FIFTY years ago the summer was so hot and rain free that a Drought Act was passed, shortly after which it started raining.

It was the second year of a Labour government that had been elected at two elections in February and October 1975. The earlier election was the one where the Tories posed the question of who ran the country, the prime minister or the unions? Voters opted for the latter.

One result of that was the social contract between the government and major unions. The idea was to control prices and wages. In reality while wages were controlled, prices were not. The resulting impact in pay led in part to the 1979 “winter of discontent.”

Meanwhile the economic outlook after the 1973 oil crisis became increasingly difficult. As ever it was determined that those who would have to deal with this were not the rich but the less well off. The International Monetary Fund demanded cuts in spending as the 1976 crisis rolled on, and the era of austerity was born.

One result was the rise of the first fascist movement since Oswald Mosley, the National Front. It started to both win votes at elections and build a street presence based on marches and attacks on left meetings.

Into this was pitched a Labour leadership election. Its highly likely there will also be one in 2026 but 50 years ago only Labour MPs could vote.

Harold Wilson made a surprise decision to resign on March 16 1976, which was based on health concerns and the impact on his ability to do the job of prime minister.

For those of a certain age it may be recalled that the resignation gave rise to any number of conspiracy theories involving MI5 the KGB and so on. The reality was probably more mundane. Wilson feared signs of the Alzheimers that ran in the family. He had, after all, won four elections for Labour, 1964, 1966 and 1974 twice.

Tony Benn recorded in his diary that Wilson’s announcement stunned the Cabinet and it led to a leadership election.

It being 1976, the election was confined to Labour MPs. Fifty years ago however Labour was still a “broad church” and candidates from the right, centre and left put their names forward.

The first round on March 25 1976 saw the following results:

Michael Foot 90
Jim Callaghan 84
Roy Jenkins 56
Tony Benn 37
Denis Healey 30
Tony Crosland 17

All of the contenders were men of a certain age, with, however, considerable political and ministerial experience who had run government departments.

The second ballot on March 30 produced the following result:

Callaghan 141
Foot 133
Healey 38

Callaghan became leader and prime minister. It was a victory for the Labour right, though Healey arguably played a key role once Callaghan was in No 10. Foot became leader after Callaghan lost the election in 1979 and duly lost in 1983. Crosland sadly died in 1976, Jenkins left for the SDP and Benn continued to tack left.

Perhaps the lesson from all this 50 years on is that for the wider public while Wilson’s resignation was a complete surprise, those who sought to replace him and their record in public office over some years was well known (if not liked). A Labour leadership election were it to take place in 2026 would be a rather different matter. Labour is no longer a broad church and neither does it have the political leaders of the stature it had in 1976. A reflection of changing political times, with the interregnum of New Labour (1995-2010) hanging like a nightmare over the future of Labour.