First Among Equals - books

members resented
the whispered confidences at the Eaton Square cocktail
parties, or the
discovery that Simon Kerslake had visited their
constituencies, while
others were simply envious of the reward that would
inevitably be heaped
on the victor.
On July 22, 1965, Sir Alec Douglas-Home made his formal
announcement of
resignation to the 1922 Committee, comprised of all the
Tory
backbenchers.
The date chosen for the Party Leadership election was
37
FIRST AMONG EQUALS
just five days away. Charles and Simon began avoiding
each other, and Fiona
started referring to Kerslake, first in private, then in
public, as "that
pushy self-made man."' She stopped using the expression
when Alec Pimkin
asked in afl innocence whether she was referring to
Edward Heath.
On the morning of the secret ballot both Simon and
Charles voted early and
spent the rest of the day pacing the corridors of the
Commons trying to
assess the result. By lunchtime they were both outwardly
exuberant, while
inwardly despondent.
At two-fifteen they were seated in the large committee
room to hear the
chairman of the 1922 Committee make the historic
announcement:
"The result of the election for Leader of the
Conservative Parliamentary
Party is as follows:
EDWARD HEA,rH 150 votes
RE(31NAL.D MAUDLING 133 votes