A year after being elected leader of the Tory party, following Alec Douglas-Home’s resignation, Edward Heath was interviewed by Kenneth Harris for the Observer Magazine of 16 January 1966 (‘Leading the Tories’). Boris Johnson once said that his biggest regret was not learning to play the piano. Is there anything he could learn from Heath?
‘There must be this free, uninhibited give and take of views,’ said Heath, explaining the right way to lead the Tories. ‘Then, after that, the leader must make up his mind and give a clear lead.’ In talking about Conservative agreement on the decision to join the EEC, Heath proclaimed: ‘It really was remarkable the unity that steadily developed, and where differences of view persisted, the absence of ill-feeling or distrust. Many opposed the idea of Europe to the end, but there was never any obstructionism.’ Johnson can only dream of such a scenario.
Harris wonders if Heath would be a better prime minister with a wife than without one. ‘I don’t know. It would depend to some extent on the woman, wouldn’t it?’ says Heath, somewhat defensively. ‘What I do know is that a man who got married in order to be a better prime minister wouldn’t be either a good prime minister or a good husband.’
He then asks which person has had the most influence on him. ‘Disraeli,’ says Heath. ‘His one-nation approach, his refusal to be distracted from the search for the national interest by the existence of class and sectional interest… And I admired him because he didn’t come from the top men of the politics of his day… and had to struggle to preserve his confidence in himself…’ No such worries for Johnson.
Was there anyone else? Locke, says Heath. ‘I admire the cast of his mind, Christian, calm, temperate, good-humoured.’ As for Johnson, we’ll find out how good-humoured he remains after 31 October.
