PESC and the 1964–66 Labour Government

The Labour Party was voted into office on Friday 16 October, and Mr Harold Wilson took charge immediately. The first issue was machinery of government, and the long-expected break-up of the Treasury and the creation of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA); and Mr Wilson has described in his memoirs1 the background of his thinking, and how he reached agreement with Mr George Brown and Mr Callaghan on that first evening. For the control of public expenditure, the division of responsibilities and the ability of the two Ministers and their departments to work effectively together was of crucial importance.