Lessons from Mr Wilson 1

When Congregationalist Labour Leader Harold Wilson lost the 1970 general election, a No 10 official remarked “When he stopped being Prime Minister, he missed most of all his Tuesday appointments” (quoted in Ben Pimlott’s 1992 biography Harold Wilson). These appointments were with Elizabeth II.

It’s odd that a left-wing Prime Minister should have struck so cordial a relationship with that personification of upper-class privilege and hereditary power. The Queen could never vote for him nor offer any public endorsement. Yet she was, and is, the only person a British Prime Minister may speak to each week to receive candid advice; she is one who will never repeat a conversation nor seek some honour or favour in return. Perhaps the honest counsel she gave him, without a price tag, meant their meetings could be relaxed and affectionate. 

If you gave up your faith in Christ (God forbid), what would you miss the most? A church-based social life? Singing lusty hymn tunes? The office you hold? Perhaps it ought to be the King whose company we keep, whose gentle counsel we so often receive, whose love and provision solicits neither fee nor charge. 

One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple.

Ps 27:4

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