"A contest between a man with a pipe and a man with a boat." - Enoch Powell, 1985
From the Daily Telegraph, 15th June 1970
"England Hold On For Victory
Over Germany" By Donald Saunders in Leon.England (1) 2 West Germany (0) 1 (Mullery(31) Peters(49) Seeler (83) Attendance: 24,000
In a tightly forght match last night England held on despite the German onslaughter to go through to the semi-finals, after taking a two-nil lead in the 49th minute.
With Moore and Labone keeping a tight rein on Müller and Seeler, Charlton, who was playing in his record-breaking 106th international, working well with Mullery in mid-field, and Ball chasing everything, they kept the German defence under heavy and constant pressure. In the 31st minute, the goal they deserved was scored. Mullery swept a perfectly timed pass out to Newton on the right, raced through the middle to hammer the return into the net in his best Tottenham fashion.
It soon became clear that the Germans were beginning to worry. They made frequent mistakes in defence, misplaced their passes in midfield, and shot high and wide from far too distant a range to worry Banks. Four minutes after the interval came the goal to grace a World Cup quarter-final. Moore began the move with an interception just outside his own penalty box before pushing a clearance to the waiting Ball, who quickly passed it on to Hurst.
While Hurst retained possession in midfield, Newton raced 70 yards down the unguarded right touchline to collect his pass. He put over a high centre and Peters glided forward to steer the ball just inside the post off Maier's body. By then Germany had sent on their two permitted substitutes, Schultz taking over from Hottges, and Grabowski replacing Libuda. Their cause seemed hopeless, and England began pushing the ball nonchalantly round the pitch, conserving energy for the semi-final they were now so confident of reaching.
However, the German team, containing six of the men who had fought back to within sight of victory after trailing 2-1 in the 1966 final at Wembley refused to give in, and took on a new life in the last twenty minutes of the game as the England tram began to flag under the heat. They came close to scoring in the 70th minute, when Beckenbauer picked up a loose ball, moved smoothly past Mullery and hammered in a shot, expertly saved by Banks.
As England wilted under the heat, Sir Alf sent on Bell in place of the tiring Charlton, partly to put new life into the faltering middle line, partly to protect Charlton for future struggles. With England faltering though, Germany finally made the break, with Seeler scoring a dramatic back-headed goal. However, it was too little, too late and a relieved and exhausted England finished the game 2-1. Once again, England have proved themselves a team to be feared, a team that is perhaps more talented that that which lifted the Jules Rimet trophy in Wembley. They now go on to face Italy on Wednesday. One can only hope that the weather is more tolerable.
England: Banks, Newton, Cooper, Mullery, Labone, Moore, Lee, Ball, Charlton R. (Bell), Hurst, Peters
West Germany: Maler, Vogtz, Fichtel, Schnellinger, Höttges (Schulz), Beckenbauer, Overath, Libuda (Grabowski), Seeler, Müller, Lohr
Referee: A. Coerezza (Argentina)
18th June 1970.
Harold Wilson went through the routine of packing and lighting his pipe almost without thinking as Joe Haines spread the mornings papers out over the desk. He had always said that the job of Prime Minister required at least eight hours sleep a day, and with campaigning over he had had his first good nights sleep in over three weeks. He picked up the Mirror first, the front page was shared between encouragement to vote Labour and news of England's victory over Italy in the previous evenings football match. "We backed our boys, now back our Harold" said the Mirror's front page. "Perfect," Wilson said, puffing gently on the pipe.
Haines spread out the remaining papers "The Sun, the Mirror and the Guardian are all useful. No more than you'd expect from the Mail, Express and Telegraph. Daily Sketch is backing the Tories. The Times is a bit wishy-washy between the Tories and the Liberals. Lots of coverage of the football, even in the Tory papers, should bolster our voters. Still hardly any coverage of the new trade figures - apart from in the Telegraph - the football has really pushed them off the radar." Wilson nodded gently, scanning absent mindedly through the Sun.
"Well, it all seems in order," he said finally. "Too late to worry about it now if it isn't. I shall go and find Mary and we can go and cast our votes."
"The cameras will be there at 10," Haines said, checking his watch. "Very good," said Wilson, tapping out the odious pipe.
Twelve hours later Wilson waited nervously, perched on the edge of the huge sofa in his Liverpool hotel suite as the first results came in. Finally Sir John Langford-Holt was returned in Shrewsbury. His majority was up slightly but the swing was only 2.3%, not enough for Labour to loose their majority. Wilson let out a sigh of relief. "We've done it, Marcia!" he called to his private secretary. "I think we're home safely."
From "The Tories - the Conservative Party and the Nation State
1922-1998" by the Rt Hon Alan Clark (HarperCollins, 2000)The 1970 election brought few surprises. Wilson's government was returned with a sharply reduced majority, the Prime Minister having reaped the gains of the risky decision to call an election in the midst of England's ultimately unsucessful attempt to retain the football World Cup. Heath had now lost two elections in a row and his position seemed untenable. Nevertheless, on the morning after the election Heath indicated his intention to remain as leader.
The leadership rules introduced by Home had not included any mechanism for removing an unwanted leader, but in the weeks following the election there was constant talk of a "palace coup" - speculation that Heath would be quietly advised to step down in favour of the Shadow Chancellor, Iain Macleod. The unexpected and tragic death of Macleod in July 1970 took the immediate pressure off Heath's leadership but discontent continued to rumble on the backbenches and it was clear to all, except apparantly Heath himself, that his days as party leader were numbered.
There were several potential replacements for Heath and each spent the second half of 1970 jockeying for position within the Parliamentary party. The loser of the 1965 contest, Reggie Maudling, seemed certain to run when the moment came. There was also talk of Robert Carr or Jim Prior standing. On the right of the party Keith Joseph considered standing, but the overarching question was the intentions of Enoch Powell. Powell had struggled to hide his pleasure at the defeat of Heath and epitomised anti-Heath feeling in the party. Under the editorship of George Gale, the Spectator stalwartly backed Powell as a potential leader throughout the winter of 1970/1 and Powell did little to deter those who saw him as an alternative leader to Heath. While questions remained over Powell's judgement in the light of the 1968 "Rivers of Blood" speech, his popularity with the public was undeniable. However, as 1971 began and despite increasing unrest within the party, Heath remained stubbornly in office, Powell's ascendent star making his determination to stay all the more steadfast.
From "Office Without Power. Diaries 1966-1973." by Tony Benn (Arrow,
1978)11 January 1971. The election of the Speaker. Sydney Irving won, as was expected, mostly on the partisan vote, which is a shame as he should make a good job of the role. Met Enoch in the lobby. He is already acquiring hangers-on: Julian Amery, John Biffen, the absurd Nabarro, Norman Tebbit and Cecil Parkinson all rushing round him and trying to carry his bags. Parkinson is the baby of the House since taking Beaconsfield in the by-election. They surround Enoch like a phalanx, hoping to pick up favour when the leadership is finally bestowed upon him. Enoch just seems annoyed by them. I asked him about the leadership but he refused to be drawn. There is no hurry for Enoch and I think he is enjoying seeing Ted swinging in the wind.
2 April 1971.
Sir Harry Legg-Bourke was ushered briskly into the Leader of the Opposition's Office behind the Speaker's Chair. Heath looked almost nonchalently up from behind the carved wooden desk. "Harry," Heath said, laying down his pen. "Take a seat." Legg-Bourke eased himself into one of the creaking leather chairs. He noticed the paper in front of Heath was actually blank.
"Ted," Legg-Bourke started. The Leader of the Opposition stared at him with a look that bordeed upon hostility. "Ted. This isn't easy for me," began the Chairman of the 1922 Committee. "The 22 executive met last night and asked me..."
"I know what you're here for, Harry," Heath interrupted. His voice sounded tired suddenly, tired of fighting. "You want me to go."
"The executive decided...yes, Ted, yes. I'm afraid it's time."
"And if I disagree?"
Legg-Bourke looked taken aback. "Well, Ted, it would hardly be in the best interests of the party..."
"There are no rules to allow the Party leader to be challenged."
Harry Legg-Bourke blinked. "You know you cannot remain indefinately Ted." He paused. "I think I understand, this is about Powell isn't it?"
Heath glowered across the table at him. "We cannot risk *that man* becoming leader."
Legg-Bourke sat back in the chair. "Then at least put yourself forward for re-election and give the backbenches the chance to back you. I warn you though, if you do you risk letting opposition gravitate towards Enoch. You risk him building up a bandwagon that no one else will be able to stop."
"We'll see." Heath said, looking away.
"Just my advice," Legg-Bourke said. "I am of course neutral in all of this. It is just my friendly advice."
From "A Woman's Place: An Autobiography", by Margaret Thatcher
(HarperCollins, 1989)Upon our return from the Easter recess, Ted announced his decision to stand down as leader and allow a leadership election "to clear the air" as he put it. He immediately put himself forward as a candidate to remain as leader. I thought this a mistake, Ted was becoming a liability to the Party and in trying to cling on as leader he could only damage our prospects. I discussed the best course of action with Keith and we both agreed that since Ted has resigned as leader, we should not feel obligied to support him in the ballot - indeed that it would be best not to. The question was who to back as his replacement. Keith was in two minds whether to put himself forward, although naturally I told him that I would offer him my total support if he chose to do so. While it was vital that someone stood who shared our views, Keith himself was uncertain whether he could live with the press intrusion that becoming leader would necessitate. Furthermore, we had to be certain not to split the right wing vote in the party and end up with a left-winger. Keith and I were certain that the policies in the Selsdon programme were right, and that our problems lay elsewhere. It was vital that our failure at the election did not lead to us returning to the failed policies of Butskellism.
The other possible candidate on the right was Enoch Powell. Enoch had been sacked by Ted in 1968 for speaking out on immigration and had remained a voice in the wilderness ever since, speaking with vibrance and intelligence from the backbenches on monetarism, Europe and immigration. Enoch shared many of the views that Keith and I held and while I myself was not well acquainted with Enoch, he was a formidable politican and, I was certain, would make a fine leader. Enoch's bravery in speaking up on immigration had won him much admiration amongst the general public, but there were also large sections of the public, and indeed the Parliamentary Party, who had branded Enoch as a racist.
On the Thursday Enoch announced his intention to stand against Ted for the leadership. Keith and I immediately decided to back him, although as members of the shadow cabinet we thought it more seemly that we refrained from publicly endorsing Enoch while Ted was still in the race. In the first ballot on the following Tuesday Enoch recieved 149 votes to Ted's 147. The complex rules that governed Conservative Party leadership elections dictated that to win the victor must beat their opponent by a clear fifteen percent of eligible voters, hence there would need to be a second ballot.
Ted was devastated by the result. He had been the most outraged by Enoch's 1968 speech and was shocked that the Parliamentary party should choose Enoch over himself. His speech conceeding defeat was an ungracious and sad end to a career, standing on the steps of Central Office looking flustered and angry he issued a vicious sideswipe against Enoch and warned that the party "will surely face oblivion if it votes for that man." I recall watching the speech on the television from my office in the House of Commons and deciding that I had made the right decision in choosing to vote against Ted.
From "The Conservative Party Leadership Election 1971" by K.Alderman
(Parliamentary Affairs, Vol.24, Issue.3)In the second ballot Enoch Powell's nomination was joined by those of Reginald Maudling and Jim Prior. While the first ballot has been characterised by the laid back nature of the contest, due mainly to Heath's conviction that he would achieve an easy victory over Powell, the second round saw frantic and often bitter campaigning between the three teams. The low tally of votes that Jim Prior eventually recieved (only 17 in the final ballot) seriously under-represented his support. Many MPs who would on ideological grounds have backed Prior drifted towards Maudling in an attempt to block Powell. Indeed, if it wasn't for the loyalty of friends who did not want Prior to be humiliated, he would probably have polled an even lower number of votes.
Powell maintained almost all of the support he had gathered in the first round and the few left wing votes he lost, those who had backed him purely to remove Heath, were more than balanced out by those on the right of the party who had backed Heath in the first round due to a residual loyalty to the leader. While Powell's backers were predominately from the right of the party, they included some prominent left wingers who shared his concerns over immigration or Europe, such as Peter Tapsell.
During the period between the two ballots Powell's team had been concerned that they would loose more MPs, while Maudling's fully expected Powell's campiagn to falter as those MPs who had only backed Powell to remove Heath came across to Maudling. The final result came as a suprise to everyone...
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