MR EDEN’S TOUR OF DOMINIONS

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25713, 27 January 1949, Page 5

MR EDEN’S TOUR OF DOMINIONS

“DELIBERATE PARTY DECISION” REPORTED INTENTIONS OF CONSERVATIVES (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 25. “There is a good deal of ironical comment in the lobbies at Westminster on the ‘lmperial adventure’ of Mr R. A. Eden, who has just left on a three months’ tour of the British Dominions,” says A. J. Cummings in the “News Chronicle.”

“The Conservatives,” he says, “will be without their most regular leading spokesman during a large part of an important and perhaps critical session. Among Labour back-benchers there is a suggestion that the unacknowledged rift between Mr Churchill and Mr Eden has widened, and that Mr Eden is not sorry to be able to demonstrate how ineffective the Tory leadership becomes in his prolonged migration, and how futile it is to depend on the fitful, casual attendance of his chief.

“Though the Tory back-benchers are disappointed at Mr Eden’s absence, they know the real reason for his tour. It has no personal implications. He has not gone off in a private sulk, but carries the official blessing. He is acting on a deliberate party decision and his progress report when he returns will be used as the basis for a great electioneering Appeal. “The Tory case is that Labour has seriously neglected the Dominions, especially Canada, and has missed a precious opportunity of strengthening the Commonwealth and presenting the world with a powerful front. Mr Eden’s pilgrimage, therefore, is to take on the character of a new Tory crusade and he will bring back fresh inspiration to the Tory propagandists, enabling the party as a whole, to address a formidable challenge to a slow-witted, unimaginative government which is unable to look beyond the Trade Union Congress and American aid. That is the great idea.”