Edward Heath Quotes


Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice!


Context

Although a member of the same party, Thatcher was his implacable enemy. When he had been the sitting Conservative Prime Minister, Thatcher hade led a successful movement to have him unseated by the party. In the British system even though the voters had elected a party with its candidate for Prime Minister, the winning party can change the Prime Minister at any time. Although this is not usual, this is what happened to Heath. After serving three terms, Thatcher herself was unseated by a Conservative Party faction led by John Major, and Heath expressed his emotion at the news. Heath had so despised Thatcher that he refused to serve in any way in her cabinet, unusual in the British system where former Prime Ministers often serve in Parliament and later may serve as cabinet ministers to another prime minister.


Citations

Edward Heath, British Prime Minister (Conservative), Speech at the Lord Mayor's Banquet, London, Exclamation upon hearing the news that Margaret Thatcher, had been unseated as British Prime Minister

Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations

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Edward Heath
Edward Heath
  • Born: July 9, 1916
  • Died: July 17, 2005
  • Nationality: British
  • Profession: Politician, Statesman

Sir Edward Richard George "Ted" Heath, KG, MBE was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath served for 51 years as a Member of Parliament from 1950 to 2001. Outside politics, Heath was also a world-class yachtsman and a talented musician.