The impression left by this election of 1945 must have
varied from constituency to constituency: I can only record the impressions which I myself, as National candidate for West Leicester, have derived. The dominant, and I should imagine the universal, im- pression has been one of unreality. We were all aware that the continuance of the war in the Far East, the disturbed condition of Europe, and the vast problems of demobilisation and reconstruction imposed upon the three parties an identity of purpose which rendered our internal squabbles fictitious and even trivial. The fact,. more- over, that the main lines of future legislation had been drawn up by the Coalition Government, and that this joint programme would absorb almost the whole time of the future Parliament, offered little opening for a controversy upon ends, and .only an artificial occasion for a controversy upon means. The responsible leaders of the Labour Party, being well aware of the compelling facts, were unable to pledge themselves to a programme differing in any essential respects from that advocated and promised by the Conservatives and the Liberals. They left it to their more irresponsible candidates to suggest, without defining, vague policies of State benevolence, and to indicate that if Labour were returned to power the problems of resettlement and housing would be handled with more vigour and sympathy than could be expected from any Tory administration. The imprecision of these inducements could easily be exposed, and as the election wore on it became more and more evident that the votes of the electorate were being solicited, not on the basis of any firm proposals, but by the rousing of emotional issues, such as dis- trust, jealousy and fear of inflation.
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