HL Deb 24 May 1995 vol 564 cc1033-8
The Lord Privy Seal (Viscount Cranborne)

My Lords, I beg to move that the House do now adjourn.

It is my sad duty to pay tribute on behalf of the House to the memory of Lord Wilson of Rievaulx.

Like a number of your Lordships, I grew up in the 1960s. Many of your Lordships will remember the dominance which the noble Lord seemed to exercise over the political landscape in those years.

The crude statistics of his political life are in themselves impressive: an academic Bevanite of precocious brilliance who became the youngest Cabinet Minister since the second Pitt; then Leader of the Opposition; the youngest Prime Minister since Rosebery; and, eventually, the longest-serving Labour Prime Minister.

However, those achievements surely do not begin to convey the flavour of Lord Wilson's political persona. His skills as a party manager, even to an outsider, were clearly unequalled. He rightly—as I can testify as a novice party manager myself, in an infinitely more junior capacity—rated his achievements in that respect among his greatest. That is perhaps especially true since he had to exercise those skills at a time of rapid social and technological change.

However, it is as a parliamentary performer that Lord Wilson made his greatest impact. His quickness of mind and his command of the telling phrase made him one of the most formidable opponents any Conservative leader could find himself constrained to meet. His mastery of the other place contributed immeasurably to his ability to manage his party and to the impact he made on the electorate outside.

The noble Lord understood the importance of trade marks in politics, and he used his Yorkshire roots, his love of sport, and even his pipe, to create in public and on television a brand image for his party that was as instantly recognisable as it was effective.

Of late, the noble Lord was prevented by a long period of ill health from attending your Lordships' House as often as he would have liked. However, his interventions in our proceedings between 1984 and 1986 well reflected his special interests. For instance, it is hardly surprising that the begetter of the Open University should have made his maiden speech in this House in a debate on higher and further education; that a former Labour Party leader should, in May 1984, have introduced on behalf of his party a Wednesday debate on unemployment; and that an Elder Brother of Trinity House should have spoken to an Unstarred Question in 1986 on marine pilotage.

I have spoken of Lord Wilson's public persona. What I had not realised until I joined the other place in 1979 was what an agreeable personality he was, too, in private. I first met him when he received an honorary degree from Liverpool University at the hands of my grandfather. My only memory of that occasion is his remark that he had never expected to find himself sitting to the right of Lord Salisbury. His willingness to reminisce in the Smoking Room with a new Tory Member like myself was delightful. To me, his talk was wholly absorbing. I for one shall always be grateful for the courtesy he showed me then.

The noble Lord was one of the leading public figures of our age and a most distinguished public servant. He deserves our tributes today. The rest that he now enjoys after a difficult last illness is one that we, of all people, should not begrudge him.

Finally, perhaps I may also pay tribute to his family, and in particular to Lady Wilson, who looked after him devotedly in his last years and was a constant support to him throughout his political life. Our respectful sympathy goes out to them this afternoon.

Moved, That the House do now adjourn.—(Viscount Cranborne.)

Lord Richard

My Lords, it is a privilege to join with the noble Viscount the Leader of the House in this tribute to my noble friend the late Lord Wilson of Rievaulx, one of the defining Prime Ministers of the post-war era and a great parliamentarian.

Much will be, and already has been, written about him and his achievements, and assessments have already been made of his career. It is, however, hardly possible yet to make any final or definitive judgments. Those will have to be made by future historians, not by present day politicians.

Unlike his predecessors, Harold Wilson's election in 1964 represented a clean break with earlier traditions. His father was a working chemist in Huddersfield, the heart of the Industrial Revolution, and he was the first Englishman outside the traditional middle or upper classes ever to become Prime Minister. Of the other two Premiers of humble origins, Lloyd George was, of course, Welsh, and Ramsay MacDonald was very Scottish, but Harold Wilson was invincibly and unashamedly, English, and a Yorkshireman at that, from his accent to his attitudes. He had a powerful combination of physical toughness, a brilliant mind and memory, and a strong sense of social justice—qualities which stood him in good stead throughout his active political life.

All of us, particularly perhaps those of us on this side of the House, have our own memories of him. I shall mention only two notable qualities. The first was his determination to do everything he could to keep the Labour Party united. He once said: This Party is a bit like an old stage coach. If you drive it along at a rapid rate everyone aboard is either so exhilarated or seasick that you do not have a lot of difficulty". He devoted much time and effort to ensuring that no one fell off. The second quality was his personal kindness. Many of us in this House today, myself included, can testify to that. He was remarkably thoughtful and considerate of others, a quality not invariably associated with high office.

Lord Wilson's successor, my noble friend Lord Callaghan of Cardiff, is unfortunately in Tokyo. He has sent me a message which, with the permission of the House, I should like to read. He says: Harold Wilson's passing will be deeply mourned by all of us who knew him personally, and also by countless others who never met him but for whom in their youth he represented their ideals and aspirations. All of us send our deepest sympathy and regrets to Mary and his family. His purpose in politics was to remove the disfiguring evils of poverty and to create a caring society, with equal opportunity, open to advancement and in tune with the changing needs of his time. He was proud to have been responsible for the birth of the Open University. He was by nature a conciliator, and the least assertive of men, but he fought with the doggedness and determination of a true Northerner when he had to. Those qualities, and his high intelligence, kindliness and approachability, helped to spread his influence over a much wider area than his own party. It was a natural expression of that to be a passionate opponent of apartheid and of racial discrimination. He was the most successful leader that Labour has ever had, winning four elections out of five although on each occasion he came to office at a time of great economic difficulty. Above all, he was a devoted servant of his cause and his country".

I am sure that the House would wish to echo those sentiments and to send our deepest sympathy to Lady Wilson, his family and all who were close to him.

Lord Jenkins of Hillhead

My Lords, I had a long working relationship with Lord Wilson which at times was very close. It was not without its ups and downs. He and I came from different strands in the sometimes somewhat conflicting fabric of the Labour Party. It was therefore a sign of his tolerance and his generosity that he gave me the great opportunities which led to my working so closely with him. I found, well before his death, that it was the ups rather than the downs which came to dominate my memory. In the same way, the last few years, which were very sad ones from the point of view of his activity, were nonetheless balanced by being good ones from the point of view of the justified recovery of his reputation. He will stand in history as a considerable Prime Minister.

I shall remember him above all for his courtesy and his kindness. He hated being disagreeable. He liked to be nice to people, which is not always the case with those who had his thrust to power. He also had very good nerve in a crisis. And as he experienced quite a number of crises, that was a big asset. In some ways he was easier to work with when things were going wrong. He was cool and unrecriminatory.

I conclude with this thought. He was one of the very few Prime Ministers voluntarily to surrender office, to go without the intervention either of debilitating illness or the withdrawal of confidence by Parliament or country. In this century, he and Baldwin stand alone in that respect. It was the more remarkable because he appeared so dedicated to and concentrated on politics. As a result some fantastical theories were developed about the reason for his going. I have always regarded them as nonsense. Much more likely, I think, is that he had some faint early intimation of the fading of his great powers of memory, speed of comprehension and zestful ingenuity, and decided that he had better go. If so, it was a noble decision of rare insight and self-discipline. He served his country well and was determined to continue that service only so long as he was at the height of his powers.

Our sympathy goes out to his family, and in particular to his wife whose devotion in a long twilight has been visible to all of us.

Lord Marsh

My Lords, as one who owes his entire ministerial career, brief though it was, to Harold Wilson—I was appointed to his Government by him, promoted to his Cabinet by him and fired by him—I am grateful to have been invited to pay tribute from these Benches to a quite extraordinary political figure and to express our sympathy to Mary Wilson to whom he owed a very great deal indeed.

He was a very considerable political figure. He was also an extremely complex human being. He was regarded by many commentators as a little bit of a political fixer. That grossly underestimates his abilities. He was a prince among political fixers and indeed that was something that was necessary for our political system, almost above all else, at that particular time.

When he took office in 1964, he did so with a wafer-thin majority and with a party which was split from top to bottom. He was surrounded by powerful colleagues whose admiration and affection for him was, to say the least, somewhat muted. That he kept that mutinous crew together, and went on to win the 1966 election, was due almost entirely to his political skills with such a small majority. And I do not believe that anyone else could have done it at that time. But although he could be a very tough political operator, on a personal level, as others have said, he was a very warm and concerned being.

I remember an occasion when a lobby correspondent whose writings were somewhat critical of him, and who had therefore been placed very high on Harold's black list, was rushed to hospital with a serious illness. One of his first visitors that same night was the Prime Minister who cancelled appointments because he wanted to wish him well in person. Such acts of kindness were by no means unusual although obviously they were never widely known. Like all Prime Ministers, he presided over his fair share of disasters, but I have no doubt that historians will find them eclipsed by the positive contribution which he made to the political life of this country.

On a personal level, all those who knew him have an enormous store of Harold Wilson anecdotes which they treasure. I believe that over the years, as long as we live, we shall continue to pin people in corners and repeat those anecdotes to them, and as we do so, the one thing that we shall all have in common is a very affectionate smile.

The Lord Bishop of St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich

My Lords, I, too, rise to express my condolences with some sadness this afternoon on the death of Lord Wilson of Rievaulx. It is a sadness that relates not simply to his death but to the circumstances leading up to it over the preceding difficult months and years. I express my sympathy to his wife, Lady Wilson, and to their family over that period.

The noble Lord made a great mark on society. I cannot claim to be someone who knew him personally. However, as an observer it seems to me that there were particular characteristics about him which are worthy of comment. Perhaps the most notable is that he managed to combine closely two virtues: one was idealism; and the other was a pragmatic awareness of what was politically possible. The pragmatic awareness of the politically possible is a matter that other noble Lords in this House are better able to comment on than I am. But I can comment on the idealism.

The idealism lay in his particular roots which were those of strong, nonconformist, Yorkshire, Christian stock. That idealism marked his character. It was the idealism which surely led to his great concern for social justice which was expressed both in his time as Prime Minister and also in those earlier years when as a young man he worked with Beveridge on setting up the welfare state.

His relationship with the Church was of particular importance to me. As Prime Minister he had responsibility as regards the election of bishops who would ultimately sit on these Benches. I quote from a private letter which he wrote: The duties I have in respect of the established Church are not just your or my business, but the business of everyone, and these are duties which I take most seriously".

It is worthy of comment that it was during Lord Wilson's premiership that two most notable Members of the Bishops' Bench in front of me, Donald Coggan of Canterbury and Stuart Blanch of York, were appointed. The Church and society have much to thank him for with those appointments. With other Members of this noble House, I pay my tribute to Lord Wilson. May he rest in peace and may those who mourn him find their hope in the faith once delivered to the saints.

Viscount Tonypandy

My Lords, I hope the House will forgive me intervening in the tributes. I do not speak for the Cross Benches; that speech has been made. Fifty years ago Harold Wilson and I, and the noble Lord, Lord Callaghan of Cardiff, entered the House of Commons together. Europe was shattered. We had high hopes of building a better world. There was a remarkable comradeship in the House. I was new from the valleys of Wales. I had so much to learn and I soaked in the respect that there was across the Floor for the opinions of other people.

One of Lord Wilson's characteristics was that he always had an enormous personal regard for the beliefs and opinions of other people. We little dreamt in 1945 that he would be Prime Minister and that I should he elected Speaker of the House of Commons. I had the privilege of serving with three Prime Ministers: Lord Wilson was the first; the noble Lord, Lord Callaghan of Cardiff, was the second; and the noble Baroness, Lady Thatcher, was the third. I had had a warm friendship with the Wilsons, but the minute I became Speaker, Lord Wilson respected the office. The friendship endured. There was never pressure of any kind.

My heart is full because I know that we are paying tribute to one who loved this land and was proud to belong to it. The right reverend Prelate referred to Lord Wilson's nonconformity. Lady Wilson is the daughter of a Congregational minister. They were married in Mansfield College at Oxford, and I know how much their faith meant to them. Like everyone else, my heart has ached in these past years as I have looked with love and admiration at the care given to Lord Wilson in his closing years. An example to the whole of our country has been set by Lady Wilson.

Perhaps I may say by way of conclusion that we who live in Wales have a special reason to be grateful, for it was he—a Yorkshireman—who established the office of Secretary of State for Wales. James Griffiths was the first Secretary of State for Wales, the second was the noble Lord, Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos, and I was the third. James Griffiths used to tell us that he had only pen and paper in that office, but it has been built up until today it is on a par with the Scottish Office.

Just as the world salutes Lord Wilson and salutes his memory for the Open University, so the people of Wales have cause to salute him for opening the doors to a new era. I always found him to be a man of his word; that is because he was a man of his faith. I thank God that his life influenced mine.

On Question, Motion agreed to.

House adjourned at five minutes before three o'clock.

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