Parliament
In 1963 Heffer was unexpectedly selected to fight the Liverpool Walton constituency for the Labour Party. The previously Conservative-held constituency went to Heffer on a large swing in the 1964 general election, as did a number of other Liverpool seats. There was never any doubt that Heffer would ally with the left in the Parliamentary Labour Party, and he campaigned in 1965 for early moves to nationalise the docks, where he knew from his experience on Liverpool Trades Council that dockers were employed on highly disadvantageous terms that effectively prevented trade unions forming. Also in 1965 Heffer protested outside the United States embassy against the use of napalm and gas in the Vietnam war, and in Parliament against the diplomatic support given by the government. By 1970 he was rated as one of the most effective of the large 1964 intake of Labour MPs: in David Butler's The British General Election of 1970 (page 4), he was identified as a leading figure in the Tribune Group, which had been established in 1964.
Doris Heffer served jointly as her husband's secretary, and secretary to fellow Labour MP Norman Buchan. She often accompanied him to speaking engagements where they made an odd couple: Heffer was both tall and heavily built, while his wife was only 4'6" tall. Heffer made a good-humoured complaint when political journalist Andrew Roth described Doris as "tiny", insisting that she was actually "petite". According to the diaries of Giles Radice, Doris Heffer would sit in the front row of the audience when Heffer was speaking, saying, "Nonsense, Eric" if he said something with which she disagreed. The Heffers had no children.
Read more about this topic: Eric Heffer
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