Political Commentary
All Westminster's a stage
Hugh Macpherson
One day last week one of our tribunes, who had been badly treated by the Press, remarked rather sourly that the trouble with the Parliamentary. Lobby was that they had become a collection of drama critics. He called in evidence the fact that Mr Norman Shrapnel had once been a theatre critic and that Mr Edward Greenfield had left to become one. It seemed unkind to point out that Mr Shrapnel is not in the Lobby but is the doyen of the sketch writers and that Mr Greenfield, in fact, left to become one of our most distinguished music critics — so I did.
But in fact he had a point, for the last week in politics could best be regarded as a collection of unfortunate stage productions in which the leading players had wandered into the wrong performance.The Sunday Express would have us believe that we are really witnessing a performance of Gotterammerung — with Parliament in imminent danger as democracy comes to tragic destruction. No doubt in this unfortunate event the Official Solicitor would arise at the last moment from the Thames to snatch the Mace to safety. Such a prophesy from Beaverbrook Newspapers is, however, the surest guarantee that we are really experiencing something much nearer to a Brian Rix farce, although whatever the production, the cost of the Mise en sane is simply damnable.
Heading the dramatis personae is the Prime Minister, who clearly models his interpretation on the late Sir Donald Wolfit's virile touring productions of Macbeth. As the rest of the cast reads the wrong lines and the scenery falls on his head he goes from strength to strength. Bronzed and fit, he sailed into the Labour Party in the Commons even though they made enough row for the transportation of Epping Forest let alone Birnam Wood, recently murdered the young Prince Dimbleby in the course of an interview, and positively charmed the redoubtable Mr Robin Day in the course of another.
The trouble is that he thinks he is appearing in a old morality play, insisting that if everyone will be good constitutionalists and obey the Industrial Relations Act then everything will be alright. Such a robust performance avoids the unfortunate fact that a government which produces an unenforceable law is just as culpable as the lawbreaker if the law ends up an ass. Just how unenforceable the Industrial Relations Act has proved may be judged from the reluctance of the Government to use it in the case of the current dock strike. The situation is exactly what the Act was designed for, since the main trouble is apparently caused by a small active group of reds-in-waiting-under-the-bed who always materialise in these troubled events. What better occasion could be imagined for a cooling-off period and a ballot of all the members? The PM, in his role of moralist, also lectures the Opposition for even harbouring the thought that there could be any liason between the law and politicians in the working of the Act. The sad fact is that people simply do not believe him and the machinations which have surrounded the operation of the Act have contributed as much to bringing the Law into contempt as Mr Bernie Steer and his merry men. It may well be that the judges and law enforcers are so establishment-minded that even a nod or a wink would seem a superfluous and extravagant gesture. However, the simple facts of recent history reveal plenty of circumstantial evidence for the existence of an at , times questionable relationship between the Executive and the Law.
The Labour Party had little compunction when they came into office in introducing retrospective legislation to overturn the decision of the Law Lords with regard to the compensation case which the I3urmah Oil company won at the last hurdle. Mr Heath's own government, with the full cooperation of the opposition, popped a law through Parliament in a matter of hours when it was found that the British army might have been acting illegally in Ulster. The charges against a Russian defector for a road offence were mysteriously dropped when it would have been politically inconvenient for him to appear in public. And Leila Khalid, the Arab hijacker, trotted off scot free after breaking as many laws as Dr Crippen. For Mr Heath to suggest that allowing a Minister discretion in the pressing of charges by small companies against the unions would be a grave constitutional embarrassment — as he did in his interview with Mr Robin Day — is a straightforward piece of humbug.
As for the rest of the cast, Mr Wilson believes he is playing Hamlet once more when in fact his appearances in the House have been like an Archie Rice farewell tour of the piers; Mr Maurice Macmillan's impersonation of his father has come out more like the late Wilfred Lawson; and the Official Solicitor is vintage Lord High Everything Else from the Mikado. Such is this legal dignitary's utility that there would have been little surprise if, to save the country's reputation, he had batted for Australia on that beastly Headingley pitch. Yet the most incredible piece of casting has been that of Mr Wedgwood Benn — the eternal Buttons — as a genuine double-dyed villain. From the leader pages of the Times to the Sun, from the top to the topless, he has been upbraided for bringing the land to the brink of anarchy. His judgement is called in question by political and Press alike. "The man is as big a danger as Powell" said a colleague.
This is all very curious, for the evidence of recent history is that Mr Benn has been almost invariably right in choosing which side to support. When he advocated a referendum over the Market he could scarcely find a single supporter, and indeed aroused considerable hostility since Mr Wilson had utterly rejected such a course at the election. Now the party is committed to a referendum and Mr Jenkins vanquished for good measure, on that very point.
When the troubles at Upper Clyde Shipbuilders erupted Mr Benn sped northwards and threw in his lot with those who occupied the yard, thereby causing nasty palpitations in the breasts of Mr Douglas Houghton and Mr Wilson at the thought of the Labour Party being identified with lawlessness, A couple of weeks later Mr Wilson followed in his footsteps to meet some more of the reds-in-waiting-underthe-bed who were running the show. The final accolade of Establishment-respectability was awarded with the arrival of Mr Vic Feather. The yard occupiers gained their objectives and more besides. Even the old Wedgben of Mintech tag must ring a little hollow in the ears of Mr Christopher Chataway as he sits in the office at the Millbank tower once occupied by Mr Benn, administering the same policies as his predecessor — but with more money to throw around.
Now that Mr Benn has clearly identified himself with the dockers, as he did with the UCS workers, there has been much huffing and puffing about responsibility, although even the Times editorial which attacked him — and that in itself used to be regarded as a sign that a Labour leader was on the right track — acknowledges that he stood out in the Labour leadership as someone who knew what he wanted. The hard fact is that the dockers, and the UCS workers, are the kind of people from whom the Labour Party emerged. When commentators have written about the need for the Labour Party to capture the middle ground they seldom face the fact that this is of little value if the home territory, on which the grass roots grow, has disappeared,
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