The real surprise about Harold Wilson’s ‘new’ affair: How did it stay secret for 50 years?
Harold Wilson’s most famous quote was that “a week is a long time in politics”. As with a lot of what Wilson said, you soon realise that it didn’t actually mean anything and that it was an, admittedly, typically brilliant piece of deflection to excuse some or other U-turn. But you only realise that Wilson didn’t answer the question long after the interview is over.
Now, the quip is still endlessly recycled by politicians and headline writers alike who find themselves in a tight corner, a living tribute to Wilson’s versatile and mischievous wit – “purposeful” wit, as he might have put it.
So I don’t feel much shame in remarking that 50 years is an awfully long time in keeping a political secret, which the few surviving members of his entourage (the original No 10 “kitchen cabinet”) have done regarding Wilson’s fling with his then deputy press officer, Janet Hewlett-Davies.
