Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 1950. POSITION IN BRITAIN

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 117, 2 March 1950, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 1950. POSITION IN BRITAIN

Mr Attlee has gone ahead with the formation of his new cabinet in spite of all forecasts that he would take no action until he had consulted with the executive of the Labour Party. However, as Parliament is due to meet next week he had to make some decision before approaching the King and discussing his speech with him. Having taken this step the next obvious move to proceed with the selection of a cabinet, which indicates cpiite clearly that Labour has no immediate plans of again going to the country. With the return of the senior members of the Parliamentary Labour Party, it was not expected that Mr Attlee would make any vital changes in portfolios. There has been a slight reshuffle and one or two new appointments, made necessary by the defeat of junior Ministers, but from a policy point of view the same men have been entrusted with the more important ministries. 'Little further comment can be made on the Prime Minister’s selection until the King makes his speech opening the new House. This will presumably reflect the lines on which the party intends to proceed, but it is significant that Mr Herbert Morrison should have told Labour supporters at the jubilee celebrations that it would “be wise to prepare for another election sooner rather than later.” The Labour leaders are just as capable as anyone else of reading the present situation correctly. They know full well that a majority of seven is totally inadequate *to enable them to conduct the affairs of the country efficiently. It is, of course, policy on the part of Labour, with the prospect of another election on the horizon, to point to the fact that the Liberals had damaged Labour as much as they had damaged the Conservatives. They know that the Liberal vote was an antiLabour vote, and had there not been so many three-cornered contests, the Conservatives would have won a good many more seats. Another election, at an early date would probably not see any marked change in Labour support, but there would undoubtedly be a big increase in the Conservative total. Taking a line through the published figures of the votes cast, the Conservatives and various branches of Liberals secured a total of 15,054,885, whereas Labour and Independent Labour secured 13 332,664. Even giving Labour the benefit of the Communist vote, which ■ is unlikely, they would still not have reached the combined totals of the other parties. Thus it can be seen that if another election comes, and two parties only take the field, the result may be very much different from what it was last week.