Second Shadow Cabinet of Edward Heath the party was dissatisfied because of repeated losses at elections. She won, becoming the first female leader of a major political party in Britain. Second Shadow Cabinet of Edward Heath The Second Shadow Cabinet of Edward Heath was created after the Conservative Party lost the February 1974 general election. It was led by the Leader of the Conservative Party Edward Heath and featured prominent Conservative politicians both past and future. Included was Heath’s successor Margaret Thatcher, the future Home Secretary William Whitelaw, and two future Foreign Secretaries, Lord Carrington and Francis Pym. For the first time in history, a leadership
1990 Conservative Party (UK) leadership election was John Major, little known to the public hitherto, who had briefly been promoted to succeed Howe as Foreign Secretary in July before succeeding Lawson as Chancellor in October, putting him in pole position to succeed Thatcher. In December 1989, Thatcher was challenged for the leadership for the first time since her election to that position in 1975, by the little known 69-year-old backbench MP Sir Anthony Meyer. Thatcher faced no serious threat of losing to this stalking horse challenger, but her political credibility was undermined by the fact that 60 members of the parliamentary Conservative party had not supported