Portrait of the week
Many political careers were brought to an end by the general election, which resulted in victory for the Conservative Par- ty by a majority of 144 seats over all other parties. Mr Foot decided to retire as Labour Party leader in October, and Mr Healey not to seek election to the leadership; Neil Kin- nock started as odds-on favourite for the job. Roy Jenkins gave up the leadership of the SDP, hoping that David Owen would replace him. Francis Pym and David Howell (both Eton and Cambridge) were sacked from the Cabinet, though one old (75) Etonian, Lord Hailsham, remained. Nine junior ministers were asked to resign. Bernard 'Jack' Weatherill was elected Speaker of the House of Commons, which now contains 23 women, but Shirley Williams, Summerskill and Joan Lestor are no longer among them. Anthony Wedgwood Benn, Albert Booth, Bill Rodgers and David Ennals also lost their seats; Enoch Powell and Roy Jenkins were returned by majorities of, respectively, 548 and 1,164. Provisional Sinn Fein gained one seat (Belfast West, from Gerry Fitt) and failed by only 78 votes to win Mid-Ulster. Two Conservative ministers, Hamish Gray and lain Sproat, were defeated by Alliance candidates; Mr Gray was given a peerage and transferred to the Scottish Office, Mr Sproat was not. Michael Cocks (Bristol South) held the only seat for Labour in the south and west of England. Arthur Scargill, leader of the Na- tional Union of Mineworkers, greeted the election result as 'the worst national disaster for 100 years,' and warned of eight million unemployed; Ken Livingstone, leader of the GLC, said he respected Mrs Thatcher for her resolution.
The Conservatives' win was their biggest since 1935, though they received fewer votes than in the 1979 election. Mr Foot railed against the treachery of those who joined the SDP and lost the election for Labour, while Mr Steel and Dr Owen made the usual complaints about how unfair it was that the Alliance should get 7.7 million votes and only 23 seats. However, the Alliance lost only 11 deposits in the elec- tion, the Conservatives 5 — and Labour 119. The opinion pollsters generally had a good election, with MORI getting the percentage share of the vote exactly right. In her Cabinet reshuffle, Mrs Thatcher appointed Sir Geoffrey Howe to be Foreign Secretary in place of Mr Pym, Nigel Lawson, formerly editor of the Spec- tator, to be Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leon Brittan, a former libel lawyer, Home Secretary. Mr Whitelaw was granted a hereditary peerage — the first since 1965 — but, having neither son nor brother, was uncertain whether the title would survive him. Four life peerages were created in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, and knighthoods were given to, among others, Stephen Spender, Patrick Neill, Norman Siddall and, in Papua New Guinea, Sesel° Abel and Kwamala Kalo.
Both the US and Russia indicated that a better relationship between the two countries was desirable: President Reagan spoke of a more 'flexible' approach' without putting forward any very specific or useful proposals for limiting nuclear missiles, and the idea was mooted that the. Secretary of State, Mr Shultz, might go to Moscow this summer. An agreement to ban chemical weapons was anticipated, and an interview with Mr Dam, deputy Secretary of State, on arms control was broadcast In full on Moscow television. Reserve General Sharon, formerly Israel's defence minister, demanded another commission of inclinrY into the Lebanon war, and Mr Begin was reported in a state of acute depression over the fact that 500 Israelis have now been kill- ed in Lebanon. A memorial to the dead which stands outside Mr Begin's house was described as 'a Chinese torture dripping down on his conscience'. Exchanges of ar; tillery fire resumed between Israeli and Syrian forces in the Bekaa valley. 10 Pretoria, three black nationalists were hanged for having taken part in attacks on police stations, in which four black policemen were killed. South Africa s Chamber of Mines agreed to recognise National Union of Mineworkers. Australia banned shipments of uranium to France, and Brian Mulroney became leader 01 Canada's Progressive Conservative PartY' A Spanish court ordered the release of the Royal Navy Sea Harrier which landed safe' ly on the cargo ship Alraigo last week.
the Penelope Littlewood, a ballet teacer, was sent to prison for a month, and later released on bail pending appeal, for hal bitten a policeman who removed her nake from her flat in London. The prosecutt°11, far tried to drop the case but the judge, Lora
Dunboyne, said the offence was ' to° prevalent in the metropolitan area'. The Metropolitan Police paid £6,000 compensa; tion to Mr and Mrs Gibb who were arrest'
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one night in 1979 while walking across, Leicester Square after a film premiere, and later apparently assaulted by police. A se. cond inquest was opened into the death of Roberto Calvi, 'God's banker', after a Ina" jority verdict of suicide at the inquest last July had been quashed by the High Courti; At the inquest into the death of Coll Roach, who died last January from a shotgun fired in his mouth at Stoke New
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ington police station, two pathologist stated that no one else had been involved. An organisation of lawyers, called ClaritY, was formed to try and simplify the wording
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of, inter alio, legal documents.
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