Wilson Again Under Fire

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31677, 13 May 1968, Page 13

Wilson Again Under Fire

(N.Z.P. A.

LONDON, May 12. The British press magnate, Mr Cecil King, today again lashed out in his campaign to topple the Prime Minister (Mr Harold Wilson) “in the interests of the nation and the Labour Party.” As the top ranks of the party rallied round Mr Wilson to combat further attempts to challenge his leadership, Mr King declared in one of his papers, the “Sunday Mirror," which traditionally supports the Labour Party, that the

Prime Minister must be compelled to relinquish his post. Mr King, who resigned from the board of the Bank of England because of his dissatisfaction with the nation’s finances, made his first outspoken call for Mr Wilson’s resignation on Friday, as Labour seats tumbled to the Conservatives by the hundreds in Britain’s municipal elections.

The “Sunday Times” said today that several Government Ministers might challenge Mr King to put his views to the test by contesting any one of the five pending Parliamentary by-elections in Labour-held seats.

The crushing defeat of Labour Party candidates has severely jolted the Prime

Minister’s authority, and yesterday 5000 Britons dealt Mr Wilson another bitter blow by apealing to the Queen to overrule him and call a snap general eleciton.

The 5000 were residents of the London borough of Enfield, which was among the dozens of London areas which ousted Labour’s control of civic affairs. Mr King said today: “The opinion polls, the by-election polls, the local election polls all speak with one powerful and unanimous voice.

“What they are saying is that the nation no longer has faith in the Government it reelected with a commanding majority only two years ago.” As the “Sunday Mirror" reached millions of homes throughout Britain, Mr Wilson was at his country residence, Chequers, “working on routine State papers and hoping for fine weather to play golf,” it was said. Mr Wilson has maintained silence since Friday, when, in a television interview, he made it clear that his Government would seek to remain in power. He recalled that similar local election reverses in 1965 had been followed by a massive General Election victory in March, 1966, and he added: "I wouldn’t think it likely that htere will be an election anything like so quickly after yesterday’s results.” The Prime Minister dented Mr King’s claim that Britain

was now facing the worst financial crisis in its history. “I disagree with that, and I happen to know the facts,” he said.

Mr King was also rebuffed by one of the Prime Minister's closest Cabinet colleagues, Mr Richard Crossman, Minister of Social Security, who recalled the praise lavished by Mr King’s “Dally Mirror” on Mr Wilson after he first took office in 1964. “The wonder boy, for whom no praise was too high, no flattery too gross, has now been made the victim of a daily campaign of character assassination—a campaign designed not merely to destroy his credit as a Statesman, but his personal good name,” said Mr Crossman.