All news on the topic: Bernard Donoughue

An adviser to Harold Wilson has revealed that the former PM had an affair with his deputy press secretary while in Downing Street. Joe Haines agreed with former adviser Bernard Donoughue to reveal Harold Wilson’s affair with Janet Hewlett-Davies due to its importance to the ‘historical record’. The bombshell was revealed on Wednesday evening during an interview with The Times newspaper – and this morning Lord Donoughue told the BBC they agreed to reveal the 50-year-old secret following Ms Hewlett-Davies’ death last October. ‘We kept it secret because we thought it would be used damagingly against him at that time,’ Lord Donoughue said. ‘There’s no reason for that now, and we waited until they had both died – Wilson some time ago and Janet just a few months ago, and so I felt as a sometime historian this was important to go in the historical record of Harold Wilson.’ Lord Donoughue said the then-prime minister had cryptically confessed the affair to him during a walk around Number 10 towards the end of his premiership. ‘He, in a very Wilsonian way, because he wasn’t a very direct person, he said he was very pleased I was a friend of Janet,’ he explained. ‘So I, knowing him, know that he would not have raised that unless he had got some interest or concern, so I knew that he was asking me: did I know about him and Janet?