Editing Michael Heseltine (section)

===After government===
[[File:Lord Heseltine (6969083278).jpg|thumb|Official Portrait of Heseltine in 2007]]
On 3 May, the day after the government was defeated at the [[1997 United Kingdom general election|1997 general election]], Heseltine suffered an attack of [[angina]] and had a [[stent|tube inserted into an artery]]; at 64, and twenty years older than the new prime minister, he declined to stand for the Conservative Party leadership again.<ref>Michael Heseltine, ''Life in the Jungle'', [[Hodder & Stoughton]], 2000, {{ISBN|0-340-73915-0}}, p. 529.</ref> However, he was less unpopular with eurosceptics than Clarke, and on the third ballot of the subsequent [[1997 Conservative Party leadership election|leadership election]] Clarke, facing imminent defeat by [[William Hague]], offered to stand aside in Heseltine's favour, but he declined on medical advice.<ref>Michael Heseltine, ''Life in the Jungle'', [[Hodder & Stoughton]], 2000, {{ISBN|0-340-73915-0}}, pp. 532–4.</ref><ref>Clarke 2016, p. 399.</ref> He became active in promoting the benefits for Britain of joining the Single European Currency, appearing on the same stage as [[Tony Blair]], [[Gordon Brown]] and [[Robin Cook]] as part of an all-party campaign to promote [[Euro]] membership. He was also made a [[Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour]] in the 1997 [[resignation Honours]] List.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=54850 |date=2 August 1997 |page=8912 |supp=y}}</ref> In November 1999 Heseltine was invited by Hague to be the Conservative candidate for the new position of [[Mayor of London]] (in place of [[Jeffrey Archer]] who had had to stand down because of scandal), but he declined.<ref>Michael Heseltine, ''Life in the Jungle'', [[Hodder & Stoughton]], 2000, {{ISBN|0-340-73915-0}}, p. 531.</ref>

In the interim [[Shadow Cabinet of John Major]] he served as [[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Deputy Leader of the Opposition]], [[Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster]] and [[Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199798/cmwib/wb970517/oppo.htm |title=Opposition Frontbench Spokespersons as at 13 May 1997 (Interim List) |access-date=16 May 2021 |work=Weekly Information Bulletin |publisher=House of Commons Information Office}}</ref>