BRITISH ELECTIONS

Grey River Argus, 20 June 1945, Page 3

BRITISH ELECTIONS

CAMPAIGN IN FULL SWING Labour Difference Reported 1600 CANDIDATES LONDON, June 18 Polling day in the British elections is Thursday, July 5. Difficulties due to some electors being then on holiday have been overcome in several constituencies by the Government’s decision to allow alternative polling days. In 22 northern constituencies this day will be July 12 while in another it will be July 19. Nomination day is June 25. The results will be announced on July 26. The newlyelected Parliament meets on August 1. The State opening of the new Parliament is expected on August 7. An adjournment for a short summer recess will probably follow about a week later. When the new Parliament assembles it will be comprised of 640 members, compared with the 615 of the last 100 years, new constituencies having been formed.

With the dissolution of Britain’s 10-year-old Parliament, on Tuesday party machines throughout the country! went into top gear for the last 20 dayjs of the general election campaign, in which nearly 1600 candidates are expected to contest 640 seats representing more than thirty million voters. On Friday in the Commons there was an unusually large attendance of members, but no business on the order paper and no questions. There was nothing to do but to wait for the summons to the Lords. The Distinguished Visitors’ Gallery was crowded. Russian Church delegates in picturesque robes were among the spectators. The Commons door was banged and closed when the Black Rod approached. He knocked and was admitted, and told the Speaker that the presence of the faithful Commons was required in the Lords. The Commoners filed out, their way cleared by attendants calling ‘‘Make way for the Black Rod. Make way for Mr. Speaker.” In the Lords, the Clerks announced the Royal assent to recent Acts in traditional Norman French phrases. Nearly one-third of the candidates are servicemen. There are 541 officers of all ranks, from generals to lieutenants, vice-admirals to lieutenant commanders, and air vice marshals to flight lieutenants There are 15 n.c.o.’s one leading seaman and one private. Over 70 women candidates have been endorsed, Labour entering most with 40, while the Conservatives have 11. Liberals 18. Commonwealth four and Communists two. No service candidates nor servicemen and women taking an active part in the election may wear uniform.

The Government, comprised of Conservatives has adopted 580 candidates and the National Liberals over 50. The Labour Party will not fight every seat. It has adopted just on 600 candidates. The Liberals have nearly 300 in the field, the Common Wealth 25 and the Communists 22. Some Independent Labour Party and Scottish Nationalists are, stading. In the majority of cases there will be triangular contests. . LIBERAL PARTY MANIFESTO. ’ A 20-point manifesto was issued to-day by the Liberal Party. It is signed by Sir Archibald Sinclair, Viscount Samuel. Sir William Beveridge, Sir Percy Harris, Lady Violet Bonham-Carter, and Lady Megan Lloyd George. ■ The chief points are: — “The Liberal Party has pledged itself to support all measures needed to strengthen the arms and shorten the task of our valiant fighting men in the Far East. We must strive to preserve the common purpose of the United Nations. In particular, the close comradeship in wav between Britain, Russia and America must be preserved, fostered, and developed in peace. “The New World Organisation coming to birth at San Francisco must be supported and strengthened. The nations determined to preserve peace must have sufficient forces, especially in the air, to crush ruthlessly and immediately, any attempt by an aggressive nation to go to war. We ourselves, in this country and Empire, must have adequate strength provided, so long as. it is necessary, by a system of universal service, and with the most modern equipment to contribute according to our responsibilities as a world Power. The Liberal principles of free, independent nations working together in an Empire in a common loyalty for a common way of life must be fostered. It will be the object of the Liberal Party to break the deadlock in India so that the Indians themselves may frame a democratic constitution for complete self-govern-ment in India.

“The Liberal Party recognises its duty to safeguard the interests .of servicemen, their wives and families, and will continue to use its' influence to ensure the fairest possible conditions of rehabilitation and training of service personnel for civil life, securing gratuities and pensions, and ensuring their prospects of employment and housing. It claims freedom from want can' be achieved by social security, and also that full employment can be maintained in a free society. Where there is work to do and men to do it unemployment is an intolerable waste of wealth and imperils healthy; family life.

“The Liberal Party means to maintain prosperous, efficient agriculture and will encourage land settlement. The Ministry of Food must remain to ensure a fair distribution of available supplies and to offer longterm contracts, assuring farmers of fair prices and guaranteed markets. The wages and housing of farm workers must be comparable with those of skilled workers in other in-" dustries. The Liberals believe the controversy for and against nationalisation is out of date. They believe in private enterprise and the value of individual effort, experiment, and willingness to take risks. Hence their support of small traders and their desire to diffuse ownership' as widely as-possible. Hence, also their opposition to cartels and pricc-lixing rings. But where public ownership is more economic the Liberals will demand it without hesitation.” The manifesto advocates reductions in taxation on the prime necessities of life, equality of opportunity and status for women, equal pay for equal work, and that members of Parliament be chosen in such a way as to represent fairlyi the number of votes cast. With regard to the latter the Liberal's state they would reform the voting system to give electors an opportunity of expressing an additional choice, or choices, as well as first choice, when there are more than wo candidates. * Dr. Edith Summerskill, who is well known in New Zealand, will be opposed at Fulham by Wing Commander P. B. Lucas, D.S.O. D.F.C. one of Britain’s leading fighter pilots. Dr. Sumerskill won the seat by a narrow majority in the 1938 by-election after it was held for some years by the Conservatives. The attitude of the Liberal members, if they find themselves in possession of the balance of power,after the polls, offers one of the most interesting fields for political speculation. The Liberals who held 19 seats in the old Parliament, are' determined to go to the country as an entirely independent party. They

are putting up 306 candidates, of whom exactly half are servicemen. They claim to be capable of forming a strong Government pledged to implement Sir William Beveridge’s schemes for social reform. THE HAS BEENS Twenty members of the Commons, all over'7o years old —their ages totalling more than 1.500 years —are not seeking re-election. Lady Astor, at the wish of her husband, is also retiring. She sat in the House for a quarter of a century. She declares she is heart-broken at going. ANOTHER CHURCHILL BROADCAST Mr. Churchill in a message to the electors urging support for Government candidates, says: “The crusade for the fight for freedom is not yet finished. We will still have to beat the Japanese and work with our Allies to ensure that the victory leads to a durable peace, and again put this land on its feet. Labour and Opposition Liberals were invited to stay in the Government to help finish the job, but they refused. When the problems are solved and Britain is a going concern again, there will be plenty of time to argue about whether we want to discard our whole..system of society in favour of strange ideas which are quite out of sympathy with our hard-won individual 'liberty.” “The Daily Herald” describes Mr. Churchill’s second broadcast as a hazy one. The “Economist” said: Politicians are doing their best to stirr up excitement, but available evidence would seem to show that popular response is lacking, and that the British public are not very interested. This is not one of those elections where there is a great issue for which heads will be broken as well as counted, and the reason is there is almost a total absence of positive proposals put before the country in a form specific enough for them to be grasped. Supporters of the present Churchill Government are fighting every constituency, with at least 580 Conservative Party nominees, 50 Liberal Nationals, plus a number of National Labourites and and Independents. The Labour Party is fielding 600 candidates, Sir A. Sinclair’s Liberals, 300, with possibly another 50 candidates from the Commonwealth. Independent Labour Party, Scottish Nationalists and Independents. Mr. Churchill’s men of all parties vie with one another in paying handsome tributes to his war-time statesmanship. hut Labourites are careful to add that they were largely instrumental in his elevation to the Prime Ministership, and declare he was merely the voice, and not the source of Britain’s war-winning strength. Liberals, notably Sir W. Beveridge, profess their aim to save Mr. Churchhill “from his Tory friends”. Mr Churchill strongly, disclaims such support, declaring a vote for a Liberal is a vote for the Socialists. Conservative candidates include a New Zealander, Captain R. E. Lowndes, of Gisbprne. He fought with the N.Z.E.F., was captured in Libya in 1941, and recently repatriated from Germany. He is standing as a Conservative at Clapliam. from where Sir John Leigh has retired after holding the seat for .. 20 years. It is considered a safe Conservative seat, Leigh’s majority being' nearly 7,000 at the last polling. Other Conservative candidates arc: Captain Julian Amery, son of Mr. Amery, Secretary for India, who will stand for one of the Preston seats; Major T. V. H. Beamish, son of RearAdmiral Beamish, who will endeavour to win Lewes, which his father represented for 16 years; Major Randolph Churchill, son of the Prime Minister; Lieutenant Edward Carson, son of the late Lord Carson; Lieutenant-Commander J. M. Fitz-roy-Newdigate, son of the late Speaker; Major Sir John Gilmour, son of the late Sir John Gilmour; Lieutenant Commander Joynson Hicks, son of the late Viscount Brentford; and Group Captain Max Aitken, son of Lord Beaverbrook. AH' parties promise an intensification of the struggle against Japan, and give friendship with Russia and America the highest priority in their list of post-war objectives. Sir S. Cripps, declares that the Conservative rule here is incompatible with future good relations with Russia. The Conservatives on the other hand claim that Churchill established a firm realist understanding with Stalin to which the doctrinaire Leftists, such as Attlee and Cripps could not possibly aspire. The most energetic party 'propagandists have been Mr. Bevin and Lord Beaverbrook, who are almost daily exchanging reproaches and epithets. Mr. Bevin has adopted the practice of referring to Lord Beverbrook as “Minister of Chaos,” to which Lord Beaverbrook responded accusing Mr. Bevin of conducting “a smear campaign after the style of foreign politicians.” Mr. Churchill writing 'in the “Popular Illustrated,” election newspaper of the Conservative Party says: “If the country expresses confidence in us at the polls the National Government will be further reformed to rally the strongest forces available to bring all these matters to a successful issue. When these tasks are complete, when Britain is a going concern, it will be time for the public to' decide whether it wants to upset the whole system of society as we have known it in this island for generations. Others can decide that vast question. I keep my eye on the immediate problems. ' “One thing I will not do and that is delude the country into believing it can look for quick and simple solutions to its problems, that it can tread a broad easy road to the sunlit uplands. In the long days of the war I always tried to tell you the truth. Any politician who attempts the other course, luring you on with false promises, will live bitterly to regret, his criminal folly. The truth is often hard to face, but I know that in peace as in war you can take it.” The Conservative “Daily Express” publishes the result of a straw ballot indicating that the Conservatives and their “national satellites” will retain a workable majority after losing a number of seats to Labour, but the “experts” generally echo the opinion of the journal “Economist.” which says there has never been in British history an election concerning which it is so impossible to make anv forecast. This is variously attributed to the fact that none of the main parties has postulated any really great issue to which there could be an instantaneous, popular reaction, and also to the fact that the intentions of the 7,000,000 electors who for the first time became eligible to vote is obviously unpredictable. LASKI AND ATTLEE It is said a “major crisis” developed in the Labour Party from the chairman, Professor Laski’s statement that Mr. Attlee should, -attend the meeting of the Big Three as an observer, and his further remark: “I don’t believe in the doctrine of continuity of foreign policy. I don’t, believe in tailing foreign policy out ol politics.” It is reported 4 there is a wide split in the Labour Party, and that there is a personal vendetta between Mr. Attlee and Professor Laski, who is regarded as an “intellectual, not a politician.” The Labour paper, “Daily Herald ’ does not to-day refer to the dispute. It refers to General Franco’s statement that he and his Government want “co-operation to the limit with America and Britain. Recalling Mr. Churchill’s speech in May, 1J44, and his “kindly words” /about Spam the “Herald’s” headlines state: A vote for Churchill is a vote for Franco.” This is regarded as a blatantly obvious attempt to divert their followers’ -attenion from the wide

differences of opinion over, the Attlee-Laski affair, which has . accentuated criticism often maintained against the Labour Party, namel> that its members fight among themselves and’ that the tail wags the dog. The opinion is expressed that the dispute cannot have other than an unsettling effect on the electors In several places the Lett have agreed not to split the vote and in some instances the Common Wealth Party bas withdrawn candidates in the interests of Left unity. So far there are 27 constituencies where there will be four-cornered contests. Prominent Labour candidates include Lieutenant General Sir Mason-Macfarlane, recently Governor of Malta. He will fight Mr. Brendan Bracken at - Paddington. Colonel Alan Masis is standing against Sir Waldron Smithers at Orpington. Doctor Stephen Taylor, B.Sc (first-class honours), M. 8., M 8.C.P., fights Barnet for Labour. Another Socialist, Squadron Leader John Pudney, author of Ail Battle at M'alta,” fights at Seven Oaks. . T .. . One of the outstanding Liberal candidates is Lady Violet Bonham Carter, who is a Governor of the 8.8. C. and President of the Liberal Party. A daughter of the late Lord Oxford (Mr. Asquith) she faces a Conservative majority of 7,000 at Wells, Somerset.

PROPHETS IM DOUBT Political commentators are very reluctant to hazard a prediction of the state of the parties when the new House of Commons assembles on August 1. Electoral rolls, because of wartime shifts of population, are in many cases seriously out of date. The movements of evacuees and transfers of workers have probably: resulted in the disfranchisement of more than 1,000,000 voters. The Liberal, leader (Sir Archibald Sinclair) and his wife are ineligible to cast votes. The public regards housing as a vital election issue. Britain needs four million permanent new houses within 10 years, but a short-term demand is for one million houses immediately, in order to accommodate the homeless and replace the condemned slum dwellings, and abate statutory overcrowding. All candidates promise the most energetic handling of the problem, but differences arise over the means of accelerating the building programme. Conservatives offer a plan under which private enterprise and local authorities will be encouraged by subsidies, while maintaining Goveinment control over prices, so long as supplies are short. The Labour alternative is a Ministry of House Production administering a comprehensive scheme, in which the Government war factories will play an important part in turning out prefabricated homes and setting price levels for private manufacturers. The question, to some extent, is bound up with the larger issues of maintaining wartime control, and nationalisation of private 'enterprise, in which lies the real clash between Conservative and Labour policies.