Yesterday's Men

On 17 June 1971 a documentary called Yesterday's Men was broadcast, featuring several Labour ex-Ministers, which examined how they were adjusting to life a year after their defeat in the 1970 General Election. The programme caused a fierce row with the Labour party for the way the participants were seen to have been ridiculed, and with Harold Wilson in particular for the way direct questions were posed about his business affairs. It damaged relations between the BBC and the Labour party, and led to a re-examination of BBC editorial guidelines.

Extract from 'The Making of Yesterday's Men', first broadcast on BBC Parliament in 2013.

Yesterday's Men featured several interviews that revealed the stoicism of rejected politicians, but the tone of the programme was set by its title, which appropriated a slogan used by Labour in 1970 to describe the Conservatives. In addition, the documentary was punctuated by a comic song specially written by The Scaffold, which featured lyrics such as "yesterday's men, and it's no fun at all, getting sacked and put out to graze".

In the row preceding the transmission of the broadcast, parts of the Wilson interview were cut, and David Dimbleby insisted his name be taken off the credits. After the event, in July 1971, the BBC Report on the programme admitted errors, but the BBC ended by concluding "We shall do nothing that could put at risk the independence of the BBC".