On the morning of 16 March 1976, Robert Worcester – universally known as “Bob” – received the phone call that converted him from the head of a little-known market research company into the public face of polling in Britain. The call was from Harold Evans, the editor of the Sunday Times. Harold Wilson had just announced his retirement as prime minister. Evans wanted to find out whom voters wanted as the next Labour leader. Who better to conduct the survey than Labour’s own private pollster: Worcester himself?
The poll, showing James Callaghan well ahead, provided the front-page lead for the following Sunday’s paper. In those days party leaders were elected by MPs. The poll helped Callaghan’s cause – and did Worcester himself no harm, for Callaghan was duly elected, and kept him as the party’s pollster.
