Heath's silent verdict
Sir: Greatly daring, I venture to take issue with my friend, up to this moment and I hope after, and my former colleague Enoch Powell on the subject of the appointment of John Davies ai Secretary of
State for Trade and Industry by Edward Heath.
Like so many things he has said about so many things there is a firm base in Powell's argument. One assumes that. Whilst it is amusing to compare Edward Heath to Caligula, who was an idiot, and John Davies to a horse, although some horses are more intelligent than some people, it is also insult- ing. No doubt it was intended to be. Enoch Powell does nothing unintentional.
It is also irrelevant and does not face up to the realities of the present political situation. Edward
Heath shown both courage and intelligence in appointing John Davies and John Davies has shown equal courage and intelli- gence in accepting in the public interest an appointment which will expose him to exactly the sort of attack which is now forthcoming from Enoch Powell and will, no doubt, be echoed by numerous dis- appointed back-benchers and which will be exploited to the full by the Opposition.
Enoch Powell admits that he is characterising the parliamentary system and no one is better quali- fied to do so. He admits too that he does not claim that that system is better or worse than any other. There is much to suggest in past events that, in some respects, it is worse. There is a clear case for change and Edward Heath in- dicated at Blackpool what he pro- posed to do about it. One of the changes is the bringing into the top level of government men who have practical experience of life outside Parliament and could not have gained that experience if they had been life-long professional politicians. I do not accept the validity of Enoch Powell's argument that the supreme function of government is to persuade and interpret. It is certainly one of its functions. The supreme function is to govern and to make use in the process of such talents and instruments as are best suited to the particular require- ments of the occasion. To claim that administrative competence and knowledge and experience in the subject matter of department weighs as dust is to ignore the changed circumstances under which Parliament. and Ministers, are now required to operate. It is that sort of argument which has contributed to the declining in- fluence of Parliament over the past twenty years: it is .a 'closed shop' argument. In deploying it Enoch Powell displays that curious love of re- actionary and out-dated practices which in so intelligent and pro- gressive a mind amounts almost to political schizophrenia. It is, never- theless, unfortunate that he cannot be counted amongst Edward Heath's 'quiet revolutionaries' although to expect him to be quiet is perhaps asking too much.
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