Bevan Said To Have Cost Labour Votes

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27675, 3 June 1955, Page 13

Bevan Said To Have Cost Labour Votes

(Special Correspondent NZ.P.A.) (Rec - 8 p.m.) LONDON, June 1. f„S. 0 . ntinu . in R its probe into the tlie Labour Party in ■ tha+2 “Daily Mirror” declares i ft Jj e Pprty paid a heavy price GenJ/i neurm Bevan at the thA Election and he was not man to take Mr Attlee’s place. ercy Cudlipp, commenting in the pa^ S Chronicle” on the ‘'Mirror’s” must* a^ icle decl aring “Mr Attlee ahi go ’.’ says he is confident Mr LabnHr Wi iß be L re -elected leader when “fflble for of Parllamtrit as“Tc kt l ol L the new session. Votes** J Bevan at 57 worth 1,500,000 inc thnf' sks , lhe “Mirror” after declartom thl Welshman” has brawl =f& rty “It 0 t ' vo by one P“ b li c another with the official raup during the last four years, left 2S.J avag ? feuding and fighting bewi£l?ed WOU Th‘ be V aboor supporters thebaii«*L They stayed away from off Otho?! ?°u ln dr oves and frightened ca st their otherw ise would like to White F i? te - s a " ainst the Tories.” liarice admittm;; Mr ' Bevan's brilian anrf S th 1 L O E at ? r and a Parliamentarin the T i has s** ll a part to play Pap*»r move ment, the newsto lid ,K S; Mr Bev an is not fit lead the Labour Party. He is too

arrogant, too obstinate, too undisciplined. Labour cannot be united under ; I him and it will never hammer out a forward looking policy that will carry it back to power with a Left wing spellbound by Mr Bevan. It can never do so with a Right wing led by old men clinging to old ideas, and intolerant of criticism. “Labour needs an adventurous, lively Left and a solid, cautious Right. There must be free debate and there must be loyalty to party decisions freely arrived at. ... “For the Right the lesson is this:— Pick new young leaders who are not obsessed by past feuds. “And here is the message for the Left:—Stop plunging around after Aneurin Bevan. He stopped being Labour’s young hope years ago. He will be more than 60 by the time the next election comes round. “One fact is clear. If labour once again fritters away the next few years in internal quarrels this great movement may be out of power for a gen er- i ation.” „ i Cudlipp in the “News Chro’-cle > says the vehement outburst against Mr Attlee by the “Mirror,” the party s J mbst widely circulated journalistic!

ally, must have caused a stir in millions of Labour homes. “But it will make no impression whatsoever on Mr Attlee. Mr Attlee is confident that he will be re-elected leader, and. says Cudlipp. “the Labour Party is in no mood for immediate upheavals nor a desire to re-open feuds. “The 1955 election has taught Labour as a whole and the Bevanites in particular a sharp lesson on the fruitlessness of the civil war,” says Cudlipp. “Although Mr Attlee has no present intention of resigning, it is obviously unlikely that he w’ill lead his party at the next General Election. Some think ! (although no-one knows) that he may decide to retire after this Parliament’s first session. In that case his successor would be either Mr Morrison or Mr Gaitskell. Mr Bevan would not stand a chance.”