Edward Heath the Liberal Party. Despite losing a second general election in October that year, he vowed to continue as leader of his party. In February 1975, Margaret Thatcher challenged and defeated him to win the leadership. Returning to the backbenches, Heath became an active critic of Thatcher's leadership. He remained a backbench MP until retiring at the 2001 election, serving as the Father of the House for his last nine years in Parliament. Outside politics, Heath was a world-class yachtsman and a talented musician. He died in 2005, aged 89. He is one of only four British prime ministers never to
British Columbia Conservative Party who was now in the anti-coalition faction, quit the party and crossed the floor to sit as a Social Credit League of British Columbia member and eventually formed the British Columbia Social Credit Party. In October 1951, the Liberal Party decided to dissolve the coalition; Premier Johnson dismissed his Conservative ministers including Anscomb and continued as a minority government. The Conservatives refounded their party calling themselves the "Progressive Conservatives" as the federal party had adopted the "Progressive" prefix in 1942. W. A. C. Bennett, a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), ran for the leadership of the Tories and lost.