Talk:Alec Douglas-Home
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Quote "Over the course of the following six years Home was notably loyal to Heath, ...."
I seem to remember, though am not congruently certain, that Sir Alec was Shadow Foreign Secretary in Mr Heath's Shadow Cabinet. I seem to remember Sir Alec being asked, some short time after his resignation, by a television reporter, whether he would (be willing to?) serve in the Shadow Cabinet (I forget the exact form of the question), and Sir Alec replying that that was entirely a matter for the new leader. However, I cannot remember whether that was when Sir Alec resigned or when Mr Heath had been elected.
Songwriter 21:39 9 Jul 2003 (UTC)
Quote "to be qualified to re-enter parliament as an MP ....".
Well, he could not, at that time, become an MP while a peer, yet he also needed to be elected as an MP. There was a bye-election for a constituency with a name which sounded like (I am unsure of the spelling) Kinross and West Perthshire. Whether the seat was vacant or whether someone resigned to produce a bye-election I do not know.
Songwriter 21:49 9 Jul 2003 (UTC)
- The seat was already vacant and the existing candidate agreed to step aside and allo Home to stand.
- Timrollpickering 10:44 14 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Quote "by a murky process the details of which were not clear".
Whether they were clear at the time I am unsure, yet I have seen an account of what happened subsequently somewhere. It might have been in a book entitled "Governing without a majority" but I am not sure on that.
This was the only time, so far, during her reign that Queen Elizabeth II has had to be involved in deciding who would be Prime Minister. I seem to remember that the account claimed that the Queen sought advice from Sir Winston Churchill (at that time by then an earlier Conservative Prime Minister) and whoever was the Conservative party leader in the House of Lords at the time. The Queen had also visited Mr Macmillan in hospital.
Mr Heath was the first leader of the Conservative Party who gained the post by election rather than by "emerging" as I once saw the previous process described. In fact, Mr Heath had the highest number of votes in the first round, but did not win outright. When the result of the vote was announced he was thus due to face a second vote against Mr Maudling, who was a close second in the first round. In the event, Mr Maudling withdraw from the contest and Mr Heath became leader of the party without a second vote. I think that Mr Heath then chose Mr Maudling to become Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and that he so served.
Songwriter 22:22 9 Jul 2003 (UTC)
- I think you're mixing leadership contests. In 1957 the Queen appointed Macmillan on the basis of advice from two senior Cabinet members and Churchill. No advice was given by the resigning Eden. In 1963 Macmillan gave the Queen formal advice to send for Home, based on "soundings" on the various sections of the Conservative party.
- The Queen is also invoked in the outcome of the February 1974 general election - this did not produce a clear result and Ted Heath did not resign for several days while he tried to form a majority. Many felt this was wrong as the one clear thing was that he had lost and that the Queen should have dismissed him.
- Also the earlier 1911 leadership election did come to a contest (the party was in opposition; technically this contest was only for the leadership in the Commons not the whole party) and ballot papers were prepared for it, but in the end two of the three candidates withdrew to encourage unity.
- Timrollpickering 10:44 14 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Correct. I've changed the article to make it more accurate in that respect. I've made one other change. It is questionable to call him a Scottish politician. Since home rule was granted, there are in effect four categories of politician. Those who serve in the Scottish parlament, and so deserve to be called Scottish politicians, those who serve in the Welsh Assembly, and so deserve to be called Welsh politicians, those who serve in the Northern Ireland politicians and so deserve to be called Northern Ireland politicians and those who are not working at the regional level but are members of the United Kingdom parliament and who, to distinguish them from the others, should be called, British politicians. FearÉIREANN 19:35, 11 Jan 2004 (UTC)
- I think also that Home sat in the Lords under an English, British or United Kingdom peerage - a 14th Earl would have also inherited several lesser peerages as well. Home was certainly automatically transferred to the Lords on his father's death in 1951, which happened in the English/British/United Kingdom peerage but not in the Scottish Peerage (although the later 1963 Peerage Act chaged this).
from sometime in mid 19C, Earls of Home were guaranteed -rather than subject to election from the Scottish peers- a seat under the UK Barony of Douglas. Sir Alec's largest estate was in the Lanarkshire village of Douglas. (He was first M.P. for Lanark). He was the first Minister of State at the Scottish Office and the first minister resident in Scotland. This was one reason why he was so unknown "down South" and why MacMillan's making him Foreign Sec' was so controversial. The peerage disclaimer had to list his individual peerages. Academically, an ancient one was later discovered. As that hadn't been entered on the list, his second stint as M.P. was nicely illegal... AR
- Although there is perhaps a case to think of him as a Scottish politician as well as in the early 1950s he was a high profile minister in the Scottish Office.
- Timrollpickering 10:44 14 Feb 2004 (UTC)
The Tory leader in the House of Lords at the time was Lord Hailsham, apparently. Might the Lord Chancellor (Lord Dilhorne) have also been involved in the decision? john 20:03, 11 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Would it not be better to swap the photos around so the one from around the time of his premiership appears in the box?
I have a very good reason for "Home" to be pronounced as the name spells. It is because the common usage of the word used for "house", which is "home". You may have heard just a few pronounce the name "Home" as "Hume", and there is a discrepancy because someone may accidentally spell his name as "Alec Douglas-Hume." So I think that there may be an alternate spelling. --65.73.0.137
- The Hume, Home, Houme, Hoome and Huym families all belong to the same clan and therefore have the same name, but different families use different spellings. Sir Alec's has only ever been known as "Home", despite pronounciation as 'Hume' --Mmartins 06:46, 30 May 2004 (UTC)
- No, I haven't heard "just a few" pronounce his name like that - everyone I've ever heard mention him has used the correct pronunciation. He was the Prime Minister, so it's not unreasonable that people would know how to pronounce his name. If anyone pronounces it "Home" they are simply ignorant, not using an alternative pronunciation. Proteus (Talk) 08:07, 30 May 2004 (UTC)
- Agreed. ALL British tv and radio stations pronounce his name "Hume", and always have, for the 40 years I've been listening to them at least, which goes back to his Premiership. People would have noticed if it was a mispronounciation! Arwel 21:47, 30 May 2004 (UTC)
- Two exclamatory remarks (one in the edit summary) for trivial reasons? Please, get a life. --65.73.0.137