The Prime Minister
The campaign, both in and out of parliament, to defend the Prime Minister against. press criticism has been conducted over the past ten days with an extravagance of phrase that has been almost hysterical. The leadership of this country is a matter of legitimate public concern on a personal level, but it is better discussed in more dispassionate terms.
Mr Wilson is not in any sense of the word an evil man. His private conduct is beyond reproach. His particular style of leadership is, it is true, aesthetically displeasing to those who care about these things, but that is a relatively minor failing. The real charge against him is simply that, in spite of his considerable abilities (and partly, perhaps, because of some of them), he has proved a total failure as a Prime Minister. In the three and a quarter years he has held the office there is not a single important area in which his policies have proved successful. No doubt he has had bad luck. Conditions have not been easy. But that is beside the point. He has been put to the test and has failed. And there is no place for failures in the highest office in the land. It is in this respect (and this only) that the analogy with the corporaw tion—Great Britain Limited—is valid.
Of course his colleagues cannot escape all censure. But the greatest share of the blame must lie with their leader. And to suggest that there is not one among them who would do better than Mr Wilson is to cast a slur on one of our two great political parties more sweeping than any this ' journal, at least, could possibly believe to be justified.
Nevertheless, the lesson of post-war poli- tical history is plain : a Prime Minister does not relinquish office between general elections unless, in effect, he is carried off on a stretcher. Whether or not this happens to Mr Wilson is in the lap of the gods. It is certainly not a matter on which the SPECTATOR wishes to speculate. Instead; we shall continue to advo- cate measures we believe to be in the public interest and to present the truth as we see it.
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