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Getting Used to Being Out of Office

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Heath and Thatcher in Opposition

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Abstract

When it lost the 1964 election, the Conservative Party had been in office for thirteen years. How would it accommodate itself to being in opposition and approach the task of giving itself a new and appealing sense of direction in what would almost certainly be a limited period before Labour would call a new election in order to increase its narrow parliamentary majority? Chapter 3 looks at the emergence of Edward Heath as the new leader charged with masterminding the vital process of modernisation and examines the extent to which the search for a new way forward was shaped by his personal view of politics and policy-making.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    D. E. Butler and A. King, The British General Election of 1966 (Macmillan, London, 1966), p. 44.

  2. 2.

    J. Ramsden, The Making of Conservative Party Policy: The Conservative Research Department Since 1929 (Longman, London, 1980), p. 233.

  3. 3.

    D. R. Thorpe, Alec Douglas-Home (Sinclair-Stevenson, London, 1997), p. 378; J. Campbell, Edward Heath (Jonathan Cape, London, 1993), p. 168.

  4. 4.

    R. M. Punnett, Front-Bench Opposition (Heineman, London, 1973), pp. 65–9.

  5. 5.

    N. Fisher, Iain Macleod (Andre Deutsch, London, 1973), p. 260.

  6. 6.

    Conservative Party Archive (hereafter CPA), Leader’s Consultative Committee (Shadow Cabinet) (hereafter LCC) 1/2/1, 4th Meeting, 11 November 1964.

  7. 7.

    CPA, LCC 1/2/1, 7th Meeting, 2 December 1964.

  8. 8.

    S. Heffer, Like the Roman (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1999), pp. 366–7.

  9. 9.

    CPA, LCC 1/2/4, 11th Meeting, 20 January 1965.

  10. 10.

    CPA, LCC 1/2/4, LCC (66), 89th Meeting, 24 January 1966.

  11. 11.

    CPA, CRD 3/24/9b–c, Douglas speech notes for Du Cann, 3 March 1965.

  12. 12.

    CPA, CRD/B/32/1, CRD paper, 28 April 1965.

  13. 13.

    CPA, CRD/B/32/1, Paper by Sewill, 17 May 1965.

  14. 14.

    CPA, CRD/B/32/1, Paper by Sewill, 8 January 1965.

  15. 15.

    CPA, CRD 3/9/26, Note from Sewill to Fraser, 30 October 1964.

  16. 16.

    CPA, LCC 1/2/1, LCC (64), 1st Meeting, 28 October 1964.

  17. 17.

    CPA, LCC 1/2/1, LCC (64), 6th Meeting, 25 November 1964.

  18. 18.

    CPA, CRD 3/9/107, Meeting on General Election Results, 4 April 1966.

  19. 19.

    P. Ziegler, Wilson: The Authorised Life (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1993), p. 189.

  20. 20.

    The Times, 28 November 1964.

  21. 21.

    Ziegler, Wilson: The Authorised Life, p. 189.

  22. 22.

    P. Foot, The Politics of Harold Wilson (Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1968), p. 159.

  23. 23.

    B. Pimlott, Harold Wilson (HarperCollins, London, 1992), p. 338.

  24. 24.

    CPA, CRD/D/5/2. Unattributed paper.

  25. 25.

    CPA, CRD 3/9/107, Meeting on General Election Results, 4 April 1966.

  26. 26.

    CPA ACP2/2, ACP (64) 61st Meeting, 2 December 1964.

  27. 27.

    CPA, ACP2/2, ACP (64) 61st Meeting, 2 December, 1964.

  28. 28.

    CPA, ACP2/2, ACP (65) 62nd Meeting, 3 February 1965.

  29. 29.

    Ramsden, The Making of Conservative Party Policy, p. 240.

  30. 30.

    CPA, CRD 3/24/9b–c, Note from Douglas to Heath, 28 February 1965.

  31. 31.

    CPA, CRD 3/24/8a, Note from Douglas to Heath, 28 February 1965.

  32. 32.

    CPA, CRD 3/9/26, Note from Bellairs to Sewill, 18 August 1965.

  33. 33.

    A. Cooke (ed.), Tory Policy-Making: The Conservative Research Department 1929–2009 (Manor Creative, Eastbourne, 2009), pp. 58–9.

  34. 34.

    Cooke, Tory Policy-Making, p. 56.

  35. 35.

    Daily Mail, 26 May 1965.

  36. 36.

    J. Campbell, ‘Conservative Party Policy-Making, 1965–70’, Contemporary Record, 1990, p. 37.

  37. 37.

    Cooke (ed.), Tory Policy-Making, p. 58.

  38. 38.

    J. Campbell, Edward Heath (Jonathan Cape, London, 1993), pp. 172–3.

  39. 39.

    Campbell, ‘Conservative Party Policy-Making’, pp. 37–8.

  40. 40.

    CPA, CRD 3/9/26, Note Sewill to Heath, 25 August 1965.

  41. 41.

    CPA, CRD/D/5/2, Memo Thompson to Douglas, 22 September 1965.

  42. 42.

    CPA, CRD/D/5/2, Letter Howell to Heath, 21 July 1965.

  43. 43.

    CPA, CRD 3/9/28, LCC (65) 43, 10 September 1965.

  44. 44.

    CPA, CRD 3/9/28, Letter Macleod to Heath, 14 September 1965.

  45. 45.

    CPA, CRD 3/9/28, Note Newton to Sewill, 14 September 1965.

  46. 46.

    CPA, CRD 3/9/28, Letter Howell to Heath, Fraser, Sewill and Douglas, 17 September 1965.

  47. 47.

    CPA, CRD 3/9/28, Letter Thorneycroft to Heath, 17 September 1965.

  48. 48.

    Campbell, Edward Heath, p. 197.

  49. 49.

    The Economist, 16 October 1965.

  50. 50.

    The Times, 14 October 1965.

  51. 51.

    Daily Telegraph, 14 October 1965.

  52. 52.

    The Spectator, 15 October 1965.

  53. 53.

    E. Heath, The Course of My Life (Coronet Books, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1999), pp. 275–6.

  54. 54.

    The Spectator, 14 January 1966.

  55. 55.

    Heath, The Course of My Life, pp. 275–6.

  56. 56.

    CPA, ACP (65) 72nd Meeting, 8 December 1965.

  57. 57.

    A. King, ‘New Stirrings on the Right’, New Society, 14 October 1965, pp. 7–11.

  58. 58.

    A. Howard, ‘Tough Bowmen’, The Sunday Times, 27 June 1965; A. Watkins, ‘How the Election will be Fought’, The Spectator, 25 February 1966.

  59. 59.

    J. Barr, The Bow Group (Politico’s, London, 2001), pp. 90–1.

  60. 60.

    A. Gamble, The Conservative Nation (Routledge & Keegan Paul, London, 1974), pp. 94–5.

  61. 61.

    Ramsden, The Making of Conservative Party Policy, p. 245.

  62. 62.

    J. Wood (ed.), A Nation Not Afraid: The Thinking of Enoch Powell (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1965), p. 119.

  63. 63.

    CPA, CRD 3/17/20, Minutes of Meeting (PG/20/65/68), 24 January 1966.

  64. 64.

    Wood, A Nation Not Afraid, p. 119.

  65. 65.

    Wood, A Nation Not Afraid, p. 120.

  66. 66.

    D. E. Butler and A. King, The British General Election of 1964 (Macmillan, London, 1965), pp. 23–4.

  67. 67.

    Ramsden, The Making of Conservative Party Policy, p. 243.

  68. 68.

    CPA, CRD 3/17/20, Minutes of Meeting (PG/20/65/9), 24 February 1965.

  69. 69.

    CRD file ‘General Correspondence’, quoted in Ramsden, The Making of Conservative Party Policy, p. 241.

  70. 70.

    CPA, CRD 3/17/20 (PG/20/65/21); Draft Report (PG 20/65/21) finalised on 14 July 1965.

  71. 71.

    CPA, CRD 3/17/20, Minutes of Meeting (PG/20/65/43), 23 June 1965.

  72. 72.

    CPA, CRD 3/17/20, Draft Report, 14 July 1965.

  73. 73.

    CPA, CRD 3/17/20, Minutes of Meeting (PG/20/65/56), 8 December 1965.

  74. 74.

    CPA, CRD ‘1965 Policy Document’, Putting Britain Right Ahead, 21 September 1965.

  75. 75.

    CPA, CRD ‘1965 Policy Document, correspondence’, quoted in Ramsden, The Making of Conservative Party Policy, p. 244.

  76. 76.

    CPA, CRD 3/17/1–3, Note Abbott to Joseph, 12 January 1966.

  77. 77.

    A. Seldon and S. Ball, Conservative Century (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1994), p. 372.

  78. 78.

    Ramsden, The Making of Conservative Party Policy, p. 245.

  79. 79.

    CPA, CRD 3/7/6/1, EPG/66/2, Minutes of Meeting, 8 November 1966.

  80. 80.

    CPA, ACP3/13, Paper ACP (65) 21, Interim Report of Policy Group on Future Economic Policy, 7 September 1965.

  81. 81.

    CPA, CRD 3/7/6/10, Draft Interim Report on Personal Taxation by Sub-Group A, (PG/8/A/65/19), 10 June 1965.

  82. 82.

    CPA, CRD 3/7/6/10, Note by Lawson (PG/8/A/65/25), 5 July 1965.

  83. 83.

    CPA, CRD 3/7/6/10, Note by Biffen (PG/8/A/65/27), 7 July 1965.

  84. 84.

    CPA, CRD 3/7/6/9, Note by Rees-Mogg (PG/8/65/26), 28 June 1965.

  85. 85.

    CPA, CRD 3/7/6/9, Minutes of 6th Main Group Meeting (PG/8/65/34), 27 October 1965.

  86. 86.

    CPA, CRD 3/7/6/10, Note of Swinton Weekend discussion (PG/8/A/65/44), 27 November 1965.

  87. 87.

    CPA, CRD 3/7/6/9, Minutes of 7th Main Group Meeting, (PG/8/65/38), 15 December 1965.

  88. 88.

    J. Callaghan, Time and Chance (Collins, London, 1987), p. 192.

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    Eric Caines

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Caines, E. (2017). Getting Used to Being Out of Office. In: Heath and Thatcher in Opposition. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60246-6_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60246-6_3

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