THE WILSON GOVERNMENT AND THE DAVIES PEACE MISSION TO NORTH VIETNAM, JULY 1965

The British Labour government under Harold Wilson was involved in seve ral attempts to negotiate an early end to the Vietnam War. Such effort s helped to satisfy critics of the war on the Labour left and in the C ommonwealth, to neutralize US pressure to join in the conflict and to emphasize Britain's importance on the world stage. The Davies mission, in which a left-leaning junior minister was sent to Hanoi, was Wilson 's most unusual peace bid which ended as a much-criticized fiasco. Thi s story helps to illuminate Wilson's approach to foreign policy-making , the difficulty of pursuing talks without normal diplomatic relations and the obstacles preventing a Vietnam settlement in 1965. The reluct ance of both Washington and Hanoi, as well as flaws in the mission's e xecution, condemned it to failure.