Edward Heath

Edward Heath (9th July 1916- 17th July 2005), whose full name was Sir Edward Richard George „Ted“ Heath, was a well-known British Conservative politician. During his political career he held several important offices as Leader of the Conservative Party (1965-1975) and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1970-1974). All in all, from 1950 to 2001 Edward Heath was a member of the British parliament (MP).

His Life

Edward Heath was born on 9th July 1916 into a family that lived under simple conditions: his mother was a maid and his father was a carpenter who became successful in his later life. Nevertheless his parents managed to send their son to Balliol College in London. From his earliest childhood on, Edward was very interested in music and it soon became clear that he was a very talented musician. That is why he even managed to win his college's organ scholarship.

When Edward Heath became a student at university his interest in politics increased. Therefore he became an active member of the Conservative Party. He was even brave enough to criticise the Conservative government publicly. In 1937 he became President of the Oxford University Conservative Association and from then on he received different important political positions within the Conservative Association as his political dedication grew from one day to the other. During his time as a student Edward Heath managed to travel a lot through Europe and thus he came into contact with different political situations and leading figures. With the help of these influences he built up his own opinion and demonstrated it publicly.

During World War II he served in the Royal Artillery in the outskirts of Liverpool which was very often attacked by German bombers. He did his job so well that in 1942 he received the title of Captain and subsequently received his own regiment.

His political career as a Member of Parliament

In 1950 Edward Heath was elected Member of Parliament and from that moment on his political career started to grow. On 26th June 1950 he delivered his maiden speech, the first speech in parliament of a new member. During his time as Member of Parliament Heath again received different positions and tasks among them Lord Privy Seal. His task hereby was to make sure that the consolidation between the European and the British Market was done correctly.

His political career as Prime Minister

In 1970 Heath and his Conservative Party won the general election and as the Conservative leader Edward Heath became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. His cabinet consisted of Margaret Thatcher, who was responsible for Education and Science, William Whitelaw, who was the leader of the House of Commons and Sir Alec Douglas-Home, who was responsible for foreign and Commonwealth affairs.

Nevertheless Heath's time as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was not very easy. He had to cope with a lot of problems. Edward Heath tried to change the political economic system as he decided to turn direct taxation into indirect one. But during that time the unemployment rate in Great Britain increased a lot and that is why his plans were not feasible. Instead he had to put a lot of money into the economy to offset the high unemployment rate. Later this event became known as the Barber-Boom.

In 1973 Heath decided that Great Britain had to join the European Community. Moreover he ended the British presence in the east of Suez and he called British troops back to Great Britain.

Edward Heath also had to cope with problems in Northern Ireland as in 1972 British troops caused the well-known Bloody Sunday in Derry.

On 4th March 1974 Edward Heath resigned from his position as Prime Minister of the country. His position was taken by Wilson and his Labour Party.

On 17th July 2005 Edward Heath died from pneumonia and received a memorial in Westminster Abbey.

Further links

Edward Heath wins the general elections in 1970: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZmzT_QDEbo>

Margaret Thatcher and Edward Heath are talking about the European Common Market <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwdg7qVoVXk>

Ziegler, Philip, Edward Heath: The Authorised Biography, Harper Collins Publishers Limited: London, 2010.