Adrian Lee is a solicitor-advocate in London, specialising in criminal defence, and was twice a Conservative parliamentary candidate.
At around 4pm on Tuesday 11 February 1975, Douglas Hurd, recently elected Conservative M.P for Mid-Oxfordshire and former political secretary to Edward Heath, sat in the House of Common’s Library completing some paperwork. Suddenly, he heard loud cheers and applause emanating from Committee Room 14 above.
Hurd knew that the 1922 Committee was meeting there to hear the result of the Conservative Party’s second ballot for the vacant position of Leader. He also knew that the hullabaloo was indicative of the result: Margaret Thatcher had won
Shortly before, Airey Neave, Thatcher’s Campaign Manager, had returned to his cramped Parliamentary office. She was patiently sitting there waiting for the result. Years later, she recalled that Neave spoke to her “so quietly” when he approached her and said: “I have to tell you that you are the new Leader of the Opposition.”
A few weeks earlier, very few of her colleagues thought that she a realistic chance of replacing Heath. Patronisingly, arch-Wet Sir Ian Gilmour was quoted as saying “Margaret is pure Surbiton in all its glory, and that won’t do for me.”
When she first discussed the possibility of challenging Heath with her husband Denis in late 1974, he responded by saying: “You must be out of your mind. You haven’t got a hope. Heath will murder you.” Denis later discussed the matter with their daughter Carol. He relayed his earlier remarks and added: “Of course, I told her I would support her all the way. That is what marriage is all about. Anyway, if she isn’t going to win, I have nothing to worry about.”
The key factor that changed the political weather for Thatcher was the appointment of Neave as her campaign manager. Lieutenant Colonel Airey Middleton Sheffield Neave, DSO, OBE, MC, TD was one of the most extraordinary people ever elected to Parliament.
Neave’s military career began in December 1935, when he received a territorial commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. Unlike most of his generation, Neave recognised that war was coming. As an Oxford law undergraduate, he had visited Nazi Germany in the mid-Thirties and accurately recognised the nature of the new order.
In one of his books, Neave explained that he was invited to attend a rally of sports clubs one evening in Berlin. Strongly suspecting that in this new totalitarian system, even the most seemingly innocuous gathering would be used as a vehicle for propaganda, Neave arrived casually dressed, to the organiser’s chagrin. The sports clubs then proceeded to march down the Unter Den Linden in military formation; Neave slovenly shuffled behind them in his slacks and open neck shirt.
At some point, the parade ended and the participants were treated to an oration from the Nazi Sports Minister. The speech was full of the usual ideological bile, but it left Neave in no doubt where this political revolution was heading. When he returned to England, he read the complete works of Carl von Clausewitz, the German military theorist of the Napoleonic era.
The Second World War opened for Neave when he was sent to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force in February 1940. He served with the unglamourous 1st Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery. He arrived in France during the “Phoney War” but less than three months later, Germany invaded the Low Countries and came crashing through the Ardennes Forest.
Neave was trapped around the Port of Calais. The British fought hard to keep the channel ports open as long as possible; even when it became clear that Calais would fall, there was merit in fighting on, to delay the pressure on Dunkirk. Neave was wounded and captured by the Germans at the fall of Calais on 23 May 1940.
These exploits were later recalled in his book, The Flames of Calais. One of the most striking things about this volume is the author’s reticence to portray himself as a hero. This was not a man to idly boast about his war record.
Neave was first sent to Oflag IX-A/H in Central Germany, but then transferred in February 1941 to Stalag XX-A in Thorn, part of German-occupied Western Poland. He escaped in April with fellow British prisoner Norman Forbes, and later wrote of how ill-prepared they were for their expedition.
However, they thought that they would have an advantage by going east. Their wished to get into the Soviet occupied zone of Poland. They came quite close, but were eventually detained and interrogated by the Gestapo at the border.
In May, Neave was sent to Oflag IV-C, better known as Colditz Castle, outside Leipzig. The difference with Colditz was that it had been designed to make escape virtually impossible. Only the toughest, habitual escapers were sent there. Neave was determined to leave as soon as possible. On the 28 August, he made his first attempt.
Neave didn’t bother digging tunnels or building gliders. Instead, he decided to walk out the main gate wearing a German N.C.O.’s uniform. He crafted the garment from a similar Polish uniform and made a German belt from cardboard.
Unfortunately, there was a snag. He had tried to die the uniform field grey, but it reflected bright green when the searchlights shone upon it. He was captured before he could reach the gates, but the Commandant was so amused by the fake uniform that he had a photograph taken of Neave wearing it before he spent a month in solitary.
Upon return to his comrades, one said that he hoped Neave had learnt a lesson. Neave replied that he had, the next time he would walk out the camp dressed as a German officer. This raised a laugh, but on the 5 January 1942, Neave did exactly that. He was the first British officer to complete a “home run”.
Neave escaped from Colditz with Anthony Luteyn, a Dutch officer, and made his way to Switzerland. The thrilling story of, firstly, crossing Nazi Germany, and then passing through Vichy France to get to neutral Spain is told in They Have Their Exits, a book I highly recommend.
When in England, Neave started working for British intelligence at the wartime department MI9. MI9 was established to run escape lines for Allied pilots and soldiers to return to the UK. Neave worked closely with the underground in the occupied territories, supplying them with equipment and money; approximately 5,000 Allied personnel were returned using these lines.
At the end of the war, Neave, by this time a pupil barrister, was seconded to the Nuremberg Trials’ prosecution team and served indictments on leading Nazis.
He was elected to Parliament on his third attempt, in a by-election in Abingdon in June 1953. The first 22 years of his political career seemed unremarkable. After a brief period in government, he suffered a major heart attack in 1959. When he returned to the Commons Ted Heath, , the Chief Whip, told him that he was “finished” due to his weak heart. Throughout the 1960s, Neave worked quietly but assiduously, obtaining improved pensions for war widows.
Then, in the early 1970s, Neave was elected to the 1922 Committee under Sir Edward du Cann’s chairmanship. Neave and du Cann believed that after losing two general elections Heath should go, and began seeking a replacement. After du Cann ruled himself out, Neave’s attentions focused on Thatcher.
Her campaign, run by Neave, has become the stuff of legends. Using classic psych-op tactics, he concentrated in getting the largest number of votes for her on the first ballot.
Firstly, he had to unify the Right, which was not easy. Many resented the fact that Thatcher had failed to restore grammar schools when she was Secretary of Education. Others didn’t believe that a female could win a general election. Neave spoke to them all privately, before moving onto the Tory Left.
Here, he said that it was safe to vote for Thatcher in the first ballot, as it would get rid of Heath and clear the field for Willie Whitelaw on the second ballot. Many on the Left were happy to dispatch Heath, as they thought that he had become a liability.
When the first ballot results were announced on 5 January 1975, Thatcher topped the poll with 130 votes to Heath’s 119. He immediately withdrew. Neave then went into overdrive to speak to as many MPs as possible to convince them that Thatcher was a winner, who had the momentum to win convincingly. She won 146 votes on the second round to Whitelaw’s (her closest opponent) 79 votes.
Neave, the retired intelligence officer, changed the course of British history. He not only ensured Margaret Thatcher’s victory, but he also talent-spotted future ministers such as Norman Tebbit, Nicholas Ridley, and Cecil Parkinson. Tragically, he was murdered by Irish Republicans just before the 1979 general election. But his legacy lived on for a further decade.
