It defies the mind what Roy Jenkins, then Home Secretary, must have thought in 1975 when Sir Michael Hanley, the Director-General of MI5, came into his office with the huge file and broke the news to him. (Incidentally, being played by Timothy Spall and Richard Griffiths) Harold Wilson, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, was a Soviet agent, and had been since 1957. But in retrospect it all made sense. Wilson had made so many trips to the USSR in the late 1950s he was bound to have been affected, while for the KGB this was a priceless opportunity to get an agent into the very top of British politics. Wilson's two attempts to become Labour leader, the second successful, were conducted on the back of orders from Moscow. (Director Oliver Stone is expected to stoke the issue further by hinting that Wilson may have poisoned his predecessor Hugh Gaitskell).
During his time in office in the 1960s, Wilson's dire handling of the economy was of huge benefit to the Soviet Union as it forced the USA to prop it up, while by keeping Britain's large military bases east of Suez a major NATO player was hopelessly overstretched. Wilson's refusal to back the American war in Vietnam also a major boost to the Russians as it allowed them to portray it as American imperialism rather than a principled stand for democracy. It is also telling that MI5 was unable to get on top of the KGB threat during these years.
But things began to change when Wilson was unexpectedly defeated in the 1970 election. His Soviet paymasters were furious with this democratic sloppiness, leading him to become detached and disillusioned with British politics. Meanwhile, MI5 was able to get on top of the threat from Eastern Bloc agents in 1972, when they first uncovered evidence of what was going on. They were steadily gathering evidence against him when he was surprisingly re-elected in 1974. So great was the threat to British security they moved as soon as they could.
Jenkins' first move was to call an emergency cabinet session for that afternoon, then ordered the police to arrest Wilson at Chequers. It would have worked, had the Social Services Secretary, Barbara Castle, not phoned ahead to let Wilson know she suspected Jenkins was trying to oust him. In a dramatic car chase, Wilson managed to reach the Soviet Embassy before the police caught him. A week long siege by police and the Security Service failed to extract Wilson, which produced the amusing sight of senior politicians shouting through megaphones at the Soviet embassy by way of diplomacy. From there, Wilson claimed asylum in the USSR and left to spend the rest of his life in exile.
At home, there was uproar. Labour hurriedly chose Jim Callaghan as its new leader, but the public outrage was so great, and with Labour's backbenchers defecting in droves to the Liberals, Callaghan was forced into calling an immediate election. The revelations had the same effect as the Zinoviev Letter in 1924. Public fury saw Labour reduced to a mere 139 seats, with even Callaghan being defeated. The Conservatives, under new leader Margaret Thatcher, were propelled into office, with 429 seats and a majority of 223. However, Thatcher's recent elevation to her party leadership meant she was forced to turn elsewhere for help. Her predecessor, Edward Heath, became Foreign Secretary, while his trusted deputy Willie Whitelaw became Home Secretary. This was the start of one of the most remarkable and constructive relationships in modern British politics; indeed when Heath and Whitelaw stood down from the Cabinet in 1986 many began to see Thatcher losing her way.
While at first the economy continued to deteriorate, by 1979 the unions had been smashed in the Winter of Discontent, while enough growth had returned to keep Thatcher in power. During the 1980s the government embarked on a radical free market programme which saw many of Britain's state owned industries sold off, while the NHS and school system was exposed to a lot of external influences. But not even the total discrediting of Labour could allow Thatcher to go all the way; her attempts to abolish student grants and introduce a poll tax led to her resignation in 1989, with successor Douglas Hurd moving the Tories back towards the centre ground.
For Labour, the trauma of 1975 was to haunt it for several generations. The third leader of 1975 was Michael Foot, who by 1979 had managed to restore the prestige of the party to some extent, especially amongst left-wing voters. However, the continuation of this rehabilitation under Peter Shore was interrupted in 1984, when Tony Benn managed to be elected leader, arguing that the public could distinguish between the party's past mistakes and a promise of a socialist future; judging by the 1987 election result, he was wildly wrong. It would not be until 1996 that Labour would be trusted with power again, with new Prime Minister Tony Blair promising to be "purer than pure".
P.S. Prime Ministers
Harold Wilson- 1964-1970
Ted Heath- 1970-1974
Harold Wilson- 1974-1975
Jim Callaghan-1975
Margaret Thatcher- 1975-1989
Douglas Hurd- 1989-1996
Tony Blair- 1996-2006
Gordon Brown- 2006-2008
David Cameron- 2008-
Labour Leaders
Harold Wilson- 1963-1975
Jim Callaghan- 1975
Michael Foot- 1975-1979
Peter Shore- 1979-1984
Tony Benn- 1984-1987
John Smith- 1987-1994
Tony Blair- 1994-2006
Gordon Brown- 2006-2008
Alan Johnson- 2008-
Conservative Leaders
Margaret Thatcher- 1975-1989
Douglas Hurd- 1989-1996
William Hague- 1996-2000
Michael Portillo- 2000-2005
David Cameron- 2005-
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