Editing Airey Neave (section)

==Political career==
Neave stood for the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] at the [[1950 United Kingdom general election|1950 election]] in [[Thurrock (UK Parliament constituency)|Thurrock]] and at [[Ealing North]] in 1951.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Catton |first=Jonathan |date=29 February 2016 |title=Down Memory Lane – Our famous candidate |work=Thurrock Gazette |url=https://www.thurrockgazette.co.uk/news/14305750.down-memory-lane-our-famous-candidate/ |access-date=21 November 2023}}</ref> He was elected for [[Abingdon (UK Parliament constituency)|Abingdon]] in a by-election in June 1953, but his career was held back by a [[heart attack]] he suffered in 1959.

He was a Governor of [[Imperial College]] between 1963 and 1971 and was a member of the House of Commons [[Select committee (United Kingdom)|select committee]] on Science and Technology between 1965 and 1970. He was on the governing body of [[Abingdon School]] from 1953 to 1979.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abingdon.org.uk/uploads/school/files/abingdonian/1973_October_V016_N003.pdf#page=32|title=Mrs Thatcher's visit to Abingdon School|publisher=The Abingdonian|access-date=1 March 2019|archive-date=19 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181019205843/https://www.abingdon.org.uk/uploads/school/files/abingdonian/1973_October_V016_N003.pdf#page=32|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Edward Heath]], when [[Chief Whip]], was alleged to have told Neave that after he suffered his heart attack his career was finished{{Citation needed|date=June 2008}} but in his 1998 autobiography, Heath strongly denied ever making such a remark. He admitted that in December 1974 Neave had told him to stand down for the good of the party. During the final two months of 1974, Neave had asked [[Keith Joseph]], [[William Whitelaw]] and [[Edward du Cann]] to stand against Heath, and said that in the case of any of them challenging for the party leadership, he would be their [[campaign manager]]. When all three refused to stand, Neave agreed to be the campaign manager for [[Margaret Thatcher]]'s attempt to become leader of the Conservative Party, which was eventually successful.<ref>[[John Campbell (biographer)|Campbell, John]] ''Margaret Thatcher: The Grocer's Daughter'' (2000)</ref>

When Thatcher was elected leader in February 1975, Neave was rewarded by becoming head of her private office. He was then appointed [[Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland]] and, at the time of his death, was poised to attain the equivalent Cabinet position in the event of the Conservatives winning the [[1979 United Kingdom general election|general election of 1979]]. In opposition, Neave was a strong supporter of [[Roy Mason]], who had extended the policy of [[Ulsterisation]].

Neave was author of the new and radical Conservative policy of abandoning [[devolution]] in [[Northern Ireland]] if there was no early progress in that regard, and concentrating on local government reform instead. This integrationist policy was hastily abandoned by [[Humphrey Atkins]], who became [[Secretary of State for Northern Ireland]], the role Neave had shadowed.

Politician [[Tony Benn]] records in his diary (17 February 1981) that a journalist from the ''[[New Statesman]]'', [[Duncan Campbell (journalist, born 1952)|Duncan Campbell]], told him that he had received information two years previously, from an [[Intelligence agency|intelligence]] [[Espionage|agent]], that Neave had planned to have Benn assassinated if, following the election of [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] government, Labour leader [[James Callaghan]] resigned and there was a possibility that Benn might be elected in his place. Campbell said that the agent was ready to give his name and the ''New Statesman'' was going to print the story. Benn, however, discounted the validity of the story, writing in his diary: "No one will believe for a moment that Airey Neave would have done such a thing."<ref>Tony Benn, ''The Benn Diaries'' (Arrow, 1996), pp. 506–507.</ref> The magazine printed the story on 20 February 1981, naming the agent as Lee Tracey. Tracey said he had met Neave, who asked him to join a team of intelligence and security specialists which would "make sure Benn was stopped". A planned second meeting never took place because Neave was murdered with a car bomb.<ref>Routledge, pp. 299–300.</ref>