Denis Macshane

Cameron is the heir to Heath

Is David Cameron slowly revealing himself as the grandson Ted Heath never had

As David Cameron enjoys his Oedipal role in killing off any remnant of Thatcherism in today’s Conservative party, is he slowly revealing himself as the grandson Ted Heath never had? Mr Cameron seems happy with 1970s levels of taxation. He calls American policy against jihadi terrorism ‘simplistic’. He has apologised for Tory attacks on Nelson Mandela. As a hoodie-hugger he is soft on the causers of crime. The TUC had its stand at the Conservative conference and Mr Cameron is cultivating a relationship with Brendan Barber, the low-profile but very smart TUC general secretary.

So, as Mr Cameron buries Lady Thatcher, guess which previous Conservative prime minister also tried to shape a modern centre-ground Toryism that would harness all the best in Britain for sensible, sensitive middle-of-the-road policies. Step forward Edward Heath, who would have been 90 this year.

The time has come to rehabilitate Heath after the years in which he was the great unmentionable in British politics. When he died, Parliament was sitting and it was noticeable that the tributes in the Commons were warmer from Tony Blair and Labour politicians than the perfunctory goodbyes from the pre-Cameron Tory front bench.

Heath’s short government of less than four years is a fascinating case study. Heath rose swiftly to become a commanding minister while still a young man and then led his party away from the magic circle of old Etonians to a proclaimed modernisation. But his political gifts and ministerial dominance did not translate into being a good prime minister.

He was the last Conservative to try to lead his party and govern from the centre. It is a political commonplace that parties must command the centre-ground to win and hold power. Heath’s miserable four years in power showed how difficult the art is.

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