Edward Heath
Sir Edward Heath was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. UK police reported in 2017 that they were "120 per cent sure" that was a paedophile,[1] having received "strikingly similar" accounts from over 30 people.[2]
Contents
Education
Edward Heath was born in Kent on 9 July 1916, the son of William George Heath, a carpenter and builder, and Edith Anne Heath (née Pantony), a maid. His father was later a successful small businessman. He was educated at Chatham House Grammar School in Ramsgate and in 1935 with the aid of a county scholarship he went up to study at Balliol College, Oxford.[3] A talented musician, he won the college's organ scholarship in his first term, which enabled him to stay at the university for a fourth year; he eventually graduated with a Second Class Honours BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1939. While at university Heath became active in Conservative politics.
Career
He was first elected to Parliament in 1950 for Bexley, and was the Chief Whip from 1955 to 1959. Entering the Cabinet as Minister of Labour in 1959, he was later promoted to Lord Privy Seal and later became President of the Board of Trade. In 1965, Heath was elected leader of the Conservative Party, retaining that position despite losing the 1966 election.
Edward Heath became Prime Minister after winning the United Kingdom General Election in 1970. Possibly most significantly, he took Britain into the European Economic Community in 1973. Heath's Premiership also oversaw the height of "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland, with the suspension of the Stormont Parliament and the imposition of direct British rule. Unofficial talks with Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) delegates were unsuccessful, as was the Sunningdale Agreement of 1973, which caused the Ulster Unionist Party to withdraw from the Conservative whip.
Heath also tried to curb the trade unions with the Industrial Relations Act 1971, and had hoped to deregulate the economy and make a transfer from direct to indirect taxation. However, rising unemployment in 1972 caused Heath to reflate the economy, attempting to control the resulting high inflation by a prices and incomes policy. Two miners' strikes, in 1972 and at the start of 1974, damaged the government, the latter causing the implementation of the "Three-Day Week" to conserve energy. Heath eventually called an election for February 1974 to obtain a mandate to face down the miners' wage demands, but this instead resulted in a hung parliament in which Labour, despite winning fewer votes, had four more seats than the Tories. Heath resigned as Prime Minister after trying in vain to form a coalition with the Liberal Party.
Despite losing a second general election in October that year, Heath vowed to continue as leader of his party. In February 1975, however, his former Education Secretary Margaret Thatcher challenged and defeated Heath to win the leadership. Returning to the backbenches, Heath became an active critic of Thatcher's policies. Outside of politics, Heath was a world-class yachtsman and a talented musician. He was also one of only four British Prime Ministers never to have married.[4]
Bilderberg
As is fairly common for a Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Heath attended the Bilderberg group (in 1963 and 1964) before being elected Conservative party leader.
Sexuality
Heath never married. John Campbell, who published a biography of Heath in 1993, devoted four pages to a discussion of the evidence concerning Heath's sexuality. Whilst acknowledging that Heath was often assumed by the public to be gay, not least because it is "nowadays ... whispered of any bachelor" he found "no positive evidence" that this was so "except for the faintest unsubstantiated rumour" (the footnote refers to a mention of a "disturbing incident" at the beginning of the Second World War in a 1972 biography by Andrew Roth). Campbell ultimately concluded that the most significant aspect of Heath's sexuality was his complete repression of it.
Brian Coleman, the Conservative Party London Assembly member for Barnet and Camden, claimed in 2007 that Heath, in order to protect his career, had stopped cottaging in the 1950s. Coleman said it was "common knowledge" among Conservatives that Heath had been given a stern warning by police when he underwent background checks for the post of Privy Councillor.[5] Heath's biographer Philip Ziegler wrote in 2010 that Coleman was able to provide "little or no evidence" to back up this statement, that no man had ever claimed to have had a sexual relationship with Heath, nor was any trace of homosexuality to be found in his papers, and that "those who knew him well" insist that he had no such inclination. He believes Heath to have been asexual.[6]
Paedophilia
In August 2015 the Sunday People reported that Edward Heath had backed paedophile Jimmy Savile for a royal honour – two years after the previous Prime Minister warned the Queen against it. Savile was passed over for an MBE a month before the former Conservative leader moved into No10. But less than two years after Heath took office, the TV presenter – exposed after his death as a serial child-sex abuser – was awarded the higher honour of an OBE. Heath later appeared on Savile's BBC TV show Jim'll Fix It when it was one of the nation's favourites.
Government files show that in May 1970 the Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson did "not wish to submit the name of Mr Jimmy Savile for an MBE in the Birthday List". Heath took office weeks later after a June General Election and stayed in power until 1974. And records reveal how Savile was put forward for an OBE midway through Heath's stint as PM. The award was made in the New Year's Honours List of 1972. Top of the Pops presenter Savile officially received the honour in March of that year. The words: "The Prime Minister would not wish to submit the name of Mr Jimmy Savile for an MBE in the Birthday List," appeared in a heavily censored note to civil servant Sir Robert Armstrong dated May 5 1970, when Wilson was still in power. The notes goes on: "He would, however, be ready to consider his name again for a future list."
Savile, who died in 2011 aged 84, became a Sir in 1992 following repeated attempts by Margaret Thatcher to have him knighted. The newspaper also revealed that Heath was present at more than half a dozen Westminster meetings of the notorious Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) which was formed to persuade politicians to lower the age of sexual consent to only ten. The revelations raise fresh doubts over the character of Heath, who died aged 89 in 2005. A source said:
- "While nothing has been proven against Heath, these sort of links show why the fullest possible investigation is necessary. The authorities must find out if there was any sinister reason for this apparent U-turn over honours to be awarded to Jimmy Savile."
The relationship between Savile and Heath is being probed by North Yorkshire Police who said last week they were "undertaking a comprehensive search of force systems to assess if there is any information or intelligence held in relation to Mr Heath". A dossier of files compiled by former Labour minister Baroness Castle showed Heath was present at Westminster meetings with paedophile rights campaigners from the PIE group. Heath is said to have attended at least a quarter of the 30 or so monthly or bi-weekly meetings. Heath's name is said to have appeared on minutes of the private gatherings, also apparently attended by other MPs, along with scoutmasters and headteachers. But the Castle files have been missing since the mid 1980s. Baroness Castle, a former MP for Blackburn and Euro MP for Greater Manchester, died in 2002. It was claimed by Savile's nephew Guy Marsden last week that a boy of 14 was abused by Heath at a London party. The unnamed victim is said to have been targeted by the politician just over a year before he became Prime Minister after the boy was picked up by Savile. The man claims he recognised his alleged abuser as Heath only when he saw the politician on TV several years later. Earlier it was revealed a man had come forward to claim to police he had been abused by Heath at the age of 12 in a flat in Mayfair, central London, after he was picked up as a hitch-hiker when he ran away from home in 1961. London's Metropolitan Police said on Tuesday that it had been decided "there were no lines of inquiry that could proportionately be pursued" in relation to that rape allegation. Heath's supporters have been highly critical of the allegations being made against him. Former Tory MP Matthew Parris today slammed the "idiocy" surrounding the claims. But Heath is the highest-profile figure to emerge in allegations of a VIP paedophile ring.[7]
Events Participated in
| Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilderberg/1963 | 29 March 1963 | 31 March 1963 | France Cannes Hotel Martinez | The 12th Bilderberg meeting and the second one in France. |
| Bilderberg/1967 | 31 March 1967 | 2 April 1967 | UK Cambridge University/St John's College | Possibly the only Bilderberg meeting held in a university college rather than a hotel (St. John's College, Cambridge) |
| Bilderberg/1969 | 9 May 1969 | 11 May 1969 | Denmark Hotel Marienlyst Elsinore | The 18th Bilderberg meeting, with 85 participants |
| WEF/Annual Meeting/1980 | 1980 | 1980 | Switzerland WEF | "The constantly changing world" |
Related Document
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document:Tiny Rowland – portrait of the bastard as a rebel | Article | August 1990 | Nick Davies | All big entrepreneurs have the stink of unpopularity around them. Whether it is through envy or sincere distaste, Donald Trump, James Goldsmith, Rupert Murdoch, Robert Maxwell and Richard Branson have all become popular figures of hate. The one characteristic that has marked out Tiny Rowland is his lack of respect for authority. |
References
- ↑ https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/police-120-per-cent-sure-9848136
- ↑ https://www.winterwatch.net/2024/12/police-investigation-concludes-points-to-edward-heath-as-pederast-prime-minister-of-uk/
- ↑ https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-33772016
- ↑ Francis Boyd and Norman Shrapnel, Sir Edward Heath, The Guardian, 18 July 2005.
- ↑ Ted Heath 'stopped cottaging for gay sex to protect his career', says Tory MP http://www.standard.co.uk/news/ted-heath-stopped-cottaging-for-gay-sex-to-protect-his-career-says-tory-mp-7186167.html London Evening Standard 24 April 2007
- ↑ Ziegler 2010, pp81-2
- ↑ "Edward Heath fixed it for Jimmy Savile to receive OBE and attended Paedophile Information Exchange meetings"
