The run-up to the first election of 1974 was unusually stormy.
Industrial relations between the government and the unions turned sour as Heath’s attempts to calm the economy’s troubles with government-enforced pay freezes and calls for pay restraint failed.
To make things worse Heath’s economic policy zig-zagged and he also reversed the party policy on nationalising the "lame ducks" of British industry when Rolls Royce and shipbuilding were taken into the public fold.
But not all the government’s problems were of its own making. In 1973, war between the Arabs and the Israelis saw the price of oil rocket with predictable results for the UK’s increasingly fragile economy.
As demand for coal increased the miners sensed an advantage and pressed their wage demands further.
As the government’s prestige rested on its ability to manage the economy and make its pay restraint policy work, little common ground between the two sides could be hammered out.
With the miners rejecting a 13% pay rise, an overtime ban followed. By January 1974 a three-day working week followed, and a state of emergency was declared.
The following month 81% of the miners voted in favour of strike action and Heath’s patience ran out.
Believing public sympathy would rest with the government he called an election three days after the miners announced their intentions.