Harold Wilson: Soccer & Politics
“Have you noticed how we only win the World Cup under a Labor Government?” Harold Wilson remarked after England’s victory in 1966. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Wilson was Britain’s Labor Prime Minister in 1966 – the only year, as of this writing, that England has won the World Cup.
Considering that the major party in English politics have been the Tories and they have been there in power since the World Cup began in 1930 except for the Labor governments of Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson, and the New Labor party of Tony Blair since 1994, this might be encouraging news for English prospects in the World Cup. But time is running out. Tony Blair was in power in the 1998 and 2002 World Cup and England did not win the Cup. And this is Blair’s last term which he might not survive if Gordon Brown and his supporters have their way.
Or is it because this is not the Labor party but the neo-liberal version. Will the real Labor Party step up and guide England to World Cup glory once again? We might have to wait a long time.