PENDULUM SWING

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 3, 4 July 1938, Page 8

PENDULUM SWING

ENGLISH POLITICS

BY-ELECTION VOTING

CHAMBERLAIN IN ASCENDENT

(From "Thef Post's" Representative.) LONDON, June 11. After three wins for the Labour Party, the by-election pendulum has swung back in favour of the Government which has, in turn, reeled off three victories, the last, at Stafford, representing the first by-election at which Mr. Neville Chamberlain's followers have done better than at the General Election. It is frankly admitted by the Labour Party that the Stafford result was "very disappointing." While the Socialists were winning at Ipswich, West Fulham, and Lichfield, they were proclaiming that the defeat of the Government was an indication of the country's disgust at a vacillating foreign policy. Today, while admitting defeat, they point out that in the last six by-elec-tions the Government vote has fallen by an average of 8 per cent., while the Labour Party vote has mounted by 28 per cent. This leads them to assert that Stafford is a "flash in the pan." Government supporters for their part regard Stafford as "most encouraging." It is pointed out that Labour was fighting under what should have proved exceptionally favourable auspices, for their candidate, Mr. F. G. Lloyd, hadcontested the seat at the General Election against Lord Harlech, then Mr. Ormsby Gore. Although he had been a prospective candidate for a year, Mr. G. E. P. Thornycroft, who was returned, could not have been equally well known to the electors. THE FOREIGN POLICY. A conclusion drawn by Government supporters from the Stafford result is that the wild accusations which it is fashionable for the Opposition to fling at Mr. Chamberlain and his Cabinet] [ are beginning to offend. It is alsoj j thought that too much is protested, too little proved, and that voters are not to be convinced by a mere denunj ciation or innuendo. Inasmuch as Stafford was fought on the rival claims of two attitudes of foreign policy, the result is accepted by anti-Socialists as a verdict and personal triumph for Mr. Chamberlain. Not the least interesting sidelight of the by-election was the consequent comment upon Labour's rejection of the Liberal request for a United Front. Any suggestion for the pooling of forces with the Liberals, the Independents, and other Government opponents has been steadily rejected by Labour. Supporters of the union now proclaim that Labour can feel no satisfaction over Stafford, except, perhaps, the doubtful pleasure of having fought and lost alone. Three wins for the Government, it is asserted, must shake the confidence of those members of the Labour Party who- profess or believe that it can, without aid or alliance, get into power at the next General Election. The suggested alliance, however, was also turned down this week by the Co-operative Congress at Scarborough by a voting the equivalent of two to one.

Despite its refusal of this alliance, thereby suggesting that the . Labour Party is firmly united and sure of itself, it is a well-known fact that there is widespread disunity among the Socialists, not only on this very question but on many others. Several groups and factions are at loggerheads within the party, and Mr. C. R. Attlee's lot as leader is by no means a happy one.