ISSUES FOR ELECTORS
AST week saw the winding up of old Parliament, the
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King's Prorogation Speech, and the full opening of the election mpaigning_ in the constituencies ; and the people of this country d magnified. By common consent the parties have not only reed, as was inevitable, to differ, but also to throw themselves o a trial of strength in which, according to electoral convention, e opponents will be sworn political enemies, though on this casion they were till recently sworn friends, and no new event as happened except one they all desired, the fall of Germany. But sooner or later this outbreak of political war was bound to ome. Whether it ought to have been postponed till after the riding of the war with Japan is another matter, which it has ceased I o be very profitable to discuss. But with the ending of the late arliament it was inevitable that the minority parties should seek e opportunity of strengthening their representation in the House a f Commons ; and for that reason neither the Labour Party nor e Liberals can properly be reproached for fighting on party s, though the Labour Party has put itself into quite a different sition from the Liberals by refusing to go into-tury new coalition 'th the Conservatives—in other words, Mr. Churchill. In so eciding it is proclaimed that the disunity which is looming large uring -the election is to be continued in the critical years that will ollow. The Labour Party, therefore, is not merely fighting the nservative Party ; it is fighting to produce a state of affairs in hick• there could be no coalition with Mr. Churchill in it. That why it is not altogether unreasonable to say that every vote wen to Labour is a vote against Mr. Churchill.
All the parties are labouring under an embarrassment bequeathed y the last Parliament—the embarrassment of past agreement.
e late Government, with the House of Commons behind it, was of just content to get on from day to day with the affairs of the ar, but, under powerful exhortation from the country, it found tself looking into the future, and committing itself to plans of 'al reconstruction. Thus the legislation of the post-war years as largely anticipated. It was not merely foreshadowed in vague terms ; in White Papers on social security, health, and a pro- 1 gramme of employment, some of the measures that are bound to be among the most important in the new Parliament were outlined in considerable detail and agreed upon. Therefore, the contending parties—and there are considerably more than three of them—find themselves disconcertingly agreed upon a wide range of measures, and this in addition to the wide sphere of affairs which concern the war and relations with foreign countries. In general, there is agreement about the pursuance of the war against Japan to the end, about the treatment of Germany, about provision for security, and the pursuance of a policy of co-operation in the economic as well as the military sphere with the United Nations. There is agreement in essentials about the great White Paper policies. There is disagreement about coal and the degree in which policies of nationalisation should or should not be pursued. A great deal of play is being made about differences in regard to controls, though in reality there are many controls which the Conservatives would be forced to maintain, and many whichLabour would willingly relax. In saying this there is no wish to minimise the differences which, as between the extreme Right and the extreme Left, are very real. But it is well that voters should make up their minds what `they are about in this unusual election. In normal elections the issues which are put before the country .are pretty clear. The leaders go to the electorate asking for a mandate for this or that pro- gramme. But in this election the issue is confused by the fact that there are two classes of questions, each of great importance, but quite separable from the other, that are addressed to the people. The first issue is that of the conduct of the war and of foreign affairs, which together still dominate the horizon, and may affect our lives for a century to come. It is not enough to say that the parties are agreed upon this.- In fact, the successful conduct of the war and negotiations with the leaders' of the Great Powers is something that is so peculiarly associated in the publfc mind with the leadership of Mr. Churchill that a mandate asked for in this connection becomes a mandate for Mr. Churchill. This is a ques- tion which will be in the back of the minds of every elector in the country, and in many cases will determine the vote, yet it is not one in respect of which any party asks for a specific mandate. On the other hand, there are questions of a very different order in respect of which the Conservatives and the Labour Party are de- claring their programmes, and these have been made to centre particularly around the issue of nationalisation. If the Conserva- tives win, will their victory mean simply that the nation has given them a mandate to pursue that vigorous military and foreign policy in which Mr. Churchill excels, or will* also mean that it has given them a mandate to pursue a domestic policy in which the mines and certain other monopolistic industries must not be brought under national control? The electoral appeal cannot fail to suffer confusion from the twofold nature of the mandate asked' for—by the issue between Mr. Churchill's and some other leadership on the one hand, and between Socialism, Liberalism, and Conserva- tism on the other.
While the Labour Party had already tied its hands by rejecting in advance any future acceptance of Mr. Churchill's leadership, the chairman of the Labour Party, Professor Harold Laski, has worsened the position of his party by the comment that he made about the invitation to Mr. Attlee to attend the " Big Three " conference at Berlin—a comment peculiarly unfortunate at a time when the more responsible leaders of all parties are making an effort to keep foreign affairs out of politics. It was very wise of Mr. Churchill to ask Mr. Attlee to accompany him to Berlin—not, as it is made clear, as a mere observer, but as a " friend and counsellor " —and it was very wise of Mr. Attlee to agree. It may well be that Mr. Churchill, lacking the company of Mr. Eden, will be all the more glad of the counsel and support of Mr. Attlee. At this junc- ture Professor Laski interjects an ominous comment—that the Labour Party cannot be committed to decisions reached at a Three Power conference, because the conference will be discussing matters " which have not been debated by the Labour Party Executive or at meetings of the Parliamentary Labour Party." In these ill- timed words he gives publicity to the fact that any Labour Ad- ministration that may ever be formed will be required to take its orders from a body that' has no responsibilities to the electorate —the Labour Party Executive. At this particular moment, when Socialists are seeking the votes of the country, the country is re- minded that Labour members are always under the orders of a body that has no constitutional position—the Party Executive, responsible only to the Labour Party Conference.
The Liberal Patty has never suffered -under that handicap, which has been a drag on Labour .since it first became a great political force. The Liberat., like the Conservatives, are entitled to assert their capacity to stand for all classes and all interests in the country, and to be responsible to no-one but their constituents. Their posi- tion is also strengthened by the fact that the confusion of mandates which occurs as between the Conservatives and Labour does not in the same degree occur as between the Conservatives and Liberals, for the latter have not pledged themselves to keep out of a future coalition. To vote for the Liberal's is not necessarily in- consistent witn a desire to have a Government still led by Mr. Churchill. For that reason it is not unreasonable to suppose that many voters, while strongly desiring the continued leadership of Mr. Churchill, will vote Liberal because they believe in Liberal policy of social reform, which includes the organisat of the mines as a public service, public ownership of industry cases where it would be economic, and the whole Beveridge po of employment. But with only 300 candidates the Liberals hope only to secure a position of some strength as a mipority Parliament. In all the constituencies the confused battle is join But voters will haie one advantage which they have never before in a general election—all will have had the opportunity hearing on the wireless the principal leaders of parties.
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