Edward Heath

Sir Edward Richard George Heath KG MBE (9 July 1916 – 17 July 2005), commonly known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath also served for 51 years as a Member of Parliament from 1950 to 2001. Outside politics, Heath was a yachtsman, a musician, and an author.

Quick Facts Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Monarch ...

The Right Honourable Sir Edward Heath KG MBE
Portrait by Allan Warren, 1987
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 19 June 1970 – 4 March 1974
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Preceded by	Harold Wilson
Succeeded by	Harold Wilson
Leader of the Opposition
In office 4 March 1974 – 11 February 1975
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Harold Wilson
Succeeded by	Margaret Thatcher
In office 28 July 1965 – 19 June 1970
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Alec Douglas-Home
Succeeded by	Harold Wilson
Leader of the Conservative Party
In office 28 July 1965 – 11 February 1975
Preceded by	Alec Douglas-Home
Succeeded by	Margaret Thatcher
Ministerial offices President of the Board of Trade In office 20 October 1963 – 16 October 1964 Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home Preceded by Fred Erroll Succeeded by Douglas Jay Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development In office 20 October 1963 – 16 October 1964 Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home Preceded by Office established Succeeded by Office abolished Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal In office 14 February 1960 – 20 October 1963 Prime Minister Harold Macmillan Preceded by The Viscount Hailsham Succeeded by Selwyn Lloyd Minister of Labour In office 14 October 1959 – 27 July 1960 Prime Minister Harold Macmillan Preceded by Iain Macleod Succeeded by John Hare Government Chief Whip in the House of Commons Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury In office 20 December 1955 – 14 October 1959 Prime Minister Anthony Eden Harold Macmillan Preceded by Patrick Buchan-Hepburn Succeeded by Martin Redmayne Lord Commissioner of the Treasury In office 7 November 1951 – 20 December 1955 Prime Minister Winston Churchill Anthony Eden Preceded by William Wilkins Succeeded by Edward Wakefield
Shadow cabinet offices Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer In office 16 February 1965 – 11 November 1965 Leader Alec Douglas-Home Himself Preceded by Reginald Maudling Succeeded by Iain Macleod
Parliamentary offices Father of the House of Commons In office 9 April 1992 – 14 May 2001 Preceded by Bernard Braine Succeeded by Tam Dalyell Member of Parliament for Old Bexley and Sidcup In office 9 June 1983 – 14 May 2001 Preceded by Constituency established Succeeded by Derek Conway Member of Parliament for Sidcup In office 28 February 1974 – 13 May 1983 Preceded by Constituency established Succeeded by Constituency abolished Member of Parliament for Bexley In office 23 February 1950 – 8 February 1974 Preceded by Ashley Bramall Succeeded by Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	Edward Richard George Heath (1916-07-09)9 July 1916 Broadstairs, Kent, England
Died	17 July 2005(2005-07-17) (aged 89) Salisbury, Wiltshire, England
Resting place	Salisbury Cathedral
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford
Occupation	Civil servant musician politician yachtsman
Awards	Order of the Garter Order of the British Empire Mentioned in dispatches
Signature
Military service
Branch/service	British Army
Rank	Lieutenant colonel
Unit	Royal Artillery Honourable Artillery Co.
Battles/wars	Second World War
Service number	179215

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Born to a lady's maid and a carpenter, Heath was educated at a grammar school in Ramsgate, Kent (Chatham House Grammar School for boys), and became a leader within student politics while studying at the University of Oxford. He served as an officer in the Royal Artillery during the Second World War. He worked briefly in the Civil Service, but resigned in order to stand for Parliament, and was elected for Bexley at the 1950 election.^[1] He was promoted to become Chief Whip by Anthony Eden in 1955, and in 1959 was appointed to the Cabinet by Harold Macmillan as Minister of Labour. He later held the role of Lord Privy Seal and in 1963, was made President of the Board of Trade by Alec Douglas-Home. After the Conservatives were defeated at the 1964 election, Heath was elected as Leader of the Conservative Party in 1965, becoming Leader of the Opposition. Although he led the Conservatives to a landslide defeat at the 1966 election, he remained in the leadership, and at the 1970 election led his party to an unexpected victory.

During his time as prime minister, Heath oversaw the decimalisation of British coinage in 1971, and in 1972 he led the reformation of local government, significantly reducing the number of local authorities and creating several new metropolitan counties, much of which remains to this day. Perhaps Heath's most prominent achievement came in 1973, when he led the United Kingdom into membership of the European Communities popularly known as entry to the Common Market (which would later become the European Union) as a member state. Heath had always been a strong supporter of British membership of the EC, and after winning the decisive vote in the House of Commons by 356 to 244 to join, he led the negotiations that culminated in the UK's entry into the EC on 1 January 1973.^[2] According to biographer John Campbell, Heath regarded this as his personal "finest hour".^[3]

Heath's time as prime minister also coincided with the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, with his approval of internment without trial and subsequent suspension of the Stormont Parliament seeing the imposition of direct British rule. Unofficial talks with Provisional Irish Republican Army delegates were unsuccessful, as was the Sunningdale Agreement of 1973, which led the MPs of the Ulster Unionist Party to withdraw from the Conservative whip. Heath also tried to reform British trade unionism with the Industrial Relations Act, and hoped to deregulate the economy and make a transfer from direct to indirect taxation. However, a miners' strike at the start of 1974 severely damaged the Government, causing the implementation of the Three-Day Week to conserve energy. Attempting to resolve the situation, Heath called an election for February 1974, attempting to obtain a mandate to face down the miners' wage demands, but this instead resulted in a hung parliament, with the Conservatives losing their majority. Despite gaining fewer votes, the Labour Party won four more seats, and Heath resigned as Prime Minister on 4 March after talks with the Liberal Party to form a coalition government were unsuccessful.

After losing a second successive election in October 1974, Heath insisted he would continue as leader, but in January 1975, Margaret Thatcher announced she would challenge Heath for the leadership, and on 4 February, she narrowly outpolled him in the first round. Heath chose to resign the leadership rather than contest the second round. Heath returned to the backbenches, where he would remain until 2001. In 1975, he played a major role in the referendum on British membership of the EC, campaigning for the eventually successful "Yes" vote to remain in the Community. Heath would later become an embittered critic of Thatcher during her time as prime minister, speaking and writing against the policies of Thatcherism. Following the 1992 election, he became Father of the House, until his retirement from the Commons in 2001. He died in 2005, aged 89.

Heath is one of four British prime ministers never to have married. He has been described by the BBC as "the first working-class meritocrat" to become Conservative leader in "the party's modern history" and "a One Nation Tory in the Disraeli tradition who rejected the laissez-faire capitalism that Thatcher would enthusiastically endorse."^[4]