1965 Conservative Party leadership election

The 1965 Conservative Party leadership election was held in July 1965 to elect Alec Douglas-Home's successor as Leader of the Conservative Party. Edward Heath, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, was elected with 50.4 per cent of the vote, defeating Reginald Maudling, the Shadow Foreign Secretary on 44.6 per cent.

It was the first formal leadership election to be held by the Parliamentary Conservative Party. Previous leaders had emerged through a consultation process, but this procedure had fallen into disrepute following the manoeuvrings over the leadership at the 1963 party conference which had led to the appointment of Douglas-Home, who at the time was a hereditary peer in the House of Lords and not an elected member of Parliament. The plans for how the election would work were published in February 1965, and agreed upon by the parliamentary party thereafter.