Portrait of the week
rsShirley Williams won Crosby for SODPAL with a majority of 5,289 over turning the previous Tory majority of 19,272. Everybody agreed that Labour had fared worst, their candidate having lost his deposit with 9.5 per cent of the vote, against a previous 25.4 per cent. Bookies made SODPAL favourites to win the next general election at 11-10 on. Mr Heath hinted that he might be prepared to lead a Conservative-soppAL coalition, but an SDP supporters poll organised by Weekena World put Roy Jenkins as favourite for leader with 52 per cent of votes cast, against 27 per cent for Mrs Williams and 17 per cent for Mr Owen.
Another poll of SDP members revealed 92 per cent against leaving the EEC, 76 per cent against unilateral disarmament, 66 per cent both against the closed shop and for a wealth tax. In a MORI poll for Panorama, 76 per cent of trade union members consulted agreed with Mr Tebbit's proposals for trade union reform, many feeling they should go further. A News of the World poll among West Indian Britons claimed 66 per cent of them wanted to go back.
Lord Scarman, on the other hand, felt that West Indians should be given priority in housing, education and employment to stop them rioting. His report on police conduct in the Brixton and Toxteth riots was generally thought to be masterly, and he was widely tipped as the next Lord Chancellor.
Voreign parts wilted. An Arab summit meeting at Fez to discuss Saudi Arabia's proposals for peace in the Middle East folded up when Syria failed to attend. A car bomb which killed 64 people in Damascus was attributed to the Muslim Brotherhood in connivance with the Zionist-imperialist forces of Israel, the United States etc. Chad prepared to welcome an Organisation of African Unity peace force saying that if it did not work they would ask ihe Libyans back. In Poland General W. Jaruzelski, the Prime Minister and Party leader, asked Parliament for a ban on strikes. Mr Lech Walesa described large increases in the price of vodka as 'a brutal provocation'. In Belfast a young policeman dying from bomb wounds outside the Catholic Unity flats was stoned by youths. This provoked a severe rebuke from the Bishop. Informants later assisted in the arrest of 40 suspected members of the Provisional IRA.
An abortive coup in the Seychelles against President Albert Rene, after which 40 armed men hijacked an airliner to Durban, was thought to have been inspired by supporters of the former playboy Prime Minister James Mancham. A spokesman, Mr Paul Chow, said they were not mercenaries but volunteers prepared to die for a free Seychelles. Among their number was the well-known volunteer Colonel 'Mad Mike' Hoare. Among reasons for the coup advanced in London was that a bottle of claret there now costs £55.
Michael Foot said he would oppose Tariq Ali's membership of the Labour Party. Arthur Lewis was suspended for wasting the House's time. The Attorney-General started proceedings against a third newspaper — the News of the World — again alleging contempt of court. News at Ten reappeared after 11 days; a proposal to legalise brothels gave newspaper columnists something to write about; Douglas Jay was set upon and badly bitten by some dogs in North Devon.
Dr Alan Budd, the economist who helped to develop the Government's strong pound economic policies, made a public recantation, saying he had got it wrong. Discussions on the EEC Budget failed to reach agreement in London; the Cabinet planned to overspend by £5,000 million in 1982-3. Various attempts to end the 'tea-break' strike at British Leyland failed, and Esso tanker drivers voted an all-out strike over Christmas. Colour television licences rose from £34 to £46, and monochrome from £12 to £15, pegged for three years.
Prince Philip said he was saddened by cuts at Salford University of which he is Chancellor — at 44 per cent, the highest in the country. Later he narrowly missed a Miami-bound jumbo jet in his Andover. The Princess of Wales was said to be upset by rumours of disagreement with her husband's departing valet, a bachelor called Stephen Barry, and Princess Anne was jeered by vegetarian and animal enthusiasts at a new £8.7 million slaughterhouse in Edinburgh where she had gone to watch the skinning and disembowelling of sheep's carcases. Lotte Lenya and Val Gielgud died at 81; Natalie Wood was drowned off the coast of California. AAW
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