Alec (Alexander Frederick) Douglas-Home was a charismatic statesman and hereditary peer who made a great personal sacrifice in surrendering the family title, to which he succeeded upon the death of his father in 1951, in order to serve the Conservative party.

In 1929, as Lord Dunglass, he contested Coatbridge, but had to wait two years before being elected to the South Lanark constituency, which he represented until 1945. During this momentous period in world events, he was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Neville Chamberlain, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, and later Prime Minister.

His First Ministerial Appointment came during the war, as Joint Parliamentary Secretary, Foreign Office, in Sir Winston Churchill's Government. After the Conservative defeat of 1945 he lost his seat, but was re-elected to his old constituency in 1950, becoming Minister of State for the Scottish Office as Lord Home when the Tory party regained power the following year.

In 1955 he was appointed Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations, with a seat in the Cabinet, eventually becoming Leader of the House of Lords. He became Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs at Harold Macmillan's invitation in 1960, and is acknowledged to have been one of the most able Foreign Secretaries of modern times.

As a commoner, he returned to the House of Commons in 1963 as Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative party, having won Kinross and West Perthshire in a six cornered contest. After relinquishing his title in order to step into his party's breech, the opposition won a narrow victory just 12 months later, and he remained Leader of the Opposition until his resignation in 1965, when his successor, Edward Heath, appointed him Chief Opposition Spokesman on Foreign Affairs.