Marcia Falkender, Baroness Falkender

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marcia Matilda Falkender, Baroness Falkender CBE (born March 10, 1932), formerly Marcia Williams, previously Marcia Field, is a British Labour politician, being first the private secretary for, and then the political secretary and head of political office to, Harold Wilson. She is thought to have been one of the principal sources of true stories behind the Yes Minister series.

Educated at Northampton High School for Girls and reading a BA in History at Queen Mary College of the University of London, she became secretary to the General Secretary of the Labour Party in 1955; a year later, in 1956, she became Harold Wilson's private secretary, a position she remained in until 1964, when she rose to be his political secretary and head of political office in his position as Leader of the Labour Party and as Prime Minister from 1964 until 1970 and again from 1974 to 1976.

She has written two books about her time in Downing Street: Inside Number 10 on the period 1964-1970 and Downing Street in Perspective on Wilson's third term as Prime Minister 1974-1976.

When Wilson resigned Joe Haines, Wilson's acerbic press secretary, accused Marcia Williams of writing the first draft of his resignation honours on lavender paper which Haines styled as the "Lavender List". However as Professor Ben Pimlott observed in his biography of Wilson, secretaries often write down lists at the instructions of their employer and that the list was pink does not itself prove anything. Both Lady Falkender and Harold Wilson maintained that the list was Wilson's.

She married George Edmund Charles Williams in 1955, but they were divorced in 1961; she continued to be known as Marcia Williams in her professional life.

She was elevated to the Peerage as Baroness Falkender, of West Haddon in the County of Northamptonshire on July 11, 1974. As a result, Private Eye often referred to her as "Forkbender". Although she attends sittings in the House of Lords, she has yet to make her maiden speech.

After retiring, she worked as a columnist for the Mail on Sunday from 1983 to 1988.