| Biography | Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, CH, PC (born 21 March 1933) is a Welsh-British businessman, Conservative politician and patron of the Tory Reform Group. He was a Member of Parliament from 1966 to 2001, and was a prominent figure in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. In 1990 he stood for the leadership of the Conservative Party against Margaret Thatcher and, while he was unsuccessful, his standing triggered Thatcher's eventual resignation.
Heseltine entered Parliament in 1966, entered the Cabinet in 1979 as Secretary of State for the Environment, where he promoted the "Right to buy" campaign that allowed two million families to purchase their council houses. He was Secretary of State for Defence from 1983 to 1986. In the latter role he was instrumental in the political battle against the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Heseltine was widely considered an adept media performer and a charismatic Minister, although he was frequently at odds with Thatcher on economic issues and was one of the most visible of the "wets" in that regard. He resigned from the Cabinet in 1986 over the Westland Affair and returned to the back benches. Following Geoffrey Howe's resignation speech in November 1990, Heseltine challenged Thatcher for the leadership of the Conservative Party, polling well enough to deny her an outright victory on the first ballot. He lost to John Major on the second ballot. Major returned Heseltine to the Cabinet.
As a key ally of Major, Heseltine rose to become President of the Board of Trade and, from 1995, Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State. He declined to seek the leadership of the party following Major's 1997 election defeat, but remained a vocal advocate for modernisation in the party. Heseltine was seen as a "One Nation" Tory, epitomised by his support for the regeneration of the City of Liverpool, at a time when it was facing economic collapse. The subsequent transformation of Liverpool, with his support, saw Heseltine having the award of Freeman of the City of Liverpool bestowed upon him in 2012 |