KOMET’s Reviews > The Benn Diaries, 1940-1990 > Status Update

"...I'm not sure that if it had come to a choice between Harold [Wilson, the British Prime Minister] and Barbara [Castle, a Cabinet Minister] and the survival of the Labour Movement and Government, people would not let them go; and I think Harold knew that and that was why he was so angry. ...he did emerge as a small man with no sense of history and as somebody really [w/o] leadership qualities." -from June 17, 1969.

"I went to Cabinet, where Harold [Wilson, British Prime Minister] began by 'Warning the Plotters.' He said that four senior Ministers had told him that one member of the Cabinet had been going round stirring things up, indicating conspiracy against Harold's own leadership, and that if this went on, within further ado he would simply reconstruct his government." - From diary entry of Tuesday, 10 December [1968].

I asked to see Robert McNamara at the Department of Defence and was taken to the Pentagon. ... Here was the great American defence establishment, overwhelmingly the most powerful in the world, and McNamara, one of Kennedy's men, had come in and established civilian control and crammed through programme budgeting. It was like going into an emperor's court ---." From diary entry of Sunday, 22 May 1967."

"I asked to see Robert McNamara at the Department of Defence and was taken to the Pentagon. ... Here was the great American defence establishment, overwhelmingly the most powerful in the world, and McNamara, one of Kennedy's men, had come in and established civilian control and crammed through programme budgeting. It was like going into an emperor's court ---." From diary entry of Sunday, 22 May 1967.

"Harold [Wilson, the British Prime Minister] is terrified that if Jim Callaghan became Leader of the House of Commons he would conspire against Harold and weaken his position and we tried to reassure him that he was all right and had nothing to fear. It is extraordinary how a man in his position should have anxieties on that score." - From diary entry of Sunday, 20 February 1966.

"On Friday night there was a teach-in at the LSE [London School of Economics] in London on Vietnam. It was based on the 'teach-ins' that have appeared in the United States... ... I'm told that whenever Harold Wilson's name was mentioned at LSE people booed. It may well be that when the time comes the Labour Government will have been held to fail ... because it was not radical enough." - Diary entry of 13 June 1965.

"Home has resigned the premiership and Harold Wilson has formed a government. We've waited thirteen years for this." - From diary entry of 16 October 1964.

"The first working day at home after my visit to Germany. It certainly was extremely interesting though an exhausting visit. There was a little cyst or boil of anti-German feeling in me which was lanced as a result of seeing the country. " - From diary entry of Monday, 21 January 1957.