Harold Wilson by Ben Pimlott & Peter Hennessy

Harold Wilson by Ben Pimlott & Peter Hennessy

Author:Ben Pimlott & Peter Hennessy [Pimlott, Ben & Hennessy, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Autobiography, Biography, Historical, Non-Fiction, Political
ISBN: 9780008182625
Google: zi1bCwAAQBAJ
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Published: 2016-03-09T16:00:00+00:00


Callaghan’s subsequent account suggests that what Brown told Wilson may have been seriously misleading. Though the First Secretary had ‘broached the subject in his most sober and impressive mood’, declaring that Britain’s destiny lay with Europe and he wanted a devaluation to secure a quick entry, he did not succeed in getting the Chancellor’s agreement. Callaghan had stressed the need for a severe deflation to follow a devaluation, which Brown had refused to accept.37 If this recollection is accurate, the position was much less threatening than the premier imagined. Nevertheless, Wilson allowed himself to become seriously alarmed; he was aware that, even if the Chancellor was only wavering, his own stance was in jeopardy. Suddenly, there was the spectre of a joint opposition to everything he stood for – the parity, the US relationship, East of Suez, the Commonwealth. Creative tension was about to give way to creative insurrection. It was not something he dared tolerate.

Coldly, he expressed his disagreement to Brown. He did not, however, speak to Callaghan immediately, and have it out with him. Instead, he appears not to have questioned the First Secretary’s word before the triumvirate met together, when it became clear either that Brown had misconstrued the Chancellor’s attitude, or that Callaghan had shifted ground once again.38 At this meeting, Callaghan indicated that he was by no means set on a change in the parity. But it also became clear that he was not as solidly opposed to a voluntary devaluation as he had once been. The premier now formed the impression that Callaghan was liable to move in whichever direction the strongest wind blew.39

Callaghan gives his own version of what had now become the three, differing opinions within the triumvirate:

the Prime Minister was opposed to devaluation but understandably disliked being pushed by irrational foreign exchange markets and speculators into taking action that he believed was unnecessarily harmful to the domestic economy. The First Secretary had turned in favour of immediate devaluation, and therefore tactically opposed any fiscal or other measure that might prevent it. I was strongly against devaluation, and believed it could be avoided, but I reluctantly concluded that our lack of action was rendering it inevitable.40



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