Shadow Cabinet posts

Shadow Foreign Secretary
In office 8 December 1980 – 13 July 1987
Leader	Michael Foot Neil Kinnock
Preceded by	Peter Shore
Succeeded by	Gerald Kaufman
In office 20 June 1970 – 19 April 1972
Leader	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Alec Douglas-Home
Succeeded by	James Callaghan
In office 11 October 1959 – 2 November 1961
Leader	Hugh Gaitskell
Preceded by	Aneurin Bevan
Succeeded by	Harold Wilson
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office 4 May 1979 – 8 December 1980
Leader	James Callaghan
Preceded by	Geoffrey Howe
Succeeded by	Peter Shore
In office 19 April 1972 – 4 March 1974
Leader	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Roy Jenkins
Succeeded by	Robert Carr
Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
In office 1 April 1964 – 16 October 1964
Leader	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Peter Thorneycroft

Parliamentary offices

Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Life peerage 29 June 1992 – 3 October 2015
Member of Parliament for Leeds East
In office 26 May 1955 – 16 March 1992
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	George Mudie
Member of Parliament for Leeds South East
In office 7 February 1952 – 6 May 1955
Preceded by	James Milner
Succeeded by	Alice Bacon

Personal details

Born

Denis Winston Healey

30 August 1917
Mottingham, Kent, England

Died

3 October 2015 (aged 98)
Alfriston, Sussex, England

Resting place

St Andrew's Church

Political party

Labour

Spouse

Edna Edmunds

(m. 1945; ~~her death~~ 2010)

Children

Alma mater

Balliol College, Oxford

Military service

Branch/service

British Army

Years of service

1940–1945

Rank

Major

Unit

Royal Engineers

Battles/wars

Second World War

Awards

Member of the Order of the British Empire

Denis Winston Healey, Baron Healey (born 30 August 1917 – died 3 October 2015) was a well-known British Labour politician. He held important jobs in the government. He was the Chancellor of the Exchequer (like a finance minister) from 1974 to 1979. Before that, he was the Secretary of State for Defence (in charge of the military) from 1964 to 1970. He holds the record for serving the longest as Defence Secretary.

Healey was a MP (a representative in the UK Parliament) from 1952 to 1992. He also served as the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1980 to 1983. People often remembered him for his distinctive bushy eyebrows, friendly manner, and clever way with words.

Denis Healey studied at the University of Oxford and fought as a Major in the Second World War. After the war, he worked for a secret part of the Foreign Office. This group spread information against communism during the early Cold War. Healey was first elected to Parliament in 1952. He represented the Leeds South East area, then later Leeds East until he retired in 1992.

When the Labour Party won the election in 1964, Prime Minister Harold Wilson made Healey the Defence Secretary. He kept this job until 1970. Later, when Labour won again in 1974, Wilson appointed Healey as Chancellor of the Exchequer. He tried to become the leader of the Labour Party in 1976 but lost to James Callaghan. As Chancellor, Healey famously got a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for Britain. This loan came with rules about how the government could spend money.

Healey tried again to become Labour Party leader in 1980 but narrowly lost to Michael Foot. Foot then chose Healey as his Deputy Leader. However, Tony Benn challenged Healey for this role in 1981. It was a very close contest, but Healey won by a tiny margin. After Labour lost badly in the 1983 election, Healey stepped down as Deputy Leader. He remained a senior politician until 1987. He joined the House of Lords in 1992 after leaving Parliament. Denis Healey passed away in 2015 at the age of 98. He was the oldest member of the House of Lords at the time.

Early Life and Education
- School and University
- Serving in World War II
Political Career
Personal Life and Death
Honours
Legacy

Early Life and Education

Denis Winston Healey was born in Mottingham, Kent, England, on 30 August 1917. When he was five, his family moved to Keighley in Yorkshire. His parents were Winifred Mary and William Healey. His middle name, Winston, was chosen to honour Winston Churchill.

Denis had one younger brother named Terry. His father was an engineering mechanic who worked hard to become the head of Keighley Technical School. His grandfather was a tailor from Northern Ireland. The Healey family often spent their summers in Scotland.

School and University

Healey went to Bradford Grammar School. In 1936, he won a scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford. There, he studied ancient history and philosophy. He also became involved in Labour politics. For a short time, he joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1937 but left in 1940.

At Oxford, Healey met Edward Heath, who later became Prime Minister. They were friends and political rivals throughout their lives. Healey finished his degree in 1940 with top honours.

Serving in World War II

After university, Healey joined the Second World War. He started as a gunner and then became a second lieutenant in 1941. He served with the Royal Engineers. He fought in the North African Campaign, the Allied invasion of Sicily, and the Italian campaign. He was even a "beach master" during the Battle of Anzio in 1944, helping troops land safely.

Healey was awarded the MBE in 1945 for his service. He left the army as a Major. He decided not to stay in the army or pursue an academic career. Instead, he chose to enter politics.

Political Career

Starting in Politics

Healey joined the Labour Party. In 1945, he gave a strong speech at the Labour Party conference. He then ran for Parliament but narrowly lost.

From 1944, he became the secretary of the Labour Party's international department. This meant he advised Labour leaders on foreign policy and met with socialist politicians across Europe. He was strongly against the Communist Party of Great Britain and the Soviet Union. He also helped organise conferences that aimed to improve relations between Britain and Germany after the war.

Member of Parliament

Healey was first elected to the House of Commons as an MP for Leeds South East in February 1952. He won by a large number of votes. In 1955, he moved to represent Leeds East due to changes in constituency boundaries. He held this seat until he retired as an MP in 1992.

During the 1950s, Healey was a moderate member of the Labour Party. He supported and was friends with Hugh Gaitskell, a key Labour leader. In 1963, when Gaitskell died, Healey supported Harold Wilson to become the new leader. He believed Wilson could unite the party and win the next election. In 1964, he became the Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, preparing for a government role.

Defence Secretary Role

After Labour won the 1964 election, Healey became the Secretary of State for Defence under Prime Minister Harold Wilson. He was in charge of a huge number of military personnel and civil servants around the world.

Healey is known for saving money in defence. He reduced Britain's military presence outside Europe and cancelled expensive projects. This was done to shift money towards domestic spending and to focus on Britain's commitment to NATO. He cut defence spending, getting rid of old aircraft carriers and cancelling plans for new ones. He also stopped the production of certain new aircraft.

Healey also approved the sale of advanced weapons to other countries. He later said he regretted selling arms to South Africa during its apartheid era. In 1968, after the value of the British pound dropped, Wilson and Healey announced that Britain would withdraw its troops and close military bases in South East Asia and the Persian Gulf. Healey also approved the removal of people from the Chagos Archipelago to allow the United States to build a military base there.

Chancellor of the Exchequer

Healey became the Shadow Chancellor in April 1972, which meant he was the main opposition spokesperson on financial matters. He became Chancellor of the Exchequer in March 1974 when Labour returned to power.

His time as Chancellor is sometimes divided into two parts. The second part began when he and Prime Minister James Callaghan decided to ask the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan in 1976. This loan came with strict rules about how Britain should manage its economy. Healey's policies aimed to help poorer people by increasing benefits, which meant higher taxes for those earning more. His first budget increased support for food and pensions.

In 1976, when Harold Wilson stepped down as Labour leader, Healey ran to replace him but did not win.

Labour Party Leadership

Labour lost the 1979 general election to the Conservatives, led by Margaret Thatcher. In 1979, Healey was given the Companion of Honour award. He was seen as a strong candidate to become the next Labour leader.

When James Callaghan stepped down as Labour leader in November 1980, Healey was expected to win the leadership election. However, he narrowly lost to Michael Foot. Foot immediately made Healey his Deputy Leader.

The next year, Tony Benn challenged Healey for the Deputy Leader role. This election was very important for the future direction of the Labour Party. After a long and difficult contest, Healey won by a very small margin in September 1981.

Healey became the Shadow Foreign Secretary for most of the 1980s, a job he really wanted. He stayed in the shadow cabinet under Neil Kinnock, who became leader after Labour's big defeat in the 1983 general election. Healey decided not to run for leader himself and also stepped down as Deputy Leader.

Later Life and Retirement

Healey's views on nuclear weapons were different from the Labour Party's policy of getting rid of them without other countries doing the same. After the 1987 general election, he retired from the Shadow Cabinet. In 1992, he stepped down as an MP after 40 years. That same year, he became a life peer as Baron Healey, joining the House of Lords. Many people thought Healey was "the best Prime Minister we never had."

He was one of the people who helped start the Bilderberg Group, a group of important people who meet privately. Healey later became critical of Tony Blair's decisions to use military force in places like Kosovo and Iraq. He also said that Britain might not need nuclear weapons anymore.

In 2013, Healey said he would vote for Britain to leave the EU if there was a referendum. He felt the benefits of being in the EU were not clear, but the disadvantages were. After another member died in 2013, Healey became the oldest sitting member of the House of Lords.

His Public Image

Denis Healey was well-liked by the public. His distinctive bushy eyebrows and sharp sense of humour made him memorable.

Personal Life and Death

Denis Healey married Edna May Edmunds on 21 December 1945. They had met at Oxford University. They had three children, including the writer Tim Healey. Edna Healey passed away in 2010, after almost 65 years of marriage. They lived in Alfriston, East Sussex.

Healey enjoyed photography, music, painting, and reading crime novels. He sometimes played the piano at public events. In 2012, he mentioned that he swam 20 lengths a day in his outdoor pool.

Denis Healey passed away peacefully in his sleep at his home in Alfriston, Sussex, on 3 October 2015. He was 98 years old. He was buried next to his wife. His personal papers are kept at the Bodleian Library.

Honours

Ribbon	Name	Notes
	Order of the Companions of Honour	12 June 1979	CH
	Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire	13 December 1945	MBE

In 2004, Healey was the first person to receive the Veteran's Badge.

Legacy

Denis Healey is known for popularising a saying in the UK called Healey's First law of holes. This saying is a slightly changed version of a quote often linked to Will Rogers.

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