British Political Temperature Rising With Election Talk

Evening Star, Issue 26087, 29 April 1947, Page 5

British Political Temperature Rising With Election Talk

(From A. W. Mitchell, N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent.) [(Rec 10 a.m.) LONDON, April 28. Interest in Britain’s political scene has been sharpened recently by the series of resounding broadsides which Mr Churchill has fired, with some fervour, at the Labour „ Government. The fact that Mr Attlee replied with one of the most stinging rejoinders he has delivered since the days of the General Election, which in turn drew a reply from Mr Churchill, has directed some attention to the timing of these attacks.

Several queries are prompted by Mr Churchill’s polemics. Despite Mr Dalton’s latest assurance that Labour is not planning for a next General Election until May, 1950, many Conservatives are convinced that the Government will not last the full term. Is Mr Churchill, who declared, ‘ The nation to-day is divided in all its anxieties as 1 have not seen it in my long life of political storm and disputation,” beginning an election campaign at long range? Is he paving the way for a Conservative Party’s statement of industrial policy? Publication of this policy is promised shortly, and it is stated that,Mr Churchill will make its proposals the theme of a big speech in mid-May. On the other hand, is he more concerned to unsettle further the Labour Party’s internal differences, chief of which concerns foreign policy, conscription, and to a lesser degree the increased tobacco tax? Was he concerned more particularly with "providing a counterblast to the _ Liberal Party’s annual assembly, or aiming to give some Wagnerian support to the Conservative candidate at pending Jarrow hy-election, or merely adding a louder and more provocative note to the increasing criticism of the Government thatvhas been noticeable during the-past mouths? LABOUR PRESTIGE DOWN. Few people in Britain to-day attempt to deny that Labour’s prestige has suffered sharply, particularly among the middle class section of the electorate, a large proportion of which undoubtedly helped to put the present Government in office. Yet, while this is admitted, general. comment also indicates that the Conservatives have gained little from this slide away from Labour. The reason invariably produced is that the Conservatives have announced no alternative policy. This, indeed, was the point made by Mr Attlee in his reply to Mr Churchill. “There was not,” said the Prime Minister, “a drop of policy in the torrent of abuse in which he indulged.” CONSERVATIVE STATEMENT EXPECTED. Weighing up the various possibilities, it seems most likely that Mr Churchill in making his series of attacks on the Government has an eye to the forthcoming Conservative statement of policy'.- It is- awaited with some interest, for thus" fare the Conservatives have’ fought shy of the subject. Since the Churchill platitudes at the party conference last year, practically ; the only Conservative statement of Conservative policy has come from Mr Peter Thornycroft and some,of the young Conservatives, combined with the Liberals, to which very little weight was attached.

Prominent Conservatives in private conversation, when questioned on policy, usually reply that the time had not been ripe. Apparently the idea is to produce the statement when Labour is acutely embarrassed either politiccally or by national economic stress. “ We are waiting,” one Conservative stated. LIBERALS MORE CONFIDENT. Meanwhile, Labour’s fall in prestige has coincided with the Liberals’ annual assembly. The Liberals, with only. 10 members in the House of Commons, are frankly preparing for the next General Election, when they hope to have between 400 and 500 candidates in the field. According to Mr Isaac Foot, the new president, there has been “ an amazing revival of Liberalism throughout the country,” while Mr Peter Fotliergill, chairman of the executive, has declared that the Liberal Party is once again a political party to be reckoned with. In their enthusiasm, the delegates at the conference eschewed all ideas of political alliances, and scouted Mr Churchill’s recent reference to “ our Liberal allies.” How much of their enthusiasm is hard fact is difficult, to say. Lord Woolton has dismissed the idea of a Liberal revival as “ a paper one manufactured for propaganda purposes.” He has endorsed Mr Churchill’s pleas for unity with Liberalism to defeat Labour on the ground that “ the Conservative Party is the only one that has any chance of getting the support of* the majority of the people and forming a Government that will deal realistically with our present problems.” LABOUR REACTION. Labour reaction to these various statements is apparently to regard them as springtime eruptions. Mr Attlee remains convinced that his partly “ is far more truly representative of all the people in this country than any previous Government or Parliament,” and is proceeding undaunted v/ith the Labour programme. This week, for instance, sees the Transport Bill taken a further stage in the House of Commons, though, with a crop of 400 amendments, the debates are likely to be bitter. Cabinet is now considering the exact form of plans for nationalisation of the iron and steel industry, and Mr E. Shinwell endorsed that gas will be nationalised’ this year, following on the nationalisation of electricity. . With Mr Churchill in a belligerent mood, with the Liberals refortified with self-confidence, and with the return of Mr Herbert Morrison to Westminster it is more thin likely that the temperature of British politics will continue to rise and that further exchanges may be expected.