Wilson's Way Out

In Wilson’s Way Out, Carolyn Quinn turns Westminster sleuth to tell the astonishing story of how and why Harold Wilson sensationally quit as Prime Minister fifty years ago. The only modern PM to have stepped down voluntarily. The only one to have chosen the precise timing, circumstances and manner of his departure. But was Harold Wilson’s way out really all that it seemed on March 16 1976?
This is the story of how the resignation of the most brilliant politician of his generation prompted a swirl of outlandish conspiracy theories, involving, amongst other things a Downing Street affair, a thwarted military coup and the CIA believing the British Prime Minister was a Soviet agent. It’s the story of how attempts at blackmail and even murder added to the intrigue and paranoia which seeped into Wilson’s mind in the two years between regaining power in 1974 and his resignation in 1976.
On the fiftieth anniversary of his departure from Downing Street, Carolyn Quinn separates the fact from fiction with the help of the last remaining witnesses to these extraordinary events who knew the real Harold Wilson. With access to unique BBC archive, she discovers the inner thoughts of Wilson, his cabinet colleagues and closest Downing Street advisors, as well as the people who planned a military coup in Britain to depose this sitting PM.

Presenter: Carolyn Quinn
Producer: Jonathan Brunert