Tributes poured in today for Sir Edward Heath, the former Prime Minister who died last night.

Sir Edward took Britain into Europe, but analysts say that his limited political achievements at home were brutally upstaged by those of his successor as Tory leader, Margaret Thatcher.

Sir Edward, who celebrated his 89th birthday earlier this month, was remembered as a distant, often brusque, individual, but a man of complete integrity with a passion not just for politics but for music and the sport of sailing.

Among those to pay tribute to Sir Edward, who occupied No 10 Downing Street for three and a half years between 1970 and 1974, were the Queen, Tony Blair and Michael Howard, the current Tory leader.

But the tribute that appeared to count most was from Lady Thatcher herself, who buried past enmities with a positive appreciation of Sir Edward's contribution to British life over more than half a century.

"Ted Heath was a political giant," she said. "He was also, in every sense, the first modern Conservative leader - by his humble background, his grammar school education and by the fact of his democratic election.

"As Prime Minister, he was confronted by the enormous problems of post-war Britain. If those problems eventually defeated him, he had shown in the 1970 manifesto how they, in turn, would eventually be defeated. For that, and much else besides, we are all in his debt."

Sir Edward was born the son of a carpenter in Kent during the First World War. He rose above his roots to win scholarships first to Chatham House grammar school then Balliol College, Oxford, where he was elected president of the Oxford Union in 1939 on a platform against appeasement.

After service in the Royal Artillery during the Second World War, Heath became an MP in 1950. After he was ousted as Tory leader he remained in the lower House until 2001, stubbornly refusing all offers of a seat in the Lords and becoming the longest continually serving MP.

He suffered from a pulmonary embolism while holidaying in Austria two years ago and never seemed to recover fully. He was well enough to celebrate his birthday with a party only last week but had "recently become considerably weaker", a spokesman said.

Sir Edward had been "resting quietly" at the home which he loved in Salisbury, Wiltshire, when he passed away at 7.30pm yesterday. He will be buried in Salisbury Cathedral - which he could see from his living-room window - next Monday.

Although in Downing Street for less than four years after unexpectedly defeating Harold Wilson's Labour Party in 1970, Sir Edward's legacy is assured as the prime minister who persuaded Britain to join the European Economic Community. He also piloted better relations between Britain and the Far East, meeting Chairman Mao and becoming the first Prime Minister to visit Japan.

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