“AN AGEING PARTY”

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23717, 15 August 1942, Page 4

“AN AGEING PARTY”

LABOUR IN ENGLAND

LEADERSHIP CRITICISED (Special Correspondent, N.Z.P.A.) (Received August 14, 10 p.m.) LONDON, August 13.

Coincident with Parliament going into recess,' the “Manchester Guardian” comments on the elderliness of members of the Labour Party in the House of Commons. Fewer than onefifth of the members are under 50 years of age, one reason being the Trades Union Council’s preference for electing trade union officials of long experience. This has led to the comment that unless the Labour Party tackles the question of the selection of younger Parliamentary candidates, its political existence may be threatened.

An article in the “New Statesman and Nation’’ expresses the opinion that the future of the Labour Party is among the major uncertainties of British politics. “There arc no serious observers of its life who are not aware of its critical condition,” the article states. “Its loss of membership is heavy, and its power to recruit youth tragically small. It has an ageing party in the House—hardly more than four or five of its leaders have any appeal in the country. “The bulk of its candidates for the next election are middle-aged men and women who have lost ‘the first fine careless rapture’ of crusading. It does not possess a dozen men who could fill a hall in any large centre of production. The second party in the State is openly discussed as a failure.” Inquiring what has happened, the article suggests that the Labour Party’s leadership has been gravely inadequate, that it has accepted a position of tragic subordination in the present Government, and has suffered in public opinion throughout its high-age composition.