Sir Edward Richard George Heath, commonly known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath also served for 51 years as a Member of Parliament from 1950 to 2001. Outside politics, Heath was a yachtsman, a musician, and an author.
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, was a British statesman and Labour Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970 and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He was the Leader of the Labour Party from 1963 to 1976, and was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1945 to 1983. Wilson is the only Labour leader to have formed administrations following four general elections.
The 1979 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 3 May 1979 to elect 635 members to the House of Commons.
Selsdon is an area in South London, England, located in the London Borough of Croydon, in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Prior to 1965 it was in the historic county of Surrey. It now has the character of a suburb and sits at a high elevation, bordering downland.
The 1970 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 18 June 1970. It resulted in a surprise victory for the Conservative Party under leader Edward Heath, which defeated the governing Labour Party under Prime Minister Harold Wilson. The Liberal Party, under its new leader Jeremy Thorpe, lost half its seats. The Conservatives, including the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), secured a majority of 30 seats. This general election was the first in which people could vote from the age of 18, after passage of the Representation of the People Act the previous year, and the first UK election where party, and not just candidate names were allowed to be put on the ballots.
Nicholas Ridley, Baron Ridley of Liddesdale,, was a British Conservative Party politician and government minister.
Keith Sinjohn Joseph, Baron Joseph,, known as Sir Keith Joseph, 2nd Baronet, for most of his political life, was a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as a minister under four prime ministers: Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Home, Edward Heath, and Margaret Thatcher. He was a key influence in the creation of what came to be known as Thatcherism.
Anthony Perrinott Lysberg Barber, Baron Barber, was a British Conservative politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1970 to 1974.
The Selsdon Group is a British free-market economics pressure group, closely associated with the Conservative Party. Selsdon Group members believe that economic freedom is the indispensable condition for political and social freedom. The group's President is John Redwood MP.
Edward Heath of the Conservative Party formed the Heath ministry and was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by Queen Elizabeth II on 19 June 1970, following the 18 June general election. Heath's ministry ended after the February 1974 general election, which produced a hung parliament, leading to the formation of a minority government by Harold Wilson of the Labour Party.
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, PC was one of the most prominent British politicians of the 20th century.
Baruch Rahmilevich Mendelson, commonly known as Bert Ramelson, was an industrial organiser and politician for the Communist Party of Great Britain. He held the post of National Industrial Organiser from 1965 to 1977, and was editor and a member of editorial board of the World Marxist Review from 1977 to 1990.
Pippa Poppy Catterall is a British academic historian who, since 2016, has been Professor of History and Policy at the University of Westminster. Her research has focused on twentieth-century history and politics, the mass media, conflict studies and nationalism.
Family Income Supplement was a means-tested benefit for working people with children introduced in Britain in 1970 by the Conservative government of Edward Heath, effective from August 1971. It was not intended to be a permanent feature of the social security system and was abolished by the Social Security Act 1986, which replaced it with Family Credit.
The 1976 sterling crisis was a currency crisis in the United Kingdom. Inflation, a balance of payments deficit, a public spending deficit, and the 1973 oil crisis were contributors.
Stuart Ryan Ball, CBE, FRHistS, is a political historian who retired in 2016 as professor of Modern British History at the University of Leicester, having taught there for 37 years; he is now emeritus professor of Modern History there. He specialises in the history of the Conservative Party.
When Britain emerged victorious from the Second World War, the Labour Party under Clement Attlee came to power and created a comprehensive welfare state, with the establishment of the National Health Service giving free healthcare to all British citizens, and other reforms to benefits. The Bank of England, railways, heavy industry, and coal mining were all nationalised. The most controversial issue was nationalisation of steel, which was profitable, unlike the others. Economic recovery was slow, housing was in short supply, and bread was rationed along with many necessities in short supply. It was an "age of austerity". American loans and Marshall Plan grants kept the economy afloat. India, Pakistan, Burma, and Ceylon gained independence. Britain was a strong anti-Soviet factor in the Cold War and helped found NATO in 1949. Many historians describe this era as the "post-war consensus", emphasising how both the Labour and Conservative Parties until the 1970s tolerated or encouraged nationalisation, strong trade unions, heavy regulation, high taxes, and a generous welfare state.
Sir Harold Brian Seymour Warren, was medical officer to the Grenadier Guards in 1943, physician at the Wellington Barracks, then resident medical officer at the King Edward VII's Hospital, London, where he worked with Matron Alice Saxby and came to know and later became personal physician to British Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath. His first wife was Dame Josephine Barnes. He was knighted in the February 1974 Dissolution Honours.
Alexander Reginald Isserlis, sometimes called Sandy Isserlis, was a British civil servant who served as Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1970.
The United Kingdom did not officially participate in the Vietnam War. It played an important role in the 1954 Geneva Conference, acting as co-chair along with the Soviet Union. Prior to the US Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the United Kingdom did provide support to the South Vietnamese government in the form of advice on the use of police and paramilitary forces to combat a communist insurgency.
