Party power struggle

Press, 15 October 1976, Page 5

Party power struggle

NZPA-Reuter London In a move to reduce Left-wing influence in the British Labour Party, the Secretary of State for Education (Mrs Shirley Williams) has announced that she will challenge Mr Michael Foot for the deputy leadership of the party- . , Mrs Williams, who is afi rame under mounting

pressure to do so from the moderate wing of the party, which was determined to field a candidate against Mr Foot, the most prominent Left-winger in the Cabinet Even if Mrs Williams loses the election, which is expected in about 10 days, she will be regarded as a front-runner for the party leadership in a few years time, and, with Mrs Margaret Thatcher leading the Opposition Conservatives, Britain may then have a woman at the head of both main parties. In persuading Mrs Williams to stand, the moderates defied the Prime Minister (Mr Callaghan), who had wanted Mr Foot to be returned unopposed as deputy to present a united Government front in the face of Britain’s economic difficulties.

elect the new deputy leader. Mr Foot has, however. a considerable personal following outside the Left

The present deputy, Mr Edward Short has retired from active politics, having lost his job as Leader of the House (parliamentary business manager) to Mr Foot when Mr Callaghan took over as Prime Minister in April. At the Labour Party annual conference two weeks ago, Mrs Williams vigorously defended Government spending cuts in the face of harsh criticism from the Left-wingers. Mrs Williams, who was bom in the United State: and came to Britain as u child, was the first woman president of the Oxford University Labour Club and entered Parliament 12 years ago. Until a month ago she was Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection.

Though they have a majority on the party’s national executive committee, hard-line Leftwingers form only about one-third of the 313 members of the Parliamentary Labour Party who will

The daughter of Professor George Catlin and the novelist, Vera Brittain, Mrs Williams joined the Labour Party at 16, and

was first elected in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, in 1964. She took the Hertford and Stevenage seat in 1974. A devout Roman Catholic, Mrs Williams was divorced in 1974 by Professor Bernard Williams, and has refused to remarry because her Church has denied her permission.