Former UK prime minister Heath dies aged 89

By Peter Griffiths

LONDON (Reuters) – Former British Prime Minister Sir Edward
Heath, who took Britain into the forerunner of the European
Union during his term in office in the early 1970s, died at
home on Sunday, his party said. He was 89.

Heath ruled Britain from 1970 to 1974 but after losing
power was ousted as Conservative Party leader by Margaret
Thatcher, who went on to serve three terms.

As prime minister, he successfully negotiated Britain’s
entry into the European Economic Community in 1973 but later
saw his party abandon his pro-European views.

Prime Minister Tony Blair paid tribute to a man of
“integrity and beliefs he held firmly (and) from which he never
wavered.”

“He will be remembered by all who knew him as a political
leader of great stature and significance,” Blair said in a
statement.

Conservative Party leader Michael Howard said Britain had
lost “one of the political giants of the second half of the
20th century.

“He will always be rembered as the prime minister who took
Britain into the European Economic Community,” Howard said.
“But his achievements went far beyond that and his passing will
be mourned far and wide.”

Heath once described the process of taking Britain into
Europe as “the most enthralling episode in my life.” But his
achievements were soon overshadowed by economic problems and a
series of strikes.

After a showdown with striking coalminers that put British
industry on a three-day work week, he called an election in
February 1974 on the issue of “who rules” and lost.

He then went down to defeat in another election in October
that confirmed his Labour rival Harold Wilson as prime
minister.

Heath was ousted as leader of the Conservative party the
following year by Thatcher, his one-time education secretary.

Heath never forgave Thatcher for replacing him and
repeatedly criticized her in interviews.

“Whatever the lady does is wrong. I do not know of a single
right decision taken by her,” he once said.

Born on July 9, 1916 to a carpenter and a housemaid in
Broadstairs, a seaside resort in southeast England, Heath
became an organ scholar at Balliol College, Oxford.

Heath never married but was passionate about music and
frequently conducted orchestras as a skilled amateur. He also
shone as an international yachtsman.

(Additional reporting by Mike Peacock)