Editing Michael Heseltine (section)

===Opposition front bencher: 1967–70===
In 1967, [[Peter Walker, Baron Walker of Worcester|Peter Walker]] invited Heseltine to be opposition spokesman on transport (not a Shadow Cabinet-level position, but reporting to Walker), after he had arranged a successful speaking tour of the West Country for him. Heseltine's duties included opposing [[Barbara Castle]]'s 1967 Transport Bill (which eventually became the [[Transport Act 1968]]).<ref>Crick 1997, p. 130.</ref> Heseltine led opposition to the parts of the bill which nationalised small bus companies into the [[National Bus Company (UK)]] and set up [[Passenger transport executive]]s (PTEs) in major urban areas. He criticised Castle for wanting to give PTEs the right to manufacture or produce anything necessary for their function, which as she pointed out was almost word-for-word identical to a clause in the Conservatives' [[Transport Act 1962]]. In 1968 [[Margaret Thatcher]] became Heseltine's boss for a year; he found her "embarrassingly rude".<ref>Crick 1997, p. 131.</ref> Unusually for the time, he employed a full-time researcher, Eileen Strathnaver.<ref name=crick136-137/>

Heath allowed his shadow ministers more leeway than would be normal nowadays. Heseltine was one of a group of 15 Conservative MPs to vote against the [[Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968|1968 Commonwealth Immigration Bill]] on second reading (Conservative whips advised their MPs to support it, but it was a free vote). He also voted against the bill on three subsequent votes, arguing that it was based on "sheer naked racialism" and that Britain should honour promises previously made to the [[Kenyan Asians]]. Following [[Enoch Powell]]'s [[Rivers of Blood speech]] Heseltine publicly urged Heath to deal firmly with him—to the consternation of many in his local party at Tavistock, where Powell enjoyed strong support. Three days later, Heseltine was one of around two dozen Conservative MPs who defied the whip to abstain rather than vote against the second reading of the [[Race Relations Act 1968|1968 Race Relations Bill]] (which banned racial discrimination). He argued that the Conservatives should state their own alternative policy rather than just oppose.<ref>Crick 1997, pp. 131–2.</ref>

Heseltine was promoted to principal opposition spokesman on transport in November 1969, although unlike his predecessors Thatcher and Walker, he was not a member of the Shadow Cabinet. He went on a six-week tour of India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and the US to study how their docks were run, in readiness for Labour's planned 1970 Docks Bill (which in the event was cancelled because of that year's general election).<ref name=crick136-137/>