REACTION OF PRESS

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30284, 9 November 1963, Page 11

REACTION OF PRESS

Big Blow To Govt.

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, November 8. The British press today unanimously regarded the Labour Party’s victory at the Luton by-election as an emphatic blow to the Conservative Party. “If lauton’s pattern is repeated at the next General Election it would mean the Government losing more than 100 similar seats, the “Daily Herald” said. “Yesterday’s result explodes the myth that Sir Alec Douglas-Home, as the new Prime Minister, can transform the Government’s prospects." In the “Daily Express" an editorial urged the Conservative Party to make a special effort to increase its appeal. “They (the Conservatives) must p>ut aside such muddling and alien projects as the pursuit of the Common Market,” it said. “And they must do so quickly, for time is short and Luton shows how much ground is to be made up.” The “Daily Mirror” saw the Labour victory as a “stunning blow” to the Conservatives. The “Daily Sketch” said that after yesterday’s poll the General Election was more likely to come next autumn than next spring. The “Guardian” commented: “While they (the Conservatives) cannot hold such seats as Luton, their prospects are dim.”