It was not in the smoking rooms at White's or the parlors of Belgravia, but right in the House of Commons last week that the new leader of the Conservative Party was chosen. He was Edward Heath, a man as uncharacteristic of traditional Toryism as the system of open, gentlemanly election by which he was selected. A hard-driving professional politician up from the ranks (see box), Heath edged out Reginald Maudling in a short, sharp contest that left the Conservatives more united than beforeĀa legacy of outgoing leader Sir Alec Douglas-Home. Sir Alec's own selection by the Tories'...
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