CapX: How Ted Heath’s arrogance made Thatcherism possible

It’s fifty years since Margaret Thatcher became leader of the Conservatives. Over the decade and a half in which she led the party, Thatcher would remake conservatism, the state and the economy in her own image. Yet she may never have become leader, and the word ‘Thatcherism’ may never have crossed anybody’s lips, had it not been for the singular arrogance of one man: her predecessor, Edward Heath.

Heath was a consequential leader of the Tory tribe. He was the first grammar school boy to lead the Conservatives, filling the shoes of a succession of old Etonians who came before him. And as prime minister, he took Britain into Europe, something the country is still wrestling with the consequences of doing (and undoing) five decades later. Love him or loathe him, Heath mattered. But for all his accomplishments, he was not an electorally successful leader.

Heath’s first clash with Labour’s Harold Wilson, in 1966, saw Labour returned with a landslide majority. He turned the tables four years later and won a reasonable majority, but when he gambled it on a snap election in February 1974, Labour got back in – albeit with fewer votes than the Conservatives. In October 1974, the country was asked again and confirmed Heath’s defeat, this time in votes and seats.

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