Alec Douglas-Home
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Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 18 October 1963 – 16 October 1964 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Monarch | Elizabeth II | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Harold Macmillan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Harold Wilson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Leader of the Opposition | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 16 October 1964 – 28 July 1965 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Monarch | Elizabeth II | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Harold Wilson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Harold Wilson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Edward Heath | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Leader of the Conservative Party | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 18 October 1963 – 28 July 1965 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Harold Macmillan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Edward Heath | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home 2 July 1903 London, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 9 October 1995 Coldstream, Berwickshire, Scotland | (aged 92)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Political party | Conservative | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other political affiliations | Unionist | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouse |
Elizabeth Alington (m. 1936; died 1990) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Children | 4, including David, 15th Earl of Home | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Relatives |
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Education | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Signature | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Military service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Branch/service | British Army | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rank | Major | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Unit | Territorial Army | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Commands | Lanarkshire Yeomanry | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cricket information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bowling | Right-arm fast-medium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1924–1925 | Middlesex | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1926 | Oxford Univ. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1926/27 | MCC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Cricinfo | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel,
Within six years of first entering the House of Commons in 1931, Douglas-Home (then called by the courtesy title Lord Dunglass) became a parliamentary aide to Neville Chamberlain, witnessing first-hand Chamberlain's efforts as prime minister to preserve peace through appeasement in the two years before the outbreak of the Second World War. In 1940 Dunglass was diagnosed with spinal tuberculosis and was immobilised for two years. By the later stages of the war he had recovered enough to resume his political career, but he lost his seat in the general election of 1945. He regained it in 1950, but the following year he left the Commons when, on the death of his father, he inherited the earldom of Home and thereby became a member of the House of Lords. Under the premierships of Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan he was appointed to a series of increasingly senior posts, including Leader of the House of Lords and Foreign Secretary. In the latter post, which he held from 1960 to 1963, he supported United States resolve in the Cuban Missile Crisis and in August 1963 was the United Kingdom's signatory to the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
In October 1963 Macmillan was taken ill and resigned as prime minister. Home was chosen to succeed him. By the 1960s it had become generally considered unacceptable for a prime minister to sit in the House of Lords; Home renounced his earldom and successfully stood for election to the House of Commons. The manner of his appointment was controversial, and two of Macmillan's cabinet ministers refused to take office under him. He was criticised by the Labour Party as an aristocrat, out of touch with the problems of ordinary families, and he came over stiffly in television interviews, by contrast with the Labour leader, Harold Wilson. The Conservative Party, in power since 1951, had lost standing as a result of the Profumo affair, a 1963 sex scandal involving a defence minister, and at the time of Home's appointment as prime minister it seemed headed for heavy electoral defeat. Home's premiership was the second briefest of the twentieth century, lasting two days short of a year. Among the legislation passed under his government was the abolition of resale price maintenance, bringing costs down for the consumer against the interests of producers of food and other commodities.
After a narrow defeat in
Early life and education
Douglas-Home was born on 2 July 1903 at 28
In 1918 the 12th Earl of Home died; Dunglass succeeded him in the earldom, and the courtesy title passed to his son, Alec Douglas-Home, who was styled Lord Dunglass until 1951.[3] The young Lord Dunglass was educated at Ludgrove School, followed by Eton College. At Eton his contemporaries included Cyril Connolly, who later described him as:
[A] votary of the esoteric Eton religion, the kind of graceful, tolerant, sleepy boy who is showered with favours and crowned with all the laurels, who is liked by the masters and admired by the boys without any apparent exertion on his part, without experiencing the ill-effects of success himself or arousing the pangs of envy in others. In the 18th century he would have become Prime Minister before he was 30. As it was, he appeared honourably ineligible for the struggle of life.[4]
After Eton, Dunglass went to
Dunglass was a talented sportsman. In addition to representing Eton at
Dunglass began serving in the
Member of Parliament (1931–1937)
Election to Parliament
The courtesy title Lord Dunglass did not carry with it membership of the
Dunglass had shown little interest in politics while at Eton or Oxford. He had not joined the
With Skelton's support Dunglass secured the Unionist candidacy at Coatbridge for the 1929 general election.[18] It was not a seat that the Unionists expected to win, and he lost to his Labour opponent with 9,210 votes to Labour's 16,879.[19] It was, however, valuable experience for Dunglass, who was of a gentle and uncombative disposition and not a natural orator; he began to learn how to deal with hostile audiences and get his message across.[20] When a coalition "National Government" was formed in 1931 to deal with a financial crisis Dunglass was adopted as the pro-coalition Unionist candidate for Lanark. The electorate of the area was mixed, and the constituency was not seen as a safe seat for any party; at the 1929 election Labour had captured it from the Unionists. However, with the pro-coalition Liberal party supporting him instead of fielding their own candidate, Dunglass easily beat the Labour candidate.[21]
House of Commons
Membership of the new House of Commons was overwhelmingly made up of pro-coalition MPs, and there was therefore a large number of eligible members for the government posts to be filled. In Dutton's phrase, "it would have been easy for Dunglass to have languished indefinitely in
During four years as Skelton's aide Dunglass was part of a team working on a wide range of issues, from medical services in rural Scotland to land settlements, fisheries, education, and industry.[23] Dunglass was appointed official PPS to Anthony Muirhead, junior minister at the Ministry of Labour, in 1935, and less than a year later became PPS to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Neville Chamberlain.[24]
Wartime career (1937–1945)
Chamberlain and war
By the time of Dunglass's appointment Chamberlain was generally seen as the heir to the premiership,[25] and in 1937 the incumbent, Stanley Baldwin, retired, and Chamberlain succeeded him. He retained Dunglass as his PPS, a role described by the biographer D. R. Thorpe as "the right-hand man ... the eyes and ears of Neville Chamberlain",[26] and by Dutton as "liaison officer with the Parliamentary party, transmitting and receiving information and [keeping] his master informed of the mood on the government's back benches."[27] This was particularly important for Chamberlain, who was often seen as distant and aloof;[28] Douglas Hurd wrote that he "lacked the personal charm which makes competent administration palatable to wayward colleagues – a gift which his parliamentary private secretary possessed in abundance."[29] Dunglass admired Chamberlain, despite his daunting personality: "I liked him, and I think he liked me. But if one went in at the end of the day for a chat or a gossip, he would be inclined to ask 'What do you want?' He was a very difficult man to get to know."[30]
As Chamberlain's aide Dunglass witnessed at first-hand the Prime Minister's attempts to prevent a second world war through
Military service and backbench MP
Dunglass had volunteered for active military service, seeking to rejoin the Lanarkshire Yeomanry[29] shortly after Chamberlain left Downing Street. The consequent medical examination revealed that Dunglass had a hole in his spine surrounded by tuberculosis in the bone. Without surgery he would have been unable to walk within a matter of months.[36] An innovative and hazardous operation was performed in September 1940, lasting six hours, in which the diseased bone in the spine was scraped away and replaced with healthy bone from the patient's shin.[36]
You have put backbone into a politician!
Dunglass to his surgeon[37]
For all of Dunglass's humour and patience, the following two years were a grave trial. He was encased in plaster and kept flat on his back for most of that period. Although buoyed up by the sensitive support of his wife and family, as he later confessed, "I often felt that I would be better dead".
In July 1943 Dunglass attended the House of Commons for the first time since 1940, and began to make a reputation as a backbench member, particularly for his expertise in the field of foreign affairs.[41] He foresaw a post-imperial future for Britain and emphasised the need for strong European ties after the war.[42] In 1944, with the war now turning in the Allies' favour, Dunglass spoke eloquently about the importance of resisting the Soviet Union's ambition to dominate eastern Europe. His boldness in publicly urging Churchill not to give in to Joseph Stalin was widely remarked upon; many, including Churchill himself, observed that some of those once associated with appeasement were determined that it should not be repeated in the face of Russian aggression.[43] Labour left the wartime coalition in May 1945 and Churchill formed a caretaker Conservative government, pending a general election in July. Dunglass was appointed to his first ministerial post: Anthony Eden remained in charge of the Foreign Office, and Dunglass was appointed as one of his two Under-secretaries of State.[44]
Postwar career (1950–1960)
Re-election to Parliament and peerage
In 1950, Clement Attlee, the Labour prime minister, called a general election. Dunglass was invited to stand once again as Unionist candidate for Lanark. Having been disgusted at personal attacks during the 1945 campaign by Tom Steele, his Labour opponent, Dunglass did not scruple to remind the voters of Lanark that Steele had warmly thanked the Communist Party and its members for helping him take the seat from the Unionists. By 1950, with the Cold War at its height, Steele's association with the communists was a crucial electoral liability.[45] Dunglass regained the seat with one of the smallest majorities in any British constituency: 19,890 to Labour's 19,205.[46] Labour narrowly won the general election, with a majority of five.[47]
In July 1951 the 13th earl died. Dunglass succeeded him, inheriting the title of
Minister for Scotland
Home was appointed to the new post of Minister of State at the Scottish Office, a middle-ranking position, senior to Under-secretary but junior to
Throughout Churchill's second term as prime minister (1951–55) Home remained at the Scottish Office, although both Eden at the Foreign Office and
Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs
When Eden succeeded Churchill as prime minister in 1955 he promoted Home to the cabinet as Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations. At the time of this appointment Home had not been to any of the countries within his ministerial remit, and he quickly arranged to visit Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, India, Pakistan and Ceylon.[56] He had to deal with the sensitive subject of immigration from and between Commonwealth countries, where a delicate balance had to be struck between resistance in some quarters in Britain and Australia to non-white immigration on the one hand, and on the other the danger of sanctions in India and Pakistan against British commercial interests if discriminatory policies were pursued.[57] In most respects, when Home took up the appointment it seemed to be a relatively uneventful period in the history of the Commonwealth. The upheaval of Indian independence in 1947 was well in the past, and the wave of decolonising of the 1960s was yet to come.[58] However, it fell to Home to maintain Commonwealth unity during the Suez Crisis in 1956, described by Dutton as "the most divisive in its history to date".[56] Australia, New Zealand and South Africa backed the Anglo-French invasion of Egypt to regain control of the Suez Canal. Canada, Ceylon, India and Pakistan opposed it.[59]
There appeared to be a real danger that Ceylon, India and, particularly, Pakistan might leave the Commonwealth.[59] Home was firm in his support of the invasion, but used his contacts with Jawaharlal Nehru, V. K. Krishna Menon, Nan Pandit and others to try to prevent the Commonwealth from breaking up.[60] His relationship with Eden was supportive and relaxed; he felt able, as others did not, to warn Eden of unease about Suez both internationally and among some members of the cabinet. Eden dismissed the latter as the "weak sisters";[61] the most prominent was Butler, whose perceived hesitancy over Suez on top of his support for appeasement of Hitler damaged his standing within the Conservative party.[62] When the invasion was abandoned under pressure from the US in November 1956, Home worked with the dissenting members of the Commonwealth to build the organisation into what Hurd calls "a modern multiracial Commonwealth"[29] (notwithstanding the Commonwealth was already multiracial.)
Macmillan's government
Eden resigned in January 1957. In 1955 he had been the obvious successor to Churchill, but this time there was no clear heir apparent. Leaders of the Conservative party were not elected by ballot of MPs or party members, but emerged after informal soundings within the party, known as "the customary processes of consultation".
In the new government Home remained at the Commonwealth Relations Office. Much of his time was spent on matters relating to Africa, where the futures of
Home was generally warmly regarded by colleagues and opponents alike, and there were few politicians who did not respond well to him. One was Attlee, but as their political primes did not overlap this was of minor consequence.[66] More important was Iain Macleod's prickly relationship with Home. Macleod, Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1959 to 1961, was, like Butler, on the liberal wing of the Conservative party; he was convinced, as Home was not, that Britain's colonies in Africa should have majority rule and independence as quickly as possible. Their spheres of influence overlapped in the Central African Federation.[n 5]
Macleod wished to push ahead with majority rule and independence; Home believed in a more gradual approach to independence, accommodating both white minority and black majority opinions and interests. Macleod disagreed with those who warned that precipitate independence would lead the newly independent nations into "trouble, strife, poverty, dictatorship" and other evils.[68] His reply was, "Would you want the Romans to have stayed on in Britain?"[68] He threatened to resign unless he was allowed to release the leading Nyasaland activist Hastings Banda from prison, a move that Home and others thought unwise and liable to provoke distrust of Britain among the white minority in the federation.[69] Macleod had his way, but by that time Home was no longer at the Commonwealth Relations Office.[70]
Foreign Secretary (1960–1963)
Appointment
In 1960 the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
After discussions with Lloyd and senior civil servants, Macmillan took the unprecedented step of appointing two Foreign Office cabinet ministers: Home, as Foreign Secretary, in the Lords, and Edward Heath, as Lord Privy Seal and deputy Foreign Secretary, in the Commons. With British application for admission to the European Economic Community (EEC) pending, Heath was given particular responsibility for the EEC negotiations as well as for speaking in the Commons on foreign affairs in general.[74]
Objection at appointment
The opposition Labour party protested at Home's appointment; its leader,
Cold War
Home's attention was mainly concentrated on the Cold War, where his forcefully expressed anti-communist beliefs were tempered by a pragmatic approach to dealing with the Soviet Union. His first major problem in this sphere was in 1961 when on the orders of the Soviet leader,
The following year the
There has been a good deal of speculation about Russia's motives. To me they are quite clear. Their motive was to test the will of the United States and to see how the President of the United States, in particular, would react against a threat of force. If the President had failed for one moment in a matter which affected the security of the United States, no ally of America would have had confidence in United States protection ever again.[83]
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
The principal landmark of Home's term as Foreign Secretary was also in the sphere of east–west relations: the negotiation and signature of the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963. He got on well with his American and Soviet counterparts, Rusk and Andrei Gromyko. The latter wrote that whenever he met Home there were "no sudden, still less brilliant, breakthroughs" but "each meeting left a civilised impression that made the next meeting easier." Gromyko concluded that Home added sharpness to British foreign policy.[84] Gromyko, Home and Rusk signed the treaty in Moscow on 5 August 1963.[85] After the fear provoked internationally by the Cuban Missile Crisis, the ban on nuclear testing in the atmosphere, in outer space and under water was widely welcomed as a step towards ending the cold war.[85] For the British government the good news from Moscow was doubly welcome for drawing attention away from the Profumo affair, a sexual scandal involving a senior minister, which had left Macmillan's government looking vulnerable.[86]
Successor to Macmillan
In October 1963, just before the Conservative party's annual conference, Macmillan was taken ill with a prostatic obstruction. The condition was at first thought more serious than it turned out to be, and he announced that he would resign as prime minister as soon as a successor was appointed. Three senior politicians were considered likely successors, Butler (First Secretary of State), Reginald Maudling (Chancellor of the Exchequer) and Lord Hailsham (Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Lords). The Times summed up their support:
Mr. Butler can no doubt be sure of a majority inside the Cabinet, where the main initiative must now be taken. Mr. Maudling, when Parliament dispersed at the beginning of August, could have commanded a majority among backbenchers in the Commons. Lord Hailsham, as his reception showed today on his first appearance before the conference, continues to be the darling of the constituency associations.[87]
In the same article, Home was mentioned in passing as "a fourth hypothetical candidate" on whom the party could compromise if necessary.[87]
It was assumed in the Times article, and by other commentators, that if Hailsham (or Home) was a candidate he would have to renounce his peerage.
Having ruled himself out of the race when the news of Macmillan's illness broke, Home angered at least two of his cabinet colleagues by changing his mind.[2] Macmillan quickly came to the view that Home would be the best choice as his successor, and gave him valuable behind-the-scenes backing. He let it be known that if he recovered he would be willing to serve as a member of a Home cabinet.[96] He had earlier favoured Hailsham, but changed his mind when he learned from Lord Harlech, the British ambassador to the US, that the Kennedy administration was uneasy at the prospect of Hailsham as prime minister,[97] and from his chief whip that Hailsham, seen as a right-winger, would alienate moderate voters.[98]
Butler, by contrast, was seen as on the liberal wing of the Conservatives, and his election as leader might split the party.[98] The Lord Chancellor, Lord Dilhorne, conducted a poll of cabinet members, and reported to Macmillan that taking account of first and second preferences there were ten votes for Home, four for Maudling, three for Butler and two for Hailsham.[99][n 8]
The appointment of a prime minister remained part of the
A nice chap and a polite peer. But Caligula's appointment of his horse as a consul was an act of prudent statesmanship compared with this gesture of sickbed levity by Mr. Macmillan. ... Alec (not Smart Alec – just Alec) is playing chess with a Cabinet containing at least four members of greater stature, brain-power, personality and potential than himself. Butler has been betrayed, Maudling insulted, Macleod ignored, Heath treated with contempt, and Hailsham giggled out of court by the jester in hospital.[108]
The Times, generally pro-Conservative, had backed Butler,[109] and called it "prodigal" of the party to pass over his many talents. The paper praised Home as "an outstandingly successful Foreign Secretary", but doubted his grasp of domestic affairs, his modernising instincts and his suitability "to carry the Conservative Party through a fierce and probably dirty campaign" at the general election due within a year.[110] The Guardian, liberal in its political outlook, remarked that Home "does not look like the man to impart force and purpose to his Cabinet and the country" and suggested that he seemed too frail politically to be even a stop-gap.[111] The Observer, another liberal-minded paper, said, "The overwhelming – and damaging – impression left by the events of the last two weeks is that the Tories have been forced to settle for a second-best. ... The calmness and steadiness which made him a good Foreign Secretary, particularly at times of crisis like Berlin and Cuba, may also be a liability."[112]
In January 1964, and in the absence of any other information, Macleod now editor of
Prime Minister (1963–1964)
Harold Wilson → | |
Coat of arms of HM Government |
On 23 October 1963, four days after becoming prime minister, Home disclaimed his earldom and associated lesser peerages.
The Parliamentary leader of the opposition Labour party,
Douglas-Home inherited from Macmillan a government widely perceived as in decline; Hurd wrote that it was "becalmed in a sea of satire and scandal."
In international affairs, the most dramatic event during Douglas-Home's premiership was the
In Britain there was economic prosperity; exports "zoomed", according to The Times, and the economy was growing at an annual rate of four per cent.[129] Douglas-Home made no pretence to economic expertise; he commented that his problems were of two sorts: "The political ones are insoluble and the economic ones are incomprehensible."[130] On another occasion he said, "When I have to read economic documents I have to have a box of matches and start moving them into position to simplify and illustrate the points to myself."[131] He left Maudling in charge at the Treasury, and promoted Heath to a new business and economic portfolio. The latter took the lead in the one substantial piece of domestic legislation of Douglas-Home's premiership, the abolition of resale price maintenance.[29]
The
A plot to kidnap Douglas-Home in April 1964 was foiled by the Prime Minister himself. Two left-wing students from the
The term of the Parliament elected in 1959 was due to expire in October 1964. Parliament was dissolved on 25 September and following three weeks of campaigning the 1964 general election took place on 15 October. Douglas-Home's speeches dealt with the future of the nuclear deterrent, while fears of Britain's relative decline in the world, reflected in chronic balance of payment problems, helped the Labour Party's case.[138] The Conservatives under Douglas-Home did much better than widely predicted, but Labour under Wilson won with a narrow majority. Labour won 317 seats, the Conservatives 304 and the Liberals 9.[139]
In Opposition (1964–1970)
As Leader of the Opposition, Douglas-Home persuaded Macleod and Powell to rejoin the Conservative front bench. Within weeks of the general election Butler retired from politics, accepting the post of Master of
Determined that the party should abandon the "customary processes of consultation", which had caused such rancour when he was appointed in 1963, Douglas-Home set up an orderly process of secret balloting by Conservative MPs for the election of his immediate and future successors as party leader. In the interests of impartiality the ballot was organised by the 1922 Committee, the backbench Conservative MPs.[144] Douglas-Home announced his resignation as Conservative leader on 22 July 1965. Three candidates stood in the 1965 Conservative Party leadership election: Heath, Maudling and Powell. Heath won with 150 votes (one of them cast by Douglas-Home) to 133 for Maudling and 15 for Powell.[145]
Douglas-Home accepted the foreign affairs portfolio in Heath's shadow cabinet. Many expected this to be a short-lived appointment, a prelude to Douglas-Home's retirement from politics.
In 1966 Douglas-Home became president of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), which was then the governing body of English and world cricket. The presidency had generally been a largely ceremonial position, but Douglas-Home became embroiled in two controversies, one of them with international implications.[147] This was the so-called "D'Oliveira affair", in which the inclusion of a non-white player in the England team to tour South Africa led to the cancellation of the tour by the apartheid regime in Pretoria. In his account of the affair, the political journalist Peter Oborne criticises Douglas-Home for his vacillating attitude towards South African prime minister John Vorster with whom, says Oborne, "he was no more robust than Chamberlain had been with Hitler thirty years earlier".[148] Douglas-Home's advice to the MCC committee not to press the South Africans for advance assurances on D'Oliveira's acceptability, and his optimistic assurances that all would be well, became a matter of much criticism from a group of MCC members led by the Rev David Sheppard.[147] The second controversy was not one of race but of social class. Brian Close was dropped as England captain in favour of Colin Cowdrey. Close was dropped after using delaying tactics when captaining Yorkshire in a county match, but the move was widely seen as biased towards cricketers from the old amateur tradition,[149] which had officially ended in 1963.[n 13]
Wilson's small majority after the 1964 general election had made the transaction of government business difficult, and in 1966 he called another election in which Labour gained a strong working majority of 96. Some older members of Heath's team, including Lloyd, retired from the front bench, making room for members of the next generation.
Douglas-Home received an
Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary (1970–1974)
Heath invited Douglas-Home to join the cabinet, taking charge of Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. In earlier centuries it had not been exceptional for a former prime minister to serve in the cabinet of a successor, and even in the previous fifty years
The Wilson government had merged the Colonial Office and the Commonwealth Relations Office in 1966 into the
Within weeks of the election Barber was moved from the FCO to the Treasury to take over as Chancellor from Iain Macleod, who died suddenly on 20 July. Though they had never enjoyed an easy relationship, Douglas-Home recognised his colleague's stature, and felt his loss politically as well as personally.[168] Some commentators have maintained that Macleod's death and replacement by the less substantial figure of Barber fatally undermined the economic success of the Heath government.[169]
Barber was replaced at the FCO by Geoffrey Rippon, who handled the day-to-day negotiations, under the direction of Heath. Douglas-Home, as before, concentrated on east–west and Commonwealth matters. He was in agreement with Heath's policy on the EEC, and did much to persuade doubters on the right wing of the Conservative party of the desirability of Britain's entry. Hurd writes:
By temperament and background he was some distance removed from Heath's passionate commitment to a united Europe. All the more important was his steadfast support for British entry, which he based on a clear assessment of Britain's place in the modern world, and in particular her relationship with France and Germany on the one hand and the United States on the other ... thus providing the right of the Conservative Party with much needed assurance.[29]
In east–west relations, Douglas-Home continued his policy of keeping the Soviet Union at bay. In September 1971, after receiving no satisfactory results from negotiations with Gromyko about the flagrant activities of the KGB in Britain, he expelled 105 Soviet diplomats for spying.[170] In addition to the furore arising from this,[171] the Soviets felt that the British government's approach to negotiations on détente in Europe was over-cautious, even sceptical.[170] Gromyko was nonetheless realistic enough to maintain a working relationship with the British government.[171] Within days of the expulsions from London he and Douglas-Home met and discussed the Middle East and disarmament.[171] In this sphere of foreign policy, Douglas-Home was widely judged a success.[170]
In negotiations on the future of Rhodesia Douglas-Home was less successful. He was instrumental in persuading the rebel leader,
Retirement (1974–1995)
At the
Between 1977 and 1989 Home was Governor of I Zingari, the nomadic cricket team.[176] In retirement he published three books: The Way The Wind Blows (1976), described by Hurd as "a good-natured autobiography, with perhaps more anecdotes than insights", Border Reflections (1979),[177] and his correspondence with his grandson Matthew Darby, Letters to a Grandson (1983).[178] In the 1980s Home increasingly spent his time in Scotland, with his family. He was a keen fisherman and enjoyed shooting. Hurd writes that "there was no sudden moment when he abandoned politics", rather that "his interventions became fewer and fewer".[29] His last speech in the House of Lords was in 1989, when he spoke against Hurd's proposals for prosecuting war criminals living in Britain: "After such a lapse of time justice might not be seen to be done. It would be dangerous to rely on memories of events that occurred so long ago. It was too late to reopen the issue."[179] His withdrawal from public affairs became more marked after the death of his wife in 1990, after 54 years of marriage.[29]
Personal life
In 1936 Douglas-Home married
Douglas-Home died at the Hirsel in October 1995 when he was 92, four months after the death of his parliamentary opponent Harold Wilson. Home was buried in Lennel churchyard, Coldstream.[182]
Reputation
Home's premiership was short and not conspicuous for radical innovation. Hurd remarks, "He was not capable of Macmillan's flights of imagination", but he was an effective practical politician.[29] At the Commonwealth Relations Office and the Foreign Office he played an important role in helping to manage Britain's transition from imperial power to European partner. Both Thorpe and Hurd quote a memo that Macmillan wrote in 1963, intended to help the Queen choose his successor:
Lord Home is clearly a man who represents the old governing class at its best ... He is not ambitious in the sense of wanting to scheme for power, although not foolish enough to resist honour when it comes to him ... He gives that impression by a curious mixture of great courtesy, and even if yielding to pressure, with underlying rigidity on matters of principle. It is interesting that he has proved himself so much liked by men like President Kennedy and Mr Rusk and Mr Gromyko. This is exactly the quality that the class to which he belongs have at their best because they think about the question under discussion and not about themselves.[184]
Douglas Hurd, once Home's private secretary, and many years later his successor (after seven intermediate holders of the post) as Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, wrote this personal comment: "The three most courteous men I knew in politics were Lord Home,
Although some in the Conservative party agreed with Wilson (and Jo Grimond, the Liberal leader) that the Conservatives would have won the 1964 election if Butler had been prime minister, The Times observed, "it should not be overlooked that in October 1963 Home took over a Government whose morale was shattered and whose standing in the opinion polls was abysmal. A year later Labour won the general election, with an overall majority of only four seats. That [Home] recovered so much ground in so short a time was in itself an achievement." Looking back across Home's career, The Times considered that his reputation rested not on his brief premiership, but on his two spells as Foreign Secretary: "He brought to the office ... his capacity for straight talking, for toughness towards the Soviet Union and for firmness (sometimes interpreted as a lack of sympathy) towards the countries of Africa and Asia. But he brought something else as well: an unusual degree of international respect."[2]
Cabinet (1963–1964)
The Home cabinet, announced on 20 October 1963, was:[185]
- Lord Home (Sir Alec Douglas-Home from 23 October): Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury
- Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
- Quintin Hogg: Lord President of the Council and Minister for Science
- Lord Dilhorne: Lord Chancellor
- Reginald Maudling: Chancellor of the Exchequer[186]
- Secretary of State for the Home Department
- Duncan Sandys: Secretary of State for the Colonies and Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations
- Secretary of State for Industry, Trade, and Regional Development and President of the Board of Trade
- Peter Thorneycroft: Minister of Defence
- Selwyn Lloyd: Lord Privy Seal
- Lord Blakenham: Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
- Christopher Soames: Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
- Ernest Marples: Minister of Transport
- John Boyd-Carpenter: Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
- Michael Noble: Secretary of State for Scotland
- Minister of Education
- Minister of Labour
- Minister of Housing and Local Governmentand Minister for Welsh Affairs
- Frederick Erroll: Minister of Power
- Minister of Health
- Geoffrey Rippon: Minister of Public Building and Works
- W F Deedes: Minister without Portfolio
- Lord Carrington: Minister without Portfolio, Leader of the House of Lords
- Changes
- April 1964: Quintin Hogg became Secretary of State for Education and Science. Sir Edward Boyle left the cabinet. The post of Minister of Defence became Secretary of State for Defence with Thorneycroft retaining it.
Arms
|
Notes and references
Notes
- ^ In the same 1963 memorandum, Home revealed more of his individual political philosophy, writing that whereas country people get "pretty close to true values", the rootless townspeople "need constant leadership. It is, however, they who have the votes..." He added: "A large part in my decision [to become PM] was the feeling that only by simple straightforward talk to the industrial masses (sic) could we hope to defeat the Socialists".[15]
- ^ In a 1964 study of Douglas-Home John Dickie comments that Dunglass as a PPS lacked influence in decision making, and that such opprobrium as later attached to him was "guilt by association".[34] Thorpe in his biography of Harold Macmillan writes that Butler's career was blighted by his support for the Munich agreement as a Foreign Office minister, but that "'Munich' was never held against Alec Douglas-Home".[35]
- ^ According to Thorpe, Douglas-Home was the only British Prime Minister known to have read the work.[39]
- ^ Labour's majority of five seats was not thought large enough to sustain the party through a full five-year term in office. George VI was due to be absent for six months on a Commonwealth tour, and Attlee agreed that it was necessary that the King should leave behind a stable government not likely to fall in his absence. Attlee called a further election in October 1951 at a time not advantageous to his party, which was lagging behind the Conservatives in opinion polls. Labour polled more votes than the Conservatives at the election, but the British first-past-the-post electoral system nevertheless gave more seats to the Conservatives. The King's tour did not take place because of his poor health.[47]
- ^ The federation consisted of Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The first and third were still colonies and came under Macleod's purview; Southern Rhodesia, which had self-government, was the responsibility of Home's department.[67]
- ^ In 1980 a biographer of Macmillan, George Hutchinson, expressed strong doubt about the reliability of Dilhorne's figures.[100]
- ^ The subordinate titles were the lordship of Dunglass, the lordship of Home, the lordship of Hume of Berwick, the barony of Douglas and the barony of Hume of Berwick.[107][115]
- Mackenzie King twice remained as Prime Minister of Canada having lost his seat, in 1925 and 1945, returning to the Canadian House of Commons in by-elections.[118]
- Aberdeen Evening Express accidentally used a picture of Douglas-Home over a caption referring to a baillie called Vass.[124] Private Eye then affected to believe that Douglas-Home was an impostor whom the newspaper had unmasked; the magazine maintained this fiction throughout the rest of Douglas-Home's premiership and thereafter.[125] Private Eye extended the notion to include Douglas-Home's nephew, the journalist Charles Douglas-Home, whom it dubbed "Charles Vass".[126]
- ^ Douglas-Home never publicly spoke of the kidnapping because he did not want to ruin the career of his bodyguard but told the story in 1977 to Hailsham, who recorded it in his diaries.[136] In July 2009 BBC Radio 4 broadcast a dramatisation of the event entitled The Night They Tried to Kidnap the Prime Minister, written by Martin Jameson and starring Tim McInnerny as Douglas-Home.[137]
- Leonard Hutton, was first appointed captain of the England team.[152] Close was from the professional side of the game. The Birmingham Post wrote of him, "the man possibly destined to become England's greatest cricket captain, was sacrificed on the altar of the old school tie. In drizzly conditions at Edgbaston in 1967, Yorkshire under Close deprived Warwickshire of victory with timewasting tactics that finally saw just two overs bowled in the last 15 minutes."[149]
- ^ Douglas-Home's biographer D. R. Thorpe notes that during the passage through Parliament of the Peerage Act 1963, the draft legislation originally provided that a disclaimed peerage would lapse permanently, rather than merely for the lifetime of the disclaimant. Thorpe observes that if this provision had remained a condition of disclaiming his earldom in 1963, thus preventing his son from inheriting the title in due course, Home would not have gone ahead and would not have become Prime Minister.[181]
References
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 19
- ^ a b c d e f "Lord Home of the Hirsel – Obituary". The Times. 10 October 1995 – via newsbank.com[page needed].
- ^ "Death of Lord Home", The Times, 1 May 1918, p. 8; and "The Earl of Home", The Times, 13 July 1951, p. 6
- ^ Connolly, p. 245
- ^ Dutton, p. 31
- ^ "Public Schools Fives", The Times, p. 14, 24 November 1921
- ^ CricInfo, accessed 13 April 2012
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 28
- ^ "Eton v. I Zingari", The Times, 4 July 1921, p. 7
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 37
- ^ a b Dutton, p. 2
- ^ Pike, p. 460
- ^ Young, p. 26
- ^ Dutton, p. 5
- ^ a b Hennessy, p. 285
- ^ Dutton, p. 6
- ^ Young, p. 30
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 43
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 45
- ^ Thorpe (1997), pp. 44–45
- ^ a b c Dutton, p. 7
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 53
- ^ Thorpe (1997), pp. 53–54
- ^ Thorpe (1997), pp. 57–59
- ^ Pike, p. 408
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 59
- ^ Dutton, p. 9
- ^ Young, p. 46
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 14 April 2012 (subscription required)
- ^ Quoted in Dutton, p. 9
- ^ Heath (1998), p. 120; Thorpe (1997), pp. 85–86
- ^ Home (1976), p. 75
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 65
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"Foreign and Comparative Government", S2CID 151984436(subscription required)
- ^ Thorpe (2010), p. 135
- ^ a b Thorpe (1997), p. 109
- ^ a b c Pike, p. 461
- ^ Home (1976), p. 86
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 115
- ^ Thorpe (1997), pp. 115–16
- ^ Pike (1968), p. 461; Thorpe (1997), p. 121
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- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 124
- ^ Dutton (2006), p. 15
- ^ Thorpe (1997), pp. 134–135
- ^ "Results of the General Election". The Manchester Guardian. 25 February 1950. pp. 6–8.
- ^ a b Thomas-Symonds, p. 245
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- ^ Dutton, p. 18, and Thorpe (1997), p. 141
- ^ a b Thorpe (1997), p. 141
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- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 151
- ^ a b Dutton, p. 21
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- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 185
- ^ Wilby, p. 109
- ^ Roth, pp. 112–113
- ^ Roth, p. 173
- ^ a b Thorpe (1997), p. 189
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 192
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- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 196
- ^ a b Frankel, P H. (23 October 1976). "Iain Macleod". The Economist. p. 4.
- ^ a b Goldsworthy, David "Macleod, Iain Norman (1913–1970)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, January 2011, accessed 21 April 2012 (subscription required)
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 202
- ^ Ramsden John. "Amory, Derick Heathcoat, first Viscount Amory (1899–1981)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, January 2011, accessed 28 April 2012 (subscription required)
- ^ Thorpe (1997), pp. 205–206
- ^ Dutton, p. 33
- ^ Hutchinson, pp. 76–77
- ^ a b Pike, p. 462
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 227
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 228
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 229
- ^ Divine, pp. 40–41 and 49
- ^ Chayes, pp. 25–40
- ^ Shalom, Stephen R. "International Lawyers and Other Apologists: The Case of the Cuban Missile Crisis", Polity, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Autumn 1979), pp. 83–109 (subscription required)
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 241
- ^ Speech to the conference of the Institute of Directors, 31 October 1962, quoted in Thorpe (1997), p. 249
- ^ Gromyko, p. 159
- ^ a b "Three Ministers Sign Test Ban Treaty in Moscow". The Times. 6 August 1963. p. 8.
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 267
- ^ a b c "Conservatives Look for New Leader". The Times. 10 October 1963. p. 12.
- ^ "Fight that Changed the Law". The Times. 21 August 1963. p. 8.
- ^ Thorpe, pp. 259–261
- ^ Stamfordham, Lord quoted in Wilson, p. 9
- ^ Churchill, pp. 596–598
- ^ "Mr. Macmillan Decides to Resign Soon – Lord Hailsham to Renounce his Title". The Times. 11 October 1963. p. 12.
- ^ Howard, pp. 313–314
- ^ Johnson, Paul (15 October 1976). "The very image of a laird". The Times Literary Supplement.
- ^ Thorpe (1997), pp. 299–300
- ^ Arnold-Foster, Mark (13 October 1963). "Home in the lead – Macmillan would serve under him'"". The Observer. p. 1.
- ^ Thorpe (1997), pp. 300–01
- ^ a b Thorpe (1997), pp. 303–05
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 307
- ^ Hutchinson, pp. 139–140
- ^ Pike, pp. 462–463
- ^ "The Queen May Send for Mr. Butler Today". The Times. 18 October 1963. p. 8.
- ^ "Could they have stopped him?". The Observer. 20 October 1963. p. 2.
- ^ "Lord Home Faces Crisis Forming Government". The Times. 19 October 1963. p. 8.
- ^ Thorpe (1997), pp. 312–313
- ^ a b Howard, p. 321
- ^ a b Pike, p. 463
- ^ "Brand X is the Boss". The Daily Mirror. 19 October 1963. p. 1.
- ^ "The Successor". The Times. 11 October 1963. p. 13.
- ^ "Summons to Duty". The Times. 19 October 1963. p. 9.
- ^ "The man, his team, and their tasks". The Guardian. 19 October 1963. p. 6.
- ^ "Eccentric Choice". The Observer. 20 October 1963. p. 10.
- ^ Vernon Bogdanor (18 January 2014). "The Spectator book review that brought down Macmillan's government". The Spectator. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
- ^ Ciar Byrne (12 June 2006). "The Indestructible Journos". The Independent. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
- ^ Boyd, Francis; Shrapnel, Norman (10 October 1995). "Stumbling into Number 10". The Guardian. p. 15.
- ^ Pike, p. 464
- ^ "Dissolution Arrangements", House of Commons, February 2010, accessed 14 April 2012
- ^ "Federal Election Trivia", Parliament of Canada, accessed 20 April 2012
- ^ "'Tide Turning' with Kinross Win". The Times. 9 November 1963. p. 8.
- ^ Pike (1968), p. 463
- ^ Pimlott (1992), p. 3
- ^ "Fighting Reply from Prime Minister". The Times. 21 January 1964. p. 10.
- ^ "The New Prime Minister". The Times. 23 October 1963. p. 11.
- ^ Ingrams (1971), p. 104
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 262
- ^ "Auberon Waugh". The Daily Telegraph. 18 January 2001. Archived from the original on 25 December 2017. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
- ^ "Carried the hopes of the world". The Guardian. 23 November 1963. p. 3.
- ^ Newsom (2001), p. 114
- ^ "Year of Disillusion and Change". The Times. 31 December 1963. p. 13.
- ^ "Sir Alec Douglas-Home". Past Prime Ministers. British Prime Minister's Office. Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
- ^
Knowles, Elizabeth, ed. (2008), "Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations", Home, Alec Douglas-Home, Lord, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-920895-1, retrieved 30 April 2012 – via Oxford Reference Online
- ^ a b c "Resale Prices Bill as one move to sharpen competition". The Times. 11 March 1964. p. 16.
- ^ Roth (1972), p. 176
- ^ Wheatcroft, Geoffrey (27 September 1995). "A cosy book cartel is remaindered". The Times. p. 16.
- ^ "Resale Act Soon Operative". The Times. 16 January 1965. p. 6.
- ^ Pierce, Andrew (14 April 2008). "How Alec Douglas-Home foiled student kidnappers with beer". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
- ^ "Afternoon Play". The Times. 11 July 2009 – via newsbanks.com.
- ^ Young (2007)
- ^ Rose, Richard (17 October 1964). "Percentage drop in the Conservative poll was biggest for any party since 1945". The Times. p. 6.
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 376
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 378
- ^ Roth (1972), p. 180
- ^ Roth (1972), pp. 180–182
- ^ Roth (1972), pp. 184–185
- ^ Roth (1972), p. 186
- ^ a b Thorpe (1997), p. 392
- ^ a b Thorpe (1997), pp. 396–399
- ^ Oborne (2004), pp. 138–139
- ^ a b Reyburn, Ross (1 March 2003). "Books: The warrior from Yorkshire". The Birmingham Post – via newsbank.com.
- ^ "End of Amateurs in Cricket". The Times. 1 February 1963. p. 4.
- ^ "Cricket – Test Match Selectors Appointed". The Times. 15 March 1950. p. 9.
- ^ "Hutton Captains England – Break with Tradition". The Times. 26 May 1952. p. 6.
- ^ a b Thorpe (1997), p. 393
- ^ Thorpe (1997), pp. 402–03
- ^ Roth (1972), p. 209
- ^ "Honorary Degrees Working Group", hw.ac.uk, Edinburgh: Heriot-Watt University, archived from the original on 18 April 2016, retrieved 11 April 2016
- ^ Pike (1968), p. 103
- ^ Pike (1968), p. 127
- ^ Pike (1968), p. 151
- ^ Pike (1968), p. 177
- ^ Pike (1968), p. 184
- ^ Pike (1968), pp. 328–29
- ^ Pike (1968), p. 390
- ^ a b Thorpe (1997), p. 404
- ^ "An Honourable Record", The Times, p. 9, 30 July 1966
- ^ Wood, David (17 October 1968). "Ministers in merger dilemma". The Times. p. 1.
- ^ Wood, David (22 June 1970). "The new Cabinet". The Times. p. 10.
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 405
- ^ Maitland (1996), p. 178; "Without Roy Jenkins". The Economist. 18 September 1976. p. 14.; and "Macleod in power", The Economist, p. 36, 15 December 1990
- ^ a b c "Thaw in Anglo-Soviet Relations". The Times. 4 December 1973. p. 17.
- ^ a b c Leapman, Michael (28 September 1971). "Gromyko threat of reprisals on diplomats fails to sway Sir Alec". The Times. p. 1.
- ^ Wood, David (26 November 1971). "Commons triumph for Sir Alec but Labour promise Rhodesia battle". The Times. p. 1.
- ^ "Decision genuine expression of African opinion". The Times. 24 May 1972. p. 8.
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 428
- ^ "No. 46441", The London Gazette, 24 December 1974, pp. 1–2
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 463
- passim
- ^ Home (1983), passim
- ^ "Hitler must not have posthumous victory, peers told". The Times. 5 December 1989. Archived from the original on 8 November 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2021 – via newsbank.com.
- ^ a b "Marriages – Lord Dunglass, M.P. and Miss E. H. Alington". The Times. 5 October 1936. p. 15.
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 260
- ^ Thorpe (1997), pp. 463–464
- ^ "Sir Alec Douglas-Home Memorial". Bill Scott Estate. Archived from the original on 6 February 2018. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
- ^ Thorpe (1997), p. 301
- ^ "Mr. Butler Appointed Foreign Secretary". The Times. 21 October 1963. p. 10.
- ^ Dell, Edmund (1997), The Chancellors: A History of the Chancellors of the Exchequer, 1945–90, pp. 283–303
Sources
- Chayes, Abram (1974), The Cuban Missile Crisis, International Crises and the Role of Law, New York: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-519758-5
- Churchill, Winston (1985) [1948], The Gathering Storm, New York: Houghton Miffin, ISBN 0-395-41055-X
- Connolly, Cyril (1961) [1949], Enemies of Promise, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, OCLC 4377425
- Divine, Robert A. (1971), The Cuban Missile Crisis, Chicago: Quadrangle Books, ISBN 0-8129-0183-5
- Dutton, David (2006), Douglas-Home, The 20 British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century, London: Haus Publishing, ISBN 1-904950-67-1
- Gromyko, Andrei (1989), Memoirs, London: Arrow Books, ISBN 0-09-968640-6
- Heath, Edward (1998), The Course of My Life – My Autobiography, London: Hodder and Stoughton, ISBN 0-340-70852-2
- ISBN 0-14-028393-5
- Home, Lord (1976), The Way the Wind Blows – An Autobiography, London: Collins, ISBN 0-00-211997-8
- —— (1979), Border Reflections – Chiefly on the Arts of Shooting and Fishing, London: Collins, ISBN 0-00-216301-2
- —— (1983), Letters to a Grandson, London: Collins, ISBN 0-00-217061-2
- ISBN 0-224-01862-0
- Hutchinson, George (1980), The Last Edwardian at No 10 – An Impression of Harold Macmillan, London and New York: Quartet Books, ISBN 0-7043-2232-3
- ISBN 0-7139-0255-8
- ISBN 1-898595-17-8
- Newsom, David (2001), The Imperial Mantle, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, ISBN 0-253-10849-7
- Oborne, Peter (2004), Basil D'Oliveira. Cricket and Conspiracy: The Untold Story, London: Little, Brown, ISBN 0-316-72572-2
- Pike, E. Royston (1968), Britain's Prime Ministers, London: Odhams, ISBN 0-600-72032-2
- ISBN 0-00-215189-8
- ISBN 0-7100-7428-X
- Thomas-Symonds, Niklaus (2010), Attlee – A Life in Politics, London: Tauris, ISBN 978-1-84511-779-5
- Thorpe, D. R. (1997), Alec Douglas-Home, London: Sinclair-Stevenson, ISBN 1-85619-663-1
- —— (2010), Supermac – The Life of Harold MacMillan, London: Chatto and Windus, ISBN 978-0-7011-7748-5
- Wilby, Peter (2006), Anthony Eden, The 20 British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century, London: Haus Publishing, ISBN 1-904950-65-5
- Wilson, Geoffrey (1976), Cases and Materials on Constitutional and Administrative Law, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-20816-5
- Young, John W. (2007), "International Factors and the 1964 Election", Contemporary British History, 21 (3): 351–371, from the original on 8 November 2021, retrieved 29 March 2021
- Young, Kenneth (1970), Sir Alec Douglas-Home, London: Dent, OCLC 471161294
Further reading
- Dickie, John (1964), The Uncommon Commoner – A Study of Sir Alec Douglas-Home, London: Pall Mall Press, OCLC 1525498
- Grant, Matthew (2003), "Historians, the Penguin Specials and the 'State-of-the-Nation' Literature, 1958–64", Contemporary British History, 17 (3): 29–54, focus on decline of Britain
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - Douglas-Home, Alec (1964), OCLC 165151
- Douglas-Home, Alec, and Eberhard Busch. The Way the Wind Blows: An Autobiography (1976)
- Hill, Michael. "Alec Douglas-Home, 1964–5." in Leaders of the Opposition: From Churchill to Cameron (2012): 68–79.
- Holt, Andrew (2005), "Lord Home and Anglo–American Relations, 1961–1963", Diplomacy & Statecraft, 15 (4): 699–722, from the original on 28 November 2020, retrieved 5 December 2020
- Holt, Andrew (2014), The Foreign Policy of the Douglas-Home Government: Britain, the United States and the End of Empire, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 978-1-137-28440-2
- OCLC 9464208
- Lomas, Charles W. (1970), "Sir Alec Douglas home: Case study in rhetorical failure", Quarterly Journal of Speech, 56 (3): 296–303, doi:10.1080/00335637009383014, argues that Home's sincerity and simplicity could not overcome the amateurish ineptitude of his delivery)
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: postscript (link - Ridge-Newman, Anthony, and Anthony Ridge-Newman. "Tories, Television and Professionalization 1962–64." in The Tories and Television, 1951–1964: Broadcasting an Elite (2017): 131–138.
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Lord Home of the Hirsel
- Lord Dunglass (Alec Douglas-Home) CricketArchive
- Prime Ministers in the Post-War world: Alec Douglas-Home, lecture by D. R. Thorpe at Gresham College, 24 May 2007 (available for download as an audio or video file)
- Portraits of Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel at the National Portrait Gallery, London
- "Archival material relating to Alec Douglas-Home". UK National Archives.
- Works by Alec Douglas-Home at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)