He had operation to remove gallstones in 1953. The operation went wrong, and his health was ruined. He became Prime Minister in 1955 when Winston Churchill retired. He stopped being Prime Minister in 1957 when Harold Macmillan replaced him. The Suez Crisis of 1956 was a critical period. This and his health led up to his resignation as Prime Minister. Eden died of liver cancer, aged 79. His widow, Clarissa Eden, Countess of Avon, was born in 1920. She is a niece of Winston Churchill.
Eden's life can be described in two halves. The first half, in the 1930s and in wartime, was brilliant. But he is often ranked among the least successful British Prime Ministers of the 20th century, although two broadly sympathetic biographies (in 1986 and 2003) have gone some way to redressing the balance of opinion. D.R. Thorpe says the Suez Crisis "was a truly tragic end to his premiership, and one that came to assume a disproportionate importance in any assessment of his career".
Eden had three sons. The elder and middle sons died before him. His Earl of Avon title was inherited by the younger son, Nicholas. When Nicholas died, the title became extinct.
Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, (3 August 186714 December 1947) was a Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times. He presided over the economic crisis of the 1930s and abdication of King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom.
Alec Douglas-Home
Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel, (; 2 July 1903 – 9 October 1995) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1963 to 1964. He was better known as Alec Douglas-Home.
Home was a Member of Parliament and a junior official (a Parliamentary Private Secretary) when Neville Chamberlain went to Munich to meet Adolf Hitler in 1938. He was present at the main meetings between Hitler and Chamberlain. Later in life, he was appointed by Harold Macmillan as Foreign Secretary in 1960–1963, and again in Edward Heath's government from 1970–1974.
Home's name and title changed a few times during his life. Born as Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, he became Lord Dunglass when his father became the Earl of Home. Dunglass is a junior title, that is, a lower title which is held by the eldest son. When his father died Alec became the 14th Earl of Home. He also became Baron Douglas in the peerage of the United Kingdom (that was also a junior title).
When he was chosen as Leader of the Conservative Party after Harold Macmillan retired, he knew it would be difficult to lead a government from the House of Lords. So he renounced his title, four days after becoming Prime Minister. Once he renounced the title, he became simply Sir Alec Douglas-Home. He had been made a Knight of the Thistle in 1962. Finally, after he lost the election of 1964, he was given a life peerage, titled 'Baron Home of the Hirsel'. That title is not hereditary but, after his death, his son became the 15th Earl of Home.
Rapidly, after the title was renounced, arrangements were made. The safe Conservative seat of Kinross and Western Perthshire was vacant, and Douglas-Home was adopted as his party's candidate. Parliament was due to meet on 24 October after the summer recess, but its return was postponed until 12 November pending the by-election. For twenty days Douglas-Home was Prime Minister while a member of neither house of Parliament, a situation without modern precedent. He won the by-election with a majority of 9,328.
A former peer as Prime Minister was open to attack, and Douglas-Home was attacked by the Labour Party leader Harold Wilson. Wilson attacked the new prime minister as "an elegant anachronism". He said that nobody from Douglas-Home's background knew the problems of ordinary families. In particular, Wilson asked how "a scion of an effete establishment" could lead the technological revolution which was needed. His premiership was ended by the general election of 1970, which put in the Labour Party with Harold Wilson as Prime Minister.
When the Conservatives returned to power in 1974, Home was made Foreign Secretary. He was a considerable success in this role. His speeches explained the world situation, which was then at the height of the Cold War.
In east–west relations, Douglas-Home spoke against the Soviet Union and its spying activities in Britain. In September 1971 he expelled 105 Soviet diplomats, who were spying. Although this was an extraordinary incident, Gromyko was realistic enough to keep a working relationship with the British government. Within days of the expulsions from London he and Douglas-Home met and discussed the Middle East and disarmament.
"The Times" considered that his reputation rested not on his brief premiership, but on his two spells as Foreign Secretary: "He brought to the office ... his capacity for straight talking, for toughness towards the Soviet Union and for firmness (sometimes interpreted as a lack of sympathy) towards the continents of Africa and Asia. But he brought something else as well: an unusual degree of international respect".
Benjamin Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881), born Benjamin D'Israeli, was a British politician. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1852, from 1858–1859 and from 1866–1868. He was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1868 and from 1874–1880. His main opponent was William Ewart Gladstone. Disraeli was also a novelist and biographer.
Disraeli was born into a Jewish family which converted to Anglicanism. He is the only prime minister of Jewish heritage in British history. He followed his father, and converted to Anglicanism at the age of 12.
Disraeli invented the idea of "One Nation" conservatism, designed to appeal to all ranks in society. This is conservatism that values paternalism and pragmatism. Paternalism means looking after people, and pragmatism means it was practical not ideological. Disraeli wanted it to appeal to working class men as a solution to worsening divisions in society. This idea was opposed to the Liberals (or "Whigs"), which was the party of the urban elite (moneyed and well-educated people in towns and cities).
Disraeli made the Conservatives the party that supported the British Empire and the military action to go with it. This was partly in reaction to Gladstone, who disliked the expense of empire, and partly because Disraeli knew it would be popular.
The 19th century saw the Commons gradually take over from the Lords. In the first half of the century the prime minister and most of the cabinet were peers, members of the House of Lords. By the late 19th century, the prime minister and most of the cabinet came from the House of Commons. This happened gradually, and perhaps the reform of elections helped make the Commons the more important chamber.
In Disraeli's first short period as prime minister, his government passed legislation which had wide support. It ended public executions, and the Corrupt Practices Act did much to end electoral bribery. The government used an early version of nationalisation: the Post Office bought up the telegraph companies. There were changes to the school law, the Scottish legal system, and the railway laws were passed.
Disraeli's second government was from 1874 to 1880. The 12 cabinet members were equally divided between the Commons and Lords. His government passed a number of laws to improve the life and working conditions of ordinary people.
Also, he arranged for Britain to buy the Suez Canal, which was until then a private company. The canal was critical to Britain because it was the short route between the UK and British India. Disraeli got news that the Khedive of Egypt, Ismail Pasha, was planning to sell his shares in the canal company. Disraeli arranged for the banker Lionel de Rothschild to loan the funds to the government. Rothschild took a commission on the deal, and the Disraeli went to Queen Victoria saying, "it is settled; you have it, madam!".