Edward Heath

Conservative Party

Image credit: Sir Edward Heath, Bassano Ltd, 2 September 1959. © National Portrait Gallery, London licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

Edward Heath

Britain has much to contribute to this process, and as Members of the Community we shall be better able to do so. Britain, with her Commonwealth links, has also much to contribute to the universal nature of Europe’s responsibilities.

Conservative Party

June 1970 - March 1974

19 Jun 1970 - 4 Mar 1974

Sir Edward Heath, Bassano Ltd, 2 September 1959

Image credit: Sir Edward Heath, Bassano Ltd, 2 September 1959. © National Portrait Gallery, London licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

Key Facts

Tenure dates

19 Jun 1970 - 4 Mar 1974

Length of tenure

3 years, 259 days

Party

Conservative Party

Born

9 Jul 1916

Birth place

Broadstairs, Kent, England

Died

17 Jul 2005 (aged 89 years)

Resting place

Salisbury Cathedral

About Edward Heath

Edward Heath was Prime Minister for less than four years. His ministry was troubled by industrial relations and economic problems. In his great rivalry with Harold Wilson, it is the latter who won most of the electoral and parliamentary battles. However, Heath’s great vision was that Britain would be a member of the European Community, which he was able to achieve during his short term in office.

Edward Heath was born in 1916. He was educated at a grammar school and went on to Oxford University. He served as an artillery officer during the Second World War during the Northwest Europe campaign and was mentioned in dispatches afterwards, in November 1945. After the war, he was briefly a Civil Servant, before running for Parliament and winning the seat of Bexley in 1950.

Heath’s maiden speech in the Commons appealed to the government to involve itself with the European Schuman Plan. In Parliament, he was soon appointed an opposition whip, rising through the ranks to become Chief Whip in 1955. He played a key role in the choice of Macmillan as Conservative leader in 1957. Macmillan returned the favour by appointing Heath to Cabinet as Lord Privy Seal, asking him to negotiate Britain’s first attempt to join the EEC.

After the Conservatives were defeated in the 1964 election, Heath ran for leadership in July 1965, unexpectedly defeating Reginald Maudling by gaining a majority in the first ballot.

In the 1970 election, Heath offered a more free market oriented direction for policy, and promised to take Britain into the European Community.

Heath’s ministry was dominated by economic and trade union problems, as well as escalating violence in Northern Ireland. But Heath did manage to achieve his objective of getting Britain into the European Community.

A miners’ strike in 1974 would see the government declare a ‘three day week’. Soon after, Heath called an election, asking ‘Who governs Britain?’. He was very narrowly defeated and resigned soon afterwards.

In 1975, Margaret Thatcher challenged Heath for the leadership of the party, defeating him. He never forgave her for that, nor for taking the party in a very different direction during her subsequent premiership. He continued to serve as an MP until 2001 and was ‘Father of the House’ from 1992. He died in 2005.

Heath was known as ‘Ted’ Heath, and sometimes as ‘Grocer Heath’ after he negotiated at a European food prices conference.

Key Events

Premiership

Edward Heath was elected on a manifesto to change the direction of the country. He had been very critical of Harold Wilson’s ‘government by gimmick’ and intended that his government be more committed to its promises.

Heath’s greatest achievement was to take Britain into the European Economic Community, after it had been rejected twice. French President Charles de Gaulle left power in 1969, clearing one of the most important blocks to British entry. However, it still took all of Heath’s parliamentary skill and guile to get the policy through Parliament. He had a majority of 25, but it was thought that around 40 of his MPs were against joining. Through 105 divisions, the government’s majority held, partly due to a selection of pro-European Labour MPs who reliably abstained. On 28 October 1971, Parliament voted to join the EEC, with Britain joining on 1 January 1973.

The manifesto committed Heath to a more free market direction, including tax cuts and an end to industrial subsidies. But Heath baulked at the realities of such policies and started to abandon the ‘Selsdon Man’ manifesto quite quickly. He nationalised Rolls-Royce in 1971. When unemployment went over a million in January 1972, he shelved any pretence to being a free market leader.

Heath’s government also reformed local government in England and Wales, reshaping the boundaries and creating the modern structure of local government.

During Heath’s premiership, the situation in Northern Ireland deteriorated further. On Bloody Sunday in 1972, soldiers opened fire on a civil rights demonstration killing 13 people that day. In the aftermath, violence escalated. Heath tried to broker a solution with the Sunningdale agreement in late 1973, only for the agreement to be repudiated by Unionists. Heath approved both internment without trial and direct rule (the latter after the Stormont parliament refused to hand responsibility for law and order to Westminster).

In 1973, due to the OPEC oil embargo, the global price of oil rose sharply. The economy began to go into recession.

Heath tried to reform Britain’s industrial relations but was opposed by trade unions. The years of the Heath government would see millions of days lost to strike action. At the beginning of 1974, miners went on strike for higher wages. In an attempt to restrict energy use, the government restricted commercial users of electricity to three specified consecutive days’ consumption each week.

Soon afterwards, Heath called an election. He asked the country ‘Who governs Britain?’. He failed to win a majority, and, after attempting to create a coalition with the Liberals, resigned as Prime Minister.

Key Events

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