Did Edward Heath deserve the name 'The Incredible Sulk'?

Since Attlee & Churchill

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Edward Heath spent more time in the House of Commons after he was Conservative leader (1975-2001) than beforehand. This long period, in which he was a frequent thorn-in-the-side of Margaret Thatcher and critic of her legacy, has become known as 'The Incredible Sulk.' But is that title fair? Why did Heath stick around for so long? What did he hope to achieve? And was he successful? That's the topic of this week's episode.

In this episode, the following books and articles are mentioned:

'Strengthening the Political Constitution' edited by Richard Johnson, published by Police Exchange. Available here: https://policyexchange.org.uk/publication/strengthening-the-political-constitution/

'Why a media savvy British politician-ambassador may be just what the US-UK relationship needs' by Richard Johnson, published by the LSE Blog. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2025/03/11/the-2024-elections-why-a-media-savvy-british-politician-ambassador-may-be-just-what-the-us-uk-relationship-needs/

'The Road to Inequality: How the Federal Highway Program Polarized America and Undermined Cities' by Clayton Nall. Available at: https://amzn.to/43OnQGs

'Bloody Panico! or Whatever happened to the Tory Party?' by Geoffrey Wheatcroft. Available at: https://amzn.to/4iyeMtT

Support the show

Since Attlee & Churchill is the podcast all about post-war British political history, hosted by:
Lee David Evans is an historian of the Conservative Party and the John Ramsden Fellow at the Mile End Institute, Queen Mary, University of London. He is on social media @LeeDavidEvansUK.
Richard Johnson is a Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary, University of London, and among his other areas of expertise is an historian of the Labour Party. He tweets at @richardmarcj.

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