Alec Douglas-Home

**Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home o the Hirsel**  (; 2 Julie 1903&nbsp;– 9 October 1995) wis a Breetish Conservative politeecian that served as Prime Meenister frae October 1963 tae October 1964. He is notable for bein the maist recent Prime Meenister tae haud office while bein a member o the Hoose o Lairds, afore renouncin his peerage an takkin up a seat in the Hoose o Commons for the remainder o his premiership. His reputation, houiver, rests mair on his twa spells as Breetain's furrin secretar nor on his brief premiership.

Within sax years o first enterin the Hoose o Commons in 1931, Douglas-Home (then cried bi the coortesy teetle **Laird Dunglass**) becam pairlamentar aide tae Neville Chamberlain, witnessin at first haund Chamberlain's efforts as Prime Meenister tae preserve peace throu appeasement in the twa years afore the ootbreak o the Seicont Warld War. In 1940, he wis diagnosed wi spinal tuberculosis an wis immobilised for twa years. Bi the later stages o the war he haed rekivered eneuch tae resume his poleetical career, but lost his seat in the general election o 1945. He regained it in 1950, but the follaein year he left the Commons whan, on the daith o his faither, he inheritit the yerldom o Home an tharebi becam a member o the Hoose o Lairds as the **[[Yerl o Home|14t Yerl o Home]]**. Unner the premierships o Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden an Harold Macmillan he wis appyntit tae a series o increasinly senior posts, includin Leader o the Hoose o Lairds an Furrin Secretar. In the latter post, that he held frae 1960 tae 1963, he supportit Unitit States resolve in the Cuban Missile Crisis an wis the Unitit Kinrick's seegnatory o the Piartial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in August 1963.

In October 1963, Macmillan wis takken ill an resigned as Prime Meenister. Laird Home wis chuisen tae succeed him. Bi the 1960s it wis unacceptable for a Prime Meenister tae sit in the Hoose o Lairds, an Home renoonced his yerldom an successfully stuid for election tae the Hoose o Commons as **Sir Alec Douglas-Home**. The manner o his appyntment wis controversial, an twa o Macmillan's cabinet meenisters refuised tae tak office unner him. He wis creeticised bi the Labour Pairty as an aristocrat, oot o titch wi the problems o ordinar faimilies, an he cam ower stiffly in telly interviews, bi contrast wi the Labour leader, Harold Wilson. As Prime Meenister, Douglas-Home's demeanor an appearance remeened aristocratic an auld-fashioned. His unnerstaundin o economics wis primitive, an he gae his Chancellor,  Reginald Maudling, free rein tae haundle financial affairs. Douglas-Home enjoyed dealin wi furrin policy, but thare war na major creeses or issues tae resolve. His Furrin Meenister, Rab Butler, wis nae especially energetic. Breetain's application tae jyne Europe haed awreidy been vetoed bi De Gaulle, the Cuban missile crisis haed been resolved, an Berlin wis again on the back birner. Decolonisation issues war lairgely routine, an the Rhodesie an Sooth African creeses lay in the futur. The Conservative Pairty, in office syne 1951, haed lost staundin as a result o the Profumo affair, a sexual scandal involvin a defence meenister in 1963, an at the time o Laird Home's appointment as Prime Meenister seemed heidit for hivy electoral defeat. Home's premiership wis the seicont briefest o the twentiet century, lastin twa days short o a year. Amang the legislation passed unner his govrenment wis the aboleetion o resale price maintenance, bringin costs doun for the consumer against the interests o producers o fuid an ither commodities.

Efter narrae defeat in the general election o 1964, Douglas-Home resigned the leadership o his pairty, haein instituted a new an less saicretive method o electin the pairty leader. Frae 1970 tae 1974 he served in the cabinet o Edward Heath as Secretar o State at the Furrin an Commonweel Office, an expandit version o the post o Furrin Secretar, that he haed held earlier. Efter the defeat o the Heath govrenment in 1974 he returned tae the Hoose o Lairds as a life peer an retired frae front-line politics.

He dee'd in 1995, ainly four months after his opponent, Harold Wilson.

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