Harold Wilson

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Born in 1916, Harold Wilson became a Labour MP in 1945 after lecturing in economics at Oxford University. In 1947 he was made president of the Board of Trade, resigning in 1951 in protest over the introduction of medical prescription charges.

He was elected as the leader of the British Labour party in 1963 and, promoted Labour as the party of technology and efficiency.

Securing electoral victory in 1964, he became prime minister of Great Britain. He was re-elected with a greatly increased majority in 1966, but soon met with economic problems and in 1967 was forced to devalue the pound.

He also had to abandon plans to introduce trade union reform, and though the economy began to recover and Wilson's popularity revived, Labour failed to win the 1970 election. He regained the premiership again in 1974, in the midst of a national miners' strike. Inflation continued to rise sharply, and in 1976 Wilson resigned as prime minister and as Labour party leader. He was created Baron Wilson of Rievaulx in 1983 and retired from public life. He died in 1995.