Political bombshell in U.K.

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33671, 22 October 1974, Page 17

Political bombshell in U.K.

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright) BIRMINGHAM, Oct. 21 Sir Keith Joseph, a favoured contender for the leadership of the British Conservative Party, has caused a political sensation by suggesting increased birth control among persons of poor intelligence in the lower social classes. In a strong redefinition of -Conservative philosophy as he saw it, Sir Keith alleged that socialist influence over the years had produced a deep moral degeneration of British society. “The balance of our population, our human stock, is threatened,” Sir Keith told a political meeting in Birmingham. A former Minister of Social Services, Sir Keith quoted statistics to show that almost a third of the babies in Britain were now born to “girls who are first pregnant in adolescence in social classes four and five.” “Such girls are unlikely to make good mothers.” he said. “They are producing problem children, future unmarried mothers, delinquents, and denizens of our Borstals, sub-normal educational establishments. prisons, and hostels for drifters. “If nothing is done, the nation will move towards degeneration. Yet proposals to i extend birth-control facilities

to these classes of people . . . evokes entirely understandable moral opposition. Is it condoning immorality? I suppose it is. “But which is the lesser evil, until we are able to remoralise whole classes and groups of people, undoing the harm done when weak restraints on strong instincts are further weakened by permissiveness in television, in films, in bookstalls?” Sir Keith blamed Socialist principles for much of the degeneration he saw in society. “In the universities, which should be sanctuaries for the pursuit of truth, the bully boys of the Left have been giving us a foretaste of what Left-wing dictatorship would endeavour to achieve,” he said, questioning whether university education should be expanded at its present rate. Conservatives, Sir Keith said, had to emphasise liberties, decentralised power, and individual responsibility and inter-dependence. “The foundations of our nation were built on the family and civilised values, and if we cannot restore these to health, the nation can be utterly ruined, whatever economic policies we might try to follow.” he said. One of those who was immediately prepared to follow Sir Keith’s lead was Mrs Jill Knight, Conservative M.P. for Edgbaston. She said: "Sir Keith, you have shown us the way. I know that it is only; the beginning, and that you i will continue to show us "the way."

Other Conservative M.P.s have since taken up the call. Mr Robert McCrindle (Brentwood and Ongar) commented: “It is clear that Sir Keith is attempting to redefine Conservatism, and to provide a pattern of leadership which has been lacking as we have drifted into moral and economic crisis. The intellectual lead into the new Conservatism that Sir Keith is providing will be welcomed by many.” Mr John Stokes (Oldbury ; and Stourbridge) said: “It is [time the Tory Party spoke [up for the decencies of family life on which the whole I of our civilisation depends.” Many commentators and Labour M.P.s wasted no time in describing the speech as “a naked bid for Mr Edward Heath’s position as leader of the party.” Its timing, they argued, just three days before Parliament meets, had to be more than coincidence. Mr Tom Tourney (Lab., South Bradford) said: “The speech takes us back to the Middle Ages.” Other Labour M.P.s described Sir Keith’s speech as “pills for prolies,” “a con- ; form-or-castrate policy,” and “a master race concept.” The Child Poverty Action (Group, whose statistics Sir Keith quoted, described the speech as “unforgivable.” The president of the National Union of Mineworkers, Mr Joe Gormley, commented: “What Sir Keith says [is that we should put down the kids produced by what he calls the lower "classes. 'And this is the man many

Tories are saying will be the next Tory Prime Minister.” The first Government Minister to comment was the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mr Merlyn Rees), who said: “Sir Keith has gone back to the nineteenth century, when they used to say the poor were different from the rich and should be put in workhouses, one for women and one for men, so that they could not breed.” Last night, asked if he felt .that the speech might affect .his chances of the party (leadership, Sir Keith replied: [“There is a perfectly good leader at the moment, so [there is no issue at the mo'ment. “The Labour reaction to my speech has been such that it may have been distorted and misunderstood. That must be my fault for not developing my ideas more fully. “It is not the socioeconomic class at issue at all. It is not the fact that a third of the babies bom are to unskilled or less-skilled people. It is the fact that so high a proportion of mothers are unmarried, deserted, or divorced, and have their first baby in their teens. This makes the background for the child much less promising than otherwise. “It is their predicament [that matters, not their class. Any society will have casualties. but there is a limit Ito the proportion it can bear. [This can be helped by im- ! proved family-planning."