23 JULY 1983, Page 13

Screaming Lords

Richard West

Penrith C'timbria(sio

Twenty years ago to the month, if my memory serves me well, the pop singer `Screaming Lord' Sutch stood as a can- didate at the Stratford-on-Avon by-election caused by the sexual disgrace of John Pro- fumo. Reporting on that campaign for another journal I made a facetious reference to our present staid Lord Chancellor, who then was rather eccentric, as Screaming Lord Hailsham; the editor cut this out for fear of libel. Now Screaming Lord Sutch has reappeared at Penrith and the Border, to fight a by-election caused by the granting of a peerage to Willie Whitelaw, the former Home Secretary. Twenty years ago, Screaming Lord Sutch was a joke candidate seeking publicity. At recent by-elections he has stood as a joke candidate seeking publicity for appearances at clubs in the neighbourhood:. he is now playing Carlisle. His politics are as unknown to me as his music, but he is now at least getting mighty attention in the press. Last week's edition of the Cumberland and Westmoreland Herald, published here in Penrith, devotes the top of its front page to a photograph of: 'Screaming Lord Sutch making history on the steps of Penrith Town Hall as the first ever local candidate for the Official Monster Raving Loony Par- ty to stand in the constituency. He is pic- tured shaking hands with returning officer Dennis Brown and Independent candidate Mr Eric Morgan (centre) who handed in his Papers.'

The article beneath this picture says that although Screaming Lord Sutch, 'complete with leopard-skin suit and bowler hat', had Played his part in the election he, did not detract from the interest of such candidates as Lieutenant-Commander Eric Morgan, Independent Liberal, Labour and Co-op', John Connell, an independent Peace can- didate, Peter Smith of the New National Party (believed to be a splinter group of the National Front), nor of Helen Anscomb,

, Death Off Roads — Freight On Rail', whose candidacy was made possible through the help of,the Herald's reporter, Gillian Radcliffe. There is a tiny reference at the end of the article to 'Conservative, Liberal and Labour candidates holding dai- ly press conferences, followed by tours of the constituency'.

Page three of the Cumberland and Westmoreland Herald gives still more pro- rninence to the lead story, 'Screaming Lord Sutch Puts In His Nomination', with Policies that include 'the introduction of free ski trips down the EEC butter moun- tain and the launching of a national fran- chise of jellied eels and tripe'.

The page seven editorial 'Notes and Comments' asks rhetorically whether voters in Penrith and the Border should 'take the trouble to walk to the polling station on the 28 July'. The haughtiness or bloodymindedness of Penrith's organ was interpreted by the Fleet Street newspapers (if they mentioned it) as a sign that locals were angry at having to vote so soon after a general election — and during the season of baling hay.

A closer look at the paper shows that its fury against the House of Commons has a deeper and more serious explanation. It had always been assumed, said Saturday's editorial, that constituents elected a representative to attend Parliament on their behalf and to put their views and stand up for their interests, but 'the debate on the death penalty in the House on Wednesday brought some very revealing statements from the Honourable Members. Mr Roy Hattersley, smirking with delight at having stopped the move towards re-introduction of the death penalty, dismissed the wishes of the public with contempt. Their views simply did not matter; what was important was that the MPs should express their personal opinions on the subject.'

The politicians and London wiseacres ig- ore this sentiment at their peril. The fury over hanging, because it expresses a deep and justified anxiety over the rise in violent crime, is not likely to disappear. Moreover, it is but one of a number of issues on which the British public feels dissatisfied, even angry, with Parliament and with all three major political parties.

Another is what might be called the liberalisation of morals; especially concern- ing sex and the family The public at large was never as keen as was the liberal establishment on things like abortion on de- ' We 're allowed to hang them on hosepipe if they've been watering their lawns.'

mand, pornography, contraceptive teaching for schoolchildren, easy divorce and legalisation of drugs. Pornography is now the hottest topic. More than 20 years after the ban was lifted on Lady Chat- terley's Lover there is unease amounting to rage over the spread of violent por- nography, especially in video form.

The public at large was never as happy as some political leaders on the extent of im- migration. Disquiet is not allayed by government scolding, by calls for 'positive discrimination' and 'community policing'.

Again there is a widespread feeling that all three parties in Parliament ignore the catastophic decline in education. The host of the excellent Museum Inn here in Penrith, Mr Michael Graham, is a former teacher who did 18 months at the St Francis Xavier primary school in Liverpool, the one that became notorious even in Liverpool when it was partially burned down by the pupils. Inured as I thought myself to the horrors of Liverpool, I was still alarmed by Mr Graham's account of former pupils: 'The little children there used to watch the TV in the evening until the dot faded out at one o'clock in the morning, then they'd "play our", which meant staying out till four-thirty or five, doing anything from smashing cars to breaking and entering. Then, of course they were exhausted and didn't get into school till lunchtime . . . Once they were given ropes for creative play and they said, "Please, teacher, we're going to hang someone," and they did.' Naming that school was the worst joke played on St Francis Xavier since, early in the 18th cen- tury, a pilgrim to Goa knelt by his mum- mified corpse and surreptitiously bit off a toe to take back to Italy as a relic.

There are other matters on which the public and no doubt the voters of Penrith and the Border feel at odds with Parlia- ment: our conduct in Northern Ireland for one. The reorganisation of local govern- ment under the Heath/Walker reforms is another. Oddly enough, almost every sub- ject on which I have touched had some con- nection with Willie Whitelaw, either as Home Secretary or during his earlier catastrophic spell in Ulster.

The growing hostility between the public and the politicians was shown by an opi- nion poll not long before the general elec- tion. For the first time, apparently, since such polling had been conducted, it was found that an actual majority of intending voters for all three major parties were doing so negatively, i.e. they were voting to keep a party out rather than get a party in. I have this impression from every political conver- sation here in Penrith and the Border, ex- cept of course from the party hacks. Disgruntlement with MPs, the party system and Parliament itself could well become acute under the second Thatcher govern- ment. I wish it could mean a chance for Screaming Lord Sutch or even my own favourite candidate for the leadership of the country, Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia. I fear it may turn out to be someone less wise and much less pleasant.