TO THE CONSERVAttvE PA.t rY goes credit, if that the word,
for the neatest trick of the week : thel have not only stolen the Labour Party's 'plan 1,‘ leisure,' almost in its entirety, but actually 11131/.: aged to beat Transport House into print with I: leaving Mr. Morgan Phillips having an ;Ana° of political apoplexy to the great amusement of the bystanders (he might reflect that if the Labour Plan had not been postponed so often, this would never have happened). All the same, the Con- servative programme (The Challenge of Leisure, CPC, 9d.) would not be very convincing even if It were based less firmly on that Tory Philistinism which leads the authors to commend the arts first and foremost as 'a bulwark against boredom,' and to say of Covent Garden that it 'has now become a national institution,' though it has in fact been one for thirteen years. The simple truth is that the Conservatives have been in office since 1951 and have not done any of the things they now propose, Most of which could be done without legislation; and even if they carried out this entire programme 't would still only be a drop in the ocean. There Is not much hope from a programme which con- gratulates itself on its courage for proposing to sPend a mere £7 to £10 million on sport and the arts; and which—typically—suggests that the job of forming a National Theatre should be entrusted to the Old Vic—the least original, least creative, least forward-looking theatrical institution in the country.
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