Chapter 1492 – Callahan, the Party Leader

“My friend, look at you, such words sound so melodious every time you hear them. But then, I know very well in my heart that my colleagues in Whitehall, which is like the Malayan subjects so good to buy, a bag of rice a year, a barrel of palm oil will be dispatched happily.”

Alan Wilson asked rhetorically with a smirk, “People are always greedy, and as the Treasury says, no matter how much effort we put into providing for the needs of our native citizens, in the end these voters who think they have their finger on the pulse of the nation feel that they deserve all of these things, and in fairness, that’s bad.”

“Necessary unemployment helps to increase the rate of competition in the country, and too many welfare traps do no good for society as a whole.” Alan Wilson said with deep concern, “which in turn leads to national stagnation.”

“Sounds like the view of a section of the Conservative Party.” John Hunter frowned slightly, a wave of neoliberalism had indeed risen in the free world at this time.

“Something like that. It’s actually an article criticizing the Soviet Union from within the Soviet bloc countries.” Alan Wilson couldn’t say it too clearly, or else John Hunter would ask him why he always read the newspaper of a certain big country.

Although there are some problems with the sources, Allen Wilson is agreeing with the idea, “It’s a sin to piss away all that silver for nothing on the poor.”

On the matter of British citizens being insatiable and lazy, which in turn could lead to problems in the development of the country, Alan Wilson really does tend to favor the Conservative view, and anyway, the two industries, coal and steel, don’t even come close to making up for the cost of the government’s inputs in terms of the value they create.

Indeed need an Indira Gandhi, Mrs. Mayo like the emergence of the Iron Lady, so that these lazy workers hurry up and get out, do not waste Whitehall pounds, so that everyone is good.

Doing the math, the Soviet Union would have already started to decimate from being too powerful in the midst of a global offensive during Thatcher’s time, and there would have been no need to worry about the inside-the-beltway thing, either.

The discontent with these workers stems from the fact that, in recent years, coal and steel workers in the UK have made strikes a regular feature of their campaign against the government, and they have become more frequent and more voracious.

The coal workers’ strike in 1972 for a 21 percent pay rise was eventually met by the government, but it was only half of what the coal workers were demanding.

A second strike followed in the wake of the oil crisis. Allen Wilson was able to refer to history to avoid the government’s decision-making mistakes, but he couldn’t count on the greed of the people.

Compared to the history in his mind in the seventies in the United Kingdom twenty-eight percent of inflation, these years, but seven percent, eight percent of inflation is far worse than the United States is the same figure, these British workers still have what is not satisfied?

Going home from work, Alan Wilson asked the Australian side of what a good way to deal with the greed of the working class to fill the gulch.

“There’s nothing good that can be done to satisfy the aspirations of the workers.” Pamela Mountbatten shakes her head, “Australia’s situation cannot be applied to mainland Britain, the two countries are different.”

“True, Australia is a resource country and doesn’t require much military spending.” Alan Wilson nodded, “But we can’t, only a fool would believe that Britain can catch up with the United States in terms of living standards with such a piece of land on the mainland. Don’t we care about overseas interests anymore? Once the Royal Navy can not be maintained, the economic shock transmitted from the colonies to the mainland will be wave after wave, but also lead Europe? It’s questionable whether we can swing Italy, let alone France and Germany.”

“What about the two foundations you set up?” Pamela Mountbatten smiled and joked, “It’s swelled quite a bit in the past two years, hasn’t it, a few tens of billions of pounds, and it’s not hard to satisfy the needs of the workers, is it?”

“Why should I give my hard earned money to some irrelevant workers? Just because they’re British? What contribution have they made, but they would have been reincarnated and happened to be born in England. If they had been born in India or Bengal, they would have been grateful to me if I had given them a penny, and there are times when I think that I would get more pleasure out of even keeping a dog than the contribution that these workers have brought in, and at least the dog would know how to wag its tail at me when it was fed and could make me happy.”

“That’s quite different from what you thought at first, ten years ago, you were quite willing to improve the treatment of the workers a little.” Pamela Mountbatten frivolously launched into a reminiscence of a time when Whitehall had instituted many policies.

“Coal and steel creates that piece of value, the country can make no money, but you can’t always have the country riding into it.” Alan Wilson says it’s not his fault, it’s all the workers’ insatiable greed.

Does England dig up a piece of coal and sell it for more money than a piece of coal from Germany? Coal has only those values, and the coal workers are now asking for more than the value of the coal, so what is the wonder that the coal dug up in England is also coal, not gold.

Constant wage increases always need to have to match the increase in the provision of goods, otherwise the more the increase in wages, the more it will trigger inflation, this is if a few years to solve the problem, a large country has sufficient human resources, can provide a huge amount of goods to cope with the extra monthly salary, now let him go where to find the goods?

Against this background, the Harold Wilson government has launched a three-stage personal tax program over the next three years. Last July a White Paper called Fighting Inflation announced the first phase, which looks to limit pay rises to less than six pounds a week for all those earning up to £8,500 a year. The TUC voted nineteen to thirteen to accept this proposal.

The second stage of the scheme, if Callaghan came to power, would be the first issue facing the Callaghan government.

“My dear, I know you’re all for the good of the country.” Pamela Mountbatten mouthed soothingly, was it just the coal workers’ pay rise that was causing problems? Wasn’t there a group of people under the leadership of Whitehall and staffed by half a million people, such as the humble social commons?

Do public servants just watch the coal workers get a pay rise and then take their original meagre income themselves? Not only do civil servants have to get a pay rise, but they have to get it fast, and that’s what makes it difficult for husbands.

“The working community has always failed to understand the difficulties of the state, and that, my dear, is why concessions can’t always be made to the workers.” Ellen Wilson sighed, “I believe that the United States is also extremely sick of domestic union organizing right now, my friend Reagan being one of them.”

Allen Wilson also grumbled and complained, and was already in a much better mood after a war of words with Pamela Mountbatten. The next day it was time to find a chance to relax on the golf course with Bernard Donau, Callahan’s chief political advisor; civil servants certainly didn’t ask partisan questions out of a neutral position, but if someone was willing to volunteer the information, that was no problem.

“It’s basically about the same.” Bernard Donau said confidently, “I don’t want to say much, but there’s not much chance of a blowout. It’s possible to predict the schedule after the podium. Does the jazzman have any suggestions?”

“The most important thing to open the situation is the diplomatic field, I suggest a trip to the East.” Alan Wilson opened his mouth and suggested, “The US is also having a general election this year, and the results won’t be available until November. This interregnum Britain can do some diplomatic work and show some diplomatic influence. It is also considered to open up the situation for the future economic layout.”

“That’s really hard work.” Absentmindedly answering a sentence, Bernard Donau mused, “Sir, as you know, I’ve always aspired to play my role better.”

“Well, the work of the Commonwealth Athletic Association requires a man who goes out of his way to run for it.” Alan Wilson looked to Bernard Donau, “Bernard, do you see if you don’t mind?”

“The specific job is?” Bernard Donau didn’t know much about the sports side of the job and was still waiting for an answer from the supreme authority, “You know, I have my own ideas to a certain extent that there’s such a thing as integrity in this world.”

“It’s very much about integrity, and it’s because of that integrity that it’s particularly suited to sports. It’s very tough work, promoting sport, anti-doping, probably running around the world for long periods of time, explaining sports that might be misunderstood, like women’s rugby league in Australia. Oh, and mostly the concept of healthy beauty. Car rallies are hugely popular, with huge audiences across Europe, and with France saying it wants a piece of the action, the stakes are also important.”

Alan Wilson still carried on adding details about the women’s rugby players, the amazing pregnancy rate that was all roadside news, he hadn’t been to Australia a couple of times in total, he had heard it all from the richest woman in the world.

All in all, Bernard Donau was happy to accept the job of promoting the sport and was willing to shine in the field.

Over the next few days, the greatest pleasure for Alan Wilson, and for Whitehall as a whole, was to watch the live broadcast of the party leadership contest, an entertainment that was a spice in the midst of a perennially grueling Whitehall.

The Foreign Secretary, Patrick Gordon Walker, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, James Callaghan, emerged as the candidates who went down to the wire, in line with the predictions of most of their colleagues.

From a practical point of view, the Foreign Secretary demonstrated the development of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth in the new era in the field of diplomacy in which he specializes, indicating that the prosperity of the United Kingdom cannot be separated from the common prosperity of the Commonwealth. When it came to the economy, Callaghan, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, clearly had more to say, proposing concrete solutions for economic growth and tackling inflation.

The final result was revealed, with Callaghan beating his rivals to become the new leader of the Labor Party, who would take over from Prime Minister Harold Wilson following his resignation.

Ten Downing Street was very busy on this day, with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth appearing to express her approval of Harold Wilson’s tenure as he completed the final moments of his political career.

“Darling!” Pamela Mountbatten, who had accompanied her, turned left and right to find her husband in the middle of the corner, “Didn’t think I’d come did you, wasn’t that a shock.”

“Oh ho, how are you going to get back? Do you leave after the Queen?” Alan Wilson looked at his wife favorably and shook his head, “It’s still not going with me.”