Harold Wilson Harold Wilson was a Labour Party politician who became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in October 1964 after his party won that year ' s general election . ( AUDIO : " State of Emergency " ) His predecessor was Sir Alec Douglas - Home of the Conservative Party . ( AUDIO : " The Pelage Project " ) Wilson appointed James Callaghan as the Chancellor of the Exchequer following Labour ' s victory . ( AUDIO : " State of Emergency " ) Callaghan later served as Prime Minister himself from 1976 to 1979 . ( AUDIO : " The Oseidon Adventure " ) He was very much in favour of science and technology . In October 1963 , he made a speech to that effect at a Scarborough conference of his party . ( PROSE : " Who Killed Kennedy " ) The cover story for the Vault , a UNIT facility that stored alien artefacts , was Wilson ' s mandate to find new technologies to help the nation ' s industry . ( PROSE : " One Cold Step " ) Soon after the general election , General Peters attempted a coup ; something which Wilson had suspected , as many people ( including MI5 itself ) felt that he was a " Trotskyite " . Taken hostage , Wilson refused to resign and allow Peters to claim a legal change of government . After the Intrusion Countermeasures Group saved his life and ended the coup , Wilson arranged for them to be fully funded until 1969 . ( AUDIO : " State of Emergency " ) In 1965 , his government negotiated with the 456 : a dozen children in exchange for a needed vaccine . ( TV : " " ) As head of Countermeasures , Sir Toby Kinsella was in direct contact with Wilson . Behind his back , Sir Toby considered Wilson to be a " bore " . In 1965 , he told Allison Williams that laughing at Wilson ' s jokes was one of the many duties that he had to perform for Queen and Country . ( AUDIO : " The Forgotten Village " ) He took a grim view on Wilson and nuclear war , saying he ' d be rushed to a bunker " leaving us all to burn while he tucks into his beer and sandwiches " ( he then admitted he ' d had a place in the bunker but had lost it ) . ( AUDIO : " The Fifth Citadel " ) In July 1966 , the Ninth Doctor read a " Daily Mirror " article about " Wilson ' s wage freeze " . He believed this was a " bad idea " . ( COMIC : " The Love Invasion " ) In later years , Wilson ' s position seemed untenable after the failures of the Wenley Moor nuclear research facility in October 1969 and the Inferno Project in February 1970 were publicised by James Stevens in his " Bad Science " series of articles . Wilson called a general election for June 1970 . The Labour Party lost and the Conservative leader Edward Heath took over as Prime Minister . Political observers speculated that the publication of the book version of " Bad Science " had coincided not - so - incidentally with the election . ( PROSE : " Who Killed Kennedy " ) In 1974 , Wilson attended a Ministry of Defence briefing about the Daleks . Several children were surprised to see him and not Heath until Emilie explained " it ' s Mr Wilson ' s turn [ as PM ] this month " . ( PROSE : " " ) An android replica of Harold Wilson was among a succession of android British Prime Minister s from Robert Walpole to Margaret Thatcher created by Tasq . ( PROSE : " Time Wake " ) In 2017 , the Twelfth Doctor mentioned Wilson as a possible candidate when asking the Landlord who the Prime Minister was . ( TV : " Knock Knock " )