Harold Wilson

Harold Wilson was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom variously in the 1960s and 1970s. He resigned suddenly in 1976 and was replaced by Jim Callaghan, also from the Labour Party.

In the "Wilson Plot" of the 1970s, the then Labour prime minister famously accused the secret service of plotting to overthrow him. Former assistant director of MI5 Peter Wright, admitted in 1987 that he was one of 30 officers who had plotted to oust Harold Wilson because they were convinced he was a Soviet agent. Among the allegations that appeared in Wright's best-selling autobiography "Spycatcher", were that:

MI5 had Harold Wilson under surveillance in the run-up to 1974 election

• The organisation plotted against Wilson during his 1974-76 premiership and diverted its resources to investigate leftwing groups in Britain
• The security service kept a file on Wilson with the codename 'Henry Worthington'
• In his second term as prime minister, MI5 carried out burglaries against Harold Wilson and his senior staff by MI5

Wilson stood down suddenly in March 1976, five days after his 60th birthday. The circumstances of his resignation were not clear - many suspect MI5 involvement. [1]