Heath, << heeth, >> Edward (1916-2005), a member of the Conservative Party, served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from June 1970 to March 1974. Under Heath’s leadership, the United Kingdom joined the European Community, an economic organization that was incorporated into the European Union in 1993. Strikes and inflation led Heath to call for elections in 1974. The Conservatives failed to win a parliamentary majority, and Heath resigned from office.
Heath entered Parliament in 1950 as representative for Bexley in the House of Commons and rapidly advanced to political leadership. By 1955, he had become chief party whip, responsible for party conduct in the House. Heath became minister of labour in 1959. He was president of the Board of Trade in 1963 and 1964.
Heath became head of the Conservative Party in 1965. He was the first Conservative leader ever elected by party members in the House of Commons. Previous leaders had been chosen by small groups of influential party members. Heath served as party leader until 1975, and he remained a member of the House of Commons until 2001. He sometimes openly criticized Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who held office from 1979 to 1990.
Unlike most Conservative Party leaders, Heath inherited neither social position nor wealth. He was born Edward Richard George Heath on July 9, 1916, in Broadstairs, Kent, England, where his father was a carpenter. He attended a state-supported secondary school and won a scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford. During World War II (1939-1945), Heath rose from private to lieutenant colonel in the British Army. Heath was made a Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter in 1992. He never married. Heath died on July 17, 2005, in Salisbury, Wiltshire.
