Corridors . . .
HANDS, not least those of the Foreign Secretary himself, have been thrown up in delight at the arrival of Lord Balniel at the Foreign Office. Work there is Balniel's first love. From grumbling recently about the probability that he would not disclaim his peerage — the earldom of Crawford and Balcarres — when his father died, Balniel now realises the importance of having a ministerial patron like Sir Alec, who will assiduously foster his talents, and upbraid him for his lack of ambition, as Lord Carrington at the Defence Ministry did not.
'AGENDA FOR A GENERATION', the title of the Labour Government's mid-term manifesto, was one of the most striking ycleptions in recent British political history, worth setting alongside the Tories' Set the people free. So good and felicitous was it that it caused no end of heartsearching at Central Office. Where did it come from? It was plagiarised from a 1959 pamphlet by one of the Chicago Seven, by Labour's head of research, Terry Pitt, who brought the pamphlet back from the States.
THE SAME PITT, on the same trip, had a conversation with George Wallace. Wallace upbraided the then British government for its persecution of Rhodesia, "a small country", quoth the Governor, "mercilessly bullied by a big one. Is there a comparable example of tyranny in modern history. Answer me in one word." "Cuba," said the doughty young Pitt.
A COLLEAGUE ON Jeremy Thorpe. "Jeremy is a splendid mimic. If only he would stop mimicking a leader."
POOR OLD BARBARA CASTLE has lost her seat on Labour's front bench. It seems she still has not recovered from the opprobrium heaped on her over her Industrial Relations Bill. She denies that she ever really liked the thing, and says she went on with it because of a loyalty to other colleagues she now thinks was excessive. Is this an attack on Harold Wilson? No, Puzzle hears. Barbara still loves Harold. The object of her anger is Regency Roy Jenkins, who promised her unstinting support, and then let her down. Barbara will now do more work in the constituencies: none of it will help Roy.
Tom Puzzle
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