The Gentlemanly Affair

It was not in the smoking rooms at White's or the parlors of Belgravia, but right in the House of Commons last week that the new leader of the Conservative Party was chosen. He was Edward Heath, a man as uncharacteristic of traditional Toryism as the system of open, gentlemanly election by which he was selected. A hard-driving professional politician up from the ranks (see box), Heath edged out Reginald Maudling in a short, sharp contest that left the Conservatives more united than before--a legacy of outgoing leader Sir Alec Douglas-Home. Sir Alec's own selection by the Tories' "magic circle" in 1963 had caused such acrimony that he was led to institute the ballot by Tory M.P.s.

Scarcely had Sir Alec resigned than the two camps, one for Heath, one for Maudling, began to form. But for opposite reasons, neither camp did much canvassing in the five days preceding the vote in House of Commons Room 14. That, too, aided the gentlemanly outcome.

Looking for the Touch. Maudling's men hardly campaigned for their man because they saw little need to. A large, relaxed man with a brilliant, well-honed mind, Maudling had been Chancellor of the Exchequer and deputy party leader, and thus seemed the more seasoned and deserving. He was, moreover, a cut closer to the traditional Tory mold, the preferred of the party's older hands. "He's the kind of decent chap that's so much like us," observed one, contrasting him with the more aggressive Heath. Maudling's camp relaxed, confident that he would win. The pollsters encouraged them: one newspaper survey found Britons preferred Maudling to Heath 44% to 28% .

Heath was the favorite of the party's Young Turks, who hesitated to press his candidacy too hard for fear of seeming "pushy." They knew him as the Tories' chief front-bench fighter against Prime Minister Harold Wilson's finance bill. Tough, computer-quick, he also loomed as the intellectual innovator behind the scenes, having been assigned by Sir Alec to preside over a rethinking of basic Tory policy. Maudling, by contrast, had been nearly invisible as shadow foreign secretary in the Commons, unable to attack Wilson effectively, since Labor's foreign policy is one with which the Tories largely agree.

News at Lunch. In the end, the Young Turks and the advocates of toughness won. On the first ballot, Heath polled 150 votes, Maudling 133, and 15 votes went to a third candidate.

Heath thus got an overall majority of two but fell 28 short of the 15% winning margin that the rules require. A second ballot was thus in order, but Maudling, reached at lunch with fellow directors of his bank, saw that a clear choice had been made. In the interests of party unity, he telephoned Heath his congratulations and withdrew his own candidacy.

With Maudling at his side, Heath marched into the House of Commons two days later as party leader amid cheers from the Tory benches. Any real encounter with Wilson, however, will have to wait until fall, when Parliament resumes after the recess starting this week.

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