Denis Healey

**Denis Winston Healey, Baron Healey** CH, MBE, PC (30 August 1917 – 3 October 2015) was a British Labour politician.  He was Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 to 1970 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979.

## Early life

Healey was born in Mottingham, Kent, and moved with his family to Keighley in the West Riding of Yorkshire when he was five years old. He was given the middle name "Winston" after Winston Churchill, who was an important politician at the time Denis was born.
Healey was one of three children. Their father was an engineer who had worked his way up by taking extra lessons at night school.

Healey went to Bradford Grammar School, and in 1936 he won a type of scholarship known as an "exhibition", which gave him enough money to take a degree at Balliol College, Oxford.  At Oxford University he got involved in politics, and he joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1937. In 1939, not liking the party's policies, he changed his mind.  From that time on, he supported the Labour Party, even though one of his best friends at university, Edward Heath, supported the Conservative Party.

## Political career

After getting his degree, Healey joined the Royal Engineers, and served in the British forces in several countries during World War II.  He took an important part in the Battle of Anzio, towards the end of the war.  After the war, he joined the Labour Party, and made an important speech to the Labour Party conference in 1945, shortly before the United Kingdom general election, 1945.

In February 1952, Healey became the Member of Parliament for Leeds South East. He supported Hugh Gaitskell, the leader of the Labour Party.  When Gaitskell died in 1963, Healey became a supporter of Harold Wilson. When Labour won the 1964 election Healey was given the job of Secretary of State for Defence. Labour lost power in 1970, but Healey was given the job of Shadow Chancellor in April 1972.

When Labour won a general election in March 1974 and came back into power, Healey became Chancellor of the Exchequer in March 1974. When Harold Wilson resigned as Prime Minister in 1976, Healey was one of those who hoped to take over, but he was not chosen. He continued in the job of Chancellor of the Exchequer when James Callaghan took over as Prime Minister.

## Personal life

Healy married Edna Edmunds in 1945. Together, they had three children. They lived in Alfriston, Sussex. Edna died in 2010.

On 14 June 1978, Healey likened being attacked by the mild-mannered Geoffrey Howe in the House of Commons to being "savaged by a dead sheep". Nevertheless, Howe appeared and paid warm tribute when Healey was featured on _This Is Your Life_ in 1989. The two remained friends for many years, with Howe dying only a few days after Healey, in 2015.

Healy died at his home in Alfriston, Sussex on 3 October 2015 from a short-illness, aged 98..

## Other websites

- Births England and Wales 1837–1983
- Interview about nuclear strategy in Europe for the WGBH-TV series, War and Peace in the Nuclear Age , 1986
- The old bruiser who remained the boy next door, William Keegan, _The Observer_, 3 December 2006, interview and retrospective
- Denis Healey at 90, Elinor Goodman, _BBC News_, 30 March 2007
- Denis Winston Healey, Baron Healey (1917–), Politician: Sitter in 11 portraits (National Portrait Gallery)

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **honorific-prefix**: The Right Honourable
- **name**: The Lord Healey
- **honorific-suffix**: Order of the Companions of Honour, CH Order of the British Empire, MBE Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, PC Royal Society of Literature, FRSL
- **image**: Denis Healey.jpg
- **office**: Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Deputy Leader of the Labour Party
- **leader**: Michael Foot
- **term start**: 4 November 1980
- **term end**: 2 October 1983
- **predecessor**: Michael Foot
- **successor**: Roy Hattersley
- **office1**: Shadow Foreign Secretary
- **leader1**: Michael Foot
Neil Kinnock
- **term start1**: 8 December 1980
- **term end1**: 13 July 1987
- **predecessor1**: Peter Shore
- **successor1**: Gerald Kaufman
- **leader2**: Harold Wilson
- **term start2**: 20 June 1970
- **term end2**: 19 April 1972
- **predecessor2**: Alec Douglas-Home, Sir Alec Douglas-Home
- **successor2**: James Callaghan
- **leader3**: Hugh Gaitskell
- **term start3**: 11 October 1959
- **term end3**: 2 November 1961
- **predecessor3**: Aneurin Bevan
- **successor3**: Harold Wilson
- **office4**: Chancellor of the Exchequer
- **primeminister4**: Harold Wilson
James Callaghan
- **term start4**: 5 March 1974
- **term end4**: 4 May 1979
- **predecessor4**: Anthony Barber, Baron Barber, Anthony Barber
- **successor4**: Geoffrey Howe, Sir Geoffrey Howe
- **office5**: Secretary of State for Defence
- **primeminister5**: Harold Wilson
- **term start5**: 16 October 1964
- **term end5**: 19 June 1970
- **predecessor5**: Peter Thorneycroft, Baron Thorneycroft, Peter Thorneycroft
- **successor5**: Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, The Lord Carrington
- **office6**: Member of Parliament (UK), Member of Parliament
 for Leeds East (UK Parliament constituency), Leeds East
- **term start6**: 26 May 1955
- **term end6**: 9 April 1992
- **predecessor6**: Boundary Commissions (United Kingdom), Constituency Created
- **successor6**: George Mudie
- **office7**: Member of Parliament (UK), Member of Parliament
 for Leeds South East (UK Parliament constituency), Leeds South East
- **term start7**: 14 February 1952
- **term end7**: 26 May 1955
- **predecessor7**: James Milner, 1st Baron Milner of Leeds, James Milner
- **successor7**: Alice Bacon, Baroness Bacon, Alice Bacon
- **birth place**: Mottingham, Kent, England
- **death place**: Alfriston, East Sussex, England
- **branch**:  British Army
• Royal Engineers
- **serviceyears**: 1940–1945
- **rank**: Major
- **battles**: World War II
• North African Campaign
• Italian Campaign (World War II), Italian Campaign
• Battle of Anzio
- **party**: Labour Party (UK), Labour
- **spouse**: Edna Healey, Edna Edmunds
(m. 1945–2010; her death)
- **alma mater**: Balliol College, Oxford