Harold Wilson

From Wikipedia

Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
Perdana Menteri United Kingdom
Tempoh jawatan
16 Oktober 1964 – 19 Jun 1970
4 Mac 19745 April 1976
Didahului oleh Sir Alec Douglas-Home
Edward Heath
Diwarisi oleh Edward Heath
James Callaghan
Kelahiran 11 Mac 1916
Huddersfield, Yorkshire Barat, England
Kematian 24 Mei 1995
London
Parti politik

Buruh


James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson dari Rievaulx (11 Mac 191624 Mei 1995) ialah salah satu ahli politik British abad ke-20 yang paling terkenal. Beliau memenangi lebih banyak pilihan raya berbanding mana-mana satu Perdana Menteri United Kingdom abad ke-20 yang lain — iaitu empat pilihan raya umum pada tahun 1964, 1966, serta Februari dan Oktober 1974 — walaupun kebanyakannya tanpa majoriti atau tanpa majoriti besar. Wilson dianggap oleh banyak orang sebagai salah satu ahli politik sezaman yang lebih intelektual.


[Sunting] Kehidupan awal

Dilahirkan di Huddersfield, England pada tahun 1916, Wilson adalah anak kepada Herbert, seorang yang amat aktif dalam Parti Liberal sebelum menyertai Parti Buruh. Selepas memenangi biasiswa, Wilson menyertai Sekolah Menengah Royds Hall di tempat asalnya itu. Apabila ayahnya diberhentikan kerja sebagai ahli kimia perindustrian, akibat pengurangan tenaga kerja, dan berpindah ke Spital, Wirral untuk mencari pekerjaan, beliau belajar Tingkatan Enamnya di Sekolah Menengah Lelaki Wirral pada tahun 1932. Semasa di sekolah ini, beliau menjadi Ketua Pengawas.

Wilson mencapai keputusan yang baik di sekolah dan memenangi biasiswa untuk belajar sejarah di Kolej Jesus, Universiti Oxford pada tahun 1934. Di Oxford, Wilson menyertai Parti Liberal dan agak aktif dalam politik, tetapi kemudian dipengaruhi oleh G. D. H. Cole untuk menyertai Parti Buruh. Selepas tahun pertama di universiti, Wilson menukarkan kursusnya kepada Falsafah, Politik, dan Ekonomi dan kemudian, memperoleh ijazah kelas pertama yang cemerlang.

Wilson menerusi bidang akademi, dan menjadi salah seorang pensyarah yang paling muda di Universiti Oxford. Beliau merupakan pensyarah Ekonomi di Kolej Baru pada tahun 1937 dan pensyarah Sejarah Ekonomi di Kolej Universiti pada tahun 1938. Untuk sebahagian besar masa pada tempoh ini, beliau merupakan pembantu penyelidik kepada William Beveridge yang sedang membuat kajian terhadap pengangguran dan kitaran perdagangan.

Apabila Perang Dunia II tercetus, Wilson bersukarela untuk perkhidmatan perang tetapi dikelaskan sebagai pakar dan dipindahkan ke Perkhidmatan Awam. Kebanyakan masanya dalam perang ini dihabiskan sebagai ahli statistik dan ekonomi untuk industri batu arang. Beliau menjadi Pengarah Ekonomi dan Statistik di Kementerian Bahan Api dan Kuasa antara tahun 1943-1944. Wilson amat ghairah akan statistik pada seumur hidupnya. Sebagai Presiden Lembaga Perdagangan, beliau merupakan daya penggerak untuk Akta Statistik Perdagangan 1947 yang kini masih merupakan autoriti undang-undang yang digunakan untuk mengumpulkan kebanyakan statistik ekonomi di Great Britain.

[Sunting] Kerjaya politik

As the War drew to an end, Wilson began searching for a seat to fight at the impending general election. Eventually he was selected for Ormskirk, which was then held by Stephen King-Hall. Wilson accidentally agreed to be adopted as the candidate immediately rather than delay until the election was called, and was therefore compelled to resign from the Civil Service. He used the time in between to write A New Deal for Coal which used his wartime experience to argue for nationalisation of the coal mines on the basis of improved efficiency.

In the 1945 general election, Wilson won his seat in line with the Labour landslide. To his surprise, he was immediately appointed to the government as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works. Two years later, he became Secretary for Overseas Trade, in which capacity he made several trips to the Soviet Union to negotiate supplies. Opponents would later class these trips as suspicious.

On 14 October 1947, Wilson was appointed President of the Board of Trade and, at 31, became the youngest member of the Cabinet in the 20th century. In the general election of 1950, his constituency was altered and he was narrowly elected for the new seat of Huyton.

Wilson was becoming known as a left-winger and joined Aneurin Bevan in resigning from the government in April 1951 in protest at the introduction of National Health Service (NHS) medical charges in order to meet the financial demands imposed on the budget by the Korean War. After the Labour Party lost the general election later that year, he was made chairman of Bevan's "Keep Left" group, but shortly thereafter he distanced himself from Bevan. By coincidence, it was Bevan's further resignation from the Shadow Cabinet in 1954 that put Wilson back on the front bench.

Wilson soon proved a very effective Shadow Minister. One of his procedural moves caused the loss of the Government's Finance Bill in 1955, and his speeches as Shadow Chancellor from 1956 were widely praised for their clarity and wit. He coined the term "gnomes of Zurich" to describe Swiss bankers whom he accused of pushing the pound down by speculation. In the meantime, he conducted an inquiry into the Labour Party's organisation following its defeat in the 1955 general election, which made several useful recommendations for improvements. Unusually, Wilson combined the job of Chairman of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee with that of Shadow Chancellor from 1959.

Wilson was still identified with the Left, and launched an opportunistic but unsuccessful challenge to the leader Hugh Gaitskell in 1960 after the Labour Party's 1959 defeat and Gaitskell's unpopular move to ditch Clause Four. He also challenged for the deputy leadership in 1962 but was defeated by George Brown. Because of these challenges, he was moved to the position of Shadow Foreign Secretary.

Hugh Gaitskell died unexpectedly in January 1963, just as the Labour Party had begun to unite and to look to have a good chance of being elected to government. Wilson became the left candidate for the leadership, and defeated Brown after James Callaghan joined the race, splitting the votes on the right of the party. At the Labour Party conference later in 1963, he made a very significant speech in which he claimed "the Britain that will be forged in the white heat of [the scientific and technical] revolution will have no place for restrictive practices and outdated measures on either side of industry". This speech did much to set Wilson's reputation as a technocrat not tied to the prevailing class system.

Labour won the 1964 general election with a narrow majority of four seats, and Wilson became Prime Minister. This was an insufficient parliamentary majority to last for a full term, and after 18 months of government consciously modeled on the early months of President Kennedy's administration, a second election in March 1966 returned Wilson with the much larger majority of 96. He became a familiar figure, recognised for his pipe-smoking, his Gannex raincoat, and his tradition of taking holidays in the Isles of Scilly.

[Sunting] Pautan luar