‘Wilson did not achieve any of his foreign policy aims between 1964 and 1970’. Assess the validity
of this view
Harold Wilson's foreign policy aims were to handle the economic situation in Britain,
to continue decolonisation and further reduce military responsibilities. He was
successful in keeping Britain out of war and preserving their special relationship with
the United States while retaining financial support. His top priority was to improve
Britain's economy and security, which he was very successful at.
One of Harold Wilson's foreign policy aims as Prime minister was to keep Britain out
of war. His greatest foreign policy achievement was managing to keep British troops
out of Vietnam. Wilson’s 1964 to 1970 governments were highly dependent on the
United States in terms of keeping the British economy steady. Wilson was himself
pro-American and was a keen supporter of the Atlantic Alliance. In 1964 the
Americans put pressure on Wilson not to devalue the pound due to fears that as a
consequence they would have to devalue the dollar. However, the escalation of the
Vietnam war began in 1964, and the US president, Lyndon Johnson wanted to gain
support and approval from the United States' allies. Wilson resisted any direct
military involvement despite his good relationship with Johnson. There were many
economic and financial considerations therefore Britain could not afford the military
involvement. In the end, the policy gave moral support without any military support.
This not only annoyed the United States who wanted greater backing, but also
several Labour MPs and he also risked losing political support if he was too
supportive of the war.
Wilson's policies dealing with the economic deficit in Britain were successful to an
extent. In the sphere of foreign policy, Wilson's government had to deal with the
reality of British decline, while the outgoing Conservative administration bequeathed
a balance of payments deficit of £800 million.
In 1964, Britain's defence presence in Malaysia and Singapore was the largest and
most expensive component of the country's world-wide role. Yet within three and a
half years, the Wilson Government had announced that Britain would be withdrawing
from its major Southeast Asian bases and abandoning any special military role "East
of Suez". These reduction in military commitments was due to economic reasons. The
minister of defence, Denis Healy, started a process of spending cuts designed to bring
the defence budget below £200 billion by 1970. However, it can be argued that given
the economic situation that the Labour government inherited, these cuts did not go
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