"1975 Conservative Party (UK) leadership election The 1975 Conservative Party leadership election was held in February 1975, in which the party's sitting MPs voted Margaret Thatcher as party leader on the second ballot. Previous leader Edward Heath stood aside after the first ballot, in which he unexpectedly finished behind Thatcher. The Conservatives were the official Opposition to the Labour government, so Thatcher also became Leader of the Opposition. Edward Heath, leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister had called and unexpectedly lost the February 1974 general election. Although the Labour Party were able only to form a minority government,"
"Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 1916 – 17 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. He was a strong supporter of the European Communities (EC), and after winning the decisive vote in the House of Commons by 336 to 244, he led the negotiations that culminated in Britain's entry into the EC on 1 January 1973. It was, says biographer John Campbell, ""Heath's finest hour"". Although he planned to"
"want Thatcher to replace him. 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, Howe 19, Prior 19, Peyton 11). The vote polarised along right-left lines, with in"
"Henley, he urged Heath to consider his position by the end of the year. It is unclear how Heseltine voted in the first ballot of the 1975 Conservative leadership election, in which the challenger Margaret Thatcher defeated Heath. Norman Tebbit claimed that he and John Nott persuaded him to vote for Thatcher so as to open up the way for his preferred candidate Willie Whitelaw to stand on the second ballot. Another (anonymous) close friend later told Michael Crick that Heseltine voted for Thatcher. The Thatcher team had him down as an abstainer, while he refused at the time to"
"At the election, the Labour Party won 319 seats, allowing it to form a majority government, albeit with a narrow majority of only 3. The Conservatives and the Liberals each saw their vote share decline, and Conservative Party leader Edward Heath, who had lost three of the four elections he contested, was ousted as party leader in February 1975 and replaced with future Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The Scottish National Party won 30% of the Scottish popular vote and 11 of Scotland's 71 seats; it was their most successful general election result until 2015, where they won 56 of 59"
"candidate to have a lead of 15% over their nearest rival was modified so that this would now be 15% of the total number of MPs, not just those voting for candidates. Following the review, Heath called a leadership election for 4 February 1975, in order to assert his authority as leader of the party. Many expected the contest to be a walkover, believing there was no clear alternative to Heath after Keith Joseph had ruled himself out following controversial remarks calling on poor people to have fewer children and William Whitelaw had pledged loyalty to Heath. Many other shadow"
"travel agency, Thomas Cook & Son, in 1972; and made helmets compulsory for motorcyclists. He also delivered a Green Paper that proposed the Channel Tunnel. He became Shadow Leader of the House of Commons in opposition. In 1975, he sought to become leader of the Conservative Party, standing in the second ballot after Margaret Thatcher defeated Edward Heath in the first ballot. He gained only eleven votes in the election, coming bottom of the poll, and Thatcher was elected by a convincing majority. He was shadow Minister for Agriculture in Thatcher's shadow cabinet, and was offered the position of Minister"
"Liberal to Conservative, doubling his majority. In the 1975 Conservative leadership election, Gow voted for Margaret Thatcher in the first round ballot. Once Thatcher had forced Edward Heath out of the contest, several new candidates appeared and Gow switched his support to Geoffrey Howe in the second round, which Thatcher won. Gow was brought onto the Conservative front bench in 1978 to share the duties of opposition spokesman on Northern Ireland with Airey Neave. The two men developed a Conservative policy on Northern Ireland which favoured integration of the province with Great Britain. This approach appeared to avoid compromise with"
"Shadow Cabinet of Margaret Thatcher Margaret Thatcher became the first female Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition after winning the 1975 leadership election, the first Conservative leadership election where the post was not vacant. A rule change to enable the election was largely prompted by dissatisfaction with the incumbent leader, Edward Heath, who had lost three of four general elections as leader, including two in 1974. After announcing her first Shadow Cabinet in February 1975, she reshuffled it twice: in January and November 1976. Minor subsequent changes were necessary to respond to various circumstances. Thatcher's Shadow"
"way for Harold Wilson and Labour to return to power as a minority government. Heath's hopes of returning to power later in the year were ended when Labour won the October 1974 election with an overall majority of three seats. Loss of power weakened Heath's control over the party and Margaret Thatcher deposed him in the 1975 leadership election. The UK in the 1970s had seen sustained high inflation rates, which were above 20% at the time of the leadership election, subsequently falling to below 10%; unemployment had risen, and over the winter of 1978–79 there was a series of"
"among MPs on the right, and also among those from southern England, and those who had not attended public schools or Oxbridge. Thatcher became Conservative Party leader and Leader of the Opposition on 11 February 1975; she appointed Whitelaw as her deputy. Heath was never reconciled to Thatcher's leadership of the party. Television critic Clive James, writing in ""The Observer"" two days prior to the second leadership ballot, compared her voice of 1973 to a cat sliding down a blackboard. Thatcher had already begun to work on her presentation on the advice of Gordon Reece, a former television producer. By"
"was held in 1965. Of the three candidates, Edward Heath won with 150 votes to Reginald Maudling's 133 and Enoch Powell's 15 votes. Edward Heath's 1970–74 government was known for taking the UK into the EEC, although the right-wing of the party objected to his failure to control the trade unions at a time when a declining British industry saw many strikes, as well as a recession which started in 1973 and lasted for two years. Since accession to the EU, British membership has been a source of heated debate within the Conservative Party. Heath had come to power in"
"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 EEC referendum, only to be rudely rebuffed. Heath, for many years, 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."
"Trade and Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development, and oversaw the abolition of retail price maintenance. After the Conservative Party lost the general election of 1964, the defeated Home changed the party leadership rules to allow for a ballot by MPs, and then resigned. The following year, Heath—who was Shadow Chancellor at the time, and had recently won favourable publicity for leading the fight against Labour's Finance Bill—unexpectedly won the party's leadership contest, gaining 150 votes to Reginald Maudling's 133 and Enoch Powell's 15. Heath became the Conservatives' youngest leader and retained office after the party's defeat"
"was forced to call a leadership election in 1975. Whitelaw loyally refused to run against Heath; however, and to widespread surprise, Margaret Thatcher narrowly defeated Heath in the first round. Whitelaw stood in his place and lost convincingly, against Thatcher in the second round. The vote polarised along right-left lines, with in addition the region, experience and education of the MP having their effects. Whitelaw managed to maintain his position as Deputy Leader until the 1979 general election, when he was appointed Home Secretary. He was widely considered to be the ""de facto"" Deputy Prime Minister in Thatcher's new government."
"Nigel Fisher and Nicholas Scott. In January 1975 the Macleod Group came out in support of Edward Heath in the 1975 Conservative leadership election. When Margaret Thatcher won the contest, the group expressed disappointment at her choices for the Shadow Cabinet. They were particularly displeased with the absence of Robert Carr, Peter Walker, and Nicholas Scott in the Shadow Cabinet, and complained that the common factor was neither age nor ability, but that they were all on the 'left' of the party. In September 1975, the Macleod Group merged with Pressure for Economic and Social Toryism (Pest),the Progressive Tory Pressure"
"October 1974 general election. Heath's leadership of the Conservative Party looked increasingly in doubt. Thatcher was not initially seen as the obvious replacement, but she eventually became the main challenger, promising a fresh start. Her main support came from the parliamentary 1922 Committee and ""The Spectator"", but Thatcher's time in office gave her the reputation of a pragmatist rather than that of an ideologue. She defeated Heath on the first ballot and he resigned the leadership. In the second ballot she defeated Whitelaw, Heath's preferred successor. Thatcher's election had a polarising effect on the party, as her support was stronger"
"""treacherous"" over the abandonment of Rhodesia. Margaret Thatcher, who succeeded Heath as Conservative leader in 1975, could not tolerate the disloyalty of the imperialist, and he was removed from the front bench of politics in November 1978. However, when the Conservatives came to power in May 1979 he was elected to the executive of the 1922 Committee. Boundary changes which took effect at the 1983 general election made his seat more marginal (it was subsequently taken by the Labour Party), and he transferred to the nearby Davyhulme constituency, which he represented until the seat was abolished for the 1997 general"
"holding a leadership election to allow him to renew his mandate. In spite of his track record as Conservative party leader, which had included defeat at three out of four general elections, few both inside and out of the party expected him to be seriously challenged, let alone defeated. However, Margaret Thatcher stood against Heath and in a shock result outpolled him on the first ballot, leading him to withdraw from the contest. Thatcher then faced off four other candidates to become the first woman to lead a major British political party. Thatcher had much support from the monetarists, led"
"1974 in what he saw as an opportunity for the electorate to show the miners that the government – and not the miners or the unions – were responsible for running the country. Most opinion polls suggested that the Tories would be re-elected with a majority, but when the election results came through on the morning of 1 March 1974, no party had an overall majority. The gap between Ted Heath's Tory government and the Labour opposition led by Harold Wilson (who had been prime minister for nearly six years until his surprise defeat by Heath's Tories in the 1970"
"over both Reginald Maudling and Enoch Powell. The party proceeded to lose the 1966 general election. Heath's leadership proved controversial, with frequent calls from many prominent party members and supporters for him to step down, but he persevered. To the shock of almost everyone bar Heath, the party won the 1970 general election. As with all British governments in this period, Heath's time in office was difficult. Furthermore, the Heath premiership remains one of the most controversial in the history of the party. Initial attempts to follow monetarist policies (later considered ""Thatcherite"") failed, with high inflation and unemployment blocking Heath's"
"Commons passed a Motion of No Confidence by one vote on 28 March 1979. The Conservatives, with advertising consultants Saatchi and Saatchi, ran a campaign on the slogan ""Labour isn't working."" As expected, Margaret Thatcher (who had succeeded Edward Heath as Conservative leader in February 1975) won the general election held on 3 May, becoming Britain's first female prime minister. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan states: Historians Alan Sked and Chris Cook have summarised the general consensus of historians regarding Labour in power in the 1970s: Thatcher formed a government on 4 May 1979, with a mandate to reverse the UK's"
"the party was dissatisfied because of repeated losses at elections. She won, becoming the first female leader of a major political party in Britain. Second Shadow Cabinet of Edward Heath The Second Shadow Cabinet of Edward Heath was created after the Conservative Party lost the February 1974 general election. It was led by the Leader of the Conservative Party Edward Heath and featured prominent Conservative politicians both past and future. Included was Heath’s successor Margaret Thatcher, the future Home Secretary William Whitelaw, and two future Foreign Secretaries, Lord Carrington and Francis Pym. For the first time in history, a leadership"
"no intention of repealing the Act. In 1972, Bell and Powell were the leaders of an open rebellion against the leadership of Edward Heath, who retaliated against Bell by attempting to have him replaced as the Tory candidate for Beaconsfield by Michael Heseltine, whose own seat at Tavistock was due for abolition in the current round of boundary changes and agreed to seek the nomination. A struggle within the local Conservative association ensued in which Bell's campaign was successfully masterminded by Hugh Simmonds, chairman of the Young Conservatives. In January 1973, Bell and Powell were opponents of Heath's Counter-Inflation Bill,"
"election in October. Heath came to be seen as a liability by many Conservative MPs, party activists and newspaper editors. His personality was 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 Conservative Party leadership election of 1975. 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"
"denied ever making such a remark. He admitted that in December 1974 Neave had told him to stand down for the good of the party. During the final two months of 1974, Neave had asked Keith Joseph, William Whitelaw and Edward du Cann to stand against Heath, and said that in the case of any of them challenging for the party leadership, he would be their campaign manager. When all three refused to stand, Neave agreed to be the campaign manager for Margaret Thatcher's attempt to become leader of the Conservative Party, that was eventually successful. When Thatcher was elected"
"due for abolition. He applied for Mid Sussex in competition with Ian Gilmour, but they lost to Tim Renton. He also applied for Mid-Oxfordshire but lost to Douglas Hurd. In 1972, Edward Heath attempted to persuade Heseltine, a strong supporter of him, to challenge Powellite MP Ronald Bell for the Conservative nomination for the new seat of Beaconsfield. Heseltine wrote that he was “tempted” to enter the lists at Beaconsfield, but did not actually do so. Crick writes that he reached the final shortlist of four against Bell, before being ""apparently persuaded"" to withdraw. Bell's campaign within the local Conservative"
"1974. He also became President of the Macleod Group, and in that position issued a statement in January 1975 supporting Edward Heath as Conservative leader. His open support for Heath probably led to his dismissal as vice-chairman in March by new leader Margaret Thatcher. In September 1975, after the Macleod Group merged with two other 'left-wing' Tory groups in June to form the Tory Reform Group, Knox became its vice-president with Nicholas Scott. Knox also became chairmen of the Parliamentary Group for World Government. In December, he voted against the return of capital punishment, unlike his new leader, who voted"
"1970, Castle's husband Ted lost his position as an alderman of the Greater London Council. He was devastated and although he was supportive of his wife’s achievements, he considered himself a failure against her. Upset and concerned by her husband's distress, Barbara moved to persuade Wilson to grant Ted a peerage. In May 1970, Wilson called a general election, held on 18 June. The Conservative Party, led by Edward Heath, enjoyed a surprise victory, despite opinion polling indicating a steady lead for Labour in the run-up. Castle privately blamed complacency within Labour for their loss and had expressed skepticism of"
"party had a majority of seats. The incumbent Conservative Party won the popular vote, but Labour took a plurality of seats. Edward Heath, the Conservative Prime Minister, attempted to negotiate a coalition agreement with the Liberal Party, but resigned as Prime Minister after failing in this regard. The Labour Party, led by Harold Wilson, then established a minority government, which took office on 4 March 1974. It was recognised that this had no long-term stability, and that another general election was likely within a few months. Wilson called for another general election for 10 October, which resulted in a narrow"
"that the war was impossible to win. When Heath called a leadership election at the end of 1974, Powell claimed they would have to find someone who was not a member of the Cabinet that ""without a single resignation or public dissent, not merely swallowed but advocated every single reversal of election pledge or party principle"". During February 1975, after winning the leadership election, Margaret Thatcher refused to offer Powell a Shadow Cabinet place because ""he turned his back on his own people"" by leaving the Conservative Party exactly 12 months earlier and telling the electorate to vote Labour. Powell"
"and it seemed inevitable that his leadership would soon end. Members of the Cabinet are in bold face. Heath ministry Edward Heath of the Conservative Party formed the Heath ministry and was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by Queen Elizabeth II on 19 June 1970, following the 18 June general election. Heath's ministry ended after the February 1974 general election, which produced a hung parliament, leading to the formation of a minority government by Harold Wilson of the Labour Party. Heath had been elected leader of the Conservative Party in 1965 to succeed Alec Douglas-Home, within a few"
"of a part of the Labour Party and Conservative and Liberal leaders. February - October 1974 United Kingdom general election, February 1974 Labour 301, Conservative 297, Liberal 14, Others 23. Total seats 635. This election led to the Conservative government of Edward Heath losing its majority, with Harold Wilson's Labour Party winning four more seats. However no two parties (other than Conservative and Labour) could jointly provide a majority in the House of Commons. The balance of power was held jointly by the Liberals and others (Plaid Cymru and Scottish National Party, with the Northern Irish members)—who were unlikely to"