Abstract
Chapter 4 considers what lessons the Conservative Party drew from its resounding election defeat in March 1966, and how they affected its attitude to the construction of policies which would be convincingly distinguishable from those recently rejected by the electorate. Did the defeat, and how the election had been fought, raise doubts about Edward Heath’s suitability as leader? And was his single-minded insistence on formulating detailed, free-standing policies in all the main policy areas obscuring the lack of a compelling philosophical thread linking them together as something recognisably Conservative?
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Notes
- 1.
A. Cooke (ed.), Tory Policy-Making: The Conservative Research Department 1929–2009 (Manor Creative, Eastbourne, 2009), p. 59.
- 2.
Cooke, Tory Policy-Making, p. 58.
- 3.
J. Campbell, Edward Heath (Jonathan Cape, London, 1993), p. 207.
- 4.
R. Crossman, Diaries of a Cabinet Minister, Volume 1, 1964–1966 (Hamish Hamilton and Jonathan Cape, London, 1975), p. 483.
- 5.
CPA, CRD/D/5/2, Paper by Sewill, 22 December 1965.
- 6.
CPA, CRD/D/5/2, Note by Sewill to Fraser, 3 December 1965.
- 7.
CPA, CRD/D/5/2, Paper by Sewill, 24 November 1965.
- 8.
CPA, CRD 3/9/36, Note of Meeting, 25 February 1966.
- 9.
CPA, CRD 3/9/36, Notes by Douglas and Udal, 24 February 1966.
- 10.
1966 Conservative Party General Election Manifesto: http://www.conservativemanifesto.com/1966/1966-conservative-manifesto.shtml.
- 11.
D. E. Butler and A. King, The British General Election of 1966 (Macmillan, London, 1966), pp. 90–4.
- 12.
R. R. James, Ambitions & Realities (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1972), p. 98.
- 13.
James, Ambitions and Realities, p. 260.
- 14.
CPA, CRD 3/9/107, Note of Central Office Meeting, 4 April 1966.
- 15.
CPA, CRD 3/9/36, Report on 1966 General Election Campaign, 28 April 1966.
- 16.
CPA, CRD 3/9/107, Note Miss Turner to Fraser, 16 March 1966.
- 17.
CPA, CRD 3/9/51, Report on 1966 General Election Campaign, 28 April 1966.
- 18.
CPA, CRD 3/9/51, Note Heath to Sewill, 12 May 1966.
- 19.
CPA, CRD 3/9/107, Note Miss Turner to Fraser, 16 March 1966.
- 20.
CPA, CRD 3/9/107, Letter Sir Philip de Zulueta to Macgregor, 6 July 1966.
- 21.
CPA, CRD 3/9/107, Note Miss Walker to Fraser, 6 July 1966.
- 22.
The Times Guide to the House of Commons (1966), p. 16.
- 23.
T. E. Utley, ‘Conservative Dilemma’, The Spectator, 25 March 1949.
- 24.
M. Howard and N. Lamont, Through a Glass Darkly, (Bow Group, London, 1968), p. 2.
- 25.
CPA, ACP 3/13/13–14, Paper by Alan Haselhurst on ‘Conservative Philosophy’.
- 26.
CPA, ACP3/13–14, Paper by Angus Maude, 3 February 1966.
- 27.
S. Brittan, ‘Some Thoughts on Conservative Opposition’, Political Quarterly, Vol. 39, Issue 2, April 1968, p. 145.
- 28.
James, Ambitions and Realities, p. 87.
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Caines, E. (2017). Reasons (or Excuses?) for Failure. In: Heath and Thatcher in Opposition. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60246-6_4
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