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|birth_date=1916

|birth_date=July 9 1916

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|birth_place=Broadstairs, Kent

|death_date=2005

|death_date=July 17 2005 (aged 89)

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|death_place=Salisbury, Wiltshire

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'''Sir Edward Heath''' (1916-2005) was the [[Conservative Party|Conservative]] [[Prime Minister]] of the [[United Kingdom]] from 1970 to 1974.

'''Sir Edward Heath''' (July 9 1916 - July 17 2005) was the [[Conservative Party|Conservative]] [[Prime Minister]] of the [[United Kingdom]] from 1970 to 1974.

Heath's electoral victory in 1970 was something of a surprise, as the incumbent [[Labour Party]] was comfortably ahead in the polls. Some have attributed the sudden souring of public opinion to [[England]]'s defeat in the soccer [[World Cup]] the week before, or, perhaps more plausibly, to some bad economic figures that emerged during the election campaign.

Heath's electoral victory in 1970 was something of a surprise, as the incumbent [[Labour Party]] was comfortably ahead in the polls. Some have attributed the sudden souring of public opinion to [[England]]'s defeat in the soccer [[World Cup]] the week before, or, perhaps more plausibly, to some bad economic figures that emerged during the election campaign.

His personal relations with colleagues and others were more problematic. His personal mannerisms were somewhat cold and aloof, possibly a defense mechanism for a man from the lower middle class, a grammar school boy, mixing, both at Oxford and later in the Conservative Party, in environments dominated by the upper middle and upper classes of former public (US: private) schoolboys. During the party leadership campaign in 1975, he declined to canvass personally: that, and previous snubs to party colleagues, almost certainly contributed largely to his defeat. His hauteur was unsoftened by his private life. He never married, though throughout his life he kept by his bed the photograph of a woman to whom he had been attached.

His personal relations with colleagues and others were more problematic. His personal mannerisms were somewhat cold and aloof, possibly a defense mechanism for a man from the lower middle class, a grammar school boy, mixing, both at Oxford and later in the Conservative Party, in environments dominated by the upper middle and upper classes of former public (US: private) schoolboys. During the party leadership campaign in 1975, he declined to canvass personally: that, and previous snubs to party colleagues, almost certainly contributed largely to his defeat. His hauteur was unsoftened by his private life. He never married, though throughout his life he kept by his bed the photograph of a woman to whom he had been attached.

[[Category:United Kingdom Prime Ministers|Heath, Edward]]

[[Category:United Kingdom Prime Ministers|Heath, Edward]]