ELECTION IN BRITAIN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 November 1943, Page 3

ELECTION IN BRITAIN

LIKELY WHEN WAR ENDS IN EUROPE MR CHURCHILL'S REPORTED CHANGE OF OPINION. PARTY & NEWSPAPER VIEWS. (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) LONDON, November 16. _ Political thought in Great Britain- is tending increasingly toward a general election. It is true that this will not occur till the end of the war in Europe, but attention has been switching to it ever since Mr Churchill’s “four-year plan” ’broadcast. His recent Mansion House speech, his reference to post-war plans, and the appointment of Lord Woolton as Minister for Reconstruction have also increased the discussion. Mr Churchill has apparently changed his view, and no longer maintains that the coalition should continue for some time after the war, on the ground that reconstruction is too national in importance and too complicated in execution to be conducted on party lines. The opinion is expressed that he has found the imoossibility, even in the solid and united'War Cabinet, of reaching a sufficiently high measure of agreement on both principles and details to make the bold decisions that are required. f PROBLEM FOR LABOUR. Majority opinion in both the Conservative and Labour Parties is swinging toward a general election. It is observed that this is putting the ’Labour Ministers in a somewhat painful dilemma, since every effort that Messrs Attlee, Morrison, Bevin and Dalton make toward post-war reconstruction may accrue to the credit of Mr Churchill, and through him to the Conservative Party. It is thought that they can escape from the dilemma by taking care, while doing their duty to the Government, to see that the country gets a clear and consistent exposition of Labour’s view on policies for the post-war period, but at. present this has not happened, and though Mr Morrison has made several important- speeches it is not clear whether he speaks for the party as a whole. Mr Morrison himself recently warned the Labour Party that the British electorate “would not be disposed to give its trust to a party that did not know its own mind.” He was referring to various Parliamentary divisions in which Labour was deeply divided in the lobbies. He added that splits in the Labour Party threatened to become more than occasional, and that, worse still, the Labour front bench itself had been splitting. “ANTI-CONSERVATIVE TREND.” The “Economist,” commenting that while it is too early to guess the verdict of the electorate, says: “The Conservatives will have the enormous prestige of Mr Churchill’s name still further enhanced by the victory attained. But the tide of popular thought and desire would seem to be running very strongly against the Conservatives (insofar as it can be distinguished from the person of Mr Churchill). But the present anti-Conservatives trend is not visibly complemented, by a pro-Lab-our trend.” The paper adds that the issue is likely to be decided by a mixture of what the Government does and what the Labour leaders say. If Mr Churchill is in earnest about “food in homes and work for all,” and if the Labour members continue to devote more energy to internal responsibilities to the community there will be a Conservative triumph at the polls. Whether war time controls shall be continued after the war and for how long is another subject which is expected to produce a big political battle, the opening shots of which have already been fired.