Labour Defeat May Deepen Rift In Party

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27670, 28 May 1955, Page 7

Labour Defeat May Deepen Rift In Party

(Rec. 9 p.m.) LONDON, May 27. Many British politicians believe the election result will produce a final “blow-up” in the Labour Party Between the official chiefs and Mr Aneurin Bevan, the Left-wing leader. Many Labour men believe that the Welshman’s persistent jeuding over policies has antagonised many voters. , The Conservative success is a bitter , *°J Z to Attlee, the Labour Party wno had fought the election on socialist policies of a return of some aconomic and financial controls, “auonausation of a few more mdusa plan t° ban further hyarotests - Mr Attlee is 72. , was the sole party chief Xo V «- t i.i jai3our headquarters during •SS. as returns poured in Conservatives back into RnX+F’ , e form ®r Prime Minister, Sh +^ g j a huge red rosette but weary we eks of campaigning, two V hn7 r* ? ?2- a m and stayed almost wo hours talking to Mr Morgan Phil- & P^y^ialT 1 secretary ' and f ° Throughout the night about 30 party

workers id three teams collated the results from radio and television and from their own reports, analysing them for Mr Attlee and Mr Phillips. Other rank-and-file Labour members —rarely totalling more than 40—sat disconsolately in the 200-seat hall watching the flood of results, spelling defeat for Labour, as they came in on television. At first these workers, who had poured out hundreds of thousands of posters, circulars, and other election material during the campaign, sat in the darkened room hopefully as the first returns showed “no change.” But as Labour’s losses dropped in, the party supporters—often outnumbered by waiting reporters and photographers—became dejected. Only occasionally was the quiet broken with cheering when a “favourite” candidate held a seat—or just clung on to one that might have been lost. Mrs Attlee, dressed in a grey suit and grey hat, was at the wheel of their car—as she had been throughout his nation-wide election tour—as it swung

in through teeming rain from her husband’s constituency at Walthamstow, north-east London. There he had stayed for his own personal result—his majority cut from 11.447 to 9250. Clutching his pipe, the mild-man-nered Mr Attlee* refused all comment to reporters as he entered and left the building. At 3.20 a.m. Mr Phillips, in effect, conceded the election. He said that up to that time, on the party’s calculations, they were nine seats down on what he expected. “Labour will not reach the poll of 14,000,000 which I regarded as essential to our victory,” said Mr Phillips.