Word: labor
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Wilson carried his own constituency of Huyton, a working-class suburb of Liverpool, by 20,940 votes. Of all the Labor victories, the happiest belonged to Patrick Gordon Walker, whom Wilson had appointed Foreign Secretary in his first Cabinet. But Gordon Walker lost in 1964 in a campaign marred by racism in the Midland town of Smethwick, then lost a "safe" by-election at Leyton last year and had to step down. This time Gordon Walker won Leyton handily, will probably be rewarded with a Cabinet post-perhaps as the minister to explore the possibilities of Britain's entry...
Seldom had so smashing a victory come out of so dull and humdrum a campaign. For three weeks, Britons had barely suppressed yawns as the Conservatives and Laborites exchanged salvos of slogans. Searching for an issue, the Tories attacked Labor for not being eager enough to join the Common Market, for rising prices, for trade-union strong-arm methods, and for just about everything else untoward that has happened in the British Isles for the past 17 months. The Laborites shucked off the attacks, arguing that they had done their best, considering the mess that they had inherited after...
British voters were plainly uninterested in such issues. Hence the campaign centered on personalities: Labor's Harold Wilson against the Conservatives' Ted Heath. The odds were on Wilson. Gone was the reputation as a slippery opportunist that had hurt him in the 1964 election. Instead, though operating with a bare three-seat majority, Wilson had proved to be an able statesman who could handle his own left wing, was not afraid to slap down raise-happy trade unions. In Parliament his acerbic wit and quick thrusts had continually kept the Opposition off-balance. Heath had no such advantages...
Happiest Victory. All the polls had predicted a Wilson sweep. On election night, the very first returns indicated that they might be right. The next reports confirmed it. All across Britain, party workers at Labor clubhouses swilled beer and danced with joy as one red pin after another replaced blue ones on election maps, indicating that yet another Tory constituency had fallen to Wilson. At the final count, Labor won 363 seats v. the Tories' 253. The Liberals picked up two seats for a total of twelve. It was Labor's best showing -and the Tories' worst...
...dimensions of Labor's victory became clear, the normally ebullient Heath spoke soberly to reporters. Privately, he had not thought that he could beat Wilson, but he had hoped to hold Labor to a lean margin. "Our campaign was ahead of its time," explained Heath. "We did not succeed in convincing the people of the dangers facing the country. But as time passes, people will remember what was said in this campaign." Perhaps so, but as leader during such a defeat, Heath is in some danger of being dumped as the Conservatives reshape their strategy to challenge Labor...