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Edward Heath dies

BillieTheBotBillieTheBot Posts: 8,721 Bot
in Politics & Debate
As you will have heard, the former Conservative PM Sir Edward Heath died yesterday. His major achievement during his premiership was to take Britain into Europe.

Obituary

Any thoughts on the man? As Tory MPs (and PMs) go he was a decent chap I think...

And his "rejoice!" comments regarding Thatcher's ousting from office were vintage... :D
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    SkiveSkive Posts: 15,286 Skive's The Limit
    He was good bloke. I've sat and had a pint and chatted with him at my local on at least two occasions.
    Weekender Offender 
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I can't say I know much so can't really comment.

    Old old politics teacher once served him a pint though.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Like most politicians looking for their place in history, he sold the country a lie. In his case it was the Common Market.

    Unlike most politicians, he seems to admit as much in his later years.

    To be honest though, in spite of all the "cannot-speak-ill-of-the-dead" comments in the past few hours, I think he was a bit of an irrelevance.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Always thought he proved the truth of the saying 'All political careers end in failure'.

    The 'troubles' in Northern Ireland got far worse under his leadership - partially due to his laissez-faire attitude and partially when he did get involved he seemed to make the worst possible decisions.

    He brought us into the Common Market on such poor terms that even after being rengotiated the effects are still with us today, he failed to address economic decline. And on going into an election on 'Who governs Britian' he found out it wasn't him.

    I'm sure he was a decent man, but he was a political failure and a pretty poor PM.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    /me = sad
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Sad news and by all accounts a nice man. A crap PM by the sounds of it. Joining the EU was obviously in itself a colossal mistake. Although Heath made that mistake even worse by accepting such terrible terms as NQA points out. We can thank Heath Britain’s rich fishing waters becoming an EU common resource. Thankfully Thatcher had the guts to get the rebate at least; clearing up some of Heath’s mess.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I find it a bit sad that he hasn't recieved a lot of media coverage. After seeing the announcement on the BBC News website, I tuned into the 24 hour news channels and they didn't even mention it, even in the headlines bit. I think he was on roughly page twelve of the Mirror today.

    Although I liked and had a lot more sympathy for Jim Callaghan and he got a lot more coverage when he died earlier this year, it just seems a bit sad. Incidentally both men are covered in a module I just did under the heading "The Politics of Failure"! (Bit harsh IMHO)

    It'll be like the Queen dying when Maggie pops her clogs though, they'll interrupt all normal programming and a good few acres of Amazon rainforest will go on stories about her.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    he was a failure full stop but ...i find it funny that during his few years in office ...the wealth gap between the haves and have nots shrunk to its smallest ever.
    was that because of him or the unions?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    kevlar85 wrote:
    It'll be like the Queen dying when Maggie pops her clogs .
    more like when satan is thrown into the abyss.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    who?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    morrocan roll wrote:
    more like when satan is thrown into the abyss.
    And an impromptu street carnival in towns and cities across the land.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote:
    And an impromptu street carnival in towns and cities across the land.
    :thumb: i'll put money on it mate!
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    We can be sure that Elvis Costello will be celebrating her demise. He's even promised to "Tramp the Dirt Down". ;)
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I've heard of someone who's had fireworks in storage for a couple years now in preparation... :D
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote:
    I've heard of someone who's had fireworks in storage for a couple years now in preparation... :D

    They'll probably be past there sell by date and won't explode. :lol:
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    A medicore PM, IMO.

    RIP anyhow.

    But he wasn't married. Probably a closet batty man.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    He tricked us into the EU, that is not somehting to be proud of.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Best thing that ever happened to this country.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote:
    Best thing that ever happened to this country.

    What? The Prime Minister and top ministers lying to get us into an institution which the vast majority of people in the UK to some extent are suspisous off? And on terms so bad the next Prime Minister had to demand they be altered - with knock on effects for the next twenty years.

    Even if joining the EEC (not the EU) was a good idea in principle, surely the handling off it by Heath was crass, undemocratic and devisive.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    A flawed entry was still infinitely better for Britain than staying out.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Possibly, though the benefits don't seem to be as great people claim. OK I have some sympathy with the argument that if the rest of Europe seemed to be banding together to set up a protectionist zone that if the UK needed to trade with them we needed to join.

    I'm not sure I've seen many other benefits to the UK.

    Now if I was Southern Irish or one of the other historically poorer European countries I might see benefits. Wasn't one of the big selling point for Spain was that 3 in 10 roads were built with European (ie British, French and German) money? But as a Brit the benefits seem marginal to me and the economic advantages have to be weighted against the social and political disadvantages.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    was he gay ? never married and was a Yacht's man maybe because there are no cameras out to sea.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Iknowyourmum wrote:
    was he gay ? never married and was a Yacht's man maybe because there are no cameras out to sea.
    his yacht ...morning cloud if i remember right ...was busted for smuggling cannabis ...well the creqw were ...twice i think.
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