Word: heaths
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Later that day, after a round of talks with party leaders, Mrs. Thatcher announced her new shadow cabinet. Though she dropped six members of retiring Opposition Leader Edward Heath's team, her action certainly did not constitute the "massacre" by the "queen of the Tory jungle" that the pro-Labor Daily Mirror called it. Overall, the new cabinet was slightly younger (average age: 49) and only slightly to the right of the one it replaces...
Perhaps the biggest surprise was the selection of Reginald Maudling, 57, as shadow Foreign Secretary to replace Geoffrey Rippon, a Heath loyalist. Maudling had been forced to resign as Home Secretary in 1972 amid accusations of questionable business judgment.* Mrs. Thatcher obviously thought it worth the risk to bring back Maud-ling, a Tory heavyweight who negotiated for Britain's entry into the European Free Trade Area during the late 1950s and who narrowly lost the party leadership to Heath ten years ago. As Mrs. Thatcher explained, "It seemed to me quite absurd to have that great reservoir...
Tory Credo. The more immediate concern of the party's liberal wing, however, is the fear that Mrs. Thatcher's aggressive championing of middle-class values may alienate working-class voters. Under the leadership of Macmillan, Home and Heath, the Conservatives had increasingly modified their traditional commitment to free-market policies, accepting a degree of both social welfarism and state interference in business. Mrs. Thatcher wants to reverse that trend and spearhead a return to a more traditional Tory credo: "I believe that a person who is prepared to work harder should receive greater rewards and keep them...
...first day as party leader, Mrs. Thatcher fixed herself a boiled egg for breakfast in her tony Flood Street house in Chelsea. Then she went to face ten party elders, including Whitelaw and Heath's shadow Chancellor Robert Carr, who warned her that they would refuse to serve in the shadow cabinet if she appointed Sir Keith Chancellor. Since Whitelaw accepted Mrs. Thatcher's offer of party deputy leadership later in the week, it is assumed that Sir Keith will have to settle for a less sensitive portfolio...
...Thatcher's offer to Heath of a shadow cabinet post was taken as further evidence of her willingness to mute party conflicts. Calling at his Wilton Street house-still under repair after a pre-Christmas I.R.A. bomb blast-she renewed her invitation to have him join her as shadow Foreign Secretary. As she knew in advance that he would, he declined, stating a preference for a less conspicuous backbench perch-perhaps in the hope that if things go badly for Mrs. Thatcher he will be recalled to party leadership...