AT THE CROSSROADS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26274, 4 October 1946, Page 5

AT THE CROSSROADS

BRITISH CONSERVATIVE PARTY FATEFUL CONFERENCE DETERMINATION OF POLICY (N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent> (Rec. 9.30 p.m.) LONDON. Oct. 3. ■An event of wide political interest begins to-day at Blackpool. It is the annual conference of the Conservative Party, which will continue for three days and be addressed on Saturday by Mr Winston Churchill. It is an event that will be watched closely by political friends and opponents throughout the country for any indication of recuperation from the hammer blow of last year’s general election as well as for any enunciation of policy upon which the party can expect to increase support during the coming four years before the next election. Ever since its defeat at the election, the state of health of the Conservative Party has been generally queried. Its own members have expressed dissatisfaction with it, and an echo of this is a resolution to be considered by the conference calling for “more vigorous leadership.” The Labour Party, secure in its majority, and fat with the comfort of power, has through such leaders as Mr Herbert Morrison twitted the party with being an ineffective Opposition. And on the eve of the conference, the Daily Herald, the organ of the Labour Party, has reiterated its contempt by declaring to-day's conference to be an inquest. “Toryism is dead,” declares the journal, “just as dead as an ancient tree stump which stands blackened, riven, and rotting, among the bright new growth of a living forest. It canot be revived because there is no more life in its roots.” Toryism, adds the Daily Herald, has not changed its beliefs in methods to meet the totally altered and infinitely more complex problems of to-day. " So it is finished, and the Tory leaders know this in their hearts.” it states. Signs of Renewed Vigour The Conservative leaders stand in little, need of such unequivocal castigations to prod them into action. They have been genuinely puzzled and worried by their defeat, and they' understand quite clearly that they must

reinstate themselves with millions of voters. Thus no fewer than eight resolutions will be submitted to the conference demanding a restatement of policy, and Mr R. A. Butler, one of the prominent leaders of the party, has declared, “ This conference can, and must, be the turning point in modern Conservatism." Mr Butler adds: “ We do not expect to go to the” party conference and obtain marching orders for our future action. Unlike our opponents, we retain our liberty and elasticity of movement and do not work as puppets, whose strings are pulled by card vote resolutions. Nevertheless, it has always been case that the conference, by the expression of its views, has made and unmade both policies and leaders, large and small.” Many other subjects beside policy will, of course, be discussed—housing, food industry. Imperial affairs (including India), agriculture and inflation—but it is to the announcements of policy that the general public will probably pay most attention in order to glean some idea of how much red blood the Conservative organisation has in its veins. Shaping of Future Issues What may be regarded as the middle view on the conference has been expressed by the Economist, which remarks that it can become the most important held by the party during, the lifetime of the present Parliament. The Economist also declares that the shape of future issues for the electorate at the next election are merging slowly already. “The domestic issues of this decade are the relations between the State and the trade unions, the relations between enterprise and taxation, and above all, the relations between the individual and bureaucracy." the journal says. It advises the party that it will be necessary to show that private enterprise can mean something to the ordinary man, that the organisation of the State can help and not hinder, and that there are concrete rewards for each individual who is willing to work to his capacity. It adds: "The Conservative Party must lose its excessive regard for its old and faithful followers. It must appeal equally strongly to the mass in the middle of the road—men and women under 40 who grew up under nominal coalitions and who have not a strong party allegiance but a very British intention of judging politicans as they judge racehorses and football teams, on their form as well as on their personalities."