It will be remembered that last autumn the Executive of
the Labour Party decided that the time had arrived for abolish- ing the pledge by which their Parliamentary representatives had hitherto been obliged to bind themselves. The more extreme members of the party, headed by Mr. Keir Hardie, objected to this decision, which required ratification at the annual Conference to be held in February at Leicester. The agenda of the Conference, published on Wednesday, shows that a compromise has been reached. Labour candidates are still to promise to "abstain strictly from identifying them- selves with any other party," but they are no longer to "agree to abide by the decisions of the Parliamentary Party in carry- ing out the aims of this constitution," but merely to "accept the responsibilities established by Parliamentary practice." In short, they are to be given at least an apparent right of voting against their party in the House of Commons. It is anticipated that the amendment will be accepted; but whether it will remove the objections of moderate Liberals to a reversal of the Osborne judgment is quite another question.
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