11 OCTOBER 1969, Page 4

POLITICAL COMMENTARY

Demon shuffler strikes again

AUBERON WAUGH

No need to write about the Tory conference this week, since Mr Wilson has obligingly given us his Cabinet reshuffle. Perhaps the idea behind this was genuinely to stream- line the machinery of government, revolu- tionise decision-making, etc, but I cannot escape the suspicion that he was really only interested in keeping political corres- pondents on the mark. What would we say if he appointed Paddy, his two-year-old yellow Labrador, as Secretary of State, or Nemo, his fourteen-year-old Siamese cat, as Deputy Prime Minister? In the first instance, no doubt, that the accent was now on youth and new ideas; in the second instance, that the Prime Minister was demonstrating his basic kind-heartedness and loyalty to old friends.

Well, Paddy and Nemo have both been passed over this time round in favour of Mr Wedgwood Benn. Apart from its bizarre head, the new ministry of industry represents a genuine rationalisation, and one which a reasonably competent minister should be able to dominate. Unfortunately, with Wedgtich on the prow, and its Perma- nent Under-Secretary, Sir 'Otto' Clarke, at the helm, one can only see it as a vehicle for increasingly lunatic utterance as the election approaches. Mr Harold Lever's function as Bidgtin's deputy will presum- ably be that of reassuring industrialists that Techman never really meant what he said and was only thinking aloud in his latest speech.

But Mr Crosland's appointment as Secretary of State for Local Government and Regional Planning is even odder, in its way. The overlordship of housing and transport, which this grandiose title hides, is unlikely to be a happy one. Both have their own establishments and, with the best will in the world, it is hard to see that there is much chance of co-ordination without a full merger.

Mr Wilson's merger of the Foreign and Commonwealth offices was at least a rationalisation of former anomalies, even if it has produced no spectacularly happy results. The appointment of Mr Thomson as Minister for Europe must seem (at least to Mr Stewart) to be a de-rationalisation of this happy process, but it is a rational response to the Prime Minister's appalling funk whenever he is confronted by the terrible, rolling eyes of the Foreign Secre- tary. Nobody can really complain at responsibility for Europe being taken away from the murderous incompetence of the Cabinet's resident geriatric. And it will provide another failure for Mr Thomson to chalk up on his already crowded slate.

The merger of health and pensions to make the Department of Social Security may only have been a partial success, but at least it has kept Mr Crossman busy, which is more than one can reasonably hope for Mr Crosland at housing and transport. I cannot see the faintest chance of Mr Crosland being able to introduce a Bill to implement the Redcliffe-Maud proposals on local government in the next Parliament. The best he can hope for is a White Paper, although even this could

cause him a great deal of trouble. Other- wise he will be stuck with producinif a•

serious image for the Labour party on pollution, devolution, quality of environ- ment, etc, for the next general election, which is a mug's game.

Alas for the Prime Minister, all his plans for the restructuring of industry and reform- ing the Cabinet came unstuck for political reasons. He originally intended to sack Mr Callaghan, sending Mrs Castle to the Home Office and starting from there. What changed his mind was partly last-minute loss of nerve, partly Ulster. Events there reminded him that Mr Callaghan, in addi- tion to his other qualities, is also a vote- winner, and that without him Labour would be hopelessly outgunned on the law-and-order issue by Messrs Hogg and Sandys. But with Mrs Castle sitting prim on her department of Employment and Productivity, the Prime Minister was left with very little room for manoeuvre.

A more logical rationalisation would have been to send the productivity half of her empire to Mr Benn (or, better still, any- one else) at Technology, and the employ- ment half to the Department of Social Security, as urged in these pages last month.

This would not only facilitate the paying of pensions to those labourers who were between engagements, as they say, or had temporarily withdrawn their labour, but would also carry to its logical con- clusion the welfare statesman's idea of employment as an inalienable right, some- thing which it is the duty of the benign government to provide. As things are, however, we have productivity uneasily divided between its investment (or 'boss' class) aspect, which is the responsibility of Mr Benn, with his well-known concern for the capitalist interest, and its labour- relations (or working-class) aspect, which is the responsibility of Mrs Castle, well known for the affection and esteem in which she is held by union leaders.

Similar problems will arise in the regions, where Mr Benn has been given responsi- bility for regional economic development (the pay-out) while Mr Crosland is responsible for regional planning (the

strings). Perhaps the days of 'creative tension' are not yet over, despite the de- mise of the Department of Economic Affairs. There, it will be remembered, Mr Wilson's idea was that the rival demands of monetary stability on the one hand, represented by the Treasury, and of growth and full employment, on the other, repre- sented by the DEA, should be judged by the impartial—almost capricious—decision of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. In the event, there was no monetary stability, no full employment and growth had to be severely checked. Perhaps Mr Wilson hopes that creative tension wilt continue to flourish, but between the Ministry of Technology and the Treasury, with Mr Lever—the ex-Treasury man—as a useful turncoat. If so, I fear he will be dis- appointed. Mr Lever is not a tense sort of man and from Mr Benn we cannot expect any logical pattern of responses.

Mr Lever's role, in fact, looks like being that of nurse to Mr Benn. In a way, it is sad to see him leave the Financial Secretary- ship of the Treasury. There is nobody 0 his stature to replace him—presumabl Dick Taverne will get the job—and eve if the part of Mr Wedgwood Benn's nurs is an important one, as things have turne out, one cannot help feeling that th monetary situation may become even mor important at any time. Mr Lever is no only popular among ?An and politica correspondents, among whom his friendl way of explaining complex monetar matters will be sorely missed, but also as I discovered on my travels, he is like and trusted in Europe and in Washineto —and in a way in which Mr Jenkins am sorry to say, most conspicuously is not Perhaps Mr Wilson feels that with th German election over, he has nothing le to fear on the sterling front. But a grea deal depends, from his and the Govern ment's point of view, on if and when th threatening recession in world trade hi the scene. If it comes sooner rather tha later there will be a very real need fo either a Crosland or a Lever back at th Treasury. It will be interesting to se which is sent there, and in what capacity Mr Wilson is gambling a little, I think on the way things will turn out.

Sadder even than the disappearance o the DEA is the fact that Mr Peter Shor has survived it. With the DEA disappear one plank—probably the major one, at th time—of Labour's appeal to the elector ate both in 1964 and in 1966. Of course it never had any real use after the Jul measures of 1966 and the death of th National Plan. Then; it will be remem bered, Mr Michael Stewart was sent t preside over its decline. It has been th cornerstone of so many castles in the ai and scene of so many dramas—do ■13 remember when Mr Wilson took persona charge, three months before devaluation —that it surely deserves a better tombston than Mr Peter Shore. His retention a the expense of Dick Marsh in some so of twilit sinecure marks Mr Wilson's real to one of his oldest tricks.

One had no particular brief for the Marsh. He was easily the younges Cabinet member, which is no particula recommendation, and a staunch supporte (for no very good reason which I coul ever discover) of Mr Stewart's crime, In which they may all yet end their day behind bars. To that extent, he is go riddance. But he had a certain admin strative ability, and when Mr Wilso was confronted with the choice bemee the ability of Mr Marsh and the dogg devotion of Mr Shore, he chose the dog' Perhaps for the first time, Mr Wilson se out on the task of administrative reco struction without a thought for elector advantage or for securing his own positio In the event, he put the one potential useful new department under the care of clown, and put one of his ablest minister in charge of a circus. He admitted defea over the DEA, but only at the cost of leavin a Treasury team hopelessly vulnerable 1 any slings and arrows which may be I store for it. He sacked one of the able members of his administration so that h could retain one of the weakest. In th run-up to the election, he had the absolut loyalty of his Cabinet, and nothing to lea from any coup. The only comic relief the whole bleak episode is that now w shall all be seeing a great deal more Wedgtech Binnwood, trailing clouds 0 power and glory across the political scene. ,