The Strange Death of Tory England The Strange Death of Tory England The Strange Death of Tory England is a book of political commentary by the journalist Geoffrey Wheatcroft, published in 2005. In the run-up to the United Kingdom general election of 2005, Wheatcroft looks at the journey of the British Conservative Party, from being the country's most successful political party of the 20th century to its wilderness of a long period in opposition, by way of Margaret Thatcher's heyday and her fall from power and the quite different style of John Major. The book begins with the Conservative leadership contest of 1963, following the resignation
Edward Heath Trade and Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development, and oversaw the abolition of retail price maintenance. After the Conservative Party lost the general election of 1964, the defeated Home changed the party leadership rules to allow for a ballot by MPs, and then resigned. The following year, Heath—who was Shadow Chancellor at the time, and had recently won favourable publicity for leading the fight against Labour's Finance Bill—unexpectedly won the party's leadership contest, gaining 150 votes to Reginald Maudling's 133 and Enoch Powell's 15. Heath became the Conservatives' youngest leader and retained office after the party's defeat