The Incredible Sulk

One of the longest sulks in British political history ended this evening with the death of former conservative PM Sir Edward Heath. He, like Margaret Thatcher after him, came from a humble background. His father was a carpenter and the young Heath went to a Grammar school. His rather strangulated vowel sounds were constantly ridiculed, especially in the pages of Private Eye under the editorship of that crashing snob Richard Ingrams.

In spite of an unexpected victory in the 1970 election he was seen, in the end, as something of a loser. He was a 'wet' and never accepted the swing to the right the party took with Thatcher, who beat him in the leadership election, something he remained bitter about for the rest of his life. His long sulk made him something of a sad and increasingly irrelevant figure and he never became the respected elder statesman he would liked to have been. He spent 50 years in the Commons and became 'Father of the House' .

History will probably be kind to him and he will be remembered as 'the first modern leader of the party' as Thatcher said of him today, but for most of us who remember him in office he never cut much of a figure I'm afraid.