Dr Gordon Gillespie (QUB): 'The 1974 Spongers Speech Revisited: Wilson, Lady Falkender and David Bowie'

Harold Wilson’s nationally broadcast speech of 25 May 1974, in which he attacked those involved in the ongoing Ulster Workers’ Council (UWC) strike and their supporters for, ‘sponging on Westminster and British democracy’, is often seen as one of the most disastrous in post-war British politics in that it appeared to bring about the opposite of what it aimed to achieve. Rather than undermining support for the strike the speech strengthened unionist opinion against the Sunningdale Agreement and hurried the end of that political initiative. At the time, and since, many have viewed Wilson’s actions as being at best capricious and at worst bizarre. The explanation for Wilson’s speech might perhaps be found in a combination of Wilson’s long term views on Northern Ireland as well as the pressures on him in the early part of 1974. The ‘spongers’ speech may thus be seen as Wilson venting his frustration, not just at the situation in Northern Ireland, but with other personal and political issues of the day. This talk juxtaposes the political crisis with David Bowie's popular cultural commentary on British decline.

Dr Gordon Gillespie is a Visiting Researcher in the Institute of Irish Studies QUB, working on displays of flags in loyalist areas of inner east Belfast, and with Nottingham Trent University and the Ulster Museum on the oral history of the Ulster Workers Council Strike of 1974. He has published widely on the history of the Northern Ireland Troubles.

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