Former Labour M.P. Joins Conservatives

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 September 1949, Page 5

Former Labour M.P. Joins Conservatives

LONDON, August 31.—“1 would rather work under the leadership of that great statesman who in our darkest hour promised nothing but blood and sweat until victory was won, than with those who have made promises they can fulfil only on borrowed money,” said Mr Alfred Edwards, member .of Parliament for East Middlesbrough, when accepting nomination as a prospective Conservative candidate for East Middlesbrough at the next British General Election. Mr Edwards is a former Labour member, who now sits in the House of Commons as an Independent. “I hope there will be a solid lineup of anti-Socialists at the election,” said Mr Edwards, “for if the extremists of the Labour Party, who are now in control, get another five years in power, we may never recover from the injury they will do to our industries. The Government knows as well as I do that our hopes, under theoretical Socialism, have been utterly destroyed when put to a practical tost. “It is a system without intelligence or heart, which issues instructions for economies to businesses and goes on ever increasing its own demands. There is no logical end to this business but a totalitarian. State. I do not believe that anyone in a responsible position in the Labour Party will deliberately hand Britain, over to the Communists, but the logic of events will beat the best of them.