T HE Conservative victory is not dimmed by second thoughts. The
solid fact that, in four years of Conserva- tive rule, it is the Opposition and not the Government that has lost ground cannot be argued away. The most that can be said by way of disparagement or judicious moderation is that the Tories won by abstentions as much as by votes. But an abstention is a political act no less than a vote, and those Labour supporters who voted in 1951 but stayed away last week were not kept indoors by the weather. In our day, political loyalties have acquired something of the force of religion, and it may be less harmful to self-respect to lapse than to be converted.
It is equally hopeless for the Left to take refuge, as Mr. Morgan Phillips found it possible to do in the early hours of Friday morning, in the suggestion that it was a snap victory achieved by last-minute Tory scares. In a history in which political honour has not always been the most outstanding ingredient, the Tory Party has never conducted a more honest campaign than it did this time. The reason is that it has never had a stronger case. Thanks to Labour misrepresentation at the last election and to its somewhat half-hearted revival at this, the Tories appeared in the satisfactory role of sheep in wolves' clothing. They got the credit not only for their virtues, but for the contrast between their virtues and the scarlet sins predicted for them by their opponents. It is a good thing for anyone to be able to claim to have maintained full employment and the welfare state, but it is infinitely better to be able to make these claims when you have been widely accused of intending to eat the working classes. Added to the Tory triumphs was the disunity of the Labour. Party, so that this time stating the Tory case was an easy matter. The main difference from previous campaigns was that Tory speakers found them- selves surprisingly conscious of having nothing to hide and practically nothing about which to be tactful. The old mine- fields, employment and war, had been swept away, and there was no need to tread warily. There was no need, either, to present the country with a social faith, since its mood was sceptical. And scepticism operates in favour of the Right. subsidies. For all the excellent absence of commitments, the country has some expectations of the Tories. An attempt to tackle in a properly discriminating manner the highly com- plicated matter of monopolies would please the self-conscious consumer class, which is increasingly large, and strengthen the Government's hand in resisting restrictive practices among the trade unions. Above all, the country expects the Tories to show ingenuity, to bring new thought to bear on questions like welfare to which Labour has nothing to contribute but the promise of more public money.
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