The Press MONDAY, AUGUST 19, 1963. Parliamentary Session In Britain

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30213, 19 August 1963, Page 10

The Press MONDAY, AUGUST 19, 1963. Parliamentary Session In Britain

The close of the penultimate session of the British Parliament is an appropriate time to review an extraordinary period in political history. When the session opened last October, Britain’s future seemed securely in the hands of the Conservative Party, which had succeeded in arousing party enthusiasm and a large measure of public approbation for its vision of Britain in Europe. For Conservatives to question the leadership of Mr Macmillan was to run the risk of appearing either eccentric or anti-European. President de Gaulle's veto of Britain’s Common Market entry cost the Conservative Party prestige and inspiration. At that point the party lost its initiative; and it has not appeared to make any serious effort to regain it The last few unhappy months have seen the party beset by troubles over spies in government departments and by scandal. The Profumo episode brought to the surface latent dissatisfaction w.th Mr Macmillan’s leadership; and voices which expediency had stilled became loud in open criticism. At one stage it seemed that Conservative pai liamentarians were determined to drive Mr Macmillan from office. He survived the panic of June and stays on as leader; but no-one knows for how long, and on what terms. Conservative members are said to have a tacit understanding that vindicating Mr Macmillan’s honour was one thing, but cheering his long-continued leadership another. For the time being, revolt has been quelled, and the recess of three months will give Mr Macmillan respite and an opportunity to consolidate, if he can. the leadership he shows no sign of wishing to relinquish. Nevertheless, Mr Macmillan’s position at the end of the session contrasts strikingly with where he stood when the session began.

The same can be said of

the leadership on the other side of the House. When the session began Mr Harold Wilson was regarded rather suspiciously as primarily a politician all too ready to rock the party boat if it served his personal ends. In January, the Labour Party suffered the loss of Mr Gaitskell, who had acquired ascendancy over a warring party and high stature in the country. The party chose as his successor not the elected deputy leader (Mr George Brown) but Mr Wilson. Showing no obvious favour for the party’s left-wing, from which he drew unanimous support when opposing Mr Brown, Mr Wilson has steadily consolidated his position at the party’s head. There are no signs that his position is challenged in the party, though later on all Mr Wilson’s adroitness may be called upon to conciliate prominent supporters who will want some assurance of office in a Labour Administration. In the months before a General Election the Labour Party might yet prejudice its electoral prospects by reviving the internecine warfare that cost it so much in the past Some useful legislation was passed almost unnoticed amid the flurry caused by spies and scandals. The act allowing peers to renounce their titles and to stand for election to the House of Commons was a constitutional milestone. It is of political interest because of its possible bearing on the succession to the Conservative Party’s leadership. The session was notable, also, for the changes in personal and party political fortunes The Labour Party had clearly replaced the Conservatives in popular favour, not perhaos on the merit of its own performances but on the misfortunes of its opponents. The most unfavourable of public opinion polls showed the Labour Party likely to win an immediate General Election by at least 70 seats.