Editing Edward Heath (section)

==Oxford==
A talented musician, Heath won the college's [[organ scholar]]ship in his first term (he had previously tried for the organ scholarships at [[St Catharine's College, Cambridge]], and [[Keble College, Oxford]]) which enabled him to stay at the university for a fourth year; he eventually graduated with a [[British undergraduate degree classification|Second Class Honours]] BA in [[Philosophy, politics and economics]] in 1939.

While at university Heath became active in Conservative Party politics. On the key political issue of the day, foreign policy, he opposed the Conservative-dominated government of the day ever more openly. His first Paper Speech (i.e. a major speech listed on the [[Order Paper]] along with the visiting guest speakers) at the [[Oxford Union]], in 1936, was in opposition to the [[appeasement]] of Germany by returning her colonies, confiscated during the First World War.

In June 1937 Heath was elected President of the [[Oxford University Conservative Association]] as a pro-[[Spanish Republic]] candidate, in opposition to the pro-[[Francisco Franco|Franco]] [[John Stokes (Conservative politician)|John Stokes]] (himself later a Conservative MP). In 1937–38 Heath was chairman of the national [[Federation of University Conservative Associations]], and in the same year (his third at university) he was Secretary and then Librarian of the Oxford Union. At the end of the year he was defeated for the Presidency of the Oxford Union by another Balliol candidate, [[Alan Wood (author)|Alan Wood]], on the issue of whether the [[Chamberlain war ministry|Chamberlain government]] should give way to a left-wing [[Popular Front (UK)|Popular Front]]. On that occasion, Heath supported the government.<ref>Ziegler, ''Edward Heath'' (2010), ch. 2.</ref>

In his final year Heath was President of Balliol College [[Junior Common Room]], an office held in subsequent years by his near-contemporaries [[Denis Healey]], who would become a lifelong friend and political rival<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4691797.stm|title = Blair praises 'magnificent' Heath|date = 18 July 2005}}</ref> and [[Roy Jenkins]], and as such was invited to support the Master of Balliol [[Sandie Lindsay, 1st Baron Lindsay of Birker|Alexander Lindsay]], who stood as an anti-appeasement 'Independent Progressive' candidate against the official Conservative candidate, [[Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone|Quintin Hogg]], in the [[1938 Oxford by-election]].

Heath, who had himself applied to be the Conservative candidate for the by-election,<ref>Heath, Edward. ''The Course of My Life''. London: [[Hodder & Stoughton]], 1998, p. 58.</ref> accused the government in an October Union Debate of "turning all four cheeks" to [[Adolf Hitler]], and was elected as [[President of the Oxford Union]] in November 1938, sponsored by Balliol, after winning the Presidential Debate that "This House has No Confidence in the National Government as presently constituted". He was thus President in [[Hilary term]] 1939; the visiting [[Leo Amery]] described him in his diaries as "a pleasant youth".

As an undergraduate, Heath travelled widely in Europe. His opposition to appeasement was nourished by his witnessing first-hand a [[Nuremberg rally]] in 1937, where he met leading Nazis [[Hermann Göring]], [[Joseph Goebbels]], and [[Heinrich Himmler]] at an [[SS]] cocktail party. He later described Himmler as "the most evil man I have ever met".<ref>{{cite web |title=House of Commons Hansard Debates for 18 July 2005 (pt. 6) |year=2005 |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/vo050718/debtext/50718-06.htm |access-date=30 March 2009}}</ref> He was in Germany for two months to learn German but did not keep up any fluency in the language in later life.<ref>Ziegler 2010, p. 31.</ref> In 1938 he visited [[Barcelona]], then under attack from Spanish Nationalist forces during the [[Spanish Civil War]]. On one occasion a car in which he was travelling came under machine-gun fire, while on another a bomb hit his hotel whilst he was observing an air raid from outside.<ref>Ziegler 2010, pp. 30. Ziegler notes that the claim in his memoirs that the bomb killed those who had taken shelter does not tally with an earlier account in which he stated that nobody was hurt, and suggests that the story may have grown a little in the telling.</ref> In the summer of 1939, accompanied by his Jewish friend [[Madron Seligman]], he travelled to [[Danzig]] and [[Poland]]. They made the return journey by hitchhiking and rail across Germany through mobilising troops, returning to Britain just before the declaration of war.<ref>Ziegler 2010, pp. 31–2.</ref>