leadership election procedure
21 November: Keith Joseph told MT that he would not stand for the leadership against Heath; MT told him she would
November-December: ‘Hoarding’ story run against MT in the press
17 December: Leadership election review reported
1975
15 January: Airey Neave took over the organization of MT’s leadership campaign, Edward du Cann having decided not to stand
4 February: Leadership election first ballot: MT 130, Heath 119, Hugh Fraser 16; Heath resigned as leader
11 February: Leadership election second ballot: MT elected leader
12 February: MT called on Heath at Wilton Street; Heath refused to serve in the Shadow Cabinet
18 February: Shadow Cabinet complete: Maudling, Foreign Affairs; Howe, Treasury; Joseph, Policy and Research; Thorneycroft, Chairman
5 June: EEC referendum
July: ?6 a week quasi-statutory pay policy introduced; unemployment passed one million
1976
2 March: Sterling fell below $2
16 March: Wilson announced his resignation; Callaghan elected Labour Leader on 5 April
7 April: Government lost its majority
3 May: Stage 2 of pay policy agreed between Government and TUC
10 May: Thorpe resigned as Liberal Leader over the Scott affair; Grimond interim Leader; Steel elected on 7 July
7 June: Sterling under pressure — $5,300 million standby credit made available to UK for three months
28 September: Healey forced to turn back from the airport as sterling fell to $1.63; spoke at the Labour Conference on 30 September
4 October: The Right Approach published
1 November: IMF team arrived in UK
19 November: MT reshuffled Shadow Cabinet, dismissing Maudling and replacing him with John Davies
1 December: Shadow Cabinet decision to oppose the Scotland and Wales Bill; Buchanan-Smith and Rifkind resigned
15 December: Healey’s mini-Budget and IMF Letter of Intent
1977
22 February: Government defeated on Scotland and Wales Bill guillotine — Bill effectively lost; prospect that Government would fall
23 March: ‘Lib-Lab Pact’ saved the Government
16 June: Government defeated over Rooker-Wise-Lawson amendments — tax allowances linked to RPI
24 June: Grunwick dispute: mass picketing began
18 September: MT interviewed by Brian Walden suggested referendum if a future Conservative Government met the kind of trade union challenge Heath faced in 1974
8 October: The Right Approach to the Economy published
16 November: Scotland Bill and Wales Bill successfully guillotined
1978
25 January: Scotland Bill Committee — ‘Cunningham amendment’: 40 per cent hurdle for devolution in referendum
30 January: MT on television referred to people’s fears that they would be ‘rather swamped’ by immigration
3 March: Rhodesia: ‘internal settlement’ — Muzorewa and others to join Ian Smith’s government
25 May: Steel announced end of Lib-Lab Pact after current parliamentary session
21 July: Incomes policy White Paper: Stage 3–5 per cent guideline for wage increases
Summer: ‘Labour Isn’t Working’ — Saatchi & Saatchi’s first campaign for the Conservative Party
7 September: Callaghan announced there would be no autumn election
21 September: Ford strike (ended 2 November): breached 5 per cent pay norm
11 October: Heath spoke in favour of Stage 3 at the Conservative Party Conference
8 November: 114 Conservatives rebelled against leadership decision to abstain on motion to renew Rhodesian sanctions
1979
3 January: Lorry drivers strike for 25 per cent pay claim: ‘Winter of Discontent’ reaching its height
7 January: MT interviewed on Weekend World; suggested possible union reforms
14 January: MT offered to cooperate in legislation on secondary picketing and no-strike agreements for essential services; Government made no direct reply but eased its pay guidelines and lorry-drivers’ strike settled locally over the following three weeks
1 March: Scotland and Wales devolution referenda
28 March: Government defeated on Motion of Confidence 311–310, forcing general election
30 March: Airey Neave murdered by INLA bomb
3 May: General election
4 May: MT became Prime Minister
