Harold Wilson retreats to St Mary's

Harold Wilson resigns from a second term as Labour Prime Minster on 16 March 1976 in favour of his deputy, James Callaghan. Wilson retreats to St Mary’s on the Isles of Scilly and is pursued by the hackpack of the day where he poses for the press with his dog, Paddy. During Wilson’s second term in office 1974-1976 the unemployment rate reached 1 million and there was a general loss of public confidence but Wilson maintained he always intended to retire at 60. 

Wilson enters Parliament in 1945 before becoming Leader of the Labour Party in 1963 and serving as Prime Minister from 1964-1970. A grammar school boy, Wilson graduates from Oxford and styles himself as a man of the people with a Yorkshire accent, pipe and is a football supporter of Huddersfield Town. He returns to the House of Lords until his death in 1995 aged 79. He summered in the Scillies and St Mary’s became his place of residence and final resting place. There is a statue in his honour in St George’s Square, Huddersfield. One of the issues addressed during his second term is the country’s first nationwide referendum on membership of the European Economic Community.