Iain Norman Macleod


1913 - 1970

Politician. Macleod was born in Skipton (Yorkshire), to Scottish parents from the Isle of Lewis. His father was a general practitioner who had moved to Skipton on 1907. He was educated at Fettes College in Edinburgh, but spent summers in the Western Isles at a holiday home maintained by his parents. He read history at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (1932-35). He was a noted bridge player, earning substantial sums in prize-money.

After service in France during World War II, he stood for Parliament for the Western Isles in 1945, but failed to be elected. In 1950 he was successful in the English seat of Enfield West and within weeks found himself as Minister of Health. He became Leader of the House of Commons and Chairman of the Conservative Party in 1961. He edited The Spectator while his party was in opposition in the mid-1960s, but was soon appointed Shadow Chancellor. He took the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer when Edward Heath won the election of 1970 but, within a month, suffered a heart-attack and died. His widow was offered a peerage the following year, and took the title Baroness Macleod of Borve.


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