A resplendently gowned and crowned Queen Elizabeth last week opened the second Parliament of Harold Wilson's Labor government with a cool, clear reading of the "gracious speech" that traditionally limns the government's legislative hopes for a new session. The speech, prepared by Wilson, was a seven-minute catalogue of proposed measures from health to housing but was mainly notable for what it left out: any mention of the nationalization of Britain's steel industry.
Ownership of steel has had an honored place in Socialist manifestoes and party platforms in Britain for decades, and Wilson's in 1964 was no exception. But ever since he became...
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