1

Sir Edward Richard George Heath

1.

Prime Minister of the UK from 1970 to 1974

2.

leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975

•

Heath's Conservative Party won the general election of 1970 in a victory

seen as a personal triumph that surprised almost all contemporary commentators.

•

The new Cabinet contained some important future figures, including Margaret
Thatcher (Education & Science).

Heath vs trade unions

•

Heath attempted to reform the increasingly militant trade unions.

•

His Industrial Relations Act set up a special court under the judge Lord
Donaldson, whose imprisonment of striking dockworkers was a public relations
disaster.

•

Heath's attempt to confront trade-union power resulted in an unwinnable pitched
political battle.

•

Especially damaging to the government's credibility was a confrontation with the
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), from which the union emerged victorious.

Local Government Act

•

passed in 1972,

•

changed the boundaries of England's counties

•

created "Metropolitan Counties" around the major cities (e.g. Merseyside around
Liverpool);

•

This caused a significant amount of anger from sections of the public and is still not
fully embraced to this day.

2

The county boundaries to 1974

3

The county boundaries in 1996

4

Decimalisation of British coinage

•

begun under the previous Labour Government,

•

completed eight months after Heath came to power.

•

Old pence (known as

"d"

for denarii) were abolished, with one "silver" shilling

being equal to five "New Pence" .

Basic Units Value

Coin

Paper

Slang

One Pound 20 shillings sovereign

1-pound note quid

10 shillings

half
sovereign

½-pound
note

5 shillings

crown

bull

2½ shillings half crown

2 shillings

florin

One
Shilling<

shilling

shilling

bob, hog

6 pence

sixpence

tanner,
bender

4 pence

groat

3 pence

threepence

thruppence

2 pence

wopence

tuppence

1 pence

penny

copper

½ pence

half penny

ha’pence

¼ pence

farthing

1/8 pence

half farthing

The United Kingdom and many countries formerly part of the British Empire:
1 pound = 20 shillings = 240 pence = 960 farthings

In the years just prior to decimalisation, the circulating British coins were:
the half crown (5s),
florin or two shillings,
shilling,
sixpence (6d),
threepence (3d),
penny (

1d

),

halfpenny (½d).
The farthing (¼d) had been withdrawn in 1960.

5

Foreign policy

•

Edward Heath took the United Kingdom into the European Community in 1973.

•

In October 1973 he placed a British arms embargo on all combatants in the Arab-
Israeli Yom Kippur war.

•

He also officially recognised the People's Republic of China in 1972, visited Mao
Zedong in Beijing in 1974 and 1975 and remained an honoured guest in China on
frequent visits thereafter.

•

Heath also maintained a good relationship with U.S. President Richard Nixon.

1974 general elections

•

A seven-week miners' strike in 1974 helped bring down the Conservative
Government and cost Edward Heath the party leadership.

•

Heath tried to bolster his government by calling a general election for 28 February
1974.

•

The result was inconclusive:

1. the Conservative Party received a majority in terms of votes cast
2. but the Labour Party gained a majority in terms of seats.

•

Heath then began coalition negotiations with leaders of the Liberal Party, but, when
these failed, on 4 March 1974, he resigned as Prime Minister and was replaced by
Harold Wilson and a minority Labour government.

Wilson’s second term

EC Membership Renegotiations and Referendum

•

Labour's manifesto in 1974 included a pledge to renegotiate terms for Britain's
membership and then hold a referendum on whether to stay in the EC on the new
terms

•

During the renegotiations, other EU members conceded the establishment of a
significant European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), from which it was
agreed that the UK would be a major net beneficiary.

•

A referendum was duly held on 5 June 1975. In the event, continued membership
passed.

6

Ulster Workers' Strike

•

In May 1974 Wilson condemned the Unionist-controlled strike as a "sectarian
strike„ which was "being done for sectarian purposes having no relation to this
century but only to the seventeenth century".

•

However he refused to pressure a reluctant British Army to face down the
loyalist paramilitaries who were intimidating utility workers.

Resignation

•

On 16 March 1976, Wilson surprised the nation by announcing his resignation as
Prime Minister.

•

He claimed that he had always planned on resigning at the age of sixty, and that he
was physically and mentally exhausted.

•

However, by 1976 he was probably also aware of the first stages of early-onset
Alzheimer's disease.