietnam, along with 2,000 British soldiers. The RAF delivered supplies to American forces.

I thought he was liked by the Brits? Not as much as Churchill, Attlee or MacMillan, but certainly up there.

@@DieGamerAG Nope, Brits blamed him overwhelmingly and primarily for the 1970s. He's quite liked by historians but very much disliked by the average Brit who drank the Thatcherite propaganda kool-aid. There's actually a lot of criticism that he deserves and can be given (I have big issues with him myself seeing as I'm from Ireland) but he is definitely a cut above the overwhelming majority of British PMs

British troops served in Vietnam.

@@edmiliband2806 Wilson was a Soviet agent, like Foot.

And he was right to

Tried?

@@simonlaw9234 It continued to increase during his premiership.

@@simonlaw9234 It's why Labour lost the local elections in 1968, and the GE in 1970.

It was Attlee who did that.

flashtheoriginal w

My late grandad met james Callaghan

The EEC a false promise???? He says it is vital to the UK and it has been!!

Gak ada fotonya

Dia benci dengan trump. Makanya meninggal😂

Neither did Harold Wilson.

Great prime minister Harold Wilson was

I remember how much venom and hatred was directed at Wilson at the time iby the public in the 70s. It was unrelenting. Forty five years later he has all but become sanctified. Johnson is dealing with a crisis which no peacetime PM has had to deal with in 100 years and in a time when contempt for politicians along with complete abrogation of personal responsibility has become the norm.

@@phillipecook3227 But BJ is clearly a corrupt scumbag and a snake oil salesman, who is manifestly dishonest and revels in saying ridiculous things. He is blatantly corrupt and spends his time making sneering mockeries of the Opp. He outright boasted of taking it on the chin.

BJ a real disgrace for UK

There are some good radio debates where he puts Margaret Thatcher in her place. I think it was in the BBC archives don’t know if it’s still there.

He had Thatcher in his back pocket so I'm led to believe.

@@seang2700 And our food is more expensive than in continental Europe anyway.

@@seang2700 Payback time as Wilson handed out 30-40% pay increases to the miners and public sector unions. July 1975, UK inflation hit 27% - highest ever and then a visit to the IMF in '76 for a huge bail-out. Wilson has to take the blame.

Pfft. Both he and Callaghan went to grammar schools, which they then trashed in government, kicking away the ladder for working class children like themselves. He also lied here about food prices not being higher because of the common market - it was an expressed policy of the common market to artificially inflate food prices to encourage farmers to produce a surplus. I can't see why the working man should call him a friend.

He never had a hard days labour in his life

@@kaidenhall2718 Not true. He had a childhood full of needs, his parents were in deep financial troubles. So yes, at least at the beginning of his career he was a true working class mate, like most of the Atlee government.

We should never have joined the EU in 1993 without a referendum.

@@MarkHarrison733 We joined the EU in 1973, the change from EEC to EU was all mapped out by the founding Treaty of Rome 1957; a staged process of ever closer political and economic integration!! Thats what we signed up to in 1973!! Read: "The Treaty of Rome, or EEC Treaty (officially the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community), brought about the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC), the best known of the European Communities (EC). The treaty was signed on 25 March 1957 by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany, and it came into force on 1 January 1958. Originally the "Treaty establishing the European Economic Community", and now continuing under the name "Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union", it remains one of the two most important treaties in what is now the European Union (EU). The treaty proposed the progressive reduction of customs duties and the establishment of a customs union. It proposed to create a single market for goods, labour, services, and capital across member states. It also proposed the creation of a Common Agriculture Policy, a Common Transport Policy and a European Social Fund and established the European Commission. The treaty has been amended on several occasions since 1957. The Maastricht Treaty of 1992 removed the word "economic" from the Treaty of Rome's official title, and in 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon renamed it the "Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union"." It was always far more than a trade arrangment!! Heath made that clear in 1973!! We simply forgot!!

@@bryangeake5826 Heath lied to parliament about the loss of sovereignty.

@@bryangeake5826 The UK never wanted to join in the first place.

@@MarkHarrison733 More Brexiteer historical revisonism!! We kept on applying!! De Gaul kept us out, until Health won the argument in 1970 with the Tory manefesto to apply to the EEC/EU by invoking Article 49, he wone the general election on that mandate, and we went in in 1973, and then we had a confirmitory referendum in 1975 and Remain won by 67%!!!

Not conscripted like Australians.

He still provided logistical support to the US in that brutal war.

@James Henderson "illegally invaded Egypt,"? Only after Nasser illegally took control ofd the Suez Cannel. "The outside figure was some 25000, Mau Mau dead (I know the Kenyan movement claim over a 100,000 but then they would wouldn't they. Given the Kenyan population is some 50,000,000 I think you are somewhat over egging your own genocide pudding . "and used Agent Orange in Malaysia"? I was also aware of that. It is also true the UK actual develop the initial anti foliate that became known has agent orange but it use was very limited scale and unlike in Vietnam was effective in helping to defeat the communist take over of Malaysia so in using it many innocent lives were saved. Now tell me about Cyprus, Aden and Northern Ireland;

We all know you love pipe.

He didn’t even like pipes that much he loved the cigars but those are a capitalist symbol so he smoked a pipe in public

He had colon cancer as well as Alzheimer's by 1975. Wilson enabled genocide in Biafra.

1974/5 caved in to public sector unions, Labour's paymasters. Sparked off shocking inflation at 27% in June, 1975.... highest ever in UK history. Four years later, it was still 10%. An era of striking, anarchy unions and economic stagnation. UK in the knacker's yard by 1979.

Is this supposed to wouldn’t

The common market was different to the true start of the federation in the 1990s

Wilson enabled genocide.

Kieran Penrose A plot by Lord Mountbatten?

cheng Sunny the plot against Harold Wilson

@@s20031102 mount batten was a german spy .

@@bazrobb6242 I doubt a father figure to the prince of Wales was a German spy

I thought that was a conspiracy theory. do you have a link to any articles or literature about it?

?

@@andybray9791 Ted Heath took us into the common market telling us lakes of wine, beef mountain, how much better off we would be, all lies. Boris Johnson said he would take us out of the EU and 2 weeks later on Christmas Eve that's what he said, but the deal he actually got was so bad, it would have been cheaper to have stayed in. Do you actually do any sort of research or are you you simply trying to get me going 🤔

@@aleccap5946 Maastricht wasn’t a great fit for Britain

@@andybray9791 how on earth did we sign up giving away our NHS in the process I will never know, open borders and making matters worse, migration from outside the EU with nothing in law to protect us ? Seriously who would do that ?

Heath used the ''common market'' as a trojan horse into a federal, political Europe construct..ie..the EU. He badged it up as a free trade agreement. In truth it was a gigantic deceit.

Once we public got word of the Maastricht signing in 1992 we wanted out (well some of us who read it) , tho we not given a referendum. All the treaties after that ruined our nation.

It was a big con by Liar Heath. All explained on The Poisoned Chalice on You Tube. i

He only really won one GE.

He was drinking heavily every day.

A book I read on opposition leaders also points that keeping labour together in the opposition took all the strength out of him. Heaths successful EEC entry really caused splits that forever affect both parties

I think so, definitely. Also, it's worth remembering that the 70s were fairly horrific times politically. The labour party which he led was an absolute mess, and they didn't have a majority in parliament. The stress on him must have been horrific.

Well his answers seem clear enough.

Catweasel would have been amazed as well.

@Sarah Milo It's strange for me to see it. He did it so casually too. There's something so enchanting about it. Like Gandalf.

Shame we can’t do that now

Castle betrayed Labour.

Wilosn was a Soviet agent, like Foot.

@@MarkHarrison733 Really?, are you sure? I don't think so. The big Harold's Wilson mistake was to devaluate the pound on October 1967.

@@joseluisdominguezpereira9299 He was a Soviet agent, like Foot.

Corbyn was a good man & one of the best pm's we never had.

James Henderson And that’s a shame

Yes

@@stevenrobertgill7306 reading your comment now... um well thats not how it played out at all.

@@zombies956 what do you mean? He is a decent man, and he’s not likely to ever be PM. What’s inaccurate?

Harold Wilson is what Jeremy Corbyn wishes he was

It was rigged.

@@JamesRichards-mj9kw How?

@@JamesRichards-mj9kw ...and the 2016 referendum vote wasn't rigged I suppose?

@@bryangeake5826 My grandparents said they did not know of anyone who voted to remain in the right-wing EEC.

@@bryangeake5826 Thankfully Corbyn deliberately sabotaged Remain!

Wilson was a Soviet agent, and he destroyed the UK. There was not full employment, and his social reforms were a complete disaster.

Wilson was a complete disaster.

There are a lot of minuses too. The explosion in criminality started in the 1960s and went up and up through the 70s, 80s and 90s before suddenly and consistently dropping. Things like full employment were a mirage. As Harold Macmillan put it some years earlier, the British public had no idea how much we were living beyond our means. That was reflected in economic crisis after crisis in the 60s, and devaluation under Wilson because the underlying economy was so weak.