I'm Backing Britain
Encyclopedia
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
campaign aimed at boosting the British economy which flourished in early 1968. The campaign started spontaneously when five Surbiton
Surbiton
Surbiton, a suburban area of London in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, is situated next to the River Thames, with a mixture of Art-Deco courts, more recent residential blocks and grand, spacious 19th century townhouses blending into a sea of semi-detached 20th century housing estates...
secretaries volunteered to work an extra half an hour each day without pay in order to boost productivity, and urged others to do the same. This invitation received an enormous response and a campaign took off spectacularly, becoming a nationwide movement within a week. Trade unions
Trade unions in the United Kingdom
Trade unions in the United Kingdom were first decriminalised under the recommendation of a Royal Commission in 1867, which agreed that the establishment of the organisations was to the advantage of both employers and employees...
were suspicious of, and some directly opposed to, the campaign as an attempt to extend working hours surreptitiously, and to hide inefficiency by management.
The campaign received official endorsement by the Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
, Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
, but found being perceived as Government-endorsed was double-edged. The Union Flag logo encouraged by the campaign became highly visible on the high streets, and attempts were made to take over the campaign by Robert Maxwell
Robert Maxwell
Ian Robert Maxwell MC was a Czechoslovakian-born British media proprietor and former Member of Parliament , who rose from poverty to build an extensive publishing empire...
who wanted to change its focus into an appeal to 'Buy British'; however the campaign's own t-shirt
T-shirt
A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....
s were made in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. After a few months without any noticeable effect on individual companies or the economy generally, interest flagged amid much embarrassment about some of the ways in which the campaign had been pursued and supported. It has come to be regarded as an iconic example of a failed attempt to transform British economic prospects.
Economic background
The year 1967 had seen the British economy suffering from several difficulties. Despite tax increases announced in July 1966, the 1967 budget had set the greatest deficit in post-war history of £1,000m. Each month, the Board of TradeBoard of Trade
The Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...
published figures of the 'balance of trade' between exports and imports which seemed to show an ever increasing deficit, The closure of the Suez Canal
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...
after the Six-Day War
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
hit exporters, as did an unofficial dock strike which broke out at the end of September. Having put up the bank rate
Bank rate
Bank rate, also referred to as the discount rate, is the rate of interest which a central bank charges on the loans and advances that it extends to commercial banks and other financial intermediaries...
to 6% on 19 October, on 18 November, the Government abandoned three years of attempting to maintain the exchange rate and devalued
Devaluation
Devaluation is a reduction in the value of a currency with respect to those goods, services or other monetary units with which that currency can be exchanged....
the Pound sterling
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
from $2.80 to $2.40. Although an economic defeat, devaluation was perceived as an export opportunity which British industry needed to seize.
Arising out of devaluation, John Boyd-Carpenter
John Boyd-Carpenter, Baron Boyd-Carpenter
John Archibald Boyd-Carpenter, Baron Boyd-Carpenter PC was a British Conservative politician.-Early life:...
(Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Kingston-upon-Thames
Kingston-upon-Thames (UK Parliament constituency)
Kingston-upon-Thames was a parliamentary constituency in the South-West London suburb of Kingston upon Thames which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.-History:...
) wrote to The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
in a letter published on 13 December 1967 suggesting that "If a number of people, particularly in responsible positions, would set by an example by sacrificing say the first Saturday of every month and working on that morning without extra pay, profits or overtime, it would give an example to others at home, and show the world that we were in earnest". He complained that capital equipment stood idle from Friday afternoon to Monday morning.
Colt Ventilation and Heating Ltd
On 27 December 1967, Fred Price (Marketing Director of Colt Ventilation and Heating LtdColt Group
The Colt Group is a family owned business, founded in 1931, that designs and supplies climate control, smoke control, natural ventilation, solar shading and daylight technology....
) sent out a memo headed "General progress report" which assessed the company's economic prospects. Inspired by Boyd-Carpenter, he wrote that the balance of payments deficit would disappear overnight if the working population of the United Kingdom worked a five-and-a-half day week without demanding higher incomes for the extra half day. Price said that Britain would become once more the wealthiest country in the world.
The memo was received by five secretaries working in the company's head office in Surbiton
Surbiton
Surbiton, a suburban area of London in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, is situated next to the River Thames, with a mixture of Art-Deco courts, more recent residential blocks and grand, spacious 19th century townhouses blending into a sea of semi-detached 20th century housing estates...
, Valerie White, Joan Southwell, Carol Ann Fry, Christine French and Brenda Mumford. The next morning, they discussed it and Southwell said that she was willing to work an extra half day a week. The others agreed, and White took the initiative of writing a reply (which she gave reference VW/OD GEN); the reply said "What about starting this scheme of a five-and-a-half-day week? Let us be the first company to start the ball rolling." After discussing with the other members of staff, on 29 December the 240 employees at the head office voted to report for work at 8.30 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. They also made contact with the workers employed at the company's factory in Havant
Havant
Havant is a town in south east Hampshire on the South coast of England, between Portsmouth and Chichester. It gives its name to the borough comprising the town and the surrounding area. The town has rapidly grown since the end of the Second World War.It has good railway connections to London,...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
to encourage them to do the same.
The campaign snowballs
Before the workers had a chance to work their first extra half-hour, their campaign had already begun "snowballing fast". Over the weekend of 30–31 December 1967, five other companies had already decided to follow their example, based in PortsmouthPortsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
, Southend, Bicester
Bicester
Bicester is a town and civil parish in the Cherwell district of northeastern Oxfordshire in England.This historic market centre is one of the fastest growing towns in Oxfordshire Development has been favoured by its proximity to junction 9 of the M40 motorway linking it to London, Birmingham and...
and Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, and others were telephoning to show their interest. The Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
sent a telegram describing the campaign as "the most heartening news I heard in 1967" and wishing it success. There was a full turnout at 8:30 AM on 1 January at the Surbiton offices, while Havant worked their extra half-hour at the end of the day. Working with the company's managing director, Alan O'Hea, the five secretaries began to think up a slogan; after rejecting "I'm Behind Britain" for having the wrong message, they settled on "I'm Backing Britain". O'Hea then ordered (from Norprint of Boston
Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston is a town and small port in Lincolnshire, on the east coast of England. It is the largest town of the wider Borough of Boston local government district and had a total population of 55,750 at the 2001 census...
, who supplied them free) 100,000 badges featuring a Union Flag
Union Flag
The Union Flag, also known as the Union Jack, is the flag of the United Kingdom. It retains an official or semi-official status in some Commonwealth Realms; for example, it is known as the Royal Union Flag in Canada. It is also used as an official flag in some of the smaller British overseas...
with their slogan written across the centre, and began writing to 30,000 employers to encourage them; the workers contacted leading political and industrial figures asking for suggestions as to how others could help.
Advertising agency DPBT bought a full-page advert in The Times of 3 January 1968 offering their spare time, free, to make commercials backing the campaign. All three political party leaders sent their support, and an all-party press conference promoted the campaign on 5 January. Not all companies joining the campaign did so by working extra unpaid hours: some cancelled projected price increases, and waived fees. The campaign extended to Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
where the Welsh language
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
slogan was not a direct translation but instead "Rwy'n Bacio Cymru" ("I'm Backing Wales").
Concerns
While telegrams of congratulation continued to flood in to Colt, the British Productivity Council was sceptical of its effectiveness. The Council pointed to the difference between productivity and output, and stated that each individual firm must consider what would be appropriate in its circumstances depending on its "agreements between management and working people".Trades Union Congress
Trades Union Congress
The Trades Union Congress is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in the United Kingdom, representing the majority of trade unions...
general secretary George Woodcock
George Woodcock (trade unionist)
George Woodcock was a British trade unionist and general secretary of the Trades Union Congress from 1960 to 1969....
, while welcoming the "very good spirit" of the campaign, said that the trade unions would not foster it, and that some unions would strongly oppose it. The Amalgamated Engineering Union
Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union
The Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union was a British trade union. It merged with the MSF to form Amicus in 2001.The history of the union can be traced back to the formation of the "Old Mechanics" of 1826, which grew into the Amalgamated Society of Engineers in 1851...
shop stewards at Colt's factory in Havant carefully said that workers could work the extra half-hour without pay, but that it would not prejudice any decision taken by the AEU national executive. Confederation of British Industry
Confederation of British Industry
The Confederation of British Industry is a British not for profit organisation incorporated by Royal charter which promotes the interests of its members, some 200,000 British businesses, a figure which includes some 80% of FTSE 100 companies and around 50% of FTSE 350 companies.-Role:The CBI works...
President John Davies
John Davies (businessman)
John Emerson Harding Harding-Davies, MBE, PC was a successful British businessman who served as Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry during the 1960s...
thought the campaign could be a kind of window-dressing such as he had recently criticised, but thought it should be encouraged because of the effect it might have on peoples' minds.
Contrasting with the generally positive reaction from politicians, Conservative MP Enoch Powell
Enoch Powell
John Enoch Powell, MBE was a British politician, classical scholar, poet, writer, and soldier. He served as a Conservative Party MP and Minister of Health . He attained most prominence in 1968, when he made the controversial Rivers of Blood speech in opposition to mass immigration from...
described the campaign as silly and dangerous. He observed "I am not accusing the Government of having suborned those Surrey typists, but the Government could not have wished for a better reinforcement for their campaign to instil into the people of Britain the conviction that it is all their own fault".
Trade union reaction
On 3 January the AEU's Portsmouth branch ordered its members not to participate in the campaign, with its district secretary Rory McCarthy explaining that "there are many reasons why the union is against giving buckshee half hours to employers", among them that employers might use it to hide inefficiencies. The workers at the factory immediately rebelled, with works convener Harry Tyler saying "no one likes being told what to do with their free time by the union" and said that some who were opposed had changed their view because of the union's attitude. Tyler was removed from his post as union branch chairman by a vote of no confidenceMotion of no confidence
A motion of no confidence is a parliamentary motion whose passing would demonstrate to the head of state that the elected parliament no longer has confidence in the appointed government.-Overview:Typically, when a parliament passes a vote of no...
on 5 January, after members of the branch from companies not taking part in the campaign went to the regular branch meeting. Some of the secretaries who started the campaign appeared on television discussing the trade union reaction with union leaders; the trade union leaders came across as talking down to the secretaries, an attitude which was felt to have helped the campaign.
The AEU national executive instructed its members to have nothing to do with 'unpaid overtime', setting up a direct confrontation with the factory where more than half of the union members signed a petition backing the campaign and supporting Tyler. The union's Portsmouth district committee then convened a secret court in early February, which convicted four shop stewards at Colt of discrediting the union, and imposed punishments suspending the men from holding office in the union for between one and five years. On hearing the news, forty Conservative backbench MPs put down a motion
Early day motion
An Early Day Motion , in the Westminster system, is a motion, expressed as a single sentence, tabled by Members of Parliament for debate "on an early day" . Controversial EDMs are not signed by Government Ministers, PPS or the Speaker of the House of Commons and very few are debated on the floor...
in the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
demanding Government action to "stop this type of petty trade union tyranny, which is so completely contrary to the best traditions of the freedom-loving British trade union movement".
Other trade unionists were generally sceptical. Clive Jenkins
Clive Jenkins
David Clive Jenkins was a British trade union leader. "Organising the middle classes", his stated recreation in Who's Who, sums up both his sense of humour and his achievements in the British trade union movement....
, general secretary of the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs
Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs
ASTMS - The Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs was a British trade union, created in 1969 when ASSET merged with the AScW under the leadership of joint general secretaries: Clive Jenkins of ASSET and John Dutton of the AScW.ASSET, the larger of the two...
, thought it was a "confidence trick" and observed that "when the British ruling class is in trouble it wraps itself in the Union Jack". Twenty years later, the managing director of Colt admitted that they had received hate mail about the campaign, and had arranged for the women to be chaperoned.
Press comment
Popular newspapers backed the campaign enthusiastically and praised the workers behind it. As early as 30 December 1967, the Daily ExpressDaily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
ran the headline "Five Girls Britain Can be Proud of" over a picture of the five originators with Fred Price. The Daily Mirror welcomed the spread of the campaign as its lead story on 3 January, and despite its traditional Labour and trade union sympathies it supported the Colt shop stewards against the union leadership. A Mirror editorial on 5 January declared that "the patriotic truth about these rule-book dominated trade union sourpusses is that they are incapable of recognising true patriotism when they see it".
The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
wrote on 6 January that, on hearing of the campaign, "the fashionable response in many sophisticated circles was a giggle", but that had transformed into "something louder than a grunt of admiration". The newspaper concluded that the campaign "may very well have accomplished, in the past week, the extraordinary feat of edging a national mood just an odd half-degree in the right direction." Likewise, the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
regarded it as "a beacon of light in an otherwise dismal economic and industrial prospect", but encouraged the diversion of the campaign into opposing absenteeism and restrictive practices as well as encouraging individuals "to identify their efforts with the success or failure of the country as a whole".
A week later, the Economist leader was slightly more wary about the campaign, seeing it as a symptom of widespread disenchantment with politics and thinking Britain lucky that "there is no demagogue of sufficient ability around to exploit it". The New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
admitted that "in strictly economic terms" the campaign to work extra hours made sense, but pointed to some of the oddities of the campaign, including the Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
betting-shop which had opened early as a contribution to the production drive, and the Portsmouth workers who, having agreed to work extra hours, demanded to leave early so they could see a television programme about the scheme.
Popular campaign
On Monday 8 January, Pye RecordsPye Records
Pye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...
issued a 45 rpm single supporting the campaign. Written by Tony Hatch
Tony Hatch
Anthony Peter "Tony" Hatch is an English composer, songwriter, pianist, music arranger and producer.-Early life and early career:...
and Jackie Trent
Jackie Trent
Jackie Trent is an English singer, songwriter, and actress.-Career:Trent's first stage appearance was as a ten-year-old ingenue in the pantomime Babes In The Wood, but her primary interest was a career in pop music...
, and sung by Bruce Forsyth
Bruce Forsyth
Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson, CBE , commonly known as Bruce Forsyth, or Brucie, is an English TV personality...
, the chorus included "The feeling is growing, so let's keep it going, the good times are blowing our way". All involved in making the single took cuts in their fees or royalties so that the single sold for 5s.
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...
instead of the going rate of 7s. 4½d. Forsyth happily endorsed the campaign, saying "The country has always done its best when it is up against the wall. If everyone realises what we are up against we can get out of trouble easily." However, the song did not make the charts; it sold only 7,319 copies.
The most visible manifestation of the campaign was in the Union Flag
Union Flag
The Union Flag, also known as the Union Jack, is the flag of the United Kingdom. It retains an official or semi-official status in some Commonwealth Realms; for example, it is known as the Royal Union Flag in Canada. It is also used as an official flag in some of the smaller British overseas...
s which begin to be put on shopping bags; even the Prime Minister noted that everyone seemed to be carrying them. Postmaster General
United Kingdom Postmaster General
The Postmaster General of the United Kingdom is a defunct Cabinet-level ministerial position in HM Government. Aside from maintaining the postal system, the Telegraph Act of 1868 established the Postmaster General's right to exclusively maintain electric telegraphs...
Edward Short
Edward Short, Baron Glenamara
Edward Watson Short, Baron Glenamara, CH PC is a former Labour Member of Parliament for Newcastle upon Tyne Central, England. He was a minister during the Labour Governments of Harold Wilson...
encouraged the Royal Mail
Royal Mail
Royal Mail is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. Royal Mail Holdings plc owns Royal Mail Group Limited, which in turn operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide...
to introduce an "I'm Backing Britain" franking mark, which was used on 84 million letters passing through 125 Post Offices between 9 February and 29 February. Increased visibility of the Union Flag distressed some commentators. Philip French, writing in the New Statesman, described being "constantly confronted" by the flag as "one of the more painful aspects" of the campaign.
The campaign found expression in the giving of conscience money to the Exchequer
Exchequer
The Exchequer is a government department of the United Kingdom responsible for the management and collection of taxation and other government revenues. The historical Exchequer developed judicial roles...
, as noted by The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
s Financial Editor William Davis
William Davis (journalist)
William Davis, Knight, Order of Merit of Italian Republic, , is a journalist, broadcaster, editor, company director, and founder of the in-flight magazine High Life. In the early 1990s Davis became chairman of the British Tourist Authority and English Tourist Board...
; in the middle of January it was observed that every postal delivery to the Treasury
HM Treasury
HM Treasury, in full Her Majesty's Treasury, informally The Treasury, is the United Kingdom government department responsible for developing and executing the British government's public finance policy and economic policy...
contained letters offering gifts. If the letter specified that the money was to pay off the Government debt, the funds were paid into the Debt Redemption Fund; otherwise the Consolidated Fund
Consolidated Fund
Consolidated Fund or the Consolidated Revenue Fund is the term used for the main bank account of the government in many of the countries in the Commonwealth of Nations.-Establishment:...
was the beneficiary. Disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
Jimmy Savile
Jimmy Savile
Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile, OBE, KCSG was an English disc jockey, television presenter and media personality, best known for his BBC television show Jim'll Fix It, and for being the first and last presenter of the long-running BBC music chart show Top of the Pops...
found his own way to support the campaign by volunteering to work nine days as a hospital porter at Leeds General Infirmary
Leeds General Infirmary
Leeds General Infirmary, also known as the LGI or, more correctly, The General Infirmary at Leeds, is a large teaching hospital based in the centre of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England and is part of the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust....
over two months, stating that at his rate of pay, nine days' work would have earned him £1,600.
Portuguese t-shirts
The campaign took a knock when the London wholesaler Scott Lester ordered thousands of white t-shirtT-shirt
A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....
s on which it screen-printed
Screen-printing
Screen printing is a printing technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink-blocking stencil. The attached stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfer ink or other printable materials which can be pressed through the mesh as a sharp-edged image onto a substrate...
the "I'm Backing Britain" slogan; the shirts had been made in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. Scott Lester's marketing director explained that "we just cannot find a British T-shirt which will give us the same quality at a price which will compare", saying that the shirts would have to retail at £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
1 if British sources were used. Labour MP Charles Mapp
Charles Mapp
Charles Mapp was a British Labour Party politician.From a working-class background, Mapp won a scholarship to a grammar school. He worked as a railway goods agent, and was elected to Sale Borough Council in 1932 and 1945...
urged the Government to ban the shirts.
Poet Laureate
The newly appointed Poet LaureatePoet Laureate
A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events...
, Cecil Day-Lewis
Cecil Day-Lewis
Cecil Day-Lewis CBE was an Irish poet and the Poet Laureate from 1968 until his death in 1972. He also wrote mystery stories under the pseudonym of Nicholas Blake...
, inaugurated his appointment with a poem entitled "Now and Then" supporting the campaign. It was commissioned by the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
and appeared on the newspaper's front page on 5 January; the poem compared Britain's economic plight in 1968 with the Blitz
The Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
, and ended:
Day-Lewis' choice of subject and the content of his poem were criticised. Bernard Levin
Bernard Levin
Henry Bernard Levin CBE was an English journalist, author and broadcaster, described by The Times as "the most famous journalist of his day". The son of a poor Jewish family in London, he won a scholarship to the independent school Christ's Hospital and went on to the London School of Economics,...
later wrote that the poem "made many regret their impulsive rejoicing at the death of his predecessor
John Masefield
John Edward Masefield, OM, was an English poet and writer, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1930 until his death in 1967...
".
Takeover
Such was the response coming into Colt that they found themselves overwhelmed and needed someone else to take it over. They asked the Industrial SocietyThe Work Foundation
The Work Foundation is a British not-for-profit organisation and independent authority providing advice, consultancy and research on the future of work, improving the quality of working life, leadership, economic and organisational effectiveness. The foundation works with government, business...
, a non-partisan body which promoted the best use of human resources in commerce and industry, which agreed and began to set up an organisation to run it. The society recruited 11 extra full time staff in January 1968 for the campaign, and appointed Admiral of the Fleet Sir Caspar John
Caspar John
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Caspar John GCB was the British First Sea Lord from 1960 to 1963. He was pioneer in the Fleet Air Arm, and rose to become Vice-Chief of Naval Staff to Sea Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma in 1957 and subsequently First Sea Lord from 1960 to 1963.-Early...
as its figurehead. The campaign was handled on a day-to-day basis by Mark Wolfson
Mark Wolfson
Geoffrey Mark Wolfson, known as Mark Wolfson, was the British Conservative MP for Sevenoaks from 1979 until he retired in 1997....
, who was Head of Youth Services for the Society.
Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
Financial Editor William Davis
William Davis (journalist)
William Davis, Knight, Order of Merit of Italian Republic, , is a journalist, broadcaster, editor, company director, and founder of the in-flight magazine High Life. In the early 1990s Davis became chairman of the British Tourist Authority and English Tourist Board...
had already noted in his column of 10 January that attention was moving away from the idea of providing free labour. The Industrial Society also stressed that working extra half-hours was "a tiny part" of the national campaign, and criticised people who tried to make anti-union propaganda out of the reaction to the case. Industrial Society director John Garnett pointed to tanker drivers who had switched from 56 hours driving slowly per week to 42 hours of faster driving. The Society convened a group of industrialists and leading trade unionists to reshape the official aims of the campaign. The Society found it difficult to make progress in getting the campaign adopted in more workplaces because of suspicion about their motives; a campaign adviser told the Daily Mirror that many assumed they were connected to the Labour Party and "without its political flavour, I am sure the campaign would have been taken a lot more seriously".
Robert Maxwell's 'Buy British' campaign
According to his sympathetic biographer Joe Haines, the Labour Member of ParliamentMember of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
Robert Maxwell
Robert Maxwell
Ian Robert Maxwell MC was a Czechoslovakian-born British media proprietor and former Member of Parliament , who rose from poverty to build an extensive publishing empire...
had the idea for a popular 'Buy British' campaign around the same time as the 'I'm Backing Britain' campaign emerged. Through an intermediary, Maxwell approached broadcaster David Frost
David Frost
Sir David Frost is a British broadcaster.David Frost may also refer to:*David Frost , South African golfer*David Frost , classical record producer*David Frost *Dave Frost, baseball pitcher...
; Frost gave a personal donation of £1,000 and invited Maxwell to appear on his television show on Friday 5 January. On television Maxwell told viewers to "think before buying. Buy the home product or service first whenever you can, even if it means buying less for a time". Maxwell tried to amalgamate his campaign with that of the Industrial Society, but the Society refused him. He therefore set up a rival "Help Britain Group".
Maxwell obtained letters of support from well-known personalities and launched his campaign with full page press adverts on 7 February. The adverts, topped with pictures of the three main party leaders, urged readers to "Act on just six of the uncranky suggestions on this page", and listed those who had supported him. One of those named, Bernard Delfont
Bernard Delfont
Bernard Delfont, Baron Delfont , born Boris Winogradsky, was a leading Russian-born British theatrical impresario....
, was upset when his support was revealed, feeling that Maxwell should have asked him before doing so. Critics pointed to the fact that Maxwell's Pergamon Press
Pergamon Press
Pergamon Press was an Oxford-based publishing house, founded by Paul Rosbaud and Robert Maxwell, which published scientific and medical books and journals. It is now an imprint of Elsevier....
printed a large number of its textbooks and scientific journals in Eastern European countries.
According to Maxwell's widow Elizabeth, his campaign won "the hearts and minds of countless ordinary workers around Britain". However Maxwell dropped the 'Buy British' part of his campaign by the end of February (retitling it 'Sell British, Help Britain, Help Yourself'), and wound up the whole thing in March. Maxwell's unofficial biographer Tom Bower
Tom Bower
Tom Bower is a British writer, noted for his revelatory investigative work such as his unauthorized biographies.A former Panorama reporter, his books include unauthorised biographies of Tiny Rowland, Robert Maxwell, Mohamed Al-Fayed, Geoffrey Robinson, Gordon Brown and Richard Branson...
noted that Maxwell succeeded in becoming the nationally recognised personality of the whole 'Backing Britain' campaign, although former Maxwell editor Roy Greenslade
Roy Greenslade
Roy Greenslade is Professor of Journalism at City University London and has been a media commentator since 1992, most notably for The Guardian....
noted that Maxwell was "a rogue politician" whose protectionist campaign was a "fruitless [cause]".
Political influence
At an after-dinner speech in BurnleyBurnley
Burnley is a market town in the Burnley borough of Lancashire, England, with a population of around 73,500. It lies north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Brun....
on 8 January, Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
criticised those who were "complaining that the other fellow is not pulling his weight" including trade unionists who pointed to the failures of individual employers. Wilson declared "What we want is 'back Britain', not back-biting". Wilson, who later wrote that the campaign "was a helpful and robust response to the gloom and near-defeatism" after devaluation, put Edmund Dell
Edmund Dell
Edmund Emanuel Dell was a British politician and businessman.Dell was born in London, the son of a Jewish manufacturer. In World War II he served in the Rifle Corps and the Royal Artillery, leaving as a first lieutenant...
, Under-Secretary at the Department of Economic Affairs
Secretary of State for Economic Affairs
The Secretary of State for Economic Affairs was briefly an office of Her Majesty's government in the United Kingdom. It was established by Harold Wilson in October 1964...
, in charge of government assistance; Dell visited Colt on 8 January 1968, but kept his assistance largely concealed.
Cabinet minister Richard Crossman
Richard Crossman
Richard Howard Stafford Crossman OBE was a British author and Labour Party politician who was a Cabinet Minister under Harold Wilson, and was the editor of the New Statesman. A prominent socialist intellectual, he became one of the Labour Party's leading Zionists and anti-communists...
wrote in his diary on 7 January that the vigorously expanding campaign was a "political windfall", but that it was "something we should have nothing to do with". The Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
found itself in difficulty when it ordered 2,000 posters with the slogan "Back Britain with Labour" for local Labour Parties to display. After a complaint from a member of the Industrial Society the posters were withdrawn. The Industrial Society also reported resisting an attempt by the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
to "borrow" the slogan for political purposes.
Campaign winds down
After the AEU banned the four Colt shop stewards from office, the shop stewards recommended to the workers at the Havant factory on 10 February that they stop working unpaid overtime because of the strife it had brought to the union, although the works director thought that the workers would in fact continue and pointed to the fact that the AEU was not the only union present. Joan Southwell, one of the original five secretaries at the head office, said that they would definitely continue as "we are all very solid about this in spite of the union disagreement". However, on 12 February the workers decided by a narrow majority to return to normal working hours.In early February, The Times went round to ask supermarket chains what effect the campaign was having, and found that it varied between "very little" and "none at all". By the middle of March, the Industrial Society was hinting that it needed a grant from the Government to keep going. It had encouraged local civic leaders across the country to set up local committees of industrialists and trade unionists. The television series "Dad's Army
Dad's Army
Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...
", the opening episode of which was recorded on 15 April 1968, began with a contemporary scene in which Alderman Mainwaring
Captain George Mainwaring
Captain George Mainwaring is the bank manager and Home Guard platoon commander portrayed by Arthur Lowe on the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army, set in the fictional seaside town of Walmington-on-Sea during the Second World War...
was the chairman of the Walmington-on-Sea
Walmington-on-Sea
Walmington-on-Sea is a fictional seaside resort where the BBC Television sitcom, BBC radio series and film Dad's Army was based.Located on the channel coast of England in the county of Kent, the national "front line" following the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk during...
"I'm Backing Britain" campaign.
Another reference to the campaign appeared in the title of a newspaper comic strip collection. From a distance its title appeared to read The Perishers
The Perishers
The Perishers was a British comic strip about a group of urban children and a dog. It began in the Daily Mirror on 19th October 1959 and was written for most of its life by Maurice Dodd . It was drawn by Dennis Collins until his retirement in 1983, after which it was drawn by Dodd and later by Bill...
Back Britain; only on closer inspection could the full title be read as The Perishers: Back Again to Pester Britain.
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
ran a large article by Nicholas Tomalin
Nicholas Tomalin
Nicholas Osborne Tomalin was an English journalist and writer.Tomalin was the son of Miles Tomalin, a Communist poet and veteran of the Spanish Civil War. He studied English literature at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. As a student he was President of the Cambridge Union and editor of the prestigious...
on 3 March about "the serious and comic history of a patriotic idea". Tomalin quoted one of the original Surbiton typists as saying "we got mixed-up when asked horrid questions about trade unions. Thanks to all the interviews and things, we just didn't get any typing done". Also in March, the campaign moved from the Industrial Society's headquarters at Bryanston Square
Bryanston Square
Bryanston Square is a square in Marylebone, Westminster, London, England. Named after its owner Henry William Portman's home village of Bryanston in Dorset, it was built as part of the Portman Estate between 1810 and 1815, along with Montagu Square a little to the east and Wyndham Place to its...
to rent-free offices donated by National Cash Register
NCR Corporation
NCR Corporation is an American technology company specializing in kiosk products for the retail, financial, travel, healthcare, food service, entertainment, gaming and public sector industries. Its main products are self-service kiosks, point-of-sale terminals, automated teller machines, check...
. It was immediately noted that National Cash Register was a wholly owned subsidiary of an American corporation. The Industrial Society's staff working on the campaign were down to four in May 1968.
Maxwell declared his campaign was officially over on 5 August; although the Industrial Society was still receiving about 15 letters a day, its campaign was limited to sending out badges and promotional material to people who had requested them, and it declared that the campaign office would close at the end of September. Retrospectively, Bernard Levin saw that the enthusiasm had subsided "after a month or two" and that the badges and slogans were seen no more.
Reaction
There was a widespread feeling, even while the campaign was going on, that it was fundamentally risible. New Statesman columnist Philip FrenchPhilip French
Philip French is a British film critic and former radio producer.French, the son of an insurance salesman, was educated at the direct grant Bristol Grammar School, read Law at Oxford University. and post graduate study in Journalism at Indiana University, Bloomington on a scholarship.He has been...
thought its "jingoism and intellectual dishonesty" was offensive and felt that the excessive press coverage defied comment "other than the gesture of laughing at" it. The magazine itself ran a one-off column, to go with its long-established "This England" column, featuring press cuttings highlighting absurd aspects of the campaign. The Communist Morning Star
The Morning Star
The Morning Star is a left wing British daily tabloid newspaper with a focus on social and trade union issues. Articles and comment columns are contributed by writers from socialist, social democratic, green and religious perspectives....
newspaper published a parody of the Maxwell advert which claimed to be "non-political, non-partisan and nonsensical" and proclaimed the support of nonsense poets Edward Lear
Edward Lear
Edward Lear was an English artist, illustrator, author, and poet, renowned today primarily for his literary nonsense, in poetry and prose, and especially his limericks, a form that he popularised.-Biography:...
and Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
. Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
thought the campaign was ridiculous and it inspired him to write a song called "I'm Backing the UK", which eventually became "Back in the U.S.S.R." on 'The White Album
The Beatles (album)
The Beatles is the ninth official album by the English rock group The Beatles, a double album released in 1968. It is also commonly known as "The White Album" as it has no graphics or text other than the band's name embossed on its plain white sleeve.The album was written and recorded during a...
'. At the conclusion of the film 'Carry On... Up the Khyber', made during the summer and opening in November 1968, the raising of a Union Flag with the "I'm Backing Britain" slogan is greeted by Peter Butterworth
Peter Butterworth
Peter William Shorrocks Butterworth was an English comedy actor and comedian, best known for his appearances in the Carry On series of films. He was also a regular on children's television and radio and appeared in seven early episodes of Doctor Who in 1965 as the 'The Meddling Monk'...
turning to camera and saying "Of course, they're all raving mad, you know!".
External links
- Our history by the Colt Group (formerly Colt Ventilation and Heating Ltd)