ABSTRACT
In 1963 Labour was easy for the Labour leader, Harold Wilson, to paint the Conservative Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, as a fourteenth earl who was out of touch with experiences of ordinary people. Since the main issue of politics was becoming who could most successfully manage the economy, Wilson, the economist, was more than able to outmatch a Prime Minister who admitted that his financial skills were limited. There was talk of finding a third way between Conservatism and Socialism so that Labour could break into areas in the south of England that had formerly been Conservative fiefdoms the so-called Middle England. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were at the forefront of this and, reputedly, Brown had agreed that Blair, with his flair for public presentation and communication, would go for the leadership and would, at some time unspecified, pass it on to Brown.
