Wednesday, March 08, 2006

The Man Responsible for the Rise of Edward Heath

Sir Walter Bromley-Davenport was the Tory MP for Knutsford, and an opposition whip shortly after the war. Once, seeing an unfamiliar figure leaving the building, he assumed this was a Tory MP trying to evade a three-line whip. When the man refused to stop, Sir Walter kicked him down the stairs. It turned out to be the Belgian ambassador. The consequent vacancy in the whips’ office was filled by Lt. Col. Edward Heath, in his first front-bench job. The Belgian ambassador has a lot to answer for.

Hat-tip: Thanks to AS

3 comments:

Chris Palmer said...

Belgiums in general have a lot to answer for - just look at the EU!

Anonymous said...

I remember this story from the Gyles Brandreth's brillian "The Brandreth Rules" on Radio 4.
But I thought it had happened during the Major years.

Oh well.

ContraTory said...

Deep down, Edward Heath was ok. After all, he was instrumental in reversing that vote by the Oxford Union about "not fighting for King and Country..."