Harold Wilson Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916– 24 May 1995) was a British Labour politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1976. Entering Parliament in 1945, Wilson was appointed a parliamentary secretary in the Attlee ministry and rose quickly through the ministerial ranks; he became Secretary for Overseas Trade in 1947 and was elevated to Cabinet shortly thereafter as President of the Board of Trade. In opposition to the next Conservative government, he served as Shadow Chancellor (19551961) and Shadow Foreign Secretary (19611963). Hugh Gaitskell,
The Devil You Know (Yes Minister) him, but Bernard inadvertently mentions the name. In his published diary for 22 March 1976, then-Cabinet Minister Tony Benn records that he has told the outgoing Prime Minister Harold Wilson that the secret of his resignation had been worked out by the drivers of the Government Car Service when Wilson had made a decision that all former Prime Ministers should get a government car: "Well, the word went round the Government Car Service that the reason you'd done this was because you were going to retire". The Devil You Know (Yes Minister) "The Devil You Know" is the twelfth episode