Michael Heseltine

This article may be too long to read and navigate comfortably. When this tag was added, its readable prose size was 24,000 words. Consider splitting content into sub-articles, condensing it, or adding subheadings. Please discuss this issue on the article's talk page. (December 2023)

The Right Honourable The Lord Heseltine CH PC
Official portrait, 2007
Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 5 July 1995 – 2 May 1997
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	Geoffrey Howe[a]
Succeeded by	John Prescott
First Secretary of State
In office 5 July 1995 – 2 May 1997
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	Barbara Castle[b]
Succeeded by	John Prescott[c]
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry President of the Board of Trade
In office 11 April 1992 – 5 July 1995
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	Peter Lilley
Succeeded by	Ian Lang
Secretary of State for the Environment
In office 28 November 1990 – 11 April 1992
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	Chris Patten
Succeeded by	Michael Howard
In office 5 May 1979 – 6 January 1983
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Peter Shore
Succeeded by	Tom King
Secretary of State for Defence
In office 6 January 1983 – 9 January 1986
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	John Nott
Succeeded by	George Younger
Junior ministerial offices Minister of State for Aerospace and Shipping In office 24 March 1972 – 4 March 1974 Prime Minister Edward Heath Preceded by Frederick Corfield Succeeded by Stanley Clinton Davis Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment In office 15 October 1970 – 7 April 1972 Prime Minister Edward Heath Preceded by Office established Succeeded by Reginald Eyre Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport In office 24 June 1970 – 15 October 1970 Prime Minister Edward Heath Preceded by Albert Murray Succeeded by Office abolished
Shadow Cabinet portfolios Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment In office 19 November 1976 – 4 May 1979 Leader Margaret Thatcher Preceded by Timothy Raison Succeeded by Peter Shore Shadow Secretary of State for Industry In office 11 March 1974 – 19 November 1976 Leader Edward Heath Margaret Thatcher Preceded by Office established Succeeded by John Biffen
Parliamentary offices Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal Life peerage 23 October 2001 Member of Parliament for Henley In office 28 February 1974 – 14 May 2001 Preceded by John Hay Succeeded by Boris Johnson Member of Parliament for Tavistock In office 31 March 1966 – 8 February 1974 Preceded by Henry Studholme Succeeded by Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine (1933-03-21) 21 March 1933 (age 91) Swansea, Wales
Political party	Conservative[1][2][d]
Spouse	Anne Williams ​ (m. 1962)​
Children	3, including Annabel
Alma mater	Pembroke College, Oxford
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch/service	British Army
Years of service	1959
Rank	Second lieutenant
Unit	Welsh Guards

Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, CH, PC (/ˈhɛzəltaɪn/; born 21 March 1933)^[3] is a British politician. Having begun his career as a property developer, he became one of the founders of the publishing house Haymarket. Heseltine served as a Conservative Member of Parliament from 1966 to 2001. He was a prominent figure in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, and served as Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State under Major.

Heseltine entered the Cabinet in 1979 as Secretary of State for the Environment, where he promoted the "Right to Buy" campaign that allowed people to purchase their council houses. He was considered an adept media performer and a charismatic minister, although he was frequently at odds with Thatcher on economic issues. He was one of the most visible "wets", whose "One Nation" views were epitomised by his support for the regeneration of Liverpool in the early 1980s when it was facing economic collapse; this later earned him the award of Freeman of the City of Liverpool in 2012. As Secretary of State for Defence from 1983 to 1986, he was instrumental in the political battle against the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. He resigned from the Cabinet in 1986 over the Westland affair and returned to the backbenches, becoming a vocal critic of Thatcher, mostly because of her Eurosceptic views and confrontational approach in Parliament. Following Geoffrey Howe's resignation speech in November 1990, Heseltine challenged Thatcher for the party leadership, polling well enough to deny her an outright victory on the first ballot. Following Thatcher's subsequent resignation, Heseltine lost to John Major on the second ballot, but returned to the Cabinet in his former post of Environment Secretary when Major became prime minister.

As a key ally of Major, Heseltine was appointed President of the Board of Trade and Secretary of State for Trade and Industry following the 1992 general election. He supported Major when his leadership was challenged in 1995, and was promoted to Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State in return for his support. He declined to seek the leadership of the party following Major's 1997 election defeat, and served in Major's shadow cabinet as Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry while the leadership election to succeed him was taking place.

Heseltine was created a life peer in 2001 and has remained a vocal advocate for modernisation within the party. He has continued to make political interventions, criticising Brexit and Boris Johnson following the 2016 Brexit referendum result. In 2019, Heseltine had the whip suspended after saying he would vote for the Liberal Democrats, rather than the Conservatives, at the 2019 European Parliament election. Heseltine had the whip restored in July 2024.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).