Iain Norman Macleod (11 November 1913 – 20 July 1970) was a British Conservative Party politician. A playboy and professional bridge player in his twenties, after war service Macleod worked for the Conservative Research Department before entering Parliament in 1950. He was noted as a formidable Parliamentary debater and—later—as a platform orator. He was quickly appointed Minister of Health, later serving as Minister of Labour. He served an important term as Secretary of State for the Colonies under Harold Macmillan in the early 1960s, overseeing the independence of many African countries from British rule but earning the enmity of Conservative right-wingers, and the soubriquet that he was "too clever by half".
Macleod was unhappy with the "emergence" of Sir Alec Douglas-Home as party leader and prime minister in succession to Macmillan in 1963 (he claimed to have supported Macmillan's deputy Rab Butler, although it is unclear exactly what his recommendation had been). He refused to serve in Home's government, and while serving as editor of The Spectator alleged that the succession had been stitched up by Macmillan and a "magic circle" of Old Etonians.
Macleod did not contest the first ever Conservative Party leadership election in 1965, but endorsed the eventual winner Edward Heath. When the Conservatives returned to power in June 1970, he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in Heath's government, but died suddenly only a month later.
Early life Iain Macleod was born at Clifford House, Skipton, Yorkshire, on 11 November 1913. His father, Dr. Norman Alexander Macleod, was a well-respected general practitioner in Skipton, with a substantial poor-law practice (providing medical services for those who could not afford to pay); the young Macleod would often accompany his father on his rounds.Goldsworthy 2004, pp. 810–16Richard Shepherd, Iain Macleod (London: Hutchinson, 1994), pp. 6–8. His parents were from the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles of Scotland, his father a descendant of tenant farmers on Pabbay and Uig, tracing back to the early 1500s. His branch of the Macleods of Pabbay was a branch of the Chiefs of MacLeods of Lewis.Iain Macleod: A Biography, Robert Shepherd, Pimlico, 1995, pp. 2- 3 They moved to Skipton in 1907. Macleod grew up with strong personal and cultural ties to Scotland, as his parents bought in 1917 part of the Leverhulme estate on the Isle of Lewis, where they often used to stay for family holidays.
He was educated at Ermysted's Grammar School in Skipton, followed by four years (beginning in 1923) at St Ninian's Dumfriesshire, followed by five years at the private school Fettes College in Edinburgh. Macleod showed no great academic talent, but did develop an enduring love of literature, especially poetry, which he read and memorised in great quantity.Shepherd, pp. 17–21. In his final year at school Macleod appears to have blossomed a little, standing for Oswald Mosley's New Party in the mock election in October 1931; he came third, behind the Unionist and Ian Harvey who stood as a Scottish nationalist and came second. He won the School History Prize in his final year.Shepherd 1994, p. 12
Cambridge and cards In 1932, Macleod went up to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he read history. His only recorded speech at the Cambridge Union Society was in his first term against the Ottawa agreement. He took no other part in student politics and was an indifferent student, preferring to read poetry and play bridge, both for the University and at Crockfords and in the West End. He graduated with a Lower Second in 1935.
A bridge connection with the chairman of the printing company De La Rue earned him a job offer.Shepherd, p. 102. However, he neglected his professional life and focused on gambling, by 1936, was an international bridge player. He won the Gold Cup in 1937, with teammates Maurice Harrison-Gray (Capt), Skid Simon, Jack Marx and Colin Harding. However, he sometimes had to borrow money from his father to cover his gambling debts.Shepherd 1994, pp. 22–24 Macleod's time at De La Rue was undistinguished and marred by frequent absenteeism and a poor work ethic; after tolerating him for a number of years De La Rue dismissed him in 1938.Shepherd 1994, p. 22
In order to placate his father he joined the Inner Temple and went through the motions of studying to become a barrister, but never graduated.
He later wrote a book that contains a description of the Acol system of : Bridge is an Easy Game, published in 1952 by Falcon Press, London."Bridge is an easy game". WorldCat. Retrieved 29 May 2014. It was revised by one Peter Donovan and reissued by Ashford Press in 1988 as Bridge is Still an Easy Game. . He was still earning money from playing and writing newspaper columns about bridge until 1952, when his developing political career became his priority.
War service Early war and murder attempt In September 1939, upon the outbreak of the Second World War, Macleod enlisted in the British Army as a private in the Royal Fusiliers. On 20 April 1940, he was commissioned as an officer with the rank of second lieutenant in the Duke of Wellington's Regiment (DWR), with the service number 129352. He was posted to the 2/7th Battalion, DWR, which was then serving as part of the 137th Infantry Brigade of the 46th Infantry Division, a second line Territorial Army (TA) formation, then commanded by Major-General Henry Curtis. Macleod's battalion was sent overseas to France in time to see action in the Battle of France in May, where he was injured in the leg by a flying log when a German armoured car burst through a road block which his men had just erected. He was treated in hospital in Exeter and left with a lifelong slight limp. In later life, besides his limp he suffered pain and reduced mobility from the spinal condition ankylosing spondylitis. At the age of 27, Macleod was already considered somewhat too old to be a platoon commander. Once fit for duty again, he served as a staff captain with the 46th Division in Wye, under the Deputy Assistant Adjutant General (DAAG), Captain Dawtry.Shepherd 1994, pp. 28–29
In 1941, Macleod committed the attempted murder (known as fragging in military contexts) of Dawtry. Heavily drunk, Macleod demanded Dawtry play stud poker with him. However Dawtry wished to retire to bed. Macleod declared "I'm going to shoot you" and fired all six bullets in the cylinder into Dawtry's bedroom door and then battered the door down with a heavy piece of furniture before passing out.Sandford 2005, pp. 285 Despite showing no remorse (and indeed demanding an apology from his victim), Macleod suffered no disciplinary action.
Staff College, D-Day and European campaign Macleod attended Staff College, Camberley, in 1943, and graduated early in February 1944.Shepherd 1994, p. 31
As a major, he landed in France on Gold Beach on D-Day on 6 June 1944, as Deputy Assistant Quartermaster general (DAQMG) of the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division, a first line TA formation, under the command of Major-General Douglas Graham. Macleod embarked on 1 June ready for the invasion, which was then postponed from 5 June to 6 June. The 50th Division, a highly experienced veteran formation which had fought in North Africa and Sicily, was tasked with capturing Arromanches, where the Mulberry artificial harbour was to be set up, and by the end of the day patrols had pushed to the outskirts of Bayeux. Macleod spent much of the day touring the beachhead area to check on progress, driving past enemy-held strongpoints, with Lieutenant Colonel "Bertie" Gibb.Shepherd 1994, pp. 33–34
Contemporaries began to record him saying that autumn that he planned to enter politics and become prime minister. He continued to serve in France and the Low Countries until November 1944, when the 50th Division was, due to a highly critical shortage of manpower in the British Army at this stage of the war, ordered to return to Yorkshire to be reconstituted as a training division. Macleod ended the war as a major.
1945 election and final Army service Macleod unsuccessfully contested the Western Isles constituency at the 1945 general election. There was no Conservative Party in the seat, so Macleod advertised an inaugural meeting. He and his father, a lifelong Liberal but an admirer of Winston Churchill, were the only attendees, so Macleod elected his father Association Chairman and he selected his son as Parliamentary candidate, in due course receiving a letter of endorsement from Churchill.Shepherd 1994, p. 38 Macleod came bottom of the poll, obtaining 2,756 votes out of 13,000.Shepherd, pp. 39–40. Macleod's father died at the start of 1947, just at the onset of the exceptionally bitter winter.
With the 50th Division now largely disbanded, its HQ was sent to Norway after the end of hostilities in May 1945 as part of Operation Doomsday, supervising the surrender of German forces and repatriation of Allied prisoners. In Norway, Macleod was in charge of setting prices for the country's stock of wine and spirits, much of which had been looted by the Germans from occupied France. In December 1945, he successfully defended a colonel at a court martial, and was tipped for a career at the Bar by the presiding officer.Shepherd 1994, pp. 40–41 He was demobilised from the British Army in January 1946.
Entry into politics In 1946, after an interview with David Clarke, Macleod joined the Conservative Parliamentary Secretariat, writing briefing papers for Conservative MPs on Scotland, labour (employment, in modern parlance) and health matters.
Macleod was selected as Conservative candidate for Enfield in 1946. Forty-seven applicants were already being considered; through a bridge connection Macleod arranged a meeting with the Enfield Conservative Association chairman and persuaded him to add his CV to the list. After interviews, he reached the final shortlist of four. Macleod came second after making a poor speech to the assembled Association at the selection meeting, but the winning candidate failed to achieve the required 10% majority. Amid accusations of skulduggery—the members had not been told of this requirement in advance and forty of them, the representatives of two branches, walked out in protest—a second meeting was scheduled, at which Macleod performed much better and won handsomely. Throughout both meetings he had been strongly supported by the local Young Conservatives, who could vote on Association matters despite in some cases being not yet old enough to vote for Parliament – the 15-year-old Norman Tebbit was a branch officer for Ponders End (a working class area).Shepherd 1994, pp. 53–54
Enfield had been won by the Conservatives several times in the interwar period, but with a 12,000 Labour majority in 1945 was not regarded as an immediate prospect. In 1948, the Parliamentary boundaries were redrawn, and Macleod was unanimously selected for the new and much more winnable Enfield West, which he would win in February 1950 and hold comfortably throughout his career.
In 1948, the Secretariat merged with the Conservative Research Department under Rab Butler. Macleod was in joint, then sole, charge of Home Affairs. He drafted the Social Services section of the Conservative policy paper The Right Road for Britain (1949).
Along with Enoch Powell, Angus Maude and Reginald Maudling, Macleod was seen as a protégé of Butler at the CRD. David Clarke thought Macleod the least intellectually gifted of the three but later came to think him the most politically gifted.Jenkins 1993, p. 33 All four men were elected to Parliament in February 1950, and along with Edward Heath who entered Parliament at the same time they became members of the "One Nation" group. Together with Angus Maude, Macleod wrote the pamphlet One Nation in 1950, and together with Enoch Powell he wrote The Social Services: Needs and Means which appeared in January 1952.