View source for Edward Heath

{{short description|Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974}}
{{Redirect|Ted Heath||Edward Heath (disambiguation)}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name             = Sir Edward Heath
| honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KG|MBE}}
| image            = Edward Heath 4 Allan Warren.jpg
| caption          = Portrait by [[Allan Warren]], 1987
| office           = [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]]
| term_start       = 19 June 1970
| term_end         = 4 March 1974
| monarch          = [[Elizabeth II]]
| predecessor      = [[Harold Wilson]]
| successor        = Harold Wilson
| office1         = [[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Leader of the Opposition]]
| term_start1     = 4 March 1974
| term_end1       = 11 February 1975
| monarch1        = Elizabeth II
| prime_minister1 = Harold Wilson
| predecessor1    = Harold Wilson
| successor1      = [[Margaret Thatcher]]
| term_start2     = 28 July 1965
| term_end2       = 19 June 1970
| monarch2        = Elizabeth II
| prime_minister2 = Harold Wilson
| deputy2         = [[Reginald Maudling]]
| predecessor2    = [[Alec Douglas-Home]]
| successor2      = Harold Wilson
| office3         = [[Leader of the Conservative Party (UK)|Leader of the Conservative Party]]
| term_start3     = 28 July 1965
| term_end3       = 11 February 1975
| deputy3         = Reginald Maudling (1965–1972)
| predecessor3    = Alec Douglas-Home
| successor3      = Margaret Thatcher
{{Collapsed infobox section begin|last = yes|Ministerial offices
| titlestyle       = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder
| embed           = yes
| office1         = [[President of the Board of Trade]]
| term_start1     = 20 October 1963
| term_end1       = 16 October 1964
| prime_minister1 = Alec Douglas-Home
| predecessor1    = [[Frederick Erroll, 1st Baron Erroll of Hale|Fred Erroll]]
| successor1      = [[Douglas Jay]]
| office2         = [[Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development]]
| term_start2     = 20 October 1963
| term_end2       = 16 October 1964
| prime_minister2 = Alec Douglas-Home
| predecessor2    = Office established
| successor2      = Office abolished
| office3         = [[Lord Privy Seal|Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal]]
| term_start3     = 14 February 1960
| term_end3       = 20 October 1963
| prime_minister3 = [[Harold Macmillan]]
| predecessor3    = [[Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone|The Viscount Hailsham]]
| successor3      = [[Selwyn Lloyd]]
| office4         = [[Minister of Labour (United Kingdom)|Minister of Labour]]
| term_start4     = 14 October 1959
| term_end4       = 27 July 1960
| prime_minister4 = Harold Macmillan
| predecessor4    = [[Iain Macleod]]
| successor4      = [[John Hare, 1st Viscount Blakenham|John Hare]]
| office5         = {{ubl|[[Government Chief Whip in the House of Commons]]|[[Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury]]}}
| term_start5     = 30 December 1955
| term_end5       = 14 October 1959
| deputy5         = [[Martin Redmayne]]
| prime_minister5 = {{ubl|[[Anthony Eden]]|Harold Macmillan}}
| predecessor5    = [[Patrick Buchan-Hepburn]]
| successor5      = Martin Redmayne
| office6         = [[Conservative Chief Whip|Government Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Commons]]
| term_start6     = 28 May 1952
| term_end6       = 30 December 1955
| prime_minister6 = {{ubl|[[Winston Churchill]]|[[Anthony Eden]]}}
| predecessor6    = [[Harry Mackeson]]
| successor6      = Martin Redmayne
| office7         = [[Lord Commissioner of the Treasury]]
| term_start7     = 7 November 1951
| term_end7       = 30 December 1955
| prime_minister7 = {{ubl|[[Winston Churchill]]|Anthony Eden}}
| predecessor7    = [[William Wilkins (British politician)|William Wilkins]]
| successor7      = [[Sir Edward Wakefield, 1st Baronet|Edward Wakefield]]
{{Collapsed infobox section end}}
}}
{{collapsed infobox section begin |cont = y |[[Shadow cabinet]] offices
| titlestyle       = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder
| embed        = yes
| office1      = [[Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer]]
| term_start1  = 16 February 1965
| term_end1    = 28 July 1965
| leader1      = [[Alec Douglas-Home]]
| predecessor1 = [[Reginald Maudling]]
| successor1   = [[Iain Macleod]]
{{Collapsed infobox section end}}
}}
{{collapsed infobox section begin |cont = y |Parliamentary offices
| titlestyle       = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder
| embed        = yes
| office1      = [[Father of the House (United Kingdom)|Father of the House of Commons]]
| term_start1  = 9 April 1992
| term_end1    = 14 May 2001
| predecessor1 = [[Bernard Braine]]
| successor1   = [[Tam Dalyell]]
{{Collapsed infobox section end}}
}}
| office8          = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]
| constituency8    = [[Bexley (UK Parliament constituency)|Bexley]] (1950–1974)<br>[[Sidcup (UK Parliament constituency)|Sidcup]] (1974–1983)<br>[[Old Bexley and Sidcup]] (1983–2001)
| term_start8      = 23 February 1950
| term_end8        = 14 May 2001
| predecessor8     = [[Ashley Bramall]]
| successor8       = [[Derek Conway]]
| birth_name       = Edward Richard George Heath
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|df=yes|1916|7|9}}
| birth_place      = [[Broadstairs]], Kent, England
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|2005|7|17|1916|7|9|df=yes}}
| death_place      = [[Salisbury]], Wiltshire, England
| resting_place    = [[Salisbury Cathedral]]
| party            = [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]
| alma_mater       = [[Balliol College, Oxford]]
| occupation       = {{Hlist|[[Civil Service (United Kingdom)|Civil servant]]|musician|politician|yachtsman}}
| awards           = {{ubl|[[Order of the Garter]]|[[<!-- Member of the --> Order of the British Empire]]}}
| signature        = Signature of Edward Heath.png
<!--Military service-->
| branch           = [[British Army]]
| unit             = {{ubl|[[Royal Artillery]]|[[Honourable Artillery Company|Honourable Artillery Co.]]}}
| rank             = [[Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant colonel]]
| battles          = [[Second World War]]
| mawards          = [[Mentioned in dispatches]]
| military_blank1  = Service number
| military_data1   = 179215
}}

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

Born in [[Broadstairs, Kent]], Heath was the son of a chambermaid and a carpenter. He became a leader within student politics while studying at [[Balliol College]] at the [[University of Oxford]]. During [[World War II]], Heath served as an officer in the [[Royal Artillery]]. He worked briefly in the [[Civil Service (United Kingdom)|Civil Service]], but resigned to stand for Parliament, and was elected for [[Bexley (UK Parliament constituency)|Bexley]] at the [[1950 United Kingdom general election|1950 election]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-33772016 |title=Edward Heath: A profile of the former UK Prime Minister |date=4 August 2015 |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=2 April 2017}}</ref> He was promoted to become [[Chief Whip of the Conservative Party|Chief Whip]] by [[Anthony Eden]] in 1955, and in 1959 was appointed to the [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|Cabinet]] by [[Harold Macmillan]] as [[Minister of Labour (United Kingdom)|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 United Kingdom general election|1964 election]], Heath [[1965 Conservative Party leadership election|was elected]] as Leader of the Conservative Party in 1965, becoming [[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Leader of the Opposition]]. Although he led the Conservatives to a landslide defeat at the [[1966 United Kingdom general election|1966 election]], he remained in the leadership, and at the [[1970 United Kingdom general election|1970 election]] led his party to an unexpected victory.

During his time as prime minister, Heath oversaw the [[Decimal Day|decimalisation of British coinage]] in 1971, and in 1972 he led the reformation of [[Local Government Act 1972|local government]], significantly reducing the number of local authorities and creating several new metropolitan counties, much of which remains to this day. A strong supporter of British membership of the [[European Economic Community]] (EEC), Heath's "[[This was their finest hour|finest hour]]" came in 1973, when he led the United Kingdom into membership of what would later become the [[European Union]].<ref>{{cite web |title=European Communities (Hansard, 28 October 1971) |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1971/oct/28/european-communities |website=api.parliament.uk |access-date=3 June 2020}}</ref><ref>John Campbell, ''Edward Heath'' (1993) pp. 404–405.</ref> However, his premiership also coincided with the height of [[the Troubles]] in Northern Ireland, with his approval of [[Operation Demetrius|internment without trial]] and subsequent suspension of the [[Stormont Parliament]] seeing the imposition of [[Direct rule (Northern Ireland)|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 tax|direct]] to [[indirect tax]]ation, such as with the introduction of [[Value-added tax in the United Kingdom|value-added tax]] in 1973. However, a [[Three-Day Week|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 [[February 1974 United Kingdom general election|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 (UK)|Liberal Party]] to form a coalition government were unsuccessful.

After losing a [[October 1974 United Kingdom general election|second successive election]] in October 1974, Heath's leadership was challenged by [[Margaret Thatcher]] and, on 4 February, she narrowly outpolled him in the [[1975 Conservative Party leadership election|first round]]. Heath chose to resign the leadership rather than contest the second round, returning to the backbenches, where he would remain until 2001. In 1975, he played a major role in the [[1975 United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum|referendum]] on British membership of the EEC, campaigning for the eventually successful "remain" vote. 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 United Kingdom general election|1992 election]], he became [[Father of the House (United Kingdom)|Father of the House]], until his retirement from the Commons in 2001. He died in 2005, aged 89. Heath 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|''laissez-faire'' capitalism]] that Thatcher would enthusiastically endorse."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33958116 |title=Sir Edward Heath: One Nation Tory's political legacy |work=BBC News |first=Julia |last=Langdon |date=1 October 2015 |access-date=18 December 2019}}</ref>

==Early life==
Edward Richard George Heath was born at 54 Albion Road, Broadstairs, Kent, on 9 July 1916, the son of William George Heath, a carpenter who built [[airframe]]s for [[Vickers Limited|Vickers]] during the First World War, and was subsequently employed as a builder<ref name=marwick158>British Society Since 1945: The Penguin Social History of Britain, [[Arthur Marwick]], Penguin Books, 1996, p. 158.</ref> and Edith Anne Heath (''née'' Pantony), a lady's maid.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/jul/18/guardianobituaries.conservatives|title=Sir Edward Heath|work=Guardian|first1=Francis |last1=Boyd |first2=Norman |last2=Shrapnel|date=18 July 2005|access-date=8 March 2021}}</ref> His father was later a successful small businessman after taking over a building and decorating firm. Heath's paternal grandfather had run a small dairy business, and when that failed worked as a porter at [[Broadstairs railway station|Broadstairs Station]] on the Southern Railway.<ref name=marwick158/> Edward was four years old when his younger brother, John, was born; there was no question that Edward was the "favoured brother".<ref>{{cite book |first=John |last=Campbell |title=Edward Heath |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I7wqAQAAMAAJ |publisher=Pimlico |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-7126-5898-0 |page=7}}</ref> Heath was known as "Teddy" as a young man.<ref>{{cite book |first=John |last=Campbell|title=Edward Heath: A Biography |year=2013 |page=5 |publisher=Pimlico |isbn=978-1-84595-205-1}}</ref> He was educated at [[Chatham House Grammar School]] in [[Ramsgate]], and in 1935 with the aid of a county scholarship he went up to study at [[Balliol College, Oxford]].<ref>Ziegler, ''Edward Heath'' (2010), ch. 1.</ref>

In later years, Heath's peculiar accent, with its "strangulated" vowel sounds, combined with his non-Standard pronunciation of "l" as "w" and "out" as "eout", was satirised by [[Monty Python]] in the audio sketch "[[Teach Yourself Heath]]" (released on a 7" flexi-disc single included with initial copies of their 1972 LP ''[[Monty Python's Previous Record]]'').<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZByWk6SPM0 | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/NZByWk6SPM0| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|title=Learn How To Speak Propah English&nbsp;– Ted Heath &#124; Teach Yourself Heath | date=24 December 2007|publisher=YouTube |access-date=20 April 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Heath's biographer [[John Campbell (biographer)|John Campbell]] speculates that his speech, unlike that of his father and younger brother, who both spoke with Kent accents, must have undergone "drastic alteration on encountering Oxford", although retaining elements of Kent speech.

==Oxford==
A talented musician, Heath won the college's [[organ scholar]]ship in his first term (he had previously tried for the organ scholarships at [[St Catharine's College, Cambridge]], and [[Keble College, Oxford]]) which enabled him to stay at the university for a fourth year; he eventually graduated with a [[British undergraduate degree classification|Second Class Honours]] BA in [[Philosophy, politics and economics]] in 1939.

While at university Heath became active in Conservative Party politics. On the key political issue of the day, foreign policy, he opposed the Conservative-dominated government of the day ever more openly. His first Paper Speech (i.e. a major speech listed on the [[Order Paper]] along with the visiting guest speakers) at the [[Oxford Union]], in 1936, was in opposition to the [[appeasement]] of Germany by returning her colonies, confiscated during the First World War.

In June 1937 Heath was elected President of the [[Oxford University Conservative Association]] as a pro-[[Spanish Republic]] candidate, in opposition to the pro-[[Francisco Franco|Franco]] [[John Stokes (Conservative politician)|John Stokes]] (himself later a Conservative MP). In 1937–38 Heath was chairman of the national [[Federation of University Conservative Associations]], and in the same year (his third at university) he was Secretary and then Librarian of the Oxford Union. At the end of the year he was defeated for the Presidency of the Oxford Union by another Balliol candidate, [[Alan Wood (author)|Alan Wood]], on the issue of whether the [[Chamberlain war ministry|Chamberlain government]] should give way to a left-wing [[Popular Front (UK)|Popular Front]]. On that occasion, Heath supported the government.<ref>Ziegler, ''Edward Heath'' (2010), ch. 2.</ref>

In his final year Heath was the president of Balliol College's [[Junior Common Room]], an office held in subsequent years by his near-contemporaries [[Denis Healey]], who would become a lifelong friend and political rival<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4691797.stm|title = Blair praises 'magnificent' Heath|date = 18 July 2005}}</ref> and [[Roy Jenkins]], and as such was invited to support the Master of Balliol [[Sandie Lindsay, 1st Baron Lindsay of Birker|Alexander Lindsay]], who stood as an anti-appeasement 'Independent Progressive' candidate against the official Conservative candidate, [[Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone|Quintin Hogg]], in the [[1938 Oxford by-election]].

Heath, who had himself applied to be the Conservative candidate for the by-election,<ref>Heath, Edward. ''The Course of My Life''. London: [[Hodder & Stoughton]], 1998, p. 58.</ref> accused the government in an October Union Debate of "turning all four cheeks" to [[Adolf Hitler]], and was elected as [[President of the Oxford Union]] in November 1938, sponsored by Balliol, after winning the Presidential Debate that "This House has No Confidence in the National Government as presently constituted". He was thus President in [[Hilary term]] 1939; the visiting [[Leo Amery]] described him in his diaries as "a pleasant youth".

As an undergraduate, Heath travelled widely in Europe. His opposition to appeasement was nourished by his witnessing first-hand a [[Nuremberg rally]] in 1937, where he met leading Nazis [[Hermann Göring]], [[Joseph Goebbels]], and [[Heinrich Himmler]] at an [[SS]] cocktail party. He later described Himmler as "the most evil man I have ever met".<ref>{{cite web |title=House of Commons Hansard Debates for 18 July 2005 (pt. 6) |year=2005 |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/vo050718/debtext/50718-06.htm |access-date=30 March 2009}}</ref> He was in Germany for two months to learn German but did not keep up any fluency in the language in later life.<ref>Ziegler 2010, p. 31.</ref> In 1938 he visited [[Barcelona]], then under attack from Spanish Nationalist forces during the [[Spanish Civil War]]. On one occasion a car in which he was travelling came under machine-gun fire, while on another a bomb hit his hotel whilst he was observing an air raid from outside.<ref>Ziegler 2010, pp. 30. Ziegler notes that the claim in his memoirs that the bomb killed those who had taken shelter does not tally with an earlier account in which he stated that nobody was hurt, and suggests that the story may have grown a little in the telling.</ref> In the summer of 1939, accompanied by his Jewish friend [[Madron Seligman]], he travelled to [[Danzig]] and [[Poland]]. They made the return journey by hitchhiking and rail across Germany through mobilising troops, returning to Britain just before the declaration of war.<ref>Ziegler 2010, pp. 31–2.</ref>

==Second World War==
Heath spent late 1939 and early 1940 on a debating tour of the United States before being called up. On 22 March 1941, he received an emergency commission as a [[second lieutenant]] in the [[Royal Artillery]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=35133 |supp=y |page=2100 |date=8 April 1941}}</ref> During the war he initially served with heavy anti-aircraft guns around [[Liverpool]] (which suffered [[Liverpool Blitz|heavy German bombing raids]] in May 1941) and by early 1942 was regimental [[adjutant]], with the substantive rank of [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]].<ref name="auto">Ziegler, ''Edward Heath'' (2010), ch. 3.</ref><ref name="auto1">{{London Gazette |issue=37340 |supp=y |page=5437 |date=6 November 1945}}</ref>

Heath participated as an adjutant in the [[Normandy landings]], where he met [[Maurice Schumann]], French Foreign Minister under [[Pompidou]].<ref>Heath, Edward. ''The Course of My Life''. p. 390.</ref> As a temporary major commanding a battery of his own, he provided artillery support during the Allied campaigns in France and Germany in 1944–45, for which he received a [[mention in despatches]] on 8 November 1945.<ref name="auto1"/><ref name="auto"/>

Heath later remarked that "[it's] one thing to be in the war, and you see the enemy on the other side and so you bombard them, and then later on when you pass over their ground, you see dead bodies lying around". In September 1945 he commanded a firing squad that executed a [[Polish Armed Forces in the West|Polish soldier]] convicted of rape and murder.<ref>{{cite news |first=Kathy |last=Marks |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/heath-i-executed-polish-soldier-for-wartime-rape-1200115.html|title=Heath: 'I executed Polish soldier for wartime rape'|date=22 October 2011 |newspaper=The Independent}}</ref> He was appointed a [[Order of the British Empire|Member of the Order of the British Empire]], Military Division (MBE) on 24 January 1946.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{London Gazette |issue=37442 |supp=y |page=621 |date=22 January 1946}}</ref> He was demobilised in August 1946 and promoted to the substantive rank of [[Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom)|lieutenant-colonel]] on 1 May 1947.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=38006 |supp=y |page=3065 |date=1 July 1947}}</ref>

Heath joined the [[Honourable Artillery Company]] as a lieutenant-colonel on 1 September 1951,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=39334 |supp=y |page=4872 |date=14 September 1951}}</ref> in which he remained active throughout the 1950s, rising to commanding officer of 2 Regiment HAC; a portrait of him in full dress uniform still hangs in the Queens Room of the HAC's Armoury House. In April 1971, as prime minister, he wore his lieutenant-colonel's insignia to inspect troops.<ref>{{cite book |author=<!--Not stated--> |title=A History of Our Reserves |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/283812/a-history-our-Reserves-Epub-v2.pdf |publisher=[[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] |page=31 |year=2014}}</ref>

==Post-war, 1945–1950==
Before the war, Heath had won a scholarship to [[Gray's Inn]] and had begun making preparations for a career at the Bar, but after the war he was placed in joint top position in the [[civil service examination]]s.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1494246/Sir-Edward-Heath.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1494246/Sir-Edward-Heath.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Sir Edward Heath obituary |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=18 July 2005 |location=London}}{{cbignore}}</ref> He then became a civil servant in the Ministry of Civil Aviation (he was disappointed not to be posted to the Treasury, but declined an offer to join the Foreign Office, fearing that foreign postings might prevent him from entering politics).<ref>Heath, Edward. ''The Course of My Life''. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1998, p. 111.</ref>

Heath joined a team under [[Alison Munro]] tasked with drawing up a scheme for British airports using some of the many Second World War [[RAF]] bases, and was specifically charged with planning the home counties. Years later she attributed his evident enthusiasm for Maplin Airport to this work. Then much to the surprise of civil service colleagues, he sought adoption as the prospective parliamentary candidate for [[Bexley]] and resigned in November 1947.

After working as news editor of the ''[[Church Times]]'' from February 1948 to September 1949,<ref>Palmer, Bernard ''Gadfly for God'' London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1991, p. 197.<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref> Heath worked as a management trainee at the [[merchant bank]]ers [[Brown, Shipley & Co.]] until his election as [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Bexley (UK Parliament constituency)|Bexley]] in the [[1950 United Kingdom general election|February 1950 general election]]. In the election he defeated an old contemporary from the Oxford Union, [[Ashley Bramall]], by a margin of 133 votes.

== Early political career (1950–1965)==
===Member of Parliament===
[[File:Sir Edward Heath.jpg|thumb|upright|Official portrait, 1960]]
Heath made his [[maiden speech]] in the House of Commons on 26 June 1950, in which he appealed to the Labour government to participate in the [[Schuman Plan]]. As MP for Bexley, he gave enthusiastic speeches in support of the young candidate for neighbouring [[Dartford (UK Parliament constituency)|Dartford]], Margaret Roberts, later Margaret Thatcher.<ref>Ziegler, ''Edward Heath'' (2010), ch. 5.</ref>

He was appointed as an [[opposition whip]] by [[Winston Churchill]] in February 1951. He remained in the whip's office after the Conservatives won the [[1951 United Kingdom general election|1951 general election]], rising rapidly to Joint Deputy Chief Whip, Deputy Chief Whip and, in December 1955, [[Chief Whip of the Conservative Party|Government Chief Whip]] under [[Anthony Eden]]. Journalist [[Geoffrey Wheatcroft]] has observed that "Of all government jobs, this requires firmness and fairness allied to tact and patience and Heath's ascent seems baffling in hindsight".<ref name="guardian.co.uk"/><ref>Ziegler, ''Edward Heath'' (2010), ch. 6.</ref>

=== In office ===
Due to the convention that whips did not speak in Parliament, Heath managed to keep out of the controversy over the [[Suez Crisis]]. On the announcement of Eden's resignation, Heath submitted a report on the opinions of the Conservative MPs regarding Eden's possible successors. This report favoured [[Harold Macmillan]] and helped to secure Macmillan the premiership in January 1957. Macmillan later appointed Heath Minister of Labour, a Cabinet Minister—as Chief Whip Heath had attended Cabinet, but had not been formally a member—after winning the [[1959 United Kingdom general election|October 1959 election]].

In 1960 Macmillan appointed Heath [[Lord Privy Seal]] with responsibility for the negotiations to secure the UK's first attempt to join the [[European Communities]] (or [[Common Market]], as it was then more widely known). After extensive negotiations, involving detailed agreements about the UK's agricultural trade with [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] countries such as [[New Zealand]], British entry was vetoed by the French President, [[Charles de Gaulle]], at a press conference in January 1963 – much to the disappointment of Heath, who was a firm supporter of European common market membership for the United Kingdom. He oversaw a successful application when serving as prime minister a decade later.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/heath_edward.shtml |title=Edward Heath (1916–2005) |website=BBC |access-date=23 April 2021}}</ref><ref>Ziegler, ''Edward Heath'' (2010), ch. 7.</ref>

Following this setback, a major humiliation for Macmillan's foreign policy, Heath was not a contender for the party leadership on Macmillan's retirement in October 1963. Under prime minister [[Alec Douglas-Home]] he was [[President of the Board of Trade]] and Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development, and oversaw the abolition of [[retail price maintenance]], as well as the move of the [[August Bank Holiday]] to extend the holiday season and reduce congestion.<ref>{{cite web|title=Bank Holiday On The Last Monday In August|date=5 March 1964|work=[[The Times]]|access-date=2 November 2016 |url=http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=cam_earl&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=CS202466917&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=4 March 1964 |title=New Date for August Bank Holiday |work=Liverpool Echo |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000271/19640304/011/0001 |access-date=22 September 2023}}</ref>

==Leader of the Opposition (1965–1970)==

=== Party leadership ===
{{See also|First Heath shadow cabinet}}
{{Multiple image
 | direction = vertical
 | image1    = Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, right, meets at the Pentagon with Edward Heath, leader of the opposition party in the House of Commons, Great Britain.jpg
 | alt1      = Heath and Robert McNamara
 | caption1  = Heath at [[the Pentagon]] with US {{not a typo|defense}} secretary [[Robert McNamara]] in 1966
 | image2    = Golda Meir and Edward Heath.jpg
 | alt2      = Heath and Golda Meir
 | caption2  = Heath with Israeli prime minister [[Golda Meir]] in 1969
}}

After the Conservative Party lost the [[1964 United Kingdom general election|general election of 1964]], the defeated Home changed the party leadership rules to allow for a ballot by MPs and then, in July 1965, he resigned. Heath—who was [[Shadow Chancellor]] at the time, and had recently won favourable publicity for leading the fight against Labour's [[Finance Act 1965|Finance Bill]]—unexpectedly won the [[1965 Conservative Party leadership election|party's leadership contest]], gaining 150 votes to [[Reginald Maudling]]'s 133 and [[Enoch Powell]]'s 15.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/27/newsid_2956000/2956082.stm |title=Heath is new Tory leader |work=BBC News |date=27 July 1996 |access-date=20 April 2010}}</ref> Heath became the Conservatives' youngest leader and retained office following the party's defeat in the [[1966 United Kingdom general election|general election of 1966]].

In April 1968 Enoch Powell made his controversial "[[Rivers of Blood]]" speech, which criticised [[immigration to the United Kingdom]]. Soon afterwards Heath telephoned Margaret Thatcher to inform her that he was going to sack Powell from the [[Shadow cabinet]]; she recalled that she "really thought that it was better to let things cool down for the present rather than heighten the crisis". The next day Heath sacked Powell. Several Conservatives on the right protested against Powell's sacking.<ref>{{cite book |title=Like the Roman: The Life of Enoch Powell |last=Heffer |first=Simon |year=1999 |page=466}}</ref> According to Heath, he never spoke to Powell again.<ref>Heath, Edward. ''The Course of My Life'' (1998), p. 293<!-- ISSN/ISBN, publisher needed --></ref>

=== 1970 election ===
With another general election approaching in 1970 a Conservative policy document emerged from the [[Selsdon Park Hotel]] that offered free-market–oriented policies as solutions to the country's unemployment and inflation problems.<ref>Young, Hugo. ''One Of Us'' London: MacMillan, 1989.</ref> Heath stated that the Selsdon weekend only reaffirmed policies that had actually been evolving since he became leader of the Conservative Party. The Labour prime minister, [[Harold Wilson]], thought the document a vote-loser and dubbed it the product of ''[[Selsdon Man]]'' – after the supposedly prehistoric ''[[Piltdown Man]]''<ref>{{cite book|last=Green|first=Jonathan|title=Dictionary of Jargon|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=1987|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofjarg00jona/page/482 482]|isbn=978-0-7100-9919-8|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofjarg00jona/page/482}}</ref> – to portray it as reactionary. Heath's Conservative Party won the [[1970 United Kingdom general election|general election of 1970]] with 330 seats to Labour's 287. The new cabinet included the future prime minister Margaret Thatcher (Education and Science), [[William Whitelaw]] (Leader of the House of Commons) and the former prime minister [[Alec Douglas-Home]] (Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs).<ref>Ziegler, ''Edward Heath'' (2010), ch. 12.</ref>

{{anchor|Premiership}}
==Premiership (1970–1974)<!-- linked from redirects [[Premiership of Edward Heath]], [[Prime ministership of Edward Heath]] -->==
{{Further|Heath ministry}}
[[File:President Richard Nixon and Prime Minister Edward Heath shake hands upon Heath's Arrival at the White House.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Heath with US president [[Richard Nixon]] at the [[White House]] in 1973]]

===Welfare state===
{{very long|section|date=August 2025}}
During Heath's first year in office, higher charges were introduced for benefits of the welfare state such as school meals, spectacles, dentistry, and prescriptions. Entitlement to State Sickness Benefit was also changed so that it would only be paid after the first three days of sickness.<ref name="ReferenceB">The Five Giants: A Biography of the Welfare State by Nicholas Timmins</ref> In 1971 a series of measures was introduced designed to limit the availability of supplementary benefit. In particular, as noted by one study, "tax rebates and strike pay were treated as resources, subject to a £4 disregard."<ref>The Industrial Law Journal, Volume 9, 1980, p. 249.</ref> The Social Security Act of 1971 increased the financial penalty for leaving work or refusing a job without good cause, and also withdrew benefit for the first three days of unemployment and industrial injury.<ref>The year book of social policy in Britain 1971 Edited by Kathleen Jones, 1972, P.168</ref> The same Act imposed a 40% reduction for voluntary unemployment.<ref>Report of the Supplementary Benefits Commission for the Year Ended ... By Great Britain. Supplementary Benefits Commission, 1975, P.212</ref> The 1971 Social Security Act also made provision for supplementary benefit to be automatically reduced for claimants disqualified for unemployment benefits and also (as noted by one study) “of all those claimants whose unemployment benefits are suspended while insurance officers '' '' '' investigate '' the circumstances of their leaving their jobs or being sacked.” In 1972, a procedure was introduced under which claimants from outside an area who had moved to that area in search of work had one week to find a job before being cut off.<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Poor_Parents/LfxgEQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=of+all+those+claimants+whose+unemployment+benefits+are+suspended+while+insurance+officers+investigate+the+circumstances+of+their+leaving+their+jobs+or+being+sacked&pg=PT70&printsec=frontcover  POOR PARENTS Social Policy and the ‘Cycle of Deprivation’ by Bill Jordan]</ref> From April 1972 a man returning from work after being on strike had to pay back any supplementary benefit received to tide him over during the first 15 days at work before he got his pay. In February 1973, the rules about help in urgent cases were made more stringent.<ref>The Campaign Guide By Conservative and Unionist Central Office (Great Britain), 1977, p. 202.</ref> Also in regards to strikers, the Social Security Act of 1971 reduced the disregards (the normal sums, the principal strike payments and the tax refunds) that were disregarded in calculating the entitlement of a family to benefit. Also, from 3 April 1972 onwards, as noted by one MP
 
{{Blockquote|any payment for supplementary benefit made in the fortnight following a return to work is recoverable, normally by means of a deduction from pay by the employer. Further, supplementary benefit will not normally be paid in the first fortnight of a dispute when employees have their first week's wages and a week's "wages in hand" available to them. Nor is benefit paid to meet commitments incurred before a strike began, such as hire-purchase instalments, rent arrears or outstanding gas or electricity bills.”<ref>[https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1972-12-21/debates/babf6a88-5925-4890-bb38-068698316192/IndustrialDisputes(SupplementaryBenefitPayments) Industrial Disputes (Supplementary Benefit Payments) volume 848: debated on Thursday 21 December 1972]</ref>}}

Noting the impact of the 1971 Social Security Act, one MP argued that
 
{{Blockquote|The Social Security Act, 1971, causes a great deal of misery and hardship within my area. It affects people who have been disqualified from benefit because they have left their job for no good reason, and other unfortunate people who have been charged with industrial misconduct. Industrial misconduct is hard to define but the unfortunate people who are charged with it find it extremely difficult to survive on the payments they receive under Section 1(2) of the Act. They now receive 40 per cent. less than do the people who are on supplementary benefit. Under the previous legislation there was a discount of 75p, but perhaps that amount was not considered by this Government to be a sufficient deterrent to people leaving their jobs. The application of a 40 per cent. reduction in the allowance given to these persons who have been refused unemployment benefit causes a great deal of hardship and misery.<ref>[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1972/jul/17/unemployment-benefit UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT HC Deb 17 July 1972 vol 841 cc356-66]</ref>}}

Unemployment benefit refunds for ‘waiting days’ were also ended, as noted by one study:

{{Blockquote|Until 1971, benefit for the ‘waiting days’ was refunded if unemployment continued beyond twelve days. Single days can be combined if they fall within a period of thirteen weeks. For the supplementary earnings-related Benefit scheme, the waiting day period is twelve days. Before the Social Security Act 1971, unemployment benefit was refunded for any ‘waiting days’ if unemployment lasted for more than twelve days, but this is no longer available; the only possibility is to apply for emergency Supplementary Benefits during this period.<ref>Administrative Justice and the Unemployed by Julian Fulbrook, Mansell/Information Publishing Limited, 1978, P.19</ref>}}

As a result of the squeeze in the education budget, the provision of [[Education Act 1944#free school milk|free school milk]] was ended for 8- to 11-year-olds (it had already been ended for older children by Harold Wilson); the tabloid press christened Margaret Thatcher, the then Education Secretary as "Margaret Thatcher: Milk Snatcher".<ref>{{cite web |last=Smith |first=Rebecca |date=8 August 2010 |access-date=23 April 2021 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/7932963/How-Margaret-Thatcher-became-known-as-Milk-Snatcher.html |title=How Margaret Thatcher became known as 'Milk Snatcher' |website=The Daily Telegraph |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118071518/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/7932963/How-Margaret-Thatcher-became-known-as-Milk-Snatcher.html |archive-date=18 January 2012}}</ref>

Despite these measures, the Heath government encouraged a significant increase in welfare spending, and Thatcher blocked Macleod's other posthumous education policy: the abolition of the [[Open University]], which had recently been founded by the preceding Labour government.<ref>Edmund Dell, ''The chancellors: a history of the chancellors of the Exchequer, 1945–90'' (1997) pp. 389–399.</ref> In addition, despite the end of cheap milk provision, 700,000 school children remained entitled to free milk. The Legal Advice and Assistance Act 1972 provided for better facilities for advice and assistance at an early stage in a dispute.<ref>Social Trends No. 7, 1976, A publication of the Government Statistical Service, p. 220.</ref> The Social Needs (Grants) Act 9NI) 1970 "made provision for the authorisation of the payment of grants towards expenditure incurred due to special social need in urban areas." From 1971 onwards, in regards to supplementary benefit, the requirements of a striker (his normal requirements) were disregarded in full.<ref>Social Trends No. 7, 1976, A publication of the Government Statistical Service, p. 218.</ref><ref>The New Law Journal Volume 131, 1982, P.72</ref> In January 1973, the Criminal Justice Act 1972 came into effect in England and Wales. It extended the court's power "to order an offender to pay compensation for personal injury, loss, or damage."<ref>Social Trends No. 7, 1976, A publication of the Government Statistical Service, p. 222.</ref> In June 1973 a new lower rate of attendance allowance was introduced for those aged 16 to 64, while lower rates "for the aged under 15 and those over 65 were introduced on 1 October and 3 December respectively."<ref>Social Trends No. 7, 1976, A publication of the Government Statistical Service</ref> Another change allowed for small claims of less than £75 to be dealt with in a less formal manner within the County Court system. Rules of evidence and requirements of legal representation were relaxed to make it viable to claim such small sums under the County Court Act 1959 as amended by the Administration of Justice Act (E&W) 1973.<ref>Social Trends No. 7, 1976, A publication of the Government Statistical Service, p. 224.</ref> The Land Compensation Act of 1973 “increased compensation for persons displaced by public development projects.”<ref>Social Trends No. 7, 1976, A publication of the Government Statistical Service, P.223</ref>

Provision was made under the [[National Insurance (Old Persons' and Widows' Pensions and Attendances Allowances) Act 1970]] for pensions to be paid to old people who had been excluded from the pre-1948 pension schemes and were accordingly excluded from the comprehensive scheme that was introduced in 1948. About 100,000 people were affected by this change, half of whom were receiving [[Supplementary Benefit]] under the social security scheme. The Act also made improvements to the Widow's Pension scheme by introducing a scale that started at 30 shillings a week for women widowed at the age of 40 and rose to the full rate of £5 at the age of 50.<ref>''Britannica Book of the Year 1971'', (Encyclopædia Britannica, 1972).</ref>

Considerable support was provided for nursery school building, and a long-term capital investment programme in school building was launched. A [[Family Fund]] was set up to assist families with children who had congenital conditions,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.familyfund.org.uk/sites/default/files/Brief%20history%20of%20the%20Family%20Fund.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511115347/http://www.familyfund.org.uk/sites/default/files/Brief%20history%20of%20the%20Family%20Fund.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 May 2013|title=Family Fund&nbsp;– Home|publisher=familyfund.org.uk}}</ref> while new benefits were introduced benefiting hundreds of thousands of disabled persons whose disabilities had been caused neither by war nor by industrial injury. An [[Attendance Allowance]] was introduced for those needing care at home, together with [[Invalidity Benefit]] for the long-term sick, while a higher Child Allowance was made available where invalidity allowance was paid. Widow's Benefits were introduced for those aged between forty and fifty years of age, improved subsidies for [[Slum clearance in the United Kingdom|slum clearance]] were made available, while Rent Allowances were introduced for private tenants.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> In April 1971, the right to education was given to all children with Down syndrome for the first time.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lorenz|first1=Stephanie |title=Children with Down's Syndrome: A Guide for Teachers and Support Assistants in Mainstream Education|date=1998 |publisher=David Fulton |page=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aY5tZP4c5uwC&pg=PA7 |isbn=978-1-136-61241-1}}</ref> The National Insurance (Married Women) Amendment Regulations 1971 extended the provisions of the National Insurance (Married Women) Regulations 1948.<ref>[https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1971/906/contents/made National Insurance (Married Women) Amendment Regulations 1971]</ref> A change was also introduced under which the wives of invalidity pensioners were able to earn much more without losing benefit, while invalidity pensioners now received (as noted by one study) "the same specially higher rates of children's benefits as widows."<ref>The year book of social policy in Britain 1971 edited by Kathleen Jones, First published 1972 by Routledge & Kegan Paul 1972, P.116</ref> A Home Office Circular from 1971 made arrangements (as noted by one study) “to increase the discretion of probation committees to provide financial support for activities related to probation, such as probation camps or adventure courses.”<ref>The year book of social policy in Britain 1971 edited by Kathleen Jones, First published 1972 by Routledge & Kegan Paul 1972, P.179</ref> The Pneumoconiosis, Byssinosis and Miscellaneous Diseases Benefit (Amendment) Scheme of 1971 made various improvements to the previous Pneumoconiosis, Byssinosis and Miscellaneous Diseases Benefit scheme introduced in 1966.<ref name="Statutory Instruments 1971, P.3579">[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Statutory_Instruments/Z05LAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Pneumoconiosis,+Byssinosis+and+Miscellaneous.+Diseases+Benefit+(Amendment)+Scheme+1971&pg=PA3576&printsec=frontcover Statutory Instruments 1971, P.3579]</ref> The Workmen’s Compensation (Supplementation) Amendment Scheme 1971 increased the weekly rate of lesser incapacity allowance that was payable under certain circumstances.<ref name="Statutory Instruments 1971, P.3579"/> Provision was also made (in regards to interest on compensation for injurious affection where no land is taken) for interest to payable on injurious affection, for the injurious affection claim, on farm loss payments, and on disturbance payments.<ref>[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1973/feb/22/interest-on-compensation-for-injurious#S5CV0851P0_19730222_HOC_427 INTEREST ON COMPENSATION FOR INJURIOUS AFFECTION WHERE NO LAND TAKEN. HC Deb 22 February 1973 vol 851 cc833-5]</ref>

The school leaving age was raised to 16,<ref>Sally Tomlinson, ''Education in a post-welfare society'' (2005), p. 24.</ref> while [[Family Income Supplement]] was introduced to boost the incomes of low-income earners.<ref>John Dixon and Robert P. Scheurell, ''The state of social welfare: The Twentieth Century in cross-national review'' (2002) pp. 97–98.</ref> Families who received this benefit were exempted from [[Prescription charges|NHS charges]] while the children in such families were eligible for [[School meal#United Kingdom|free school meal]]s.<ref name="ReferenceC">Poverty, inequality and health in Britain, 1800–2000: a reader edited by George Davey Smith, Daniel Dorling, and Mary Shaw</ref> According to one study, the number of working families living below the Supplementary Benefit level fell from 63,000 in 1970 to 50,000 in 1972; a fall that was largely attributable to the introduction of the Family Income Supplement.<ref name="books.google.co.uk">[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=yi6bEQAAQBAJ&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PT9&dq=Acton+Society+Frank+Field+supplementary+benefit+level&hl=en&source=newbks_fb&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Acton%20Society%20Frank%20Field%20supplementary%20benefit%20level&f=false Low Pay: Acton Society Trust Essays Edited by Frank Field, Routledge Revivals, 2025]</ref> [[Social pension|Non-contributory pensions]] were also introduced for all persons aged eighty and above,<ref name="ReferenceC"/> while the [[Social Security Act 1973]] was passed which introduced benefit indexation in the United Kingdom for the first time by index-linking benefits to prices to maintain their real value.<ref>Michael James Hill, ''Understanding Social Policy''</ref> An amendment to the Social Security Act of 1973 required the secretary of state to publicize benefits for the disabled.<ref>Pressure for the Poor The Poverty Lobby and Policy Making By Paul F. Whiteley, Stephen J. Winyard, 2018.</ref> The National Insurance Act of 1971 introduced a special addition with no means test for all pensioners over 80, while in 1972 a £10 Christmas bonus was introduced.<ref>Policies and Politics under Prime Minister Edward Heath Edited by Andrew S. Roe-Crines and Timothy Heppell, p. 159.</ref> Annual upratings for all pensioners was also introduced.<ref>The Heath Government 1970–74 A Reappraisal By Stuart Ball and Anthony Seldon, 2014, p. 199.</ref> The Conservatives had previously promised in 1970 to review pensions every two years, but instead instituted an annual review.<ref>The Campaign Guide By Conservative and Unionist Central Office (Great Britain, 1974, P.643</ref> From October 1973 onwards a higher ' long – term rate ' of supplementary benefit "was paid to those who had received supplementary benefit for a continuous period."<ref>Intergenerational Transfers and Public Expenditure on the Elderly in Modern Britain By Paul Johnson, Jane Falkingham, 1988, p. 11.</ref> A decision was also made (from October 1973 onwards) to uprate long-term benefits by a larger amount than short-term benefits.<ref>Testing the Limits of Social Welfare International perspectives on policy changes in nine countries edited by Robert Morris, University Press of New England, 1988, P.45</ref> That same year, a basic short-term rates were introduced for everyone else; the short-term sick and unemployed in the main.<ref>A Generation of Change, a Lifetime of Difference? Social Policy in Britain Since 1979 By Evans, Martin, Williams, Lewis, 2009, p. 100.</ref> From 1972 onwards, "while there is no statutory commitment to this effect, the same cash increases have been made in the leading supplementary benefit scale rates as in their national insurance counterparts." In 1973, a statutory commitment to uprate national insurance benefits in line with prices was introduced.<ref>Supplementary Benefits Commission Annual Report 1978, London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, p. 17.</ref> In December 1973, the four-week rule was suspended;<ref>[ https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1981-05-01/debates/0d72300c-99a5-433d-9f69-c2b1e7aad685/WrittenAnswers Written Answers Volume 3: debated on Friday 1 May 1981]</ref> a procedure introduced in July 1968 under which supplementary allowances were withdrawn from claimants regarded as fit for work if employment was available in the locality.<ref name="books.google.co.uk"/>

The Industrial Relations Act of 1971 gave employees "the right, depending on a minimum qualifying period, to appeal to an industrial tribunal, where compensation for unfair dismissal could be awarded based on length of service,"<ref>Markets, Firms and the Management of Labour in Modern Britain By Howard Gospel · 1992, p. 154.</ref> and in 1972 preservation of accrued pension benefits after 5 or more years' service was introduced.<ref>Pension Schemes and Pension Funds in the United Kingdom By David Blake, 2003, p. 25.</ref> The Legal Advice and Assistance Act 1972 set up a Green Form scheme under which advice of up to two hours, free of charge to the poorest or at reduced rates to those of modest means, became available.<ref>Unlocking the English Legal System By Rebecca Huxley-Binns, Jacqueline Martin, 2014, p. 203.</ref> The Housing Finance Act 1972 "introduced a national formula for rent increases in the public sector and a mandatory system of local rent and rate rebates that survived subsequent legislation."<ref>Social Policy Review 24 Analysis and Debate in Social Policy, 2012 2, Edited by Majella Kilkey, Gaby Ramia and Kevin Farnsworth, p. 59.</ref> The Supplementary Benefit (Determination of Requirements) Regulations 1972 increased the rent addition for non-householders and removed the present age qualification.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_FNLAQAAIAAJ&dq=regulation+3+provides+for+an+increase+of+amounts+applicable+where+a+person's+requirements+include+an+amount+specified+in+paragraph+11&pg=PA3358|title=Statutory Instruments|first=Great|last=Britain|date=5 September 1972|publisher=H.M. Stationery Office|via=Google Books}}</ref> The Students' Dependents' Allowances Regulations 1973 enabled the Secretary of State "to pay allowances to students attending first degree university etc. courses and courses for the training of teachers."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1973/1234/pdfs/uksi_19731234_en.pdf|title=The Students' Dependents' Allowances Regulations 1973}}</ref> A social security amendment of 1973 provided for allowing the Supplementary Benefits Commission "to make payments to cover funeral expenses without having regard to the powers of local authorities, so that the commission will not be inhibited by the fact that local authorities have certain powers concerning the disposal of bodies."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1973-06-22/debates/479536c2-ac40-4a5b-8e52-44f0349740f5/AmendmentOfSchedule2ToMinistryOfSocialSecurityAct1966|title=Amendment Of Schedule 2 To Ministry Of Social Security – Hansard – UK Parliament}}</ref> Subsequently, the Commission "revised its policy on payments towards funeral expenses . Claimants are no longer advised to ask the Local Authority to make funeral arrangements, and the Commission will consider paying towards the costs of a private funeral under its powers to meet exceptional needs."<ref>Parliamentary Papers Volume 5 By Great Britain, Parliament. House of Commons, 1974, p. 76.</ref>

The Redundant Mineworkers and Concessionary Coal (Payments Schemes) Order 1973 provided for three new types of benefits, including "lump sums based on length of service for men redundant between age 35 and 55, and for men over 55 who due to lack of service in the industry do not qualify for basic benefit; a new benefit equivalent to the current rate of unemployment benefit to be paid to men when they have exhausted their 156 weeks of basic benefit until they reach age 65; and concessionary coal benefits for men made redundant between age 55 and 60, and certain men redundant over age 60. (Most men redundant over age 60 already receive concessionary coal under existing arrangements.) In addition, "The amount of benefit which a beneficiary may retain if he obtains other employment has also been increased."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1973/1268/note/made?view=plain|title=The Redundant Mineworkers and Concessionary Coal (Payments Schemes) Order 1973}}</ref> The Employment and Training Act 1973 included various provisions. For instance, as specified in the text of the Act, "The Secretary of State may— pay to any person appointed in pursuance of the preceding paragraph such subsistence and travelling allowances and such compensation for loss of remunerative time as the Secretary of State may determine with the approval of the Minister for the Civil Service." In addition, "An industrial training board may— pay maintenance and travelling allowances to persons attending courses provided or approved by the board; make grants or loans to persons providing courses or other facilities approved by the board, to persons who make studies for the purpose of providing such courses or facilities and to persons who maintain arrangements to provide such courses or facilities which are not for the time being in use; pay fees to persons providing further education in respect of persons who receive it in association with their training in courses provided or approved by the board; make payments to persons in connection with arrangements under which they or employees of theirs make use of courses or other facilities provided or approved by the board."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1973/50/enacted|title=Employment and Training Act 1973}}</ref>

The Redundant Mineworkers (Payments Scheme) Order 1972 was intended to be available for 3 years "to any miner who is made redundant after he has reached 55 to help him to adjust to the new situation and to the difficulties which confront him." It included a number of provisions for miners and their dependents including the addition of cost of living increments, a basic scheme benefit, an increase from £3 to £6 a week to the benefit "which can be kept if a redundant mineworker finds a new job and enters new employment, because if he did he would probably incur income tax, perhaps National Insurance contributions, travelling expenses and other expenses which might well have exceeded the £3 which he would have been able to draw if he had continued to draw that from the redundant mineworkers payment scheme." The rent allowance which is payable to a redundant mineworker was made transferable to a new house if he were to move his home, the rules regarding the offsetting of State and other coal industry benefits against the total of the mineworkers' redundancy payment benefit were eased, and the scheme was changed "so that in the event of a second redundancy—if a miner is made redundant a second time—his earnings are computed on the wages paid in the year immediately before the second redundancy as opposed to his previous level of earnings." Also, "these last three concessions will apply to men who are in the existing scheme, not only to miners who might be made redundant in future, but to all those who are part of the existing scheme at the present time." The scheme also provided that the general increases in benefits, such as the special hardship allowance and workmen's compensation supplementation would not be offset as at present, and also provided for increases in benefits paid to men on workmen's compensation as a result of becoming total or major incapacity cases, award of special hardship allowance in respect of an accident or disease sustained after redundancies. In addition, "any general increase in unemployment benefit between 6th April, 1972, and 6th April, 1973, will be offset against the benefit of men made redundant after 6th April, 1973." Also, "the maximum amount of benefit that can be kept by those who get a job is increased from £3 to £6" weekly, and "the table of basic benefit appropriate to the various ranges of pre-redundancy earnings set out in Appendix 4 has been recalculated so that the basic benefit, plus the 1971 rate of unemployment benefit for a man and one adult dependant, equals, after tax and on average over the three years, 90 per cent. of previous take-home pay." Other provisions included service in the coal industry "before nationalisation can now count towards the 10 qualifying years" and that women "who are not paying the full National Insurance stamp will be able to get some benefit despite not being eligible for unemployment benefit." In addition, "days of absence from home which disqualify a person from unemployment benefit, and also from 72 scheme benefit, will be counted as days rather than one day in a week resulting in a whole week's disqualification as at present." Also, "a man made redundant within the terms of the scheme and reemployed in the coal industry for more than a year and then made redundant a second time can choose on which of the two pre-redundancy earnings he wishes his benefit to be calculated." In addition, "the requirement that in order to continue getting the rent allowance a person must continue to live in the same house in which he was living when he was made redundant, and that this house must continue to be owned by the board, is removed." Also, "the relevant tax year on which pre-redundancy earnings are based will now be the previous tax year for everybody, instead of being two years ago for those made redundant during April."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1972/feb/28/redundant-mineworkers|title=REDUNDANT MINEWORKERS (Hansard, 28 February 1972)|website=api.parliament.uk}}</ref> Also, as noted by one MP, "Following the introduction of the first redundant mineworkers payments scheme in 1968, which provided benefits for men aged 55 or over on redundancy who otherwise satisfied the requirements of the scheme, there was pressure to enhance the terms available to enable such men to receive concessionary coal as though they had reached normal retirement age. The Government responded to this pressure in the Coal Industry Act 1973, amending the power to make schemes benefiting redundant mineworkers in the 1967 Act." Also in 1973, the first concessionary coal payments scheme was introduced by order, which provided for reimbursement to the National Coal Board "of the full cost of concessionary coal to men aged 55 to 59 who qualified for benefits under the redundant mineworkers payments scheme from 14 December 1969, and half the cost of providing concessionary coal to such men age 60 to 65."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1986/apr/29/redundant-miners-coal-allowances|title=Redundant Miners (Coal Allowances) (Hansard, 29 April 1986)|website=api.parliament.uk}}</ref>

A number of new superannuation provisions were introduced for various categories of workers. For those in the NHS, this included years and days used in benefit calculations instead of years and half years, the introduction of practitioner dynamising introduced i.e. 1.4% pensions, best of the last 3 years Total Superannuable Remuneration introduced instead of average of last 3 years, 3 x lump sum introduced for post 24 March 1972 service (married men), the introduction of a half rate widow's pension (was previously 1/3), a new rate of Child Allowance, a reduction in the qualifying period for pensions from 10 years to 5 years, the abolition of the qualifying period for Death Gratuities (DG), the introduction of double incapacity build up for service between 5 years and 9 years 364 days (or to age 65 if less), the introduction of 3 months initial widows pension, the introduction of widows limited pension (for 3, 4.5 or 6 months) for those widows who do not have title to continuing widows pensions, the introduction of a Limited Child Allowance, the introduction of automatic payment of benefits at age 70, the introduction of Added Years purchase, "Pensions Increase Supplement may apply" from January 1973 to October 1975, the extension of service to take account of untaken annual leave introduced for ancillary staff, and "Part time service may be superannuable provided half or more of the w/t basic is worked."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/2018-01/NHS%20Pension%20Scheme%20Useful%20Dates-20180122-%28V2%29.pdf|title=NHS Pension Scheme – Useful dates}}</ref> The Pensions (Increase) Act of 1971 provided for regular increases in public service pensions by statutory instrument. The Act was later amended in 1972 and 1974 "to lower the minimum qualifying age for pensions increase from 60 to 55 and to provide for all pensions paid to widows of scheme members to be increased."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm198990/cmhansrd/1990-01-08/Debate-1.html|title=House of Commons Hansard Debates for 8 Jan 1990}}</ref>

The Superannuation Act of 1972 provided for new arrangements for premature retirement on grounds of limited efficiency,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1972/mar/15/early-retirement#S5CV0833P0_19720315_CWA_90|title=Early Retirement (Hansard, 15 March 1972)|website=api.parliament.uk}}</ref> granted civil servants rights to their pensions<ref>{{cite web|url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2010-09-07/debates/10090740000001/SuperannuationBill|title=Superannuation Bill – Hansard – UK Parliament |date=9 May 2025 }}</ref> and established the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme, the Civil Service Additional Voluntary Contribution Scheme (CSAVCS), the Civil Service Compensation Scheme (CSCS) and the Civil Service Injury Benefits Scheme (CSIBS).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/knowledge-centre/resources/scheme-rules/|title=Scheme rules – Civil Service Pension Scheme|website=www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk|access-date=23 July 2023|archive-date=6 October 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241006183710/https://www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/knowledge-centre/resources/scheme-rules/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Local Government (Retirement of Chief Officers) Regulations 1973 provided "for persons identified as chief officers and deputy chief officers of local authorities, and certain other persons affected by local government reorganisation, to elect for early retirement on enhanced pension terms and thereby forgo any right to claim compensation which might otherwise have been exercised under section 259 of the Local Government Act 1972."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1973/1260/made/data.xht?view=snippet&wrap=true|title=The Local Government (Retirement of Chief Officers) Regulations 1973 No. 1260}}</ref> Section 27 of the Water Act 1973 empowered water authorities to establish and administer pension schemes and funds.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1983/mar/08/water-bill|title=Water Bill (Hansard, 8 March 1983)|website=api.parliament.uk}}</ref> The Social Security Act of 1973 made further provisions "for occupational pensions, established the Occupational Pensions Board and the contributory reserve pension scheme under a Reserve Pension Board for not recognised pensionable employment."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmselect/cmsocsec/56/9112407.htm|title=House of Commons – Social Security – Minutes of Evidence}}</ref> The [[Legal Aid Act 1974]] raised the upper disposable income limit for eligibility for civil legal aid.<ref>Social Trends No. 7, 1976, A publication of the Government Statistical Service, P.224</ref>

===Scottish nationalism===
[[Scottish National Party|Scottish nationalism]] grew as a political force, while the [[Decimal Day|decimalisation of British coinage]], begun under the previous Labour government, was completed eight months after Heath came to power. The [[Central Policy Review Staff]] was established by Heath in February 1971,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Greenwood|first1=John&nbsp;R.|last2=Wilson|first2= David Jack|title=Public administration in Britain today|publisher=Routledge|year=1989|page=58|isbn=978-0-04-445195-2}}</ref> while the [[Local Government Act 1972]] changed the boundaries of the counties of England and Wales and created Metropolitan Counties around the major cities (e.g. Merseyside around Liverpool): this caused significant public anger. Heath did not divide England into regions, choosing instead to await the report of the [[Crowther Commission]] on the constitution; the 10 [[Government Office Regions]] were eventually set up by the Major government in 1994.

===Economic policy===
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, [[Iain Macleod]], died and was replaced on 20 July 1970 by [[Anthony Barber]]. Heath's planned economic policy changes (including a significant shift from direct to indirect taxation) remained largely unimplemented: the Selsdon policy document was more or less abandoned as unemployment increased considerably by 1972. By January that year, the number of unemployed reached a million, the highest level for more than two decades. Opposed to unemployment on moral grounds, Heath encouraged a famous "U-Turn" in economic policy that precipitated what became known as the "[[Barber Boom]]". This was a two-range process involving the budgets of [[1972 United Kingdom budget|1972]] and 1973, the former of which pumped £2.5&nbsp;billion into the economy in increased pensions and benefits and tax reductions. By early 1974, as a result of this Keynesian economic strategy, unemployment had fallen to under 550,000. The economic boom did not last, and the Heath government implemented various cuts that led to the abandonment of policy goals such as a planned expansion of nursery education.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>

===Trade unions===
Much of the government's attention, as well as the media and public opinion, focused on deteriorating labour relations, as the government sought to weaken the economic power of the trade unions, which had grown steadily since 1945. The [[Industrial Relations Act 1971]] set up a special court under the judge [[John Donaldson, Baron Donaldson of Lymington|Lord Donaldson]]. Its imprisonment of striking dockworkers was a public relations disaster and became an object lesson for the Thatcher government of the 1980s. Thatcher relied instead on confiscating the assets of unions that courts found to have violated anti-strike laws.

The trade unions responded with a full-scale counterattack on a government hobbled by inflation and high unemployment. Especially damaging to the government's credibility were the two miners' strikes of 1972 and 1974, the latter of which resulted in much of the country's industry working a [[Three-Day Week]] in an attempt to conserve energy. The [[National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain)|National Union of Mineworkers]] won its case but the energy shortages and the resulting breakdown of domestic consensus contributed to the eventual downfall of his government.

===Unemployment===
There was a steep rise in unemployment for the first two years of the Heath ministry, but it was then reversed. Labour in 1964 had inherited an unemployment count of around 400,000 but saw unemployment peak at 631,000 in early 1967. At election time in June 1970, the unemployment numbers were still high at 582,000. Heath and the Conservatives were pledged to "full employment" but within a year it became clear that they were losing that battle, as the official unemployment count crept towards 1,000,000 and some newspapers suggested that it was even higher. In January 1972 it was officially confirmed that unemployment had risen above 1,000,000 – a level not seen for more than 30 years.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/20/newsid_2506000/2506897.stm |title=UK unemployment tops one million |work=BBC News |date=20 January 1972 |access-date=25 May 2011}}</ref> Various other reports around this time suggested that unemployment was higher still, with ''[[The Times]]'' newspaper claiming that "nearly 3,000,000" people were jobless by March of that year.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.socialiststudies.org.uk/cinc%201930s.shtml |title=Capitalism In Crisis&nbsp;– Unemployment in 1930s |publisher=Socialist Studies |access-date=25 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028013514/http://www.socialiststudies.org.uk/cinc%201930s.shtml |archive-date=28 October 2012}}</ref>

===Foreign policy===
{{See also|Enlargement of the European Union#First enlargement}}
{{Multiple image
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 | image1    = Prime Minister Edward Heath, Queen Elizabeth II, President Richard Nixon, and Pat Nixon at Chequers - DPLA - fc8c57eb502d8d10a906a01f61b7836d.jpg
 | alt1      = Heath, the Queen, Richard Nixon and Pat Nixon
 | caption1  = Heath and [[Elizabeth II|the Queen]] with the visiting US president Richard Nixon and first lady [[Pat Nixon]] in 1970
 | image2    = Besuch von Premierminister von Großbritanniend Eward Heath in Holtenau (Kiel 53.857).jpg
 | alt2      = Heath and Uwe Barschel
 | caption2  = Heath with German [[Christian Democratic Union of Germany|CDU]] politician [[Uwe Barschel]] in 1972
}}

Upon entering office in June 1970, Heath immediately set about trying to reverse Wilson's policy of ending Britain's military presence [[East of Suez]].<ref>''The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Army'' (1994), p. 362.</ref> Heath took the United Kingdom into Europe on 1 January 1973, following passage in Parliament of the [[European Communities Act 1972 (UK)|European Communities Act 1972]] in October.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1972/68/pdfs/ukpga_19720068_en.pdf |title=European Communities Act 1972 |access-date=17 July 2016}}</ref>

He publicly supported the [[Operation Linebacker II|massive U.S. bombing]] of [[Hanoi]] and [[Haiphong]] in December 1972.<ref>{{cite journal|title='The Blue-Eyed Boys': The Heath Government, Anglo-American Relations, and the Bombing of North Vietnam in 1972|first=Matthew|last=Jones|date=2022|journal=The International History Review|volume=44|issue=1|pages=92–112|doi=10.1080/07075332.2021.1915360|doi-access=free}}</ref>

According to [[John McEvoy]] and [[Mark Curtis (British author)|Mark Curtis]] of [[Declassified UK]], his government quickly recognised the military regime of [[Augusto Pinochet]] in [[Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–1990)|Chile]] and maintained good relations with it, despite the illegal nature of the Pinochet regime's [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|coup d'état]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-09-22-exclusive-secret-cables-reveal-britain-interfered-with-elections-in-chile/|title=Declassified UK: Exclusive: Secret cables reveal Britain interfered with elections in Chile |first=John|last=McEvoy|date=22 September 2020|website=Declassified UK via Daily Maverick}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://declassifieduk.org/our-major-interest-is-copper-britain-backed-pinochets-bloody-coup-in-chile/|title='Our major interest is copper': Britain backed Pinochet's bloody coup in Chile|first=Mark|last=Curtis|date=4 September 2023|website=Declassified UK via Daily Maverick}}</ref>

In October 1973 he placed a British arms embargo on all combatants in the Arab-Israeli [[Yom Kippur War]], which mostly affected the Israelis by preventing them obtaining spares for their Centurion tanks. Heath refused to allow US intelligence gathering from [[British bases in Cyprus]], resulting in a temporary halt in the US signals intelligence tap.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb137/is_3_24/ai_n28939894/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111110085303/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb137/is_3_24/ai_n28939894/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 November 2011 |work=Harvard International Review |title=Dangerous liaisons: post-September 11 intelligence alliances |year=2002 }}</ref>

He favoured links with the [[History of the People's Republic of China (1949–1976)|People's Republic of China]], visiting [[Mao Zedong]] in Beijing in 1974 and 1975 and remaining an honoured guest in China on frequent visits thereafter and forming a close relationship with Mao's successor [[Deng Xiaoping]]. Heath realised that to become closer to Europe he needed to be further from the United States, so he downplayed the [[Special Relationship]] that had long knitted the two nations together. The two nations differed on such major crises as Britain's EC membership, the [[Nixonomics|Nixon economic "shocks" of 1971]], the [[Bangladesh Liberation War]], détente with Soviet Union, Kissinger's Year of Europe and the Middle East crisis of 1973.<ref>Andrew Scott, ''Allies Apart: Heath, Nixon & the Anglo-American Relationship'' (2011).</ref>

===Northern Ireland===

Heath served as Prime Minister during an especially violent period of [[the Troubles]] in [[Northern Ireland]]. Events such as the [[Falls Curfew]], [[Operation Motorman]] and [[Bloody Sunday (1972)|Bloody Sunday]] led to the near-collapse in relations between the Irish Catholic community and British [[security forces]]. In 1971, Heath sent [[MI6]] officer Frank Steele to hold talks with the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] (IRA) and find common ground to begin official negotiations.<ref>Smith, Michael, ''The Spying Game, the Secret History of British Espionage'', Politicos, London, pp. 378–82<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref> In July 1972, Heath permitted the [[Secretary of State for Northern Ireland]], William Whitelaw, to hold unofficial talks in London with an IRA delegation led by [[Seán Mac Stíofáin]]. In the aftermath of these unsuccessful talks, Heath pushed for a peaceful settlement with Northern Irish political parties exclusively committed to [[nonviolence]].<ref>Ziegler, ''Edward Heath'' (2010), ch. 15.</ref>

The 1973 [[Sunningdale Agreement]], which proposed a power-sharing deal, was strongly repudiated by many Unionists, including the [[Ulster Unionist Party]], which withdrew its MPs at Westminster from the Conservative whip. The proposal was finally brought down by the Unionist [[Ulster Workers' Council strike]] in 1974, by which time Heath was no longer in office.<ref>Paul Dixon, "British policy towards Northern Ireland 1969–2000: continuity, tactical adjustment and consistent 'inconsistencies'." ''British Journal of Politics and International Relations'' 3#3 (2001): 340–368.</ref>

Heath was targeted by the IRA for introducing [[internment]] without trial in Northern Ireland. In December 1974, an IRA [[active service unit]] threw a bomb onto the first-floor balcony of his home in Wilton Street, [[Belgravia]] where it exploded. Heath had been conducting a Christmas carol concert at Broadstairs and arrived home 10 minutes after the bomb exploded. No one was injured in the attack, but a landscape painted by Winston Churchill – given to Heath as a present – was damaged.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/t-z/year02.html|title=History&nbsp;– The Year London Blew Up|publisher=Channel 4|access-date=20 April 2010}}</ref> In January 2003, Heath gave evidence to the [[Saville Inquiry]] and stated that he had never sanctioned unlawful lethal force in Northern Ireland.<ref>Douglas Murray, ''Bloody Sunday: Truth, Lies and the Saville Inquiry'' (Biteback Publishing, 2011), ch. 11.</ref>

==Fall from power==
[[File:Ford A0655 NLGRF photo contact sheet (1974-09-09)(Gerald Ford Library) (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Heath greeting US president [[Gerald Ford]] in September 1974]] 
{{See also|Second Heath shadow cabinet}}

===1974 general elections===
Heath tried to bolster his government by calling a [[February 1974 United Kingdom general election|general election]] for 28 February 1974, using the election slogan "Who governs Britain?". The result of the election was inconclusive with no party gaining an overall majority in the House of Commons; the Conservatives had the most votes but Labour had slightly more seats. Heath began negotiations with [[Jeremy Thorpe]], leader of the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]], but when these failed, he resigned as prime minister on 4 March 1974, and was replaced by Wilson's minority Labour government, eventually confirmed, though with a tiny majority, in a second election in October.<ref>David E. Butler et al. ''The British General Election of February 1974'' (1975); David E. Butler et al. ''The British General Election of October 1974'' (1975)</ref> To date, Heath is the last British Prime Minister to have both assumed and lost their term of office by means of a general election.

===Rise of Thatcher===
Heath came to be seen as a liability by many Conservative MPs, party activists and newspaper editors. His personality was considered cold and aloof, annoying even to his friends. [[Alan Watkins]] observed in 1991 that his "brusqueness, his gaucherie, his lack of small or indeed any talk, his sheer bad manners" were among the factors costing him the support of Conservative backbenchers in the subsequent [[1975 Conservative Party leadership election|Conservative leadership election]].<ref>Watkins 1991, pp. 174–175.</ref>

He resolved to remain Conservative leader, even after losing the October 1974 general election, and at first it appeared that by calling on the loyalty of his front-bench colleagues he might prevail. In the weeks following the second election defeat, Heath came under tremendous pressure to concede a review of the rules and agreed to establish a commission to propose changes and to seek re-election. There was no clear challenger after [[Enoch Powell]] had left the party and [[Keith Joseph]] had ruled himself out after controversial statements implying that the working classes should be encouraged to use more birth control. Joseph's close friend and ally [[Margaret Thatcher]], who believed that an adherent to the philosophy of the [[Centre for Policy Studies]] should stand, joined the leadership contest in his place alongside the outsider [[Hugh Fraser (British politician)|Hugh Fraser]]. Aided by [[Airey Neave]]'s campaigning among backbench MPs — whose earlier approach to [[William Whitelaw]] had been rebuffed, out of loyalty to Heath — she emerged as the only serious challenger.<ref>Moore, ''Thatcher'', vol. 1, chapters 11–12.</ref>

The new rules permitted new candidates to enter the ballot in a second round of voting should the first be inconclusive, so Thatcher's challenge was considered by some to be that of a stalking horse. Neave deliberately understated Thatcher's support to attract wavering votes from MPs who were keen to see Heath replaced even though they did not necessarily want Thatcher to replace him.<ref>John Campbell, ''The Grocer's Daughter''</ref><ref>Heath, Edward. ''The Course of My Life'' (1998), p. 532.</ref>

On 4 February 1975, Thatcher defeated Heath in the first ballot by 130 votes to 119, with Fraser coming in a distant third with 16 votes. This was not a big enough margin to give Thatcher the 15% majority necessary to win on the first ballot, but having finished in second place Heath immediately resigned and did not contest the next ballot. His favoured candidate, William Whitelaw, lost to Thatcher in the second vote one week later (Thatcher 146, Whitelaw 79, [[Geoffrey Howe|Howe]] 19, [[Jim Prior|Prior]] 19, [[John Peyton, Baron Peyton of Yeovil|Peyton]] 11).<ref>Moore, ''Thatcher'' 1:289–295.</ref> The vote polarised along right-left lines, with in addition the region, experience and education of the MP having their effects. Heath and Whitelaw were stronger on the left, among Oxbridge and public school graduates, and in MPs from Northern England or Scotland.<ref>{{cite journal |jstor = 194287|title = Peasants' Uprising or Religious War? Re-Examining the 1975 Conservative Leadership Contest|journal = British Journal of Political Science|volume = 30|issue = 4|pages = 599–629|last1 = Cowley|first1 = Philip|last2 = Bailey|first2 = Matthew|year = 2000|doi = 10.1017/S0007123400000260|s2cid = 154834667}}</ref>

Thatcher had promised Heath a seat in the Shadow Cabinet and planned to offer him whatever post he wanted. His advisors agreed he should wait at least six months, so he declined. He never relented and his refusal was called "the incredible sulk".<ref>Moore, ''Thatcher'' 1:297–298.</ref> Thatcher visited Heath at his home shortly after her election as leader and had to stay for coffee with his PPS [[Timothy Kitson]] so the waiting press would not realise how brief the visit had been. Heath claimed that he had simply declined her request for advice about how to handle the press, whilst Thatcher claimed that she offered him any Shadow Cabinet position he wanted and asked him to lead the Conservative campaign in the imminent [[1975 United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum|EEC referendum]], only to be rudely rebuffed.<ref>Ziegler 2010, pp. 490–491.</ref>

==Later career (1975–2001)==
[[File:Edward Heath appearing on 'After Dark', 10 June 1989.jpg|thumb|Appearing on television discussion programme ''[[After Dark (TV programme)|After Dark]]'' in 1989]]
For many years, Heath persisted in criticism of the party's new ideological direction. At the time of his defeat, he was still popular with rank-and-file Conservative members and was warmly applauded at the 1975 Conservative Party Conference. He played a leading role in the 1975 referendum campaign in which the UK voted to remain part of the EEC, and he remained active on the international stage, serving on the [[Willy Brandt|Brandt]] Commission investigation into developmental issues, particularly on [[Global North and Global South|North–South]] projects ([[Brandt Report]]).<ref>Michael McManus, ''Edward Heath: A Singular Life'' (2016), ch. 5.</ref>

His relations with Thatcher remained poor, and in 1979–80, he turned down her offers of the positions of [[British Ambassador in Washington|Ambassador to the United States]] and [[Secretary General of NATO]].<ref>Moore, ''Thatcher'' 1:430.</ref> He continued as a central figure on the left of the party and, at the 1981 Conservative Party conference, openly criticised the government's economic policy of [[monetarism]], which had seen inflation rise from 13% in 1979 to 18% in 1980 then fall to 4% by 1983,<ref>{{cite web |last=Morely |first=Stephen |url=http://safalra.com/other/historical-uk-inflation-price-conversion/ |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20120830011628/http://safalra.com/other/historical-uk-inflation-price-conversion/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 August 2012 |title=Historical UK Inflation And Price Conversion |access-date=23 April 2021}}</ref> but had seen unemployment double from around 1.5&nbsp;million to a postwar high of 3.3&nbsp;million during that time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://econ.economicshelp.org/2007/03/uk-economy-under-mrs-thatcher-1979-1984.html|title=Economics Essays: UK Economy under Mrs Thatcher 1979–1984|publisher=Econ.economicshelp.org|access-date=17 August 2010}}</ref>

In 1990, he flew to [[Baghdad]] to attempt to negotiate the release of aircraft passengers on [[British Airways Flight 149]] and other British nationals taken hostage when [[Saddam Hussein]] invaded [[Kuwait]]. Following the events of [[Black Wednesday]] in 1992, he stated in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] that government should build a fund of reserves to counter currency speculators.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

In 1987, he was nominated in the [[1987 University of Oxford Chancellor election|election for the Chancellorship of the University of Oxford]] but lost to [[Roy Jenkins]] as a result of splitting the Conservative vote with [[Lord Blake]].<ref>McManus, ''Edward Heath: A Singular Life'' (2016), ch. 5.</ref>

[[File:Sir Edward Heath 1995.jpg|thumb|upright|Heath in 1995]]
Heath continued to serve as a backbench MP for the London constituency of [[Old Bexley and Sidcup]] and was, from 1992, the longest-serving MP ("[[Father of the House (United Kingdom)|Father of the House]]") and the oldest British MP. As Father of the House, he oversaw the election of two [[Speaker (politics)|Speakers]] of the Commons, [[Betty Boothroyd]] and [[Michael Martin, Baron Martin of Springburn|Michael Martin]]. Heath was created a [[Knight Companion of the Garter]] on 23 April 1992.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/52903/page/7175 |title=Honours and Awards: Central Chancery of The Orders of Knighthood |publisher=The London Gazette |issue=52903 |date=24 April 1992 |access-date=15 September 2023}}</ref> He retired from Parliament at the [[2001 United Kingdom general election|2001 general election]]. Heath and [[Tony Benn]] were the last two serving MPs to have been elected during the reign of [[George&nbsp;VI]], with Heath serving continuously since 1950.

Heath maintained business links with several companies including a Saudi think tank, two investment funds and a Chinese freight operator, mainly as an adviser on China or a member of the governing board.<ref>{{cite news |title=Revealed: Ted Heath's Cash Links with China |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/revealed-ted-heaths-cash-links-with-china-1046042.html |work=The Independent |location=London |date=10 January 1999}}</ref> According to [[Chris Patten]], the last [[Governor of Hong Kong]], his commercial interests in China could have been one of the reasons why he denounced the democratic reforms introduced in the run-up to the [[handover of Hong Kong]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Patten |first1=Chris |title=First Confession |date=2017 |publisher=Penguin Random House |location=London |page=138}}</ref>

Parliament broke with precedent by commissioning a bust of Heath while he was still alive.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/acwa/thatcherstatue.cfm |title=Unveiling of a Statue of Baroness Thatcher in Members Lobby, House of Commons |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070625060510/http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/acwa/thatcherstatue.cfm |archive-date=25 June 2007 |access-date=17 August 2021}}</ref> Commentators {{Who|date=August 2021}} have noted how the statue of [[Margaret Thatcher]] appears to overshadow Heath's bust. The 1993 bronze work, by [[Martin Jennings]], was moved to the [[Members' Lobby]] in 2002. On 29 April 2002, in his eighty-sixth year, he made a public appearance at Downing Street alongside the then–prime minister [[Tony Blair]] and the three other surviving former prime ministers at the time ([[James Callaghan]], [[Margaret Thatcher]] and [[John Major]]), as well as relatives of deceased prime ministers, for a dinner which was part of the [[Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II]]. This was to be one of his last public appearances, as the following year saw a decline in his health.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1957292.stm |work=BBC News |title=Queen dines with her prime ministers |date=29 April 2002}}</ref>

==Personal life==
===Private residence===
[[File:Edward Heath Allan Warren.jpg|thumb|upright|Heath in his Salisbury home, 1987]]
[[File:Sir Edward Heath - Arundells 59 Cathedral Close Salisbury SP1 2EN.jpg|thumb|Blue plaque located on the boundary wall of Arundells]]
In the 1960s, Heath had lived in [[Albany (London)|Albany]], off Piccadilly; at the unexpected end of his premiership, the French couple living there refused his demand that they move out so that he could have his flat back ("So much for European Unity!" Heath later wrote in his memoirs). For four months, Heath took the flat of Conservative MP [[Timothy Kitson]]; Kitson declined his offer to pay rent but later recalled an occasion when his own watch broke, and Heath in response invited him to take one of a large collection that he had been given on his travels. In July 1974, [[Robert Grosvenor, 5th Duke of Westminster|the Duke of Westminster]], a major London landowner and ardent Europhile, allowed Heath to rent a property in Wilton Street, Belgravia, for an annual rent of £1,250 (£{{formatprice|{{Inflation|UK|1250|1974}}}} at {{inflation/year|UK}} prices),{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}} a tenth of the market value. The house had three storeys and a basement flat for Heath's housekeeper, and he continued to use it as his London home until old age prevented him from climbing the stairs.<ref>Ziegler 2010, pp. 443–444.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/result.php |title=Five Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a U.K. Pound Amount |publisher=measuringworth.com |access-date=27 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331194822/https://measuringworth.com/ukcompare/result.php |archive-date=31 March 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In February 1985, Heath acquired a Wiltshire home, [[Arundells]], in the [[Cathedral close]] at [[Salisbury]], where he resided until his death twenty years later. In January 2006, it was announced that Heath had placed his house and contents, valued at £5&nbsp;million in his will, in a charitable foundation, the Sir Edward Heath Charitable Foundation, to conserve the house as a museum to his career.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arundells.org/the-foundation/ |title=The Foundation |publisher=Arundells |access-date=4 September 2016}}</ref> The house is open to the public for guided tours from March to October; displayed therein is a large collection of personal effects as well as Heath's personal library, photo collections, and paintings by Winston Churchill.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arundells.org/ |title=Homepage |website=Arundells |access-date=23 April 2021}}</ref>

In his will, Heath, who had no descendants, left only two legacies: £20,000 to his brother's widow, and £2,500 to his housekeeper.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4632094.stm |title=Former PM Heath left £5m in will |work=BBC News |date=20 January 2006 |access-date=20 April 2010}}</ref>

===Yachting===
Heath was a keen yachtsman. He bought his first yacht ''[[Morning Cloud]]'' in 1969 and won the [[Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race]] that year. He captained Britain's winning team for the [[Admiral's Cup]] in 1971<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rorc.org/admiralscup/history/1971/default.html |title=rorc.org: "Champagne Mumm Admiral's History – 1971" |access-date=27 October 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041027083822/http://www.rorc.org/admiralscup/history/1971/default.html |archive-date=27 October 2004 |url-status=dead }}</ref> – while prime minister – and also captained the team in the [[1979 Fastnet Race]]. He was a member of the Broadstairs Sailing Club, where he learnt to sail on a [[Snipe (dinghy)|Snipe]] and a [[Fireball (dinghy)|Fireball]] before moving on to success in larger boats.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.broadstairssailingclub.com/history.aspx|title=Broadstairs Sailing Club – History|website=www.broadstairssailingclub.com|access-date=5 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171006012205/http://www.broadstairssailingclub.com/history.aspx|archive-date=6 October 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Classical music===
Heath maintained an interest in classical music as a pianist, organist and orchestral conductor, famously installing a [[Steinway]] grand in [[10 Downing Street|10&nbsp;Downing Street]] – bought with his £450 [[Charlemagne Prize]] money, awarded for his unsuccessful efforts to bring Britain into the EEC in 1963, and chosen on the advice of his friend, the pianist [[Moura Lympany]] – and conducting Christmas carol concerts in Broadstairs every year from his teens until old age.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a29894927/prime-minister-edward-heath-the-crown-facts/ | title=The True Story of Queen Elizabeth's Sixth Prime Minister, Edward Heath | date=8 December 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.shutterstock.com/editorial/image-editorial/sir-edward-heath%27s-steinway-grand-piano-manhandled-1382179a | title=Sir Edward Heaths Steinway Grand Piano Editorial Stock Photo – Stock Image }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://arundells.org/sir-edwardheath/ | title=Sir Edward Heath &#124; Arundells }}</ref>

Heath conducted the [[London Symphony Orchestra]], notably at a gala concert at the [[Royal Festival Hall]] in November 1971, at which he conducted [[Sir Edward Elgar]]'s overture ''[[Cockaigne (In London Town)]]''. He also conducted the [[Royal Liverpool Philharmonic]] and the [[English Chamber Orchestra]], as well as orchestras in Germany and the United States. During his premiership, Heath invited musician friends, such as [[Isaac Stern]], [[Yehudi Menuhin]], [[Clifford Curzon]] and the [[Amadeus Quartet]], to perform either at [[Chequers]] or 10 Downing Street. Heath was the founding President of the European Community Youth Orchestra (in 1976), now the [[European Union Youth Orchestra]].

In 1988, Heath recorded [[Beethoven]]'s [[Triple Concerto (Beethoven)|Triple Concerto, Op.&nbsp;56]] (with members of the Trio Zingara as soloists) and [[Luigi Boccherini|Boccherini's]] Cello Concerto in G major, G480.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.juneclassic.net/EN/album/albumdetail.jsp?albumno=gxzht8ra |title=Beethoven: Triple Concerto/Boccherini: Cello Concerto No. 3 |access-date=23 April 2021 |website=June Classic }}</ref>{{New archival link needed|date=April 2026}}

===Football===
Heath was a supporter of the [[Lancashire]] football club [[Burnley F.C.|Burnley]], and just after the end of his term as prime minister in 1974 he opened the £450,000 [[Bob Lord (football chairman)|Bob Lord]] Stand at the club's [[Turf Moor]] stadium.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.burnleyfootballclub.com/page/History/0,,10413~1031447,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201152821/http://www.burnleyfootballclub.com/page/History/0%2C%2C10413~1031447%2C00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 December 2008 |title=Burnley &#124; The Turf Moor Story |publisher=Burnleyfootballclub.com |access-date=25 May 2011}}</ref>

===Author===
[[File:Boeken, politici, Bestanddeelnr 929-1293.jpg|thumb|Heath [[Book signing|book-signing]] in 1977]]
Heath wrote several books in the second half of the 1970s: ''Sailing'', ''Music'', and ''Travels''. He also compiled a collection of carols called ''The Joy of Christmas'', published in 1978 by Oxford University Press, which contained the music and lyrics to a wide variety of Christmas carols, each accompanied by a reproduction of a piece of religious art and a short introduction by Heath.

Heath's autobiography, ''The Course of My Life'', appeared in 1998. According to his obituary in ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', this "had involved dozens of researchers and writers (some of whom he never paid) over many years".<ref>{{cite news |title=Obituary: Sir Edward Heath |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/7868577/Sir-Edward-Heath.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/7868577/Sir-Edward-Heath.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=23 November 2010 |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |date=18 July 2005}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

==="Grocer Heath"===
In 1964, despite substantial opposition from many Conservative MPs and independent grocers and shopkeepers, Heath led a successful fight to abolish [[resale price maintenance]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Yamey |first1=Basil&nbsp;S. |title=Resale Price Maintenance |date=2008 |publisher=Aldine |location=Chicago |isbn=978-0-202-36227-4 |page=290 |edition=3rd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OI3eRMWZjNwC&q=resale+prices+act+1964+%2B+Edward+Heath&pg=PA290 |access-date=4 August 2015}}</ref>

''[[Private Eye]]'', a satirical current affairs magazine, thereupon persistently ridiculed him as "Grocer Heath".<ref>{{cite book |first=Kenneth&nbsp;O. |last=Morgan |author-link=Kenneth O. Morgan |title=Britain Since 1945: The People's Peace |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tKwGaWWKzNAC&pg=PA227 |year=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=227–228 |isbn=978-0-19-158799-3}}</ref> The magazine also parodied him as the managing director of a struggling small company, "Heathco".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ramsden |first1=John |title=Leadership and Change: Prime Ministers in the Post-War World: Edward Heath |url=http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/leadership-and-change-prime-ministers-in-the-post-war-world-edward-heath |publisher=Gresham College |access-date=4 August 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Hastings |first1=Max |title=The Lonely Mariner |date=19 July 2005 |url= https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/jul/19/conservatives.uk5 |access-date=4 August 2015 |work=The Guardian |location=London}}</ref> The nickname was coined as a parody of [[Keith West]]'s 1967 hit single "[[Excerpt from A Teenage Opera|Excerpt from '''A Teenage Opera'']]'",<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-i-don-t-believe-that-ted-heath-was-gay/|title=Why I don't believe that Ted Heath was gay|last=King|first=Jonathan|date=7 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915064553/https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-i-don-t-believe-that-ted-heath-was-gay/|archive-date=15 September 2024|access-date=30 November 2025|url-status=live|work=[[The Spectator]]|url-access=subscription|author-link=Jonathan King}}</ref> which features the phrase "Grocer Jack" sung during its [[refrain]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jul/29/grocer-jack-teenage-opera-keith-west-mark-wirtz|title=Grocer Jack has his day as A Teenage Opera finally goes on stage|last=Thorpe|first=Vanessa|date=30 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129000716/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jul/29/grocer-jack-teenage-opera-keith-west-mark-wirtz|archive-date=29 November 2022|access-date=30 November 2025|url-status=live|work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>

===Sexuality===
Heath never married. He had been expected to marry childhood friend Kay Raven, who was reportedly tired of waiting and married an RAF officer whom she met on holiday in 1950. In a four-sentence paragraph of his memoirs, Heath claimed that he had been too busy establishing a career after the war and had "perhaps&nbsp;... taken too much for granted". In a 1998 TV interview with Michael Cockerell, Heath said that he had kept her photograph in his flat for many years afterwards.<ref>''Edward Heath&nbsp;– A Very Singular Man'', Blakeway Productions for BBC2, 1998.</ref>

His interest in music kept him on friendly terms with female musicians, including pianist Moura Lympany. When Heath was prime minister she was approached by the Conservative MP [[Tufton Beamish, Baron Chelwood|Tufton Beamish]], who said: "Moura, Ted must get married. Will you marry him?" She said she would have done but was in love with someone else.<ref>{{cite news |title=UK Politics: Talking Politics A very singular man |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/179358.stm |access-date=3 October 2015 |work=BBC News |date=25 September 1998}}</ref> She later said the most intimate thing Heath had done was to put his arm around her shoulder.<ref>''The Guardian'', 19 March 2001.</ref>

[[Bernard Levin]] wrote at the time in ''[[The Observer]]'' that the UK had to wait until the emergence of the [[permissive society]] for a prime minister who was a virgin.<ref name="guardian.co.uk">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jul/04/edward-heath-philip-ziegler-review |work=The Observer |location=London |first=Geoffrey |last=Wheatcroft |title=Edward Heath: The Authorised Biography by Philip Ziegler |date=4 July 2010}}</ref> In later life, according to his official biographer [[Philip Ziegler]], at dinner parties Heath was "apt to relapse into morose silence or completely ignore the woman next to him and talk across her to the nearest man";<ref name="guardian.co.uk"/> others at the time claimed Heath was just not talkative at parties.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Benn |first1=Tony |last2=Winstone |first2=Ruth |title=The Benn Diaries |date=1996 |publisher=Arrow |location=London |isbn=978-0-09-963411-9 |pages=363–364 |edition=New single vol. |quote=[[Shirley Williams]] recalled sitting next to Ted Heath at a dinner and when she tried to speak to him, he declined to answer... She had turned to the man on her left and asked, 'Does Ted Heath not speak to women?' and he had answered, 'He doesn't speak to many people at all.'}}</ref>

There were many innuendos in ''Private Eye'' about his being homosexual and chants insinuating the same could be heard outside Downing Street during protests by trade unionists against his Industrial Relations Bill.<ref>{{cite book | last = Bloch | first = Michael | title = Closet Queens | page=221 | publisher = Little, Brown | year = 2015 | isbn = 978-1408704127}}</ref>

John Campbell, who published a biography of Heath in 1993,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7YVnAAAAMAAJ |title=Edward Heath: A Biography |last=Campbell |first=John |date=1993 |publisher=J. Cape |isbn=9780224024822 |access-date=23 April 2021}}</ref> devoted four pages to a discussion of the evidence concerning Heath's sexuality. While acknowledging that Heath was often assumed by the public to be gay, not least because it is "nowadays&nbsp;... whispered of any bachelor", he found "no positive evidence" that this was so "except for the faintest unsubstantiated rumour" (the footnote refers to a mention of a "disturbing incident" at the beginning of the [[Second World War]] in a 1972 biography by [[Andrew Roth]]). Campbell ultimately concluded that the most significant aspect of Heath's sexuality was his complete [[Psychological repression|repression]] of it.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/11781268/Ted-Heath-the-bachelor-prime-minister-whose-private-life-remained-a-closed-book.html |title=Ted Heath: the bachelor prime minister whose private life remained a closed book |last=Prince |first=Rosa |date=3 August 2015 |website=The Telegraph |access-date=23 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210314165906/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/11781268/Ted-Heath-the-bachelor-prime-minister-whose-private-life-remained-a-closed-book.html |archive-date=14 March 2021}}</ref>

[[Brian Coleman]], the Conservative Party London Assembly member for [[Barnet and Camden]], claimed in 2007 that Heath, to protect his career, had stopped [[cottaging]] in the 1950s. Coleman said it was "common knowledge" among Conservatives that Heath had been given a stern warning by police when he underwent background checks for the post of [[privy counsellor]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Ted Heath 'stopped cottaging for gay sex to protect his career', says Tory MP {{sic|nolink=y}} |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/ted-heath-stopped-cottaging-for-gay-sex-to-protect-his-career-says-tory-mp-7186167.html |access-date=8 October 2014 |work=London Evening Standard |date=24 April 2007}}</ref> Heath's biographer Philip Ziegler wrote in 2010 that Coleman was able to provide "little or no information" to back up this statement, that no man had ever claimed to have had a sexual relationship with Heath, nor was any trace of homosexuality to be found in his papers, and that "those who knew him well" insist that he had no such inclination. He believes Heath to have been [[asexuality|asexual]],<ref>Ziegler 2010, pp. 81–82.</ref> although he does mention a letter from one "Freddy", who seems hurt that "Teddie" had spurned his advances (chapter 2 of his book).

[[Lord Armstrong of Ilminster]], who was Heath's friend and former [[Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister|private secretary]], stated his belief that Heath was asexual, saying that he "never detected a whiff of sexuality in relation to men, women or children."<ref>{{cite news |title=Edward Heath 'completely asexual', says former PM's adviser |date=11 August 2015 |url= https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/aug/11/edward-heath-asexual-says-former-adviser |work=The Guardian |location=London |access-date=11 August 2015 |first=Jamie |last=Grierson}}</ref> Another friend and confidant, Sara Morrison, former vice-chairman of the Conservative Party, said Heath had "effectively" told her "that he was sexless".<ref>{{cite web |last=Hanning |first=James |date=15 August 2015 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/edward-heath-was-not-a-sexual-being-says-closest-female-friend-10457407.html |title=Edward Heath 'was not a sexual being', says closest female friend |website=The Independent |access-date=23 April 2021}}</ref> [[Charles Moore (journalist)|Charles Moore]], in his authorised biography of Margaret Thatcher, said that [[Bill Deedes]] believed that Thatcher "seem[ed] convinced" Heath was gay, whilst Moore believed it is "possible" that Thatcher's reference, in interview in 1974, to Heath not having a family, was a deliberate hint that he was gay, in order to discredit him.<ref>{{cite news |last= Roberts |first=Scott |title=Biography claims Margaret Thatcher thought Edward Heath was gay |url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/04/25/biography-claims-margaret-thatcher-thought-edward-heath-was-gay |work=Pink News |location=London |date=25 April 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Former PM Ted Heath is 'outed' |url=http://metro.co.uk/2007/04/24/former-pm-ted-heath-is-outed-308406/ |date=24 April 2007}}</ref> Thatcher certainly seems to have disliked Heath. "When I look at him and he looks at me," she once remarked, according to Ziegler (Chapter 4), "it doesn't feel like a man looking at a woman, more like a woman looking at another woman."

When he moved to Arundells in 1985, Heath hired Derek Frost, life partner of [[Jeremy Norman]], to modernise and redecorate the house in Salisbury. He became friends with the couple, though never close. When they asked Heath why he had not supported homosexual law reform (he was either absent from the debates in the 1960s or voted against [[Arthur Gore, 8th Earl of Arran|Lord Arran]]'s first Bill in May 1965), he replied that he had always been in favour but that "the rank and file of the party would never have stood for it." Norman's view is that Heath was "a deeply closeted gay man" who "decided early in life to sublimate his sexuality to his political ambitions."<ref>{{cite book | last = Bloch | first = Michael | title = Closet Queens | pages=222–223 | publisher = Little, Brown | year = 2015 | isbn = 978-1408704127}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Norman | first = Jeremy | title = No Make-Up: Straight Tales from a Queer Life | publisher = Elliott & Thompson | year = 2011 | isbn = 978-1904027508}}</ref> In later life, Heath voted for the lowering of the age of same-sex consent to eighteen and then sixteen.

Similarly, Michael McManus, who was Heath's private secretary in the 1990s and helped with his memoirs, writes in his book on gay conservative politicians that he "was left in no doubt whatsoever that Heath was a gay man who had sacrificed his personal life to his political career, exercising iron self-control and living a celibate existence as he climbed the 'greasy pole' of preferment."<ref>{{cite book | last = McManus | first = Michael | title = Tory Pride and Prejudice | publisher = Biteback | year = 2011 | isbn = 978-1849542364}}</ref>

===Allegations of child sexual abuse===
{{See also|Elm Guest House hoax}}
In April 2015, a rape claim against Heath was investigated by the [[Metropolitan Police]] but was dropped.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/06/wiltshire-police-rape-claim-against-edward-heath-rape-dropped/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/06/wiltshire-police-rape-claim-against-edward-heath-rape-dropped/ |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Wiltshire Police rape claim against Edward Heath was dropped by Scotland Yard two years ago |first1=Robert |last1=Mendick |first2=Martin |last2=Evans |date=6 October 2017 |access-date=27 May 2018 |work=The Telegraph |location=London}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In August 2015, several police forces were investigating allegations of [[child sexual abuse]] by Heath.<ref name="SKY1530217"/> Hampshire, Jersey, Kent, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Thames Valley constabularies and London's Metropolitan Police investigated such claims.<ref>{{cite news |title=Edward Heath abuse claims: Five forces investigating ex-PM |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33770021 |work=BBC News |date=4 August 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33807497 |title=Edward Heath claims 'did not halt brothel case |website=BBC News |date=6 August 2015 |access-date=23 April 2021}}</ref> It was reported that a man had claimed that at the age of 12 years he had been raped by Heath in a [[Mayfair]] flat in 1961, after he had run away from home.<ref>{{cite news |last=Anderson |first=Steve |title=Edward Heath 'raped 12-year-old boy at Mayfair flat' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/edward-heath-raped-12-yearold-boy-at-mayfair-flat-10436554.html |access-date=4 August 2015 |work=The Independent |location=London |date=4 August 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2015/08/edward-heath-wasnt-gay-trust-me-i-tried-and-failed-to-seduce-him/ |author-link=Jonathan King |last=King |first=Jonathan |work=Coffee House (Spectator blog) |title=Why I don't believe that Ted Heath was gay |date=7 August 2015 |access-date=4 April 2016 |archive-date=19 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160219203456/http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2015/08/edward-heath-wasnt-gay-trust-me-i-tried-and-failed-to-seduce-him/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Allegations about Heath were investigated as part of [[Operation Midland]], the Metropolitan Police inquiry into claims of historic child abuse and related [[homicide]]s.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/aug/04/edward-heath-met-have-been-investigating-claims-for-several-months |title=Edward Heath: Met has been investigating claims for several months |work=The Guardian |location=London |date=4 August 2015}}</ref> A witness called "Nick" was introduced to the police by the former ''[[Exaro]]'' website, who had asked him about alleged child sexual abuse by prominent figures at the [[Dolphin Square]] apartment complex in [[Pimlico]], London; Heath was reported to be one of the figures.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Conrad |first1=Mark |last2=Watts |first2=Mark |url=http://www.exaronews.com/articles/5629/sir-edward-heath-met-also-investigates-claims-of-child-sex-abuse |title=Sir Edward Heath: Met also investigates claims of child sex abuse |website=Exaro News |date=4 August 2015 |access-date=23 March 2016}}</ref> In 2018 "Nick", whose real name is [[Carl Beech (Operation Midland)|Carl Beech]], was arrested and charged over child pornography offences<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/source-of-vip-sex-abuse-ring-reports-that-prompted-failed-police-probe-is-charged-with-child-porn-offences/ |title=Source of 'VIP Sex Abuse Ring' Reports that Sparked Failed Police Probe is Charged Over Child Porn Offences |date=7 February 2018 |website=Press Gazette |access-date=23 April 2021}}</ref> and in January 2019 he pleaded guilty.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46965787 |title=Man Admits Voyeurism and Indecent Image Charges |website=BBC News |date=23 January 2019 |access-date=23 April 2021}}</ref> Beech, who had fabricated allegations against Heath and other prominent politicians and civil servants, was sentenced in July 2019 to eighteen years in prison.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49130670 |title=Carl Beech: 'VIP abuse' accuser jailed for 18 years |date=26 July 2019 |work=BBC News}}</ref>

Also in August 2015, [[Sky News]] reported that Jersey police were investigating allegations against Heath as part of [[Operation Whistle]],<ref name="SKY1530217">{{cite news |url=http://news.sky.com/story/1530217/calls-made-to-ted-heath-child-sex-abuse-line |publisher=Sky News |title=Calls Made To Ted Heath Child Sex Abuse Line |date=4 August 2015}}</ref> and a similar investigation, Operation Conifer, was launched by [[Wiltshire Police]] at the same time.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Willgress |first1=Lydia |last2=Evans |first2=Martin |title=Two people arrested as part of police probe into child abuse allegations against Sir Edward Heath |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/14/two-people-arrested-as-part-of-police-probe-into-child-abuse-all/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/14/two-people-arrested-as-part-of-police-probe-into-child-abuse-all/ |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=26 February 2017 |work=The Telegraph |date=14 November 2016 |location=London}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The Sir Edward Heath Charitable Foundation, which operates the museum at Arundells, his home in Salisbury, said it welcomed the investigation.<ref>{{cite news |title=Sir Edward Heath abuse claims: IPCC investigates police |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-33755726 |access-date=4 April 2016 |work=BBC News |date=3 August 2015}}</ref> In November 2016, criminologist [[Richard Hoskins]] said that the evidence used against Heath in Operation Conifer, including discredited allegations of [[satanic ritual abuse]], was "preposterous", "fantastical" and gained through the "controversial" practice of [[recovered-memory therapy]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Booth |first=Robert |url= https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/nov/27/ted-heath-police-child-abuse-inquiry-fantastical-evidence |title=Ted Heath's accuser 'gave child abuse inquiry fantastical evidence' |work=The Guardian |location=London |date=27 November 2016 |access-date=28 November 2016}}</ref> Operation Conifer was closed in March 2017, having cost a reported £1.5&nbsp;million over two years, as no corroborating evidence had been found in any of the 42 allegations by 40 individuals (including three different names used by one person).<ref name="PE1455">{{cite magazine |date=20 October 2017 |title=Veale butchers Grocer |magazine=[[Private Eye]] |location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Mendick |first=Robert |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/18/police-wind-sir-edward-heath-sex-abuse-probe/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/18/police-wind-sir-edward-heath-sex-abuse-probe/ |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Police Wind Up Sir Edward Heath Sex Abuse Inquiry |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |date=18 March 2017|access-date=29 June 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In September 2017, it was announced that the [[Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse]] would review the police investigation into Heath.<ref>{{cite news |title=Child sex abuse inquiry to consider Edward Heath investigation |url= https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/sep/10/national-child-sex-abuse-inquiry-to-consider-edward-heath-investigation |access-date=10 September 2017 |work=The Guardian |agency=Press Association |date=10 September 2017}}</ref> Police said that if Heath were still alive they would have interviewed him [[Right to silence in England and Wales|under caution]] in relation to seven out of the 42 allegations,<ref name="PE1455"/> but nothing should be inferred about his guilt or innocence.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/oct/05/ted-heath-would-have-been-questioned-over-seven-abuse-claims-police-say |title=Ted Heath would have been questioned over abuse claims, police say |first1=Vikram |last1=Dodd |first2=Steven |last2=Morris |date=5 October 2017 |access-date=5 October 2017|work=The Guardian |location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/sep/30/police-say-there-were-grounds-to-suspect-edward-heath-over-child-abuse-claims |title=Police say there were grounds to suspect Edward Heath over child abuse claims |work=The Guardian |location=London |date=30 September 2017}}</ref> In his summary report, Chief Constable [[Mike Veale]] confirmed that "no further corroborative evidence was found" to support the satanic abuse claims.<ref name="PE1455"/>

==Illness and death==
[[File:Edward Heath monument.jpg|thumb|upright|Heath's monument in [[Salisbury Cathedral]]]]
In August 2003, at the age of 87, Heath suffered a [[pulmonary embolism]] while on holiday in [[Salzburg]], Austria. He never fully recovered, and owing to his declining health and mobility made very few public appearances in the last two years of his life. His last appearance was at the unveiling of a set of gates at [[St Paul's Cathedral]] dedicated to Churchill on 30 November 2004.

In his final public statement, Heath paid tribute to [[James Callaghan]], who died on 26 March 2005, saying "James Callaghan was a major fixture in the political life of this country during his long and varied career. When in opposition he never hesitated to put firmly his party's case. When in office he took a smoother approach towards his supporters and opponents alike. Although he left the House of Commons in 1987 he continued to follow political life and it was always a pleasure to meet with him. We have lost a major figure from our political landscape."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4385189.stm |title='Tough operator' remembered |work=BBC News |date=26 March 2005 |access-date=20 April 2010}}</ref>

Just under four months later, Heath died at his home from [[pneumonia]] at 7.30&nbsp;pm on 17 July 2005, at the age of 89, the day after his spokesman said he was "nearing the end of his life".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/sir-edward-heath-dies-aged-89-299942.html | title=Sir Edward Heath dies aged 89 | website=[[Independent.co.uk]] | date=17 July 2005 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/sir-edward-heath-dies-1077040 |title=Sir Edward Heath Dies |date=18 July 2005 |website=Manchester Evening News |access-date=23 April 2021}}</ref> He was cremated on 25 July 2005 at a funeral service attended by 1,500 people. On the day after his death, the [[BBC Parliament]] channel showed the BBC results coverage of the 1970 election. A memorial service was held for Heath in [[Westminster Abbey]] on 8 November 2005, which was attended by 2,000 people. Three days later his ashes were interred in [[Salisbury Cathedral]]. In a tribute to him, the then-prime minister Tony Blair stated "He was a man of great integrity and beliefs he held firmly from which he never wavered".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.number10.gov.uk/history-and-tour/prime-ministers-in-history/edward-heath |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080825211306/http://www.number10.gov.uk/history-and-tour/prime-ministers-in-history/edward-heath |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 August 2008 |title=Edward Heath |publisher=10 Downing Street |access-date=17 August 2010}}</ref>

==Honours==
Heath received several accolades and honours.

===Coat of arms===
{{Emblem table
|image = [[File:Coat of arms of Sir Edward Heath.svg|centre|250px]]
|adopted =
|crest = Out of a Naval Coronet Or, a Swan close proper resting its foot on a closed Cup Or.<ref name="auto2">{{cite web|url=https://www.theheraldrysociety.com/wp-content/uploads/hs_thumbs/W-0308.jpg|title=Heath, Sir Edward KG Prime Minister|website=theheraldrysociety.com}}</ref>
|escutcheon = Per bend Purpure and Vert, over all a Bend grady Or, issuant in sinister chief a Cloud, irradiated proper, and in dexter base a Portcullis chained Or.<ref>{{cite web |last=Chesshyre |first=Hubert |url=https://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/FR-Vol-7_1995-1996.pdf |title=The Friends of St. George's & Descendants of the Knights of the Garter Annual Review 1995–1996 |year=1996 |volume=VII |page=289 |access-date=23 April 2021}}</ref>
|supporters = On the dexter Sea-Lion Or charged with a voided Escutcheon Vert and on the sinister a Horse Argent gorged with a Ducal Coronet Vert.<ref name="auto2"/>
|compartment =
|motto = '''Plus Fait Douceur Que Violence'''<br />''(lit. Sweetness does more than violence)''
|orders =The [[Order of the Garter|Garter]] [[circlet]];<br />motto: '''''[[Honi soit qui mal y pense]]''''' ''(Shame be to him who thinks evil of it)''. <br />& Medal of the Member of the Order of the British Empire <ref>{{cite web | title=A glimpse of the private life of Edward Heath | date=22 March 2008 | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1582460/A-glimpse-of-the-private-life-of-Edward-Heath.html }}</ref>
|badge =
|symbolism = The arms symbolise various parts of Heath's life. The bend grady represents the zig-zag pattern of the Royal Artillery tie, as well as Broadstairs, his birthplace. The green colour is for heath, while the purple is for heather, which refers to his surname. The cloud symbolises 'Morning Cloud', his yacht. The irradiations issuing from it symbolise entering the European communities. The portcullis is the symbol of Parliament and represents his career as a politician.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvuPAMuzek8 | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/vvuPAMuzek8| archive-date=11 December 2021 | url-status=live|title=heraldry |last=John Dough |date=23 August 2015 |access-date=5 October 2017|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The swan and the gold cup in the crest represent two livery companies: the [[Worshipful Company of Musicians]] (of which he was an honorary freeman) and the [[Goldsmiths' Company]] (of which he was a liveryman), respectively. Heath's captaincy of yachting teams is symbolised by the naval crown in the crest. The sea-lion and white horse supporters are both taken from the Kent county coat of arms, honouring the county that Heath was born in as well as the location of his parliamentary constituency. The voided escutcheon on the sea-lion's neck also appears in the arms of [[Balliol College]], Heath's alma mater. The horse is gorged with a ducal coronet, which refers to the crown in the arms of the [[Diocese of Salisbury]]. This symbolises the location of Heath's home in Salisbury. Heath's motto was taken from a motto that appeared on his clavichord.<ref name="auto2"/>
}}

===Honorary degrees and fellowships===
Heath was awarded a number of [[honorary degree]]s:
{| class="wikitable"
! Country !! Date !! School !! Honour
|-
| {{Flagu|England}} ||align=center| '''1966''' || [[Royal College of Music]] || [[Fellow]] (FRCM)<ref>{{cite web|title=FRCM Recipients|work=[[Royal College of Music]]|access-date=19 April 2024|url=https://www.rcm.ac.uk/about/historyofthercm/honoursandfellowships/Fellows%20list%202022.pdf|archive-date=19 April 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240419122815/https://www.rcm.ac.uk/about/historyofthercm/honoursandfellowships/Fellows%20list%202022.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flagu|England}} ||align=center| '''1971''' || [[University of Oxford]] || [[Doctor of Civil Law]] (DCL)<ref name=WW05/>
|-
| {{Flagu|England}} ||align=center| '''1971''' || [[University of Bradford]] || [[Doctor of Technology]] (DTec)<ref name=WW05/>
|-
| {{flagu|USA}} ||align=center| '''1975''' || [[Westminster College (Utah)]] || [[Doctor of Laws]] (LLD)<ref name=WW05/>
|-
| {{flagu|France}} ||align=center| '''1976''' || [[University of Paris]] (Sorbonne) || Docteur<ref name=WW05/>
|-
| {{flagu|USA}} ||align=center| '''1981''' || [[Wesleyan College]] (Georgia) || [[Doctor of Public Administration|Dr of Public Administration]] (DPA)<ref name=WW05/>
|-
| {{flagu|USA}} ||align=center| '''1982''' || [[Westminster College (Missouri)]] || [[Doctor of Laws]] (DL)<ref name=WW05/>
|-
| {{Flagu|England}} ||align=center| '''19 July 1985''' || [[University of Kent]] || [[Doctor of Laws]] (LL.D)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kent.ac.uk/governance/honorary-degrees/Past-Honorary-Degrees-Dec-2014.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006115151/http://www.kent.ac.uk/governance/honorary-degrees/Past-Honorary-Degrees-Dec-2014.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 October 2015 |title=Honorary degrees conferred since 1966 |publisher=[[University of Kent]] |access-date=31 March 2016}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flagu|Canada}} ||align=center| '''7 June 1991''' || [[University of Calgary]] || [[Doctor of Laws]] (LL.D)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ucalgary.ca/pubs/calendar/current/who-honorary-degree-recipients.html |publisher=[[University of Calgary]] |title=Honorary Degree Recipients |access-date=26 August 2017 |archive-date=3 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803090044/http://www.ucalgary.ca/pubs/calendar/current/who-honorary-degree-recipients.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://contentdm.ucalgary.ca/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/archiveshd&CISOPTR=1501&REC=16 |title=UofC Honorary Degree Recipients: Heath, Edward Richard |publisher=University of Calgary }}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
|-
| {{Flagu|England}} ||align=center| '''1994''' || [[Goldsmiths, University of London]] || Honorary [[Fellow]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gold.ac.uk/honorary-graduates/g-n/ |title=GN, Goldsmiths, University of London |work=gold.ac.uk |access-date=26 February 2024 |archive-date=29 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729221520/https://www.gold.ac.uk/honorary-graduates/g-n/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
|-
| {{flagu|USA}} ||align=center|'''1994''' || [[Bellarmine College]] (Kentucky) || [[Doctor of Laws]] (HLD)<ref name=WW05/>
|-
| {{Flagu|England}} ||align=center| '''21 June 1997''' || [[Open University]] || [[Doctor of the University]] (D.Univ)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.open.ac.uk/students/ceremonies/files/ceremonies/file/Doctor%20of%20the%20University%201973-2011.pdf |title=Honorary degree awards 1973–2011 |access-date=9 January 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213042428/http://www.open.ac.uk/students/ceremonies/files/ceremonies/file/Doctor%20of%20the%20University%201973-2011.pdf |archive-date=13 December 2013 |publisher=[[Open University]]}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flagu|Wales}} ||align=center| '''1998''' || [[University of Wales]] || [[Doctor of Laws]] (LL.D)<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.wales.ac.uk/newpages/external/E1405.asp |title= Honorary degrees |publisher= [[University of Wales]] |access-date= 2 March 2007 |archive-date= 25 September 2006 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060925060631/http://www.wales.ac.uk/newpages/external/e1405.asp |url-status= dead }}</ref>
|-
| {{Flagu|England}} ||align=center| '''18 July 2001''' || [[University of Greenwich]] || [[Doctor of Laws]] (LL.D)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www2.gre.ac.uk/current-students/awards/grads-by-year?result_844025_result_page=10 |title=Honorary graduates of the University of Greenwich (by year graduated)|publisher=[[University of Greenwich]]}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flagu|England}} ||align=center| '''—''' || [[Royal College of Organists]] || [[Fellow]] (FRCO)<ref name=WW05/>
|-
| {{flagu|Canada}} ||align=center| '''—''' || [[Royal Canadian College of Organists]] || Honorary [[Fellow]]<ref name=WW05/>
|}

===Awards===
[[File:Sir Edward Heath, miniature medals.jpg|thumb|250px|Heath's miniature medals]]
Including the year of award.
* [[Order of the Garter]] (1992)<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=52903 |page=7175 |date=24 April 1992}}</ref>
* [[Order of the British Empire|Member of the Order of the British Empire]], Military Division (MBE) (1946)<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
* [[Mentioned in dispatches]] (1945)<ref name="auto1"/>
* [[Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]] (1993)<ref name=WW05/> 
* [[Order of the Aztec Eagle]] (1994)<ref name=WW05>{{cite book|title=[[Who's Who]] 2005 |year=2006|page=1004|publisher=[[A & C Black]] Publishers Ltd, London |isbn=0-7136-7010-X}}</ref>
* [[Order of the Rising Sun]], Grand Cordon (1998)<ref name=WW05/> 
* [[Bangladeshi honours system#Special Decorations|Bangladesh Liberation War Honour]] (''Bangladesh Muktijuddho Sanmanona'') (2012, [[posthumous award]])<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-228046 |title=Friends of Freedom Honoured |date=28 March 2012 |website=The Daily Star |access-date=23 April 2021}}</ref>

==Books by Heath==
* {{cite book |last=Heath |first=Edward |title=Old World, New Horizons: Britain, Europe, and the Atlantic Alliance |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0674492493 |url=https://archive.org/details/oldworldnewhoriz00heat |year=1970 |url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book |last=Heath |first=Edward |title=Sailing: A Course of My Life |publisher=Stein and Day |year=1975 |isbn=978-1135465292 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/sailingcourseofm00heat}}
* {{cite book |last=Heath |first=Edward |title=Music: A Joy for Life |url=https://archive.org/details/musicjoyforlife00heat |url-access=registration |publisher=Sidgwick & Jackson |year=1976 |isbn=978-0283983498}}
* {{cite book |last=Heath |first=Edward |title=Travels: People and Places in My Life |publisher=Sidgwick & Jackson |year=1977 |isbn=978-0283984143 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/travelspeoplepla0000heat}}
* {{cite book |last=Heath |first=Edward |title=The Joy of Christmas: A Selection of Carols |url=https://archive.org/details/joyofchristmasse0000unse |url-access=registration |publisher=Sidgwick & Jackson |year=1977 |isbn=978-0195200812}}
* {{cite book |last=Heath |first=Edward |title=The Course of My Life |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |year=1998 |isbn=978-0340708521 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/courseofmylifemy0000heat}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|22em}}

===Biographies of Heath===
* Campbell, John. ''Edward Heath: A Biography''. London: Jonathan Cape, 1993.
* Garnett, Mark. "Edward Heath, 1965–70 and 1974–75" in ''Leaders of the opposition: from Churchill to Cameron'' ed. by Timothy Heppell. (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), pp.&nbsp;80–96.
* Hennessey, Peter. ''The Prime Minister: The Office and Its Holders Since 1945'' (2001) pp.&nbsp;331–356.
* [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/95228 Hurd, Douglas. "Heath, Sir Edward Richard George (1916–2005)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' Oxford University Press, Jan 2009; online edn, September 2012]. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
* McManus, Michael. ''Edward Heath: A Singular Life'' (2016).
* [[MacShane, Denis]], ''Heath'' (British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century) (2006) [https://www.amazon.com/Heath-British-Prime-Ministers-Century/dp/1904950698 (excerpt and text search)]
* [[Ziegler, Philip]], ''Edward Heath: The Authorised Biography'', Harper Press, 2010; {{ISBN|978-0-00-724740-0}} [https://www.amazon.com/Edward-Heath-Authorised-Biography-ebook/dp/B0044DE91A/ excerpt and text search]

===Politics and domestic policy===
* Ball, Stuart, and Anthony Seldon, eds. ''The Heath Government: 1970–1974: A Reappraisal'' (London: Longman, 1996) 423pp.
* Beckett, Andy. ''When The Lights Went Out: What Really Happened to Britain in the Seventies'' (2010)
* Blake, Robert. ''The Conservative Party from Peel to Major'' (Faber & Faber, 2012) pp.&nbsp;299–220.
* [[David Butler (psephologist)|Butler, David E.]] et al. ''The British General Election of 1970'' (1971)
* Butler, David E. et al. ''The British General Election of February 1974'' (1975)
* Butler, David E. et al. ''The British General Election of October 1974'' (1975)
* Cowley, Philip; Bailey, Matthew. "Peasants' Uprising or Religious War? Re-examining the 1975 Conservative Leadership Contest," ''British Journal of Political Science'' (2000) 30#4 pp.&nbsp;599–630 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/194287 in JSTOR]
* Dunton, Mark. "Probing the 1970s: A Case Study: Inflation, Public Relations, and the Heath Administration, 1972." ''Archives: The Journal of the British Records Association'' 38.126 (2013): 28–39.
* Foster, John. "Upper Clyde Shipbuilders 1971–2 and Edward Heath's U-turn: How a united workforce defeated a divided government." ''Mariner's Mirror'' 102#1 (2016): 34–48.
* Heppell, Timothy. ''Choosing the Tory Leader: Conservative Party Leadership Elections from Heath to Cameron'' (IB Tauris, 2007).
* Heppell, Timothy, and Michael Hill. "Prime ministerial powers of patronage: ministerial appointments and dismissals under Edward Heath." ''Contemporary British History'' 29.4 (2015): 464–485.
* Holmes, Martin. ''The Failure of the Heath Government '' (2nd ed. 1997) [https://www.amazon.com/Failure-Heath-Government-Martin-Holmes/dp/0333716078/ excerpt and text search]
* Holmes, Martin. ''Political pressure and economic policy: British government 1970–1974'' (1982) [https://www.amazon.com/Political-Pressure-Economic-Policy-Government/dp/1483131106 excerpt].
* Hughes, Rosaleen Anne. {{"'}}Governing in hard times': the Heath government and civil emergencies–the 1972 and the 1974 miners' strikes." (Dissertation, Queen Mary University of London; 2012) [https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/2967/HUGHESGoverningIn2012.pdf?sequence=1 online].
* Hurd, Douglas. ''An end to promises: sketch of a government, 1970–1974'' (1976)
* Lockwood, Charles. "'Action Not Words': The Conservative Party, Public Opinion and 'Scientific' Politics, c. 1945–70." ''Twentieth Century British History'' 31.3 (2020): 360–386.
* Moore, Charles. '' Margaret Thatcher: From Grantham to the Falklands'' (2013)
* Pearce, Robert. "Bad Blood: Powell, Heath and the Tory party." ''History Today'' (April 2008), 58#4 pp.&nbsp;33–39.
* Pentland, Gordon. "Edward Heath, the Declaration of Perth and the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, 1966–70." ''Twentieth Century British History'' 26#2 (2015): 249–273.
* Ramsden, J. ''The winds of change: Macmillan to Heath, 1957–1975'' (1996), Volume 5 of the History of the Conservative Party.
* Roe-Crines, Andrew S., and Timothy Heppell, eds. ''Policies and Politics Under Prime Minister Edward Heath'' (2020) [https://www.amazon.com/Policies-Politics-Minister-Political-Leadership/dp/3030536726/ excerpt]
* Sandbrook, Dominic. ''State of Emergency The Way We Were Britain 1970–1974'' (2010) 755pp
* Smith, Jeremy. "'Walking a Real Tight-rope of Difficulties': Sir Edward Heath and the Search for Stability in Northern Ireland, June 1970 – March 1971," ''Twentieth Century British History'' (2007) 18#2 pp.&nbsp;219–253.
* Turner, Alwyn W. ''Crisis? What Crisis?: Britain in the 1970s'' (2009), how the popular culture handled political issues
* Watkins, Alan. ''A Conservative Coup''. London: Duckworth, 1991 {{ISBN|978-0-7156-2435-7}}
* [[Hugo Young|Young, Hugo]] and [[Geoffrey Goodman|Goodman, Geoffrey]]. "The Trade Unions and the Fall of the Heath Government," ''Contemporary Record'' (1988) 1#4 pp.&nbsp;36–46.

===Foreign and defence policy===
* Benvenuti, Andrea. "The Heath Government and British Defence Policy in Southeast Asia at the End of Empire (1970–71)," ''Twentieth Century British History'' 20#1 (2009), 53–73.
* Brummer, Justin Adam. "Anglo-American relations and the EC enlargement, 1969–1974' (PhD dissertation, University College London, 2012) [http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1348313/1/1348313.pdf online]
* Hamai, Yumiko. "'Imperial Burden' or 'Jews of Africa'?: An Analysis of Political and Media Discourse in the Ugandan Asian Crisis (1972)." ''Twentieth Century British History'' 22.3 (2011): 415–436.
* Hughes, R. Gerald, and Thomas Robb. "Kissinger and the Diplomacy of Coercive Linkage in the 'Special Relationship' between the United States and Great Britain, 1969–1977." ''Diplomatic History''' 37.4 (2013): 861–905.
* Hynes, Catherine. ''The Year That Never Was: Heath, the Nixon Administration, and the Year of Europe'' (University College Dublin Press, 2009).
* Jeffrey, Samuel Robert. "A Most Divisive Year: The Year of Europe and the Special Relationship in 1973" (Thesis, Vanderbilt University History Dept., 2016) [http://discoverarchive.vanderbilt.edu/bitstream/handle/1803/7577/Jeffrey%202016%20HHT.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180130204312/http://discoverarchive.vanderbilt.edu/bitstream/handle/1803/7577/Jeffrey%202016%20HHT.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |date=30 January 2018 }} bibliography pp.&nbsp;133–146.
* Langlois, Laëtitia. "Edward Heath and the Europeanisation of Englishness: The Hopes and Failures of a European English Leader," in ''Englishness revisited'' ed. by Floriane Reviron-Piégay. (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2009), pp.&nbsp;174–88
* Leonard, Dick. "Edward Heath—Cheerleader for Europe." in Leonard, ''A Century of Premiers'' (Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2005). 263–281.
* Lord, Christopher. ''British Entry to the European Community under the Heath Government, 1970–74'' (1993) p.&nbsp;194
* Mockli, Daniel. ''European foreign policy during the Cold War: Heath, Brandt, Pompidou and the dream of political unity'' (IB Tauris, 2008).
* Novak, Andrew. "Averting an African Boycott: British Prime Minister Edward Heath and Rhodesian Participation in the Munich Olympics," ''Britain and the World'' (2013) 6#1 pp.&nbsp;27–47 DOI:10.3366/brw.2013.0076
* Parr, Helen. "The British Decision to Upgrade Polaris, 1970–4," ''Contemporary European History'' (2013) 22#2 pp.&nbsp;253–274.
* Parr, Helen. "'The Nuclear Myth': Edward Heath, Europe, and the International Politics of Anglo-French Nuclear Co-Operation 1970–3." ''International History Review'' 35#3 (2013): 534–555.
* Patterson, Henry. "The border security problem and Anglo-Irish relations 1970–1973." ''Contemporary British History'' 26.2 (2012): 231–251.
* Robb, Thomas. "Antelope, Poseidon or a Hybrid: The Upgrading of the British Strategic Nuclear Deterrent, 1970–1974." ''Journal of Strategic Studies'' (2010) 33#6 pp.&nbsp;797–817
* Robb, Thomas. "The Power of Oil: Edward Heath, the 'Year of Europe' and the Anglo-American 'Special Relationship'", ''Contemporary British History'' (2012) 26#1 pp.&nbsp;73–96. on 1974
* Rossbach, Niklas H. ''Heath, Nixon and the Rebirth of the Special Relationship: Britain, the US and the EC, 1969–74'' (2009) [https://www.amazon.com/Heath-Nixon-Rebirth-Special-Relationship/dp/0230577253/ excerpt and text search]
* Scott, Andrew. ''Allies apart: Heath, Nixon and the Anglo-American relationship'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) 272 pp
* Smith, Simon C. "Coming Down on the Winning Side: Britain and the South Asia Crisis, 1971." ''Contemporary British History'' 24.4 (2010): 451–470.
* Spelling, Alex. "Edward Heath and Anglo-American Relations 1970–1974: A Reappraisal," ''Diplomacy & Statecraft'' (2009) 20, Number 4, pp.&nbsp;638–658.
* Spelling, Alex. "'Recrimination and reconciliation': Anglo-American relations and the Yom Kippur War." ''Cold War History'' 13.4 (2013): 485–506.
* Stoddart, Kristan. "The Heath Government, France, and the Not So Special Relationship, 1970–1974." in Stoddart, ''The Sword and the Shield: Britain, America, NATO and Nuclear Weapons, 1970–1976 '' (Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2014) pp.&nbsp;11–42.

===Historiography===
* Holmes, Martin. ''The Failure of the Heath Government '' (2nd ed. 1997) [https://www.amazon.com/Failure-Heath-Government-Martin-Holmes/dp/0333716078/ excerpt and text search] pp. ix–xx.
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|d=Q128967|c=Category:Edward Heath|q=Edward Heath|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|wikt=no|s=yes|species=no}}

* {{Hansard-contribs|mr-edward-heath|Edward Heath}}
* [https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/jul/18/guardianobituaries.conservatives Obituary], ''[[The Guardian]]'' (London). Retrieved 9 December 2014.
* [http://www.badley.info/history/Heath-Edward-Richard-George-Great-Britain.biog.html Sir Edward Heath chronology], badley.info. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
* [http://www.arundells.org/ Profile of Arundells, Sir Edward Heath's home], arundells.org. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
* {{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/charlesmoore/7842110/Ted-Heath-failed-both-as-a-man-and-a-politician.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/charlesmoore/7842110/Ted-Heath-failed-both-as-a-man-and-a-politician.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Charles Moore reviews 'Edward Heath' |first=Philip |last=Ziegler |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |access-date=9 December 2014}}{{cbignore}}
* {{NPG name|name=Sir Edward Heath}}
* {{UK National Archives ID}} {{registration required}}
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mf9s Edward Heath] interview on BBC Radio 4 ''[[Desert Island Discs]]'', 23 December 1988
*{{C-SPAN|16067}}
*[https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/yourcountry/collections/collections-second-world-war/parliamentarians-and-people/sir-edward-heath/ Bronze bust of Sir Edward Heath in the UK Parliamentary Collections]

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Sir Ashley Bramall]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Member of Parliament]] for [[Bexley (UK Parliament constituency)|Bexley]]|years=[[1950 United Kingdom general election|1950]]–[[February 1974 United Kingdom general election|1974]]}}
{{s-non|rows=2|reason=Constituency abolished}}
{{s-new|rows=2|constituency}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Member of Parliament]] for [[Sidcup (UK Parliament constituency)|Sidcup]]|years=[[February 1974 United Kingdom general election|1974]]–[[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983]]}}
|-
{{s-ttl|title=[[Member of Parliament]] for [[Old Bexley and Sidcup]]|years=[[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983]]–[[2001 United Kingdom general election|2001]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Derek Conway]]}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[[William A. Wilkins|William Wilkins]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Lord Commissioner of the Treasury]]|years=1951–1955}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Sir Edward Wakefield]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Harry Mackeson]]<br>[[Herbert Butcher]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Deputy Chief Whip]] of the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]]
 | years = 1952–1955
 | alongside = [[Herbert Butcher]] (1952–1953)
}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Martin Redmayne]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Patrick Buchan-Hepburn]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Government Chief Whip in the House of Commons]]<br>[[Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury]]|years=1955–1959}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Martin Redmayne]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Iain Macleod]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Secretary of State for Employment|Minister of Labour]]|years=1959–1960}}
{{s-aft|after=[[John Hare, 1st Viscount Blakenham|The Viscount Blakenham]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone|The Viscount Hailsham]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Lord Privy Seal|Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal]]|years=1960–1963}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Selwyn Lloyd]]}}
{{s-bef|before=''Office established''}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development]]|years=1963–1964}}
{{s-non|reason=Office abolished}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Frederick Erroll, 1st Baron Erroll of Hale|The Baron Erroll]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[President of the Board of Trade]]|years=1963–1964}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Douglas Jay]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Reginald Maudling]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer]]|years=1965}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Iain Macleod]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Alec Douglas-Home]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Leader of the Opposition]]|years=1965–1970}}
{{s-aft|rows=2|after=[[Harold Wilson]]}}
{{s-bef|rows=2|before=[[Harold Wilson]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]]|years=1970–1974}}
|-
{{s-ttl|title=[[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Leader of the Opposition]]|years=1974–1975}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Margaret Thatcher]]}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Harry Mackeson]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Chief Whip of the Conservative Party|Conservative Deputy Chief Whip]] in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]]
 | years=1952–1955
}}
{{s-aft|rows=2|after=[[Martin Redmayne]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Patrick Buchan-Hepburn]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Chief Whip of the Conservative Party]]|years=1955–1959}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Alec Douglas-Home]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Leader of the Conservative Party (UK)|Leader of the Conservative Party]]|years=1965–1975}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Margaret Thatcher]]}}
{{s-hon}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Bernard Braine]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Father of the House (United Kingdom)|Father of the House]]|years=1992–2001}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Tam Dalyell]]}}
{{s-ach}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Walter Hallstein]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Recipient of the [[Charlemagne Prize]]|years=1963}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Antonio Segni]]}}
{{s-ach|rec}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Michael Foot]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Records of members of parliament of the United Kingdom#List of oldest sitting MPs since 1945|Oldest-sitting member of Parliament]]|years=1992–2001}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Piara Khabra]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{Edward Heath}}
{{Navboxes
|list1=
{{Heath Ministry}}
{{Prime ministers of the United Kingdom}}
{{Leaders of the Opposition UK}}
{{Presidents of the Board of Trade}}
{{Fathers of the House}}
{{Charlemagne Prize recipients}}
{{Conservative Party (UK)}}
{{1965 Conservative Party leadership election}}
{{1975 Conservative Party leadership election}}
{{Conservative Chief Whips}}
{{Shadow Chancellors of the Exchequer}}
}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heath, Edward}}
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