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Michael Heseltine

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Michael Heseltine walks out of the cabinet meeting having resigned, January 9, 1986

Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, CH, PC (born 21 March 1933) is a British Conservative politician and businessman. He is a patron of the Tory Reform Group.

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[edit] Before politics

Heseltine was born in Swansea, Wales, was educated at Shrewsbury School and campaigned briefly as a volunteer in the October 1951 General Election before going up to Pembroke College, Oxford, where, in frustration at his inability to be elected the committee of the Oxford University Conservative Association, he founded the breakaway Blue Ribbon Club. Not a natural speaker, he became a competent orator through much practice, and was elected to the committee of the Oxford Union after five terms at the University. The following year (1953-4) he served in top place on the committee, then as Secretary, then Treasurer, during which post he reopened the Union cellars for business and persuaded the visiting Lord and Lady Docker to contribute to the cost. After graduating with a second class degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, he was permitted to stay on for an extra term to serve as President of the Oxford Union in Michaelmas 1954. From this period there is an apocryphal story that he wrote on the back of an envelope, 'millionaire 25, cabinet member 35, party leader 45, prime minister 55'. He did become a member of the shadow cabinet at the age of 40 -- but failed to achieve the last two (although he would, under John Major, be appointed Deputy Prime Minister at the age of 62).

After graduating he attempted to train as an accountant but did not qualify; he also did National Service as a Second Lieutenant in the Welsh Guards in 1959 before leaving early to contest the General Election that year. He built up a property business, starting with a house in Clanricarde Gardens and eventually building a housing estate at Tenterden in Kent. He founded the magazine publishing company Haymarket, and during the 1960s published the famous magazine "Town", although it was only after Heseltine's election to Parliament that Haymarket, under the management of Lindsay Masters, grew into the company which has made Heseltine rich, publishing a series of profitable yet unglamorous management and advertising journals.

[edit] Life as an MP

He contested Gower (safe Labour) in 1959, then a Coventry seat (marginal) in 1964, before being elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) in 1966 for Tavistock in Devon, subsequently representing Henley from 1974. Following the Conservative victory in the 1970 General Election, he was promoted to the ranks of government by Prime Minister Edward Heath. In 1970, he served briefly as a junior minister at the Department of Transport, before moving to the Department for the Environment, where he was partly responsible for shepherding the Local Government Act 1972 through Parliament. He then moved to the Department of Industry from 1972 onwards.

He became Shadow Industry Secretary in the Conservative's 1974 - 1979 opposition government, gaining notoriety following a 1976 incident in the House of Commons during the debate on measures introduced by the Labour Government to nationalise the shipbuilding and aerospace industries. Accounts of exactly what happened vary, but the most colourful image portrayed Heseltine seizing the mace and brandishing it towards Labour left-wingers who were celebrating their winning the vote by singing the Red Flag, his long fair hair flowing elegantly behind him. Heseltine subsequently acquired the nickname Tarzan or, on occasion, Hezza, in imitatation of "Gazza".

He was appointed to the cabinet of Margaret Thatcher as Secretary of State for the Environment in 1979. He was sent in as a troubleshooter to deal with the explosion of violence in Britain's inner cities in the aftermath of the Brixton and Toxteth riots during the early 1980s. Heseltine was responsible for developing the policies that led to five bi-annual National Garden Festivals, starting in 1984. He then served as Secretary of State for Defence from 1983 until 1986, when he resigned over the bitter dispute with the prime minister over the Westland Affair.

[edit] Life at the backbench, and his return

He then returned to the backbenches, where he became increasingly critical of Margaret Thatcher's performance as prime minister. At one point during a carefully worded statement he repeatedly insisted that he could "not foresee the circumstances" in which he would challenge her for the leadership. But circumstances altered dramatically following Sir Geoffrey Howe's resignation speech [1] in November 1990, and Heseltine announced his candidature. He did well enough in the first round of voting to prevent an outright Thatcher victory, and at one point appeared on course to beat her in the second ballot; but faced with humiliation and the bitter prospect of a Heseltine premiership, Thatcher resigned and the contest – which Douglas Hurd also entered – was eventually won by John Major.

Afterwards Heseltine returned to government as Secretary of State for the Environment (with particular responsibility for replacing the poll tax). After the 1992 general election, he was appointed Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, but chose to be known by the archaic title of President of the Board of Trade promising to intervene "before breakfast, dinner and tea" to help British companies. In 1992, when plans were made for the privatisation of British Coal, Heseltine announced that 31 collieries were to close[2], including many of the mines in Nottinghamshire that had worked on during the 1984-5 strike under the impression that their future was safe. Although this policy was seen as a betrayal by the Nottinghamshire miners and the threatened miners had much more public sympathy than in 1984, there was hardly any organised resistance to the programme. This may have been partly due to the Board's threat to cut redundancy payments to any miners who would attempt a strike and partly due to a general lack of union organisation and energy after the 1985 defeat.

The government believed that since the pits were money losers they could only be sustained through unjustifiable subsidies. Mine supporters pointed to the mines' high productivity rates and to the fact that their monetary losses were due to the large subsidies that other European nations were supplying their coal industries. Whilst Heseltine is generally seen as a moderate in the whole of Britain, his reputation in the coalfields is somewhat different and he is largely thought of as heartless.[citation needed] The band Chumbawamba released the critical song "Mr Heseltine meets the public" that portrayed him as an out-of-touch figure; the same group had once dedicated a song to the village of Fitzwilliam, West Yorkshire, which was reduced to a ghost town following the closure of local pits.

In June 1993, Heseltine suffered a heart attack, leading to concerns on his ability to remain in government after he was televised leaving hospital in a wheelchair. In 1994, Chris Morris implied on BBC Radio 1 (as a joke) that Heseltine had died, which was sufficiently plausible that fellow MP Jerry Hayes broadcast an on-air tribute. Morris was subsequently suspended for the prank. Nonetheless Heseltine reemerged as a serious political player in 1994, helped by his testimony at the Arms to Iraq Inquiry (at which it emerged that he had refused to sign the certificates attempting to withhold evidence): the cover of "Private Eye" announced "A Legend Lives" and one major newspaper ended an editorial by proclaiming that "balance of probability" was that Heseltine would be Prime Minister before the end of the year. The truth of this prediction will never be known, as no leadership election emerged that autumn.

In the summer of 1995, John Major, having found himself consistently opposed by a minority of Eurosceptics in his party, challenged them to "put up or shut up" by resubmitting himself to a leadership election in which he was unsuccessfully opposed by the Secretary of State for Wales, John Redwood. There was speculation that Heseltine's supporters would engineer Major's downfall in the hope that their man would take over, but in the event they stayed loyal, and Heseltine was rewarded by promotion to Deputy Prime Minister. In this capacity he chaired a number of key Cabinet committees and was also an early key enthusiast for the Millennium Dome.

After Labour won the 1997 election, he was unable to stand for the Conservative Party leadership again due to his health, although there was still speculation that Clarke might have stood aside for him to stand as a compromise candidate. He became active in promoting the benefits for Britain of joining the single European Currency, appearing on the same stage as Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Robin Cook as part of an all-party campaign to promote Euro membership. He was also made a Companion of Honour by John Major in the 1997 resignation Honours List.

[edit] Retirement

He resigned his Henley-on-Thames constituency at the 2001 Election but remained outspoken on British politics. He was given a life peerage as Baron Heseltine, of Thenford in the County of Northamptonshire.

In December 2002, Heseltine controversially called for Iain Duncan Smith to be replaced as leader of the Conservatives by the "dream-ticket" of Kenneth Clarke as leader and Michael Portillo as deputy. He suggested the party's MPs vote on the matter, rather than party members as currently required by party rules. Without the replacement of Duncan Smith, the party has not "a ghost of a chance of winning the next election", he said. Duncan Smith was removed the following year. In the 2005 party leadership election, he backed the young moderniser, David Cameron.

Following Cameron's elevation to the leadership, he set up a wide-ranging policy review, covering many issues. Chairmen of the various policy groups included ex-Chancellor Kenneth Clarke and other former cabinet ministers John Redwood, John Gummer, Stephen Dorrell and Michael Forsyth, as well as ex-leader Iain Duncan Smith. Heseltine was appointed to head the cities task force, having been responsible for urban policy twice as Environment Secretary under Margaret Thatcher and John Major.

Member of Parliament from 1966 to 2001:

He was ranked 170th in the Sunday Times Rich List 2004, with an estimated wealth of £240m.

He is now a keen gardener and arboriculturalist and his arboretum is one of the most important private collections of specimens in the UK, it was featured in a one off documentary on BBC Two in December 2005.[3]

[edit] External links

[edit] Publications

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by:
Henry Studholme 		Member of Parliament for Tavistock
1966–February 1974 		Succeeded by:
(constituency abolished)
Preceded by:
John Hay 		Member of Parliament for Henley
February 1974–2001 		Succeeded by:
Boris Johnson
Political offices
Preceded by:
Peter Shore 		Secretary of State for the Environment
1979–1983 		Succeeded by:
Tom King
Preceded by:
John Nott 		Secretary of State for Defence
1983–1986 		Succeeded by:
George Younger
Preceded by:
Chris Patten 		Secretary of State for the Environment
1990–1992 		Succeeded by:
Michael Howard
Preceded by:
Peter Lilley 		President of the Board of Trade
1992–1995 		Succeeded by:
Ian Lang
Preceded by:
Sir Geoffrey Howe 		Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1995–1997 		Succeeded by:
John Prescott
Deputy Prime Ministers and First Secretaries of State of the United Kingdom
Clement Attlee, Herbert Morrison, Anthony Eden, Rab Butler, George Brown, Michael Stewart, Barbara Castle, William Whitelaw, Geoffrey Howe, Michael Heseltine, John Prescott
cy:Michael Heseltine

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