There can be no doubt, in retrospect, that last week's
vote of censure did the Opposition more harm than good, and the Govern- ment more good than harm. The speaking, so far as the Front Benches were concerned, was, surprisingly enough, better on the Government side, in spite of two admirable contributions from Mr. Harold Macmillan and Mr. Thorneycroft, the scale being tilted primarily by the Prime Minister, whose reply to Mr. Churchill revealed a new Attlee to his delighted supporters. The fact was that the Government has not failed badly enough to justify formal censure, and even if it had the Opposition had no constructive policy to put forward as alternative. What is more they will be hard put to it to devise one that a united party will accept. Mr. Churchill's speech to the Conservative Associations made no appeal to the Left Wing of the party, which hardly troubles to pretend that it did. Yet it is certain that a Conservatism tending to the Right has no possible future in British politics. Can men like Mr. Eden, Mr. Macmillan, Mr. Law, Mr. Thorneycroft, Mr. Quintin Hogg, win the party to the progressive ideas for which they stand? A good deal may depend on whether Mr. R. A. Butler and Col. Oliver Stanley are with them or not. The alternative is Beaverbrookism and perdition.
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