Former Prime Minister Harold Wilson agreed late in life to sell his entire archive of personal and political papers to help fund his care, according to documents released by the National Archives. Lord Wilson initially planned to sell the collection to McMaster University in Canada for £212,500 – about £700,000 in today’s money.
He was suffering from Alzheimer’s and required “continuing care, the costs of which are heavy and will increase”, according to one document. However, the proposal to sell the papers abroad prompted alarm among senior officials in Margaret Thatcher’s government.
In early January 1990, the Cabinet Secretary Sir Robin Butler wrote to another official, alerting her that Lord Wilson’s former secretary, Lady Marcia Falkender, was “orchestrating a proposal” to set up an archive for the former prime minister’s papers in Canada. Part of the proceeds would support Lord and Lady Wilson who were “now not well off”, as reported to Sir Robin by his predecessor Lord Armstrong.
There was “no enthusiasm” for the sale among officials in the Cabinet Office, according to the files, with one pointing out that Lord Wilson’s papers were still subject to the so-called 30-year rule.
Government papers are transferred to the National Archives, but remain closed to the public for a period of time before being eligible for release – 30 years in the 1980s, although that has since been shortened to 20 years.
Episodes from Wilson’s times could still have been sensitive at the time of the proposed sale. Only a few years earlier, Mrs Thatcher had tried to stop the publication of a book claiming MI5 plotted against the Labour PM.
Had the Wilson papers been sent to Canada, the 30-year rule could not have been enforced, according to officials. Not really his to sell off’.
McMaster University wanted the archive to include papers from Lord Wilson’s time at Number 10. The Labour leader had served two terms as prime minister, from 1964 to 1970 and then between 1974 and 1976. Sir Robin thought it would cause “public disquiet” if the papers left the country. Andrew Turnbull, Mrs Thatcher’s principal private secretary, said he was unhappy with the “politics/morality” of such an idea.
“Although these are formally Lord Wilson’s private papers”. he wrote in March 1990, “they are part of our history, and, it will be said, they are not really his to ‘sell off'”. He said if Lord Wilson required additional care in his old age, the Labour and Trade Union movement should support him.
Source: BBC
