Obituary: Nicholas Budgen

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WHEN EDWARD Heath called an unexpected general election for February 1974, Enoch Powell produced a press release which came as a thunderbolt for all but a handful of his admirers: he would not stand as a Conservative candidate in the Wolverhampton South West seat which he had, by assiduous work, made safe for the Tories since he was first elected to Parliament for that constituency in 1950.

Many of his adherents felt then that, had Powell held on to the seat, and Heath lost the general election, the member for Wolverhampton could have become leader of the Conservative Party. Powell, however, felt that his principles would not allow him to stand in support of a Tory …