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The Conservative Party Leadership Election of 1965

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Policies and Politics Under Prime Minister Edward Heath

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Political Leadership ((PSPL))

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Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to explain how and why Edward Heath was selected to be the first democratically elected leader of the Conservative Party in July 1965. The chapter considers the following three issues. First, it explains the significance to the Conservative Party of the leadership succession crisis of October 1963, in which Harold Macmillan was replaced as party leader (and prime minister) by Douglas-Home in circumstances which invalidated the customary processes of consultation to determine the leadership. Second, it identifies the changes and decisions that Douglas-Home made once in opposition (between October 1964 and July 1965) to make sure that no future leader of the Conservative Party should have their legitimacy questioned in the way that he was. Third, it provides explanations as to how and why Heath won the leadership election of July 1965 rather than the pre-contest favourite, Reginald Maudling.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Having returned to the frontbench when they entered opposition, Macleod did contemplate standing and was believed to have the backing of potentially 40 Conservative parliamentarians. However, as he was widely perceived to be divisive due to his conduct in the aftermath of the succession crisis, he calculated that he would be unable to emerge victorious (Shepherd 1996: 291).

  2. 2.

    The October 1963 consultations were conducted based on the parliamentary Conservative Party from the 1959 to 1964 Parliament (n = 365), and the Redmayne findings do not include all parliamentarians. Also, the 1965 parliamentary Conservative Party was smaller after the General Election defeat of 1964 (n = 304), accounting for retirement and defeats in 1964, and the new intake of 1965 would have changed the composition of the electorate somewhat.

  3. 3.

    Maudling was convinced that the failure of Douglas-Home to endorse him contributed to his defeat. He was rumoured to have commented, in the aftermath of his rejection, that ‘it was Alec who did for me’ (Baston 2004: 256).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Thomas McMeeking

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  1. Thomas McMeeking
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Correspondence to Thomas McMeeking .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Politics, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Andrew S. Roe-Crines

  2. Politics and International Studies (POLIS), University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Timothy Heppell

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McMeeking, T. (2021). The Conservative Party Leadership Election of 1965. In: Roe-Crines, A.S., Heppell, T. (eds) Policies and Politics Under Prime Minister Edward Heath. Palgrave Studies in Political Leadership. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53673-2_2

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