Wilson, Labour, and the Sixties 1964–1970

Harold Wilson's two governments (1964–66 and 1966–70) promised to modernise Britain through the "white heat of technology." In practice, Wilson's premiership was dominated by economic crisis — above all, the devaluation of sterling in November 1967 — and by ambitious but uneven social reform. The 1960s saw transformative legislation on capital punishment, homosexuality, abortion, divorce, and censorship, yet the decade also exposed the limits of government's ability to manage the economy and reshape society.

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Wilson's Background and the 1964 Election