Alec Douglas-Home

Alec Douglas-Home (1903-1995), British statesman and Prime Minister (1963-1964). Born in London, he was educated at Eton College and at Christ Church, Oxford.

He was elected as a Conservative Party member of the House of Commons for Lanark in 1931, where he supported the National government of Ramsay MacDonald. In 1937 he became Parliamentary Private Secretary to Neville Chamberlain and, a strong supporter of appeasement, accompanied him to the negotiations over the Munich Pact. Ill health prevented him from active government service during the war, and in the 1945 general election he lost his seat in the Labour landslide.

He returned to the Commons after the 1950 election; however, in 1951 he succeeded his father as the 14th Earl of Home and was elevated to the House of Lords. From there he served as Scottish Secretary until 1955 when he became Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations, and also Leader of the House of Lords from 1957. In 1960 he was controversially appointed Foreign Secretary in the Cabinet of Harold Macmillan: surviving a vote of censure on his appointment. During this time he pursued a policy of détente with the Soviet Union, while working for the establishment of an independent nuclear deterrent.

He succeeded Macmillan as prime minister in 1963, renouncing his title in order to rejoin the House of Commons by winning a by-election in Kinross. He led a divided government tarnished by a number of scandals, paramount among which was the Profumo Affair. He also struggled vainly to reverse a deteriorating balance of payments slide. Consequently, the Conservatives were narrowly defeated in the general election of October 1964, and Douglas-Home resigned in favour of Harold Wilson.

From 1970 to 1974 he was Foreign Secretary in the Conservative government of Prime Minister Edward Heath. During this period he supported negotiations for British entry into the European Economic Community (now the European Union). In 1974 he was created a life peer as Baron Home of the Hirsel.