Vox Populi - 1963 Conservative Leadership

October 1963 - Macmillan resigns, leaving the Tories to scramble for a successor

Despite having won a resounding victory in 1959 and having proved a very popular Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan was facing an increasingly dire situation by 1963. His government had been notoriously weakened by his sacking of several ministers on the "Night of the Long Knives", the highly damaging Profumo scandal, and the humiliation that meant rejection into the EEC by General De Gaulle, leading to a perception of economic mismanagement. After twelve years in government, the Conservative Party was increasingly likely to lose the next election. With a large part of the party wanting a new leader and Macmillan facing sudden health troubles just before the Tory conference in October 1963, the Prime Minister finally made up his mind to start the process for a new selection.

With the Conservatives lacking a formal instrument to choose a leader the process will depend on a complex consultation process, in the hopes of finding the most popular (or alternatively the less divisive) candidate to lead the party. With possible contenders such as Iain Macleod, Edward Heath and Lord Home dismissed due to varying reasons, the Cabinet has settled on three plausible successors to Macmillan.

The Candidates:

Rab Butler: Already passed over in 57', Deputy Prime Minister Rab Butler is the reformist champion of the Tory left. With an immense wealth of experience under successive governments, the mild-mannered Butler advocates for the party to take a more liberal stance on social policy (particularly regarding the death penalty) and follow the post-war consensus of Keynesian economics, taking a pragmatic line towards governing in order to solve the current crisis and seize the political centre at the next General Election. Many see Butler as the man to beat.

Quintin Hogg: Currently Lord Hailsham, the energetic and almost theatrical Leader of the House is Macmillan's preferred successor and currently the default anti-Butler candidate. Hogg subscribes to a view of "responsible government" based on Disraeli's One Nation Conservatism, also subscribing to a middle road in economics but advocating for a turn rightwards on social and foreign policy (due to his Christian views and influence). Hailsham has also been both attacked and hailed for his more modern style of campaign, resembling American politics.

Reginald Maudling: Closing the number of acceptable candidates is Chancellor of the Exchequer Reginald Maudling, experienced and a more "amicable"candidate compared to Butler and Hogg. Also on the Macmillan side of the party, Maudling is nonetheless making overtures to the center and the right to become a unity candidate for the party, promoting his record as Chancellor (with further promises of lowering taxes) and arguing the Conservatives need to fight the next election on the economy.

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