meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Coffee House Shots

Harold Wilson's secret Downing Street affair

Coffee House Shots

The Spectator

News, Daily News, Politics

4.42.2K Ratings

🗓️ 13 April 2024

⏱️ 10 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this special Saturday edition of Coffee House Shots we discuss Patrick Maguire's scoop this week about former Labour leader Harold Wilson's secret affair with his deputy press secretary. Where does this rank in the history of parliamentary affairs? And – on a more serious note – are there any lessons that Keir Starmer can learn from Harold Wilson? 

Katy Balls speaks to Patrick Maguire and James Heale. 

Become a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more.


For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podcasts.


Contact us: podcast@spectator.co.uk


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

The Spectator magazine is home to wonderful writing, insightful analysis and unrivaled books and arts reviews.

0:06.0

Subscribe today for just 12 pounds and receive a 12 week subscription in print and online,

0:11.0

along with a free 20 pound John Lewis or Weight Chose voucher.

0:15.0

Go to Spectator.co. UK.

0:17.0

forward slash voucher.

0:18.0

Hello and I'm

0:23.3

welcome to a special Saturday edition of Coffee House Shots.

0:26.1

I'm Katie Balls and I'm joined by James Hill and our special guest

0:29.9

Patrick McGuire of the Times.

0:32.1

Patrick you managed to get a scoop this week for one that lives in the past when it comes to

0:38.0

Harold Wilson. Can you tell us about the secret Downing Street affair?

0:41.0

Yeah, Katie, it's telling that the piece of

0:43.8

journalism of mine that's had the most impact ever concerns a story that is

0:47.8

48 years old. On Wednesday, I got a Tuesday rather I got a

0:52.7

I got a unexpected phone call from Bernard Donahue who your listeners might know as

0:57.4

Lord Donahue the diarist of Harold Wilson and James Callahan's government. He was head of policy in Number 10 under both of them and he said his former colleague Joe Haynes had a massive story to tell that he never told before and I asked Bernard what it was and he said,

1:14.0

Harold had an affair and Bernard and I knew.

1:17.0

And I said, oh, this must be confirmation then that he was sleeping with Marcia Williams,

1:22.0

to which Bernard said no no it was

1:24.5

someone else he would have never heard of and it turns out that Harold Wilson

1:28.3

and his deputy press secretary Janet Hewlett Davis had a prolonged and entirely secret affair that no one has known about until now.

1:37.0

James, within our politics team, you're always there to give us the exact dates and times of things that happened a long time

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Spectator, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Spectator and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.