A politician's fall

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32715, 18 September 1971, Page 10

A politician's fall

To Fall Like Lucifer. By lan Harvey. Sidwick and Jackson, London. 172 PPThis book was written by a former junior Minister in the Macmillan Conservative Government in Britain. Mr Harvey acknowledges himself to be a homosexual. His arrest with a guardsman in St James’s Park, London, at night in November, 1958, and his subsequent appearances in court caused a nation-wide scandal. He resigned from the House of Commons and returned to his former career in advertising and public relations. ■ Mr Harvey, who had been member for Harrow East, finds his rehabilitation strewn with difficulties. Society, including many former close friends of his at Oxford University and in political circles, are no longer cordial. Mr Harvey and the guardsman were fined for being found by night in the park, thereby breaching the rules. The second part of this book is devoted to a discussion of the situation of himself and homosexuals in general and the attitude of the public towards them. Both the Sexual Offences Act 1967 and the Wolfenden Committee Report Of 1957 are the subject of comment. When Mr Harvey was being charged his counsel told the court that his client would suffer for the rest of his life for what he had done. It appears from this book that nothing truer could have been said. But this reviewer’s sympathy goes not to Mr Harvey but to his two young daughters and their

mother, and his admiration goes to the latter for her courage in standing by her husband because she believed their continued association as parents would be in the best interests of their family. During the Second World War Mr Harvey served with the Royal Artillery, attended the Staff College at Camberley and afterwards was in command of a regiment in the reconstituted Territorial Army. ' ' He entered the House of Commons in 1950 at the same time as Edward Heath, Enoch Powell, Reginald Maudling and the late lain McLeod. In various ways the four men named have made their mark in the Conservative Party and the Commons and the author devotes the first part of his book to them and the activities of political life in general. Mr Harvey was at Oxford with Mr Heath. In view of the position Mr Heath now occupies and the critical opinions one hears about him, it is of interest to note that Mr Harvey does not think it improbable that “Edward Heath could prove to be the best leader and the best Prime Minister the Conservatives have had since Disraeli.” In support of this view, Mr Harvey quotes what Mr Jo Grimond, leader of the Liberal Party, said of Mr Heath: “He has a genuine integrity, a desire to do well for hjs country, and I think he likes administration ... He has a very good collected mind ... Further, I think he is a fair man whom people would trust, and this is rather important in a party leader.”