25 FEBRUARY 1955, Page 7

ATTLEE recently proposed that Chiang Kai-shek should be exiled and

a plebiscite held in Formosa to decide who was going to rule it. It is thought probable that this will become the official policy of the Labour Party. This seems to me admirable so far as it goes. But why stop with Chiang Kai-shek? If I were planning my party programme I should call for the exile of Mao Tse-tung and a plebiscite in China; the exile of Khrush- chev and a plebiscite in Russia; the exile of GrOtewohl and a plebiscite in Eastern Germany. I should also call for the exile of whoever happened to be the French Prime Minister and a plebiscite in France to decide if the French people wanted to have a Prime Minister at all. Finally I should have a plebiscite everywhere in order to find out whether people like having plebiscites.

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