Britain Has a Dismal Warning From 1970

As Keir Starmer’s leadership teeters after last week’s disastrous local election results, his allies have taken to quoting a predecessor as British prime minister, the wily Harold Wilson. Facing similar calls to quit amid cabinet plotting, Wilson took to the stage at a 1969 May Day rally and declared: “I know what’s going on, I’m going on.”

It’s a nice line. A prime minister can display a certain hauteur by refusing to be distracted from the heavy task of governing by petty court machinations. Unfortunately, Starmer’s supporters fail to reference what happened next. Just over a year after Wilson’s show of defiance, voters decided he wouldn’t be going on much longer after all. He was dispatched from No. 10 in the 1970 general election, when Labour lost to Ted Heath’s Conservatives.