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| The Lavender List | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Docudrama |
| Written by | Francis Wheen |
| Starring |
|
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC Four |
| Release | March 1, 2006 |
The Lavender List is a docudrama originally broadcast on BBC Four on 1 March 2006. It chronicles the events that led to the drafting of the so-called "Lavender List", a satirical name given to Harold Wilson's controversial 1976 resignation honours.
The docudrama was written by journalist Francis Wheen, deputy editor of the satirical magazine Private Eye . Wheen said that it was based on the political diaries of two members of Wilson's cabinet: press secretary Joe Haines and director of policy Bernard Donoughue. [1] It starred Kenneth Cranham as Wilson and Gina McKee as Marcia Williams, the head of Wilson's political office.
The list itself caused controversy as some of the recipients were wealthy businessmen whose principles were considered antithetical to those held by the Labour Party. One businessman on the list, Lord Kagan, was a friend of Wilson's. He was convicted of fraud in 1980. [2] Another, Sir Eric Miller, committed suicide while under investigation for the same crime in 1977. [3] Lew Grade and James Goldsmith, who had previously given financial assistance to Williams, also featured. [1]
The name of the list originated in a claim made by Haines[ citation needed ] that the original draft had been written on lavender-coloured notepaper. No documentary evidence has been proffered to support this claim, and Wilson and Williams denied it.[ citation needed ]
Victor Lewis-Smith reviewed the production positively in the Evening Standard .[ citation needed ] Other reviews were critical,[ citation needed ] and drew negative responses from some of those depicted in it. Haines noted what he considered 54 inaccuracies in the production. [4]
The BBC paid Williams £75,000 in damages for claiming that she conducted an adulterous affair with Wilson, and that she exercised undue influence over the compilation of the list. In an out-of-court settlement, the BBC also agreed to pay an estimated £200,000 in costs and promised never to rebroadcast the film. [5]
Kenneth Charles Williams was a British actor and comedian. He was best known for his comedy roles and in later life as a raconteur and diarist. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the 31 Carry On films, and appeared in many British television programmes and radio comedies, including series with Tony Hancock and Kenneth Horne, as well as being a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4's comedy panel show Just a Minute from its second series in 1968 until his death 20 years later.
Francis James Baird Wheen is a British journalist, writer and broadcaster.
A Kitchen Cabinet is a group of unofficial or private advisers to a political leader. The term was originally used by political opponents of President of the United States Andrew Jackson to describe his ginger group, the collection of unofficial advisors he consulted in parallel to the United States Cabinet following his purge of the cabinet at the end of the Eaton affair and his break with Vice President John C. Calhoun in 1831.
Marcia Matilda Williams, Baroness Falkender, CBE, also known as Marcia Falkender, was known as the private secretary for, and then the political secretary and head of political office to, UK Labour prime minister Harold Wilson.
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Kenneth Cranham is a Scottish film, television, radio and stage actor. His most notable screen roles were in Oliver! (1968), Up Pompeii (1971), Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988), Chocolat (1988), Layer Cake (2004), Gangster No. 1 (2000), Hot Fuzz (2007), Maleficent (2014), and Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017).
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James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, PC was one of the most prominent British politicians of the 20th century.
Joseph Thomas William Haines is a British journalist and former press secretary to Labour Party leader and Prime Minister Harold Wilson.
The 1976 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours were announced on 27 May 1976 to mark the resignation of the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson. The list of resignation honours became known satirically as the "Lavender List".
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The Central Policy Review Staff (CPRS), nicknamed the "Think-Tank", was an independent unit within the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom tasked with developing long term strategy and co-ordinating policy across government departments. It was established by Edward Heath in February 1971 but was later disbanded by Margaret Thatcher following the 1983 general election.
The Queen is a 2009 British docudrama showing Elizabeth II at various points during her life. Broadcast on Channel 4 over five consecutive nights from 29 November 2009, the Queen is portrayed by a different actress in each episode. The series was co-funded by the American Broadcasting Company, the network which aired the series in the US.
Yesterday's Men is a British documentary that appeared as part of the 24 Hours series on 17 June 1971. The programme is remembered for provoking a clash between the Labour Party and the BBC. According to Anthony Smith, the editor of 24 Hours at the time, the film led to "the biggest and most furious row that a television programme in the English language has ever provoked."
Cultural depictions of prime ministers of the United Kingdom have become commonplace since the term's first use in 1905. However, they have been applied to prime ministers who were in office before the first use of the term. They are listed here chronologically from the date of first appointment as prime minister.
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