FORMER deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine told a crowd at the Guildhall on Thursday that Ted Heath should not be blamed for leading the country into the European Union.

The Conservative party grandee, who campaigned to Remain during the Brexit referendum, was the keynote speaker for the annual Edward Heath Lecture.

The lecture was themed on the Heath government in retrospect and the lessons for today with Lord Heseltine telling 200 guests that Heath's experience of fighting on the western front shaped his desire for closer European integration.

"He had fought in the harshest conditions of war alongside men and women of all classes," he said. "He had seen for himself what war means.

"Over the years there have been plenty of armchair colonels who have lazily accused Ted, because of his strong support for European integration, of being disloyal to his nation, even of being a traitor. But it was only in old age that Ted Heath favoured the armchair over action. He was a real colonel, when Britain was in its greatest peril."

He added: "The vast majority of my generation were spectators far removed from the horror of it all, quite unable to appreciate what it really felt like to be pinned down by enemy fire, to pick your way past the corpses of comrades, to smell the cordite; and, above all, to realise how dependent you were upon the loyalty and comradeship of those running, crouching, fearing alongside you."

The former MP for Henley, a seat won by Boris Johnson following his retirement in 2001, reiterated prime minister Theresa May's comments that "Brexit is Brexit". He added: "She cannot be expected to answer the obvious question, however – namely, what is Brexit?"

“The referendum campaign cannot be unsaid or undone," he continued. "The arguments have been made, the assurances given, the warnings uttered. Events will now unfold, against which a judgement can be made about the reliability of those who made the arguments. Put very simply, in time we shall know who was right."

The lecture forms part of the ambitious year long programme of centenary events in what would be Sir Edward Heath’s hundredth year, to celebrate his life and achievements. Other highlights during the year include a lectures by Dr Henry Kissinger, international statesman and former US Secretary of State, along with music recitals and sailing and art themed events and a major cartoon exhibition at Arundells.