BRITISH LABOUR LEADERS SOLICIT TORY CRITICISM

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 93, 30 May 1949, Page 5

BRITISH LABOUR LEADERS SOLICIT TORY CRITICISM

(By Reece Smith, New Zealand Kemsley Empire Journalist) London, April 28.

Winging from Westminster, unweighted by woes of office, Tory politicos have been sighted in some numbers of recent years in New Zealand and Australia. As what politicians will not they have given tongue, baying a bit about this and that. Sometimes non-political, sometimes not. i

Labour leaders in Britain say a more precise balance of British opinion might be struck if some Socialist politicians too made the pilgrimage. There is a snag. The Labour party does not wish to slight the Pacific dominions by sending any but its best. And the best are .rooted to Ministerial desks, which it is said cannot be left unattended during long antipodean absences. Empire Links Shrinking

Considering the ministers who have managed time out for trips to Canada and the United States, their colleague in charge of BOAC might well spread the word about shrinking links of Empire, and so forth. As is stated the balance of political trade is apt to conceal from New Zealanders the Opposition’s shortcomings in the Commons. Faults appear both in back room generalship, and front line fighting. Labour front benchers, long experienced in opposition, know when their party’s case is vulnerable. In the light of this knowledge Labour speakers have on occasion been rehearsed in advance to repel anticipated attacks on confessedly weak points. More than once the attacks have not materialised. Then have come attacks at points where they can be rebuffed with such ease as to make the attackers look ridiculous. Tory target selection at times has been badly astray. On the introduction of the Steel Bill, Tories vehemently declared they would make it the issue of the 1950 election. Now they find the voting public is not greatly interested in the Steel Bill either way. Later Winston Churchill assailed Aneurin Sevan’s supplementary estimates for his Health Service, alleging profligacy. It shortly emerged, at the Hammersmith by-elec-tion, that for all its expense the Health Service is widely popular, an incautious political target. There are other Opposition defects for which Churchill is not blameless. A strong Opposition, like Cabinet itself, must be a team, with its various specialists. In any team captained by Churchill there is not a lot of room left for the rest to manoeuvre. Opposition More Effective

It was noted from the Government side of the House that during- a holiday Churchill once took in America the Opposition performed with rather more effective system, if considerably less sparkle. Eden was leading. A newcomer might decide that the Opposition, as indeed do certain Tory oppositions elsewhere, criticises destructively without offering its alternative solution to the problem being debated. Socialist leaders do not support this view. They say the Opposition is discharging its traditional duties well by pointing out faults, for which it is not necessarily bound to advance remedies. As nationalisation increases in Britain these leaders command power in some cases almost absolute. To ward off its corruption, they solicit eagle eyed Opposition scrutiny. '