GREAT BRITAIN 2-12 THE OTHER HAROLD THE LABOR PARTY LAST WEEK CHOSE 
A NEW LEADER TO CARRY ITS BANNER AGAINST THE TORIES IN 
BRITAIN'S COMING GENERAL ELECTION . THE WINNER : HAROLD WILSON, 46, 
A PIPE-SMOKING INTELLECTUAL WITH A PHENOMENAL MEMORY, A FOLLOWING OF MIXED 
ADMIRERS, AND A LOVE OF POLITICAL COMBAT . WILSON'S VICTORY WAS 
A CRUSHING BLOW TO HIS CHIEF RIVAL, COMRADELY GEORGE BROWN, 48, 
A STAUNCH TRADE UNIONIST AND EX-TRUCK DRIVER, WHO AS ACTING PARTY 
LEADER SINCE THE DEATH LAST MONTH OF HUGH GAITSKELL, HAD EVERY 
REASON TO BELIEVE THAT HE WOULD INHERIT THE MANTLE OF LEADERSHIP 
. BUT WHEN THE VOTING BEGAN LAST WEEK, IT WAS GEORGE 
BROWN'S OLD FRIENDS AMONG LABOR'S TRADE UNIONISTS WHO ABANDONED HIM FIRST 
. SOME OPPOSED HIS PRO-COMMON MARKET VIEWS ; OTHERS AMONG LABOR'S 
INTELLECTUAL CENTER AND RIGHT FLINCHED AT THE THOUGHT OF A WORKINGCLASS, 
UP-FROM-THE-RANKS PRIME MINISTER, AND PREFERRED TO GO TO THE COUNTRY WITH 
AN OXFORD GRADUATE AND ECONOMICS DON LIKE WILSON . RESPECTABILITY MEANS 
A LOT TO THE LABOR PARTY . HIGH MORTALITY . " 
NO ONE KNOWS HAROLD, REALLY, " SAYS A FRIEND . BUT 
AT A PRESS CONFERENCE LAST WEEK, JAMMED WITH REPORTERS AND TV 
CAMERAS, WILSON SET OUT SMOOTHLY AND COMPETENTLY TO LEAVE THE RIGHT 
IMPRESSION . HE REGRETTED THE " TRAGIC EVENT " OF GAITSKELL'S 
DEATH " THAT CREATED THIS VACANCY . " HE DIPLOMATICALLY DECLARED 
THAT " A GREAT DEAL OF CREDIT MUST GO TO GEORGE 
BROWN " FOR KEEPING THE PARTY TOGETHER IN THE INTERIM . 
FINALLY, WILSON STATED HIS THREE MAIN OBJECTIVES : " FIRST, TO 
MAINTAIN THE UNITY OF THE PARTY THAT HUGH GAITSKELL HANDED ON 
; SECOND, TO CONTINUE THOSE POLICIES WORKED OUT UNDER HIS LEADERSHIP 
. . . THIRDLY, TO LEAD THE PARTY TO VICTORY IN 
THE COMING GENERAL ELECTION . / IN THE PAST DECADE, LABOR'S 
STRENGTH HAS BEEN SAPPED BY INTERNAL BICKERING AND BY THE LOSS 
OF MANY OF ITS ABLEST MEN (GAITSKELL, SIR STAFFORD CRIPPS, ERNEST 
BEVIN, ANEURIN BEVAN) . THE FEUDING HAS FADED, AND LABOR FINDS 
ITSELF IN THE BEST SHAPE IN YEARS TO TOPPLE THE GOVERNMENT 
OF PRIME MINISTER HAROLD MACMILLAN . A GALLUP POLL LAST WEEK 
INDICATED THAT LABOR HAD A 15F PER CENT LEAD OVER THE 
CONSERVATIVES, THE LOWEST THE TORIES HAVE BEEN IN ELEVEN YEARS IN 
POWER . BEVERIDGE'S BOY . DEEPENING UNEMPLOYMENT AND A FALTERING ECONOMY 
ACCOUNT MORE FOR TORY UNPOPULARITY THAN ITS RECENT DEFEAT ON THE 
COMMON MARKET . MACMILLAN HAS UNTIL FALL 1964 TO CALL AN 
ELECTION AT THE TIME MOST ADVANTAGEOUS TO HIMSELF . MUCH WILL 
DEPEND ON THE SKILL WITH WHICH WILSON EXPLOITS TORY WEAKNESSES AND 
DEMONSTRATES LABOR'S RIGHT TO GOVERN . THE SON OF AN INDUSTRIAL 
CHEMIST, JAMES HAROLD WILSON WAS BORN MARCH 11, 1916, IN THE 
HEART OF INDUSTRIAL YORKSHIRE, AND SPENT HIS CHILDHOOD IN A HILLSIDE 
VILLAGE OVERLOOKING THE FACTORY SMOKE OF THE COLNE VALLEY . AT 
THE LOCAL COUNCIL SCHOOL, HE WON THE FIRST OF A SERIES 
OF SCHOLARSHIPS THAT EVENTUALLY CARRIED HIM TO OXFORD'S JESUS COLLEGE, WHERE 
HE WAS A LEADING MEMBER OF THE DEBATING SOCIETY AND A 
CROSS-COUNTRY RUNNER . GRADUATING WITH FIRST CLASS HONORS, WILSON REMAINED AT 
OXFORD AS AN ECONOMICS DON UNTIL THE WAR, ENDING UP IN 
THE MINISTRY OF FUEL AND POWER . SIR WILLIAM BEVERIDGE EMPLOYED 
HIM AS A RESEARCHER FOR HIS FAMED SOCIAL INSURANCE REPORT, AND 
CALLED WILSON A " BRILLIANT YOUNG MAN " AND " THE 
BEST ECONOMIST I'VE EVER HAD . " IN 1945 WILSON STOOD 
FOR OFFICE FOR THE FIRST TIME, AND, IN THE ELECTION THAT 
THREW WINSTON CHURCHILL OUT OF OFFICE, WON A LANCASHIRE SEAT HANDILY 
BY 7,022 VOTES . TWO YEARS LATER, WHEN WILSON BECAME PRESIDENT 
OF THE BOARD OF TRADE AT 31, HE WAS THE YOUNGEST 
CABINET MEMBER SINCE WILLIAM PITT . LITTERED HOUSE . AMONG HIS 
CONSTITUENTS OR AT HIS RED-BRICK HOME IN HAMPSTEAD GARDEN SUBURB, WILSON 
IS AFFABLE, EASYGOING AND WELL-LIKED . HIS WIFE MARY, THE DAUGHTER 
OF A BAPTIST MINISTER, WRITES POETRY AND IS ACTIVE IN HER 
LOCAL CHURCH ; HIS TWO SONS, ROBIN, 19, AND GILES, 14, 
LITTER THE HOUSE WITH SPORTS GEAR AND MACKINTOSHES . BUT IN 
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, THE REACTION TO WILSON IS GENERALLY ONE 
OF UNEASY SUSPICION, AND HE IS FREQUENTLY ACCUSED OF BEING " 
SLIPPERY . " AS THE ECONOMIST PUT IT LAST WEEK, " 
ON THE BIG THINGS DEFENSE, THE AMERICAN ALLIANCE, EAST-WEST, THE NEED 
TO GIVE LABOR A TWENTIETH CENTURY LOOK MR . WILSON HAS 
BEEN CONSISTENTLY AMBIGUOUS, INDEED DELIBERATELY AND CLEVERLY SO . THESE ARE 
THE REASONS FOR MORE THAN DOUBT ABOUT HIS LEADERSHIP . " 
HAVING QUIT THE LABOR CABINET IN 1951, ALONG WITH FIREBRAND ANEURIN 
BEVAN, WILSON HAS INHERITED MUCH OF BEVAN'S LEFTWING SUPPORT . BUT 
IN THE CABINET HIS MAIN ADMINISTRATIVE ACHIEVEMENT WAS THE DISMANTLING OF 
A VAST ARRAY OF CONTROLS ON BRITAIN'S POSTWAR ECONOMY . HE 
HAS ALWAYS BEEN MORE PRAGMATIC THAN DOCTRINAIRE OR OPPORTUNISTIC, HIS ENEMIES 
SAY . IN A COMMONS SPEECH LAST WEEK HE DECLARED, " 
WHAT I AM SAYING MAY OR MAY NOT BE IDEOLOGICAL, BUT 
IT WILL GET THE EXPORT ORDERS . " WITH THE LEFT 
SAFELY ON HIS SIDE, WILSON IS SHREWD ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT, 
AS LEADER, HE MUST NOW CONCILIATE THE PARTY'S CENTER AND RIGHT 
. WILSON CARRIED ON A MILD FLIRTATION WITH THE H-BOMB " 
UNILATERALISTS " WHEN HE CHALLENGED GAITSKELL FOR PARTY LEADERSHIP IN 1960, 
AND FOR A TIME PLUMPED FOR NEUTRALISM INSTEAD OF NATO . 
LAST WEEK WILSON REASSURED EVERYBODY THAT THE LABOR PARTY " STANDS 
FIRMLY BY NATO . " AND HE ADDED, " WE SHOULD 
EXPECT TO HAVE A VERY HAPPY RELATIONSHIP " WITH WASHINGTON . 
IN A RECENT COMMONS SPEECH HE ARGUED THAT BRITAIN SHOULD AVOID 
THE NEEDLESS EXPENSE OF A SEPARATE NUCLEAR DETERRENT, BUT NEVERTHELESS SHOULD 
HAVE A VOICE IN DECIDING WHEN THE WEST (I.E., THE U.S.) 
USES ITS NUCLEAR POWER : " THERE MUST BE NO ANNIHILATION 
WITHOUT REPRESENTATION ! " WITH HIS READY TONGUE AND SHARP MIND, 
HAROLD WILSON WILL PROVE A FORMIDABLE ADVERSARY FOR PRIME MINISTER HAROLD 
MACMILLAN (HE WAS SWIFTLY DUBBED " THE OTHER HAROLD " ) 
. THERE IS HARDLY AN M.P . WHO HAS A BETTER 
GRASP OF PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE OR A BETTER KNACK OF TURNING IT 
TO HIS SIDE'S ADVANTAGE . HE HAS ALREADY DRAWN BLOOD WITH 
HIS SLASHING ATTACKS ON THE " VAIN NUCLEAR POSTURING " OF 
THE MACMILLAN GOVERNMENT . MACMILLAN'S RELATIONS WITH U.S . PRESIDENT JOHN 
KENNEDY, SAID WILSON, REMINDED HIM OF A " SEEDY UNCLE " 
RECEIVING HOMILIES FROM A YOUNG AND WEALTHY NEPHEW . THOUGH IT 
MAY BE DIFFICULT TO DISCOVER PRECISELY WHERE HAROLD WILSON STANDS, THERE 
WAS LITTLE DOUBT LAST WEEK ABOUT WHERE HE INTENDS TO COME 
TO REST AT 10 DOWNING STREET . 