Edward Heath: the Tory leader. Part one

IT IS a great mi Mr Heath would Prime Minister? exactly a decade earlier.

This was the opinion of the 'Daily Mirror' on December 7, 1969, on the eve of what began as the dullest, most certain, General Election since Harold Macmillan told voters they had never had it so good By the spring the opinion polls, soon to be proved sensationally wrong, showed Heath's popularity plummeting day after day. Within hours of the election Gallup gave the Labour Party a 7 per cent Most media commentators joined in the disparagement of 'poor-old Ted' repeatedly making unfavourable comparisons with statesman-like world leader Wilson.

They watched with an amused smile Heath's antics with Enoch Powell who was accused variously of trying to lose the PAGE Monday, December 7, 1970

lead over the Tories. firm. unbelievable Tory victory.

Of course, some people were not reeling. There were celebrations in Throgmorton St and on Wall St; the 'Financial Times' Index jumped a record 21.7 points and stock market prices went up by 5 per cent.

Yet observers were still unwilling to give much of the redit to Ted Heath; a misfit in the Tory Party, the man whose father began life working for a builder. To the last they preferred to think that it was Enoch Powell who finally swayed the voters into giving Heath a majority in the House of Commons.

But those with longer and more retentive memories might have learned from Heath's performance in 1964, one year before he became leader of the Party in preference to Maudling or Powell, and once again on the eve of a General ElecButt Heath had become a convenient butt used by correspondents to enliven even the most turgid copy. His speeches were said to be dull, dry, droning. There was always some fun to be had at the expense of his attempts to improve.

With his little boy face and his 'humble' origins 'decent and fair', he was portrayed, paternally, by columnists and cartoonists as a man struggling manfully far beyond his They chose not to remember that: • HEATH was the man who, against fierce opposition, even take to thin not make a With Powell at a Party conference. from within his own Party, where there were many who thought it would lose them the 1964 election, refused as a matter of principle to back down from abolishing Resale Price Maintenance.

• THE MAN who in November 1961, was patted on the back by Macmillan in the House of Commons during a crucial EEC debate in which, said the Press, Heath gave a 'display of temperate, controlled and skillfully defensive' , argument; a 'political performance of great skill, showing the Commons his 'true mettle'. • THE MAN who between August 1961 and January 1963 forged a reputation as a 'human computer' and a 'tireless negotiator, during months of talks over Britain's application to join the EEC. • THE MAN who alone of all the Party's influential men was invited by Macmillan to eat oysters at the Turf Club one night in 1959 to discuss the structure of the new govern• THE MAN who, in 1959, was being described as 'one of the finest chief whips of the century' and as a 'man of enormous influence and Little known to the public, a plump and pinkcheeked bachelor of 41 Heath has had a remarkable rise in the world', said the London 'Evening Standard' in February 1958.

And the Sunday Times' said: 'He wields enormous influence and authority. He advises the Prime Minister on the feeling of the House, he discusses the business next week, he is "the usual channels"!

• THE MAN who, in 1959, ter dealing with the revolt of the fuel rebels led by Sir Gerald Nabarro, earned from the 'News Chronicle' the praise:

"The rebels he dealt with by a firmness not at once apparent in the burly frame topped by a face with at least one chin too many and carefully In two parts:

Fill in the form below and send to NATIONAL SECRETARY, SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE, 186A CLAPHAM HIGH ST, LONDON, SW4. Name Address IMPORTANT READING STALINISM IN BRITAIN A TROTSKYIST ANALYSIS Order from New Park Publications Price 24s (paperback)-41s 6d (cloth) post 186A Clapham High Street, SW4. dressed hair little ingly grey.' • THE MAN, in fact, the 'only man who could hold the party together' during Eden's Suez debacle of 1956 after being a whip for five yearsone year after his election to the House of Commons 1950.

The 'News Chronicle' alone was not fooled by the vicissitudes of Heath's fortunes and put the writing on the wall.

On October 16, 1959, after Heath had proved himself as Party organizer in the General Election, it said: 'One foresees the day when Heath will Wilson

choosing his own cabinet' The failure to think of Heath as a leader was due to three things: His social background, his personality and style in public affairs and to the circumstances in which he rose to power.

When he became the 13th leader of the Tory Party on July 29, 1965, he did so on the basis of a large number of false assumptions. The Party thought of him as a fully-fledged leader. But he was not.

As 'The Times' put it: 'With the Finance Bill, Resale Price Maintenance and the Common Market he had shown himself an exceptionally able political corps commander, brilliant and courageous at fighting a set piece battle on ground already marked out. A Party leader requires different and wider qualities. As a commander in chief Mr Heath still had it all to learn'.

Doubts about Heath as a leader began in a big way about April 1966. Having ditched Sir Alec and his matches, many observers looked forward to a Tory victory under Heath's new-style leadership.

But victory failed to materialize.

The Labour Party was riding the crest of a wave. Nevertheless, to many people Heath became a scapegoat who as time went on was thought to be less and less the inspired leader the Party so urgently needed to revive its lost fortunes.

After the Labour triumph Heath had to put up with the added disadvantage of constant comparison with Harold Wilson who, of course, unlike Heath, had learnt it all years before.

In addition there was the background of a positive deluge of a legislative activity by the new government which put Heath and his Party quite definitely in the shade.

Labour were determined to show that all that was wrong with the economy was a result of Tory mismanagement.

But by 1964 the crisis of over production, refiected in inflation, had been under way for nearly a decade.

Amount enclosed f d each pamphlet 1s 6d postage Complete form and send with money to New Park Publications, 186a Clapham LILI cloth MARXISM AND TRADE UNIONS 38 6d |] To deal with the crisis national plans, commissions and prices and incomes policies raised little benefit upon the nation, but soon, like confetti, they were to be abandoned.

Untried as a Party leader : Heath found himself thrown to the wolves in the House.. of Commons. He was especi-. ally vulnerable to Wilson's tactics and skill and time and time again he was smashed to pieces in verbal battles with the then Prime Minister.

In addition to this the pub-. lic view of Heath as a failure was reinforced by the spectacle of widespread unease at his. leadership among members of. his own Party. The issue was confused by their public per-. sistance in portraying fortunes of the Party as being OC 228 6d 37s 6d Od 6d Od 15 00 0| po po plus 6d postage for for each book.

Leader sis Ins ies he iti, ler dependent on the calibre and poliçies of an individual, rather than correctly relating them to the unfolding capitalist crisis.

In January 1966 Angus Maude made a series of criticisms of the leadership in the 'Spectator'. Heath's response was slow, but when it came; decisive. But here again it was the slowness rather than the decisiveness that counted as far as observers were concerned and the episode became one more black mark against Heath.

By' October, on the eve of the :! Party conference, motions reflecting disquiet aboút Heath were put down for consideration on the conference agenda.

Heath did not help himself.: George Hutchinson investigation BY IAN EAT in the first ever biography the Tory leader:

'He has not developed the oratorical powers which might have been expected in someone who took to the public platform so young. He is competent rather than inspiring, informative rather than eloquent.' All observers agree that right from the start of his political career at Oxford, Heath was reserved, never sparkled and was never out-.

standing.

But equally they pay tribute to his quiet, unrivalled efficiency, to his persistence and stubbornness and phrases like "cold technocrat' and 'frenzied dynamism' crop up frequently.

In the public 'Financial Times' CONDUCTING annual Christmas concert final humiliation came in October 1967 when, against the background of a continuing leadership crisis, he accepted an invitation to appear on the Frost Show.

Somebody in the Party may well have thought that if he could survive a grilling from Frost a lot of valuable publicity would be gained.

It was a brave gesture.

Unfortunately when he appeared there was barely time for the well known 'toothy' smile before the show was blacked out because of a technicians' strike.

But behind all the seeming ineptitude there was a version of Heath that observers with short memories overlooked. A version which experience as Party leader and changes in the overall objective climate in which he worked was increasingly revealing.

This Heath was partly summed up by the 'News Chronicle' in 1959 when a staff writer said of him:

'Usually he is shaking with laughter-until you notice that the eyes are not so amused as the mouth.' A dynamo.

Heath is a political iceberg. This' is what has led to the confusion about him. His style as a man is reflected in his style of government. He says little and listens a lot. On the surface he appears to be doing nothing. But underneath he is a dynamo.

It is not because he is a figure of fun or by accident that he has survived as Party leader.

He is and always has been a shrewd, tough, ambitious and even fanatical politician.

As Hutchinson puts it, he has had the 'superb advantage of believing passionately in what he was doing'.

It could have been no surprise to Heath that he was elected Party leader. Every minute of his time had been spent working to that end for a decade and a half. And circumstances, in the form of the enomic crisis, conspired to favour him.

Says Hutchinson: 'He was exceptionally well known in the constituencies. He had visited more than most of his colleagues. He was always a index jumped a record 21.7 points. willing horse ready to accept speaking engagements up and down the country.

'As a result he knew many of the associations and their officers at first hand.' And, of course, during his long years in the Whip's office he had got to know all the MPs.

Heath was by no means an innocent by-stander in the election for leader in 1965. Headed by Peter Walker, the contest was fought in a way which as Hutchinson says, 'left nothing to chance. Ted's camp treated it like a war.

He was by no means innocent on matters of policy either. In fact he was Tory Party policy. No one else had been more instrumental in shaping it.

Overshadowed Lord Home had placed the reins of power firmly in his hands by asking him to think out fresh policies for the Party in 1966. He set to work with minute thoroughness and, whether by design or accident, none of the study groups he appointed reported until Home had stepped down.

After he became leader, Hutchinson says: 'There were private armies of people reporting directly to Heath.' By June 1970 Heath was master of his Party, despite the devisive activities of its right wing, centred primarily on Enoch Powell. Powell was stronger personality than Heath and once again Heath was overshadowed as he had been by Wilson.

Against the background of doubt about Heath and coupled with the fact that Powell had designs on the leadership, the result was to make Heath look far less than in control.

But as 'The Times' pointed Heath's disagreements with Powell were not primarily what he said, but the manner in which he said them.

Powell, of course, was not a Tory renegade sniping from the extreme right. Like Heath he represents definite political forces. Like Heath he has been thrust forward on the public stage by riding these forces.

Heath represents the monopolies. Powell stands for the small businessmen the monopolies are driving to the wall and for sections of the lower middle class.

He also stands for backward elements of the working class who are most savagely hit by the high price effects of the monopoly economy.

Heath has undoubtedly been influenced by pressure from the extreme right both in the House of Commons and outside it. But in the main his policies in power faithfully reflect his views over a political lifetime.

As Prime Minister Heath is now doing what he is good at. He is acting not talking. He said himself this year:

'The attitude of people today is that they want fewer words and rather more, considered action.' He may not be inspiring, but there is no doubt he will ruthlessly carry out his government's . anti-working-class policies.

Like Heath himself the tone of his government is one of action not words. Not a week passes without some new and often fundamental announcement emanating from one of the government departments. All may seem quite on the outside at 10 Downing St, but such announcements reflect the ferment within.

Inflation

Heath has promised historical changes and no one need doubt that they will come if he can have his way. The attack on the welfare state has already begun. The sacking of Lord Hall marks the beginning of the offensive against the nationalized industries. The anti-union Bill designed to silence organized labour in the face of the Tory attack on the working class is well on its way.

Perhaps the most confusing aspect of Heath's rise power is related to the circumstances surrounding it.

He was elected leader at a moment of crisis; at a time when the effect of the end of the post-war boom was really biting; when world competition and overproduction reflected in the balance of payments and inflation was bankrupting the British capitalist class.

Heath was peddling his freesociety solution to the growing crisis throughout the 1960s, but it was not until mid-decade that the old style Tories represented by MacmilORGE HUTCHINSON's biography lan and Home were pushed aside in favour of a man who, in many senses, was the St George of big business come to rescue their falling profits.

In the end his 'humble' background counted for and Order from New Park Publications 186A Clapham High St, SW4.

not against him. The managers of the great corporations, the executives, the men who made industry and commerce tick PAGE THREE Heath has, as in everything else, slipped quietly into his inheritance.

Persistence and efficiency

Price 9s post inc. Leon Trotsky Where looked at Heath and in him saw themselves.

For a time behind the wellpublicized, but inevitably futile efforts of the Labour government to deal with the developing crisis of world capitalism, Heath and his policies tended to be forgotten.

Labour held the promise of being the Party of the future. There were some who thought that the Tories were the cause of the worsening economic situation because after 13 years in office they had grown stale.

Labour was a new and shining hope. They even had technology and science on their side.

Lifeblood

Statements from Labour leaders that Britain was on the road to 'recovery' further weakened Heath's position. Neither he nor his policies were appropriate to recovery.

Lacking any theoretical grasp of what was happening, sections of the Tory Party added to the confusion by once again baying for Heath's blood.

The lifeblood of Heath and his policies is the death of capitalism. As the plight öf world capitalism and of Britain in particular has worsened, have helped Heath in his rise But his background has helped him to adopt policies which have made him the man of the moment in a way which Maudling or Home could never have been.

Heath believes in aggressive, competitive Toryism because he believes himself to be a living example that individuals can make good if they struggle hard and long enough.

This philosophy has endeared him to the capitalist class locked in a life-and-death struggle to avoid disaster.

To try to save the life of dying capitalism Heath has obligingly offered to "free' the energies of our people. • This means to free them to sink or swim — regardless. Most of them will sink.

It means to allow them the freedom to be unemployed and the 'choice' to go without what they can't afford. The entire working class to sacrificed in a last bid to save capitalism by forcing down businessmen's costs and the living standards of workers.

Heath represents a new trend in the Tory Party; a trend which has nothing in common with the Butlerism, the paternal 'left' conservatism of the 1950s.

In the boom years of the 1950s the economy could afford a dose or two of paternalism. They could afford the illusion of full employment and the Welfare State. But not any more.

Battle

The boom is over. The crisis deepens. Heath has marched the Party decisively to the right.

While his policies are in many respects almost identical to those of the extreme right there are important differences. The most notable is that Heath is the spokesman for big business.

Heath is engaged in a battle to try to save big business by hammering the unions and thereby holding down an important element of industry's costs. When this fails he could be ridden down by Powell.

Being the man he is, Heath may genuinely believe that in the 19th century his policies will benefit the whole nation. He may believe that the ailing capitalist economy can be revived if it is subjected to thoroughgoing reform.

His inevitable failure will Powell's victory.

• Continued tomorrow.