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date: 16 January 2025

Harold Wilson 1916–95
British Labour statesman, Prime Minister 1964–70, 1974–6 

  1. All these financiers, all the little gnomes in Zurich.
    speech in the House of Commons 12 November 1956
  2. I myself have always deprecated…in crisis after crisis, appeals to the Dunkirk spirit as an answer to our problems.
    in the House of Commons, 26 July 1961
  3. This party is a moral crusade or it is nothing.
    speech at the Labour Party Conference, 1 October 1962; in Times 2 October 1962
  4. The Britain that is going to be forged in the white heat of this revolution will be no place for restrictive practices or for outdated methods on either side of industry.
    often quoted as, ‘the white heat of technology’
    speech at the Labour Party Conference, 1 October 1963
  5. A week is a long time in politics.
    probably first said at the time of the 1964 sterling crisis
    Nigel Rees Sayings of the Century (1984); see Chamberlain
  6. From now the pound abroad is worth 14 per cent or so less in terms of other currencies. It does not mean, of course, that the pound here in Britain, in your pocket or purse or in your bank, has been devalued.
    often quoted as ‘the pound in your pocket’
    ministerial broadcast, 19 November 1967
  7. Get your tanks off my lawn, Hughie.
    to the trade union leader Hugh Scanlon, at Chequers in June 1969
    Peter Jenkins The Battle of Downing Street (1970)
  8. I'm at my best in a messy, middle-of-the-road muddle.
    remark in Cabinet, 21 January 1975