POLITICAL COMMENTARY

HUGH MACPHERSON

And now', said Baldwin to Lloyd George, 'they have caught you telling the truth.'

Politicians are much more concerned about the way their activities are portrayed to the electorate, and how it is received, than in revealing the unadulterated truth. In matters political, style is certainly more im- portant than sincerity. What better time, then, to take a preliminary look at the style of Mr Heath, and his government, than at the start of his second session of government and when he is safely out of the country?

Let it be said at once that, to these eyes, the picture is tinged with gloom. For the Prime Minister appears to be developing some of the traits of Mr Wilson.

Let it be said that this is no reflection on the personal habits of Mr Heath. One of his major contributions, so far, to British political life has been to show that the image-building public relations expert can be confounded. Not only did he butcher the PR men in Transport House but also dealt a savage blow at the Barnum and Bailey People in the Conservative Central Office who converted him in a few short years from 'tough abrasive Ted' to 'Edward Heath ---Man of Principle' in full Technicolor. His 'arrival' was announced so often, in sym- pathetic newspapers. that he probably had more debuts than DaThe Nellie Melba •had farewells. Now, happily enough. he is truly ensconced in No 10 as himself determined to make the political world a little more grey under his breath.

And that is curious. For compared to Mr Wilson, he is a man of considerable dash— even of romance. The idea of the son of a carpenter and a parlourmaid becoming President of the Oxford Union, rising frotri the ranks to the eminence of a lieutenant- colonel, winning a great international yacht race, eventually becoming the Prime Minister of Great Britain and playing the piano for Mr Yehudi Menuhin, would normally be confined to the works of those splendid literatae Miss Ruby M. Ayres and Miss Annie S. Swan. Mr Wilson's celebrated essay on the railways and his lively TV appearance with Ena Sharpies, hardly match up to the saga- of the lad from Broadstairs.

That, however, is not our concern. Nor are we here immediately concerned with what may be termed the grand strategy Mr Heath has for the nation. Style has little to do with strategy but much to do with tactics. It must, nevertheless, be noted that in political warfare tactics eventually take over strategy: when the grand designs begin to fail, when the prime minister is threatened by his colleagues, or when a general election is imminent.

For example the turning point for the last government may well have come when the field commander Robert Mellish announced, quite uninvited, to the assembled staff officers round the Cabinet table• that he could not as Chief Whip discipline the back-bench infantry _ in the delicate matter of trade union legislation. From that moment the grand strategy was reverently placed beside that other Dead Sea Scroll, the National Plan. Mr Wilson then ran off in every direc- tion to deal with such brisk local skirmishes as the tanks which Mr Scanlon had driven on to his lawn, the trade union support which Mr Callaghan had carried off to his stronghold in Transport House, and Mrs Barbara Castle.

The style employed by Mr Heath in tactical matters is, therefore, of considerable importance to the student of politics as an indication of how he will stand up to the sieges and rebellions which every PM can anticipate as surely as death itself. It will be remembered that in more polite days criticising the Wilson style of government meant largely that No 10 was a hotbed of formica PR men and the press was well managed. Just as in the days before full frontal profiles to say that a Cabinet minister was over-tired really meant that he was over-refreshed. That is where the gloom sets in for there are indications—only slight but significant—that Mr Heath is tentatively following in the tactical steps of Mr Wilson.

Both Mr Heath, and his government, have relied upon the fallible political dogma that if information is leaked in advance it takes the heat out of a situation, or, by preventing an immediate response, room is left to modify the course of action. An example of this was the simultaneous stories which appeared, even before the government was fully formed, suggesting that arms would be sold to South Africa. (An added touch of irony, which must surely bring a smile to the lips of Mr Wilson in his arm- chair late at night, when he has exchanged his pipe for a cigar-and his beer for brandy, is Mr Heath's known despair at the way Commonwealth governments have allegedly leaked exchanges such as the admonitory letter Mr Trudeau sent Mr Heath on the same question.) The tactic—let us call it the Wilson Filter—is not even confined to great matters of State. After Mr Barber's mini- budget statement, on 27 October, Scottish Labour MPS were disturbed to find in their morning papers, on the 28th. that a winter works programme in Scotland, worth more than a million pounds, was being advanced. This was an act for which the Government gained due, credit but there was no chance to question its motives, for the decision was not mentioned in the statement in the Commons. Of course many other governments have used the Wilson Filter, but no one was more scornful than Mr Heath of the way it was used by the present leader of the opposition.

The second way in which Mr Heath seems to be following Mr Wilson's tactical style is in revealing unpalatable information just before leaving the country or immedi- ately prior to a Parliamentary recess. This may be entitled the Wilson Scuttle. A prime example was the announcement of an increase in the cost of a television licence just three days before the 1968 summer recess. Mr Angus Maude cited another instance of the present Government's use of the tactic in these pages three weeks ago when he frowned on the announcement of the Roskill Commission proposals for a new London airport in a written question on the afternoon of the Christmas adjournment.

A more personal example of the Wilson Scuttle, as used by the present Prime Minister, was his method of announcing the establishment of a joint US-UK communica- tions base at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Mr Tam Dalyell, a Labour back- bencher, was informed by a member of Senator Muskie's staff, in the course of a visit to the United States early in November, that such a project was afoot. He raised the matter in an adjournment debate on 16 November and was, for his pains, treated to a discourse by Mr Anthony Kershaw on behalf of the Government, which included a quote from the Archbishop of Canterbury and a sad little passage abont the disturbance of the ecosystem on Diego Garcia. Not much else.

The tenacious Mr Dalyell persisted with . questions to the PM on• the third, the eighth and the eleventh of December. Since by the nature of things he could not phrase his questions in a manner which left no loophole for evasive answers that is precisely what he received. The question was finally answered in a written reply to Mr Dalyell on 15 December. By the time that surfaced Mr Heath was well on the way to eating pumpkin pie with President Nixon un- troubled by contentious scenes in the Commons. Huyton Man could hardly have done better.

The third way in which Mr Heath seems to be emulating Mr Wilson is at present, fortunately, only in its most embryonic stage. Indeed we must all hope it is a pre- mature diagnosis.

When the tragic disaster took place recently in a Glasgow football ground the Secretary of State for Scotland, Mr Gordon Campbell, was summoned to give a well- publicised personal account to Mr Heath of the events. Yet the relevant facts must have been in the PM'S possession within a very short time of the tragedy. Further, Mr Campbell was due to give a full account to the Cabinet the next day. The Government, not the PM, had to he seen to act.

It revived memories of a lonely hunched figure on a beach, in Churchillian pose, gazing out to the 'Torrey Canyon' and pondering whether to deploy the Fleet Air Arm from Lossiemouth. Of all the infections of the Wilson tactical style. the Wilson Pose, is the most virulent and, alas, the most con- tagious. Wilde may have been right about the precedence of style over sincerity yet Mr Heath must realise that the nation does not expect him to be any more, or any less, sincere than Mr Wilson. But if he adopts his style he will not lightly be forgiven.