IN SEARCH OF A GOVERNMENT
SIR,—Coming from a Young Conservative, I was not sure whether the term 'rabid' was an insult or a compliment. At any rate, it could scarcely be applied to any Young Conservatives. Perhaps stolid would be the equivalent epithet.
As to Mr. Facks-Martin's assertion of unity in the Tory Party, it is, as Mr. Bevan has said, 'the unity of the graveyard.' Conservatives are agreed on one point : that progress must be avoided at all costs. Throughout British political history, the `philosophy' of Toryism has been to change as little as possible and muddle along somehow. Witness the present Government. The Liberal Party is united on all major points of policy, as was demonstrated at Southport. But having accepted these fundamentals, Liberal candidates are free to act according to their consciences and not according to any party caucus.
On the specific example to which Mr. Facks- Martin refers, agriculture, a committee has been at work for a year on the whole question of the Liberal Party's attitude towards' free trade, and within the next month or two a policy statement on agricul- ture is to be issued.
If the other parties continue to think of the Liberals either as of no account or as a barely united group of discontented people that is entirely their affair. But it will make the Liberal Party's task considerably easier. The arrogance of Lord Hailsham in asserting that a vote for the Tories is just another way of being British, while a vote for the Liberals is merely 'irresponsible' got its answer soon enough at Ipswich. It is an answer which will be repeated with growing strength during the next few months. —Yours faithfully, P. A. LUSHER National League of Young Liberals Elmcrof 1, 58 Worrin Road, Shenfield, Essex
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