(born July 9, 1916, Broadstairs, Kent, Eng.—died July 17, 2005, Salisbury, Wiltshire) British politician, prime minister of Britain (1970–74). He held various government positions after being elected to Parliament in 1950, and after the Conservative defeat in 1964 he became a major opposition figure.
As prime minister, he faced the crisis of violent conflict in Northern Ireland, over which he imposed direct British rule in 1972, and won French acceptance of British entry into the European Economic Community. Unable to cope with Britain's mounting economic problems, chiefly rising inflation and unemployment and crippling labour strikes, he was succeeded as prime minister by Harold Wilson in 1974 and replaced as party leader by Margaret Thatcher in 1975. Heath, who was knighted in 1992, remained in the House of Commons until 2001.
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