Harold Wilson Says He Quit in Fear of Growing Stale in Job

Former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson decided to resign as government and Labor Party leader two years before he actually stepped down in March, 1976, according to excerpts of his memoirs published Sunday.

Wilson, Labor Party leader for 13 years and prime minister for almost eight, said he he was losing interest in his office and decided as early as the elections of February, 1974, that he would quit two years later on his 60th birthday.

“I was afraid of growing stale while still in high office,” Wilson, now Lord Rievaulx, said in a new volume of his memoirs.

Over the years, there have been suggestions that Wilson was forced to resign for political or financial reasons or because he had come under pressure from the intelligence services.