Home (of the Hirsel), Alec (Alexander Frederick) Douglas-Home, 14th Earl of Home, Baron 1903-95
Conservative politician and Prime Minister

Born in London, heir to the Scottish earldom of Home, he was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, entered parliament in 1931 and was Neville Chamberlain's secretary during the latter's abortive negotiations with Hitler and Mussolini (1937-39). He became Minister of State at the Scottish Office (1951-55), succeeded to the peerage as 14th Earl in 1951, was Commonwealth-Relations Secretary (1955-60), Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council (1957-60), and Foreign Secretary (1960-63). After Harold Macmillan's resignation, he was his party's surprise choice as leader (1963). He made history by renouncing his peerage and fighting a by-election at Kinross, during which, although Prime Minister, he was technically a member of neither House. A similar situation was depicted in the play, The Reluctant Peer (1964), by his brother, William Douglas-Home. Although a man of enormous political integrity and ability, his rather distant manner and aristocratic image did not serve him well in comparison with the streetwise and charismatic Labour leader, Harold Wilson, and the Conservatives lost the 1964 election by only 20 seats. The following year, he was replaced as party leader by Edward Heath under a new selection procedure that Douglas-Home had sponsored. He was Foreign Secretary in Heath's government (1970-74) and in 1974 he was made a life peer and retired from active politics. His publications include the autobiographical The Way the Wind Blows (1976), Border Reflections (1979) and Letters to a Grandson (1983).

Bibliography: D R Thorpe, Alec Douglas-Home (1996); Kenneth Young, Sir Alec Douglas-Home (1970)