John Betjeman discounted as a ‘lightweight’ by government as they looked for new Poet Laureate in 1967 – five years before he secured the title

• Beloved poet John Betjeman missed out on the Poet Laureate to Cecil Day-Lewis
• Five years later, when Ted Heath was in No 10,  Betjeman was finally picked

John Betjeman was discounted as a ‘lightweight’ by Harold Wilson’s government as they sought a new Poet Laureate in 1967, newly-released files reveal.

The beloved poet missed out to Cecil Day-Lewis – but the post came up again five years later, when Ted Heath was in No 10, and Betjeman was picked.

Government documents released today by the National Archives shed fascinating light on the cut-throat process by which a secret list of candidates is drawn up by No 10 aides.

Whitehall officials seek the opinions – often scathing – of literary experts about contenders before the PM recommends a poet for the monarch to appoint. 

After the post became available in 1967 when John Masefield died, appointments secretary Sir John Hewitt advised Wilson that Betjeman was ‘a lightweight’.

John Betjeman was discounted as a ‘lightweight’ by Harold Wilson’s government as they sought a new Poet Laureate in 1967, newly-released files reveal

The beloved poet missed out to Cecil Day-Lewis (Pictured: Cecil Day-Lewis at his home in Greenwich, London)

He warned his appointment would be seen as ‘backward-looking’ and that his work was not on the same level as that of Day-Lewis – a searing take on a man now regarded as one of the nation’s favourite poets.

But he got away lightly compared to poet Hugh MacDiarmid, who was turned down for being ‘heavily in the bottle’.

And Betjeman’s age – he was then in his 60s – at least counted in his favour. One critic said: ‘It is important to appoint a sound, traditional figure and not one of the younger lunatics.’

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