No doubt the Prime Minister will roll his Easter egg
with a bit more abandon than usual this year.' And why not? In many ways things have taken a turn for the better. Some Caligulan Consuls such as Mr Barber and Mr Davies have shown themselves to be quite nifty steeds. And the Budget has put the party in better heart than at any time since those palmy days when Supermac well-nigh con- vinced all and sundry that Professor Pangloss was not only right but probably an Edward- ian as well.
Alas, as it is said, within every silver lining there is a nasty dark cloud. Several events over the last few weeks reveal, once more, that Britain likes political extremism no bet- ter than coalitions. This was a lesson learned by the Labour party soon after those trium- phant days when they became masters in 1945 and set out to bring in the Socialist mil- lenium. Whilst they did so unlikely revolution- aries like Mr Roy Jenkins_were waiting in the wings, learning such valuable things as the fact that Moulin a vent should never be drunk under five years in the bottle, and ac- quiring other indispensable knowledge for a future party Commissar.
Now Mr Heath must be aware that he is approaching the moment when he will be forced to take the first act which is undeni- ably a reversal of all the fine abrasive Tory sentiments about the ending of state interfer- ence. The announcement of the 'hiving off' of parts of state enterprises, and other pro- jects, made the most right wing member of the Government remark that Mr.1-leath had widely exceeded all his expectations. Then came the embarrassing business of having to nationalise part of Rolls-Royce. Now there is the unfortunate necessity to intervene in the affairs of the British Steel Corporation. Cynics have been known to observe that the government had no wages increase `norm'— and it is 10 per cent. Equally the Government does not have a prices and incomes policy —and it is called Section 6 of the Iron and Steel Act.
Of course the intervention was presented by Mr John Davies as being part of the Gov- ernment's determination to make the Bsc look to its efficiency. But his embarrassment Was so obvious, as he manfully told a BBC interviewer about the value of disagreeing with Lord Melchett, that he actually talked about 'creative tensions'. (Oh the DEA ! Oh the Treasury!) The sad fact is that Mr Heath knows that lurking behind the decision on BSC prices is a social problem of such magni- tude that he may have to take measures cal- culated to make the young men behind him call down the wrath of God on his head. Or, worse still, the wrath of Enoch Powell, free marketeer extraordinary.
The facts are fairly simply and now rea- sonably well-known. The Bsc is at this mo- ment considering a massive investment in a steel plant for which various areas of the country are competing. For example Scot- land's claim is that the industrial complex planned at Hunterston on the Clyde would provide some of the best deep water facilities
in Europe. It is planned to have a network of ancillary industries so that ore could arrive at the terminal, be processed, manufactured, transferred across Central Scotland and dis- patched to Europe. (If one may be so unkind as to mention that Continent to the PM just before the Easter hols.) Without this development, and without further substantial investment in the steel works at Ravenscraig in the centre of Scot- land, the outlook is bleak indeed for an area with unemployment running at 122,000 with the Rolls-Royce redundancies still to come. Even if all were for the best with the Bsc there is no guarantee that the steel develop- ment would, go to the North. Indeed behind the scenes the present running form puts Scotland second or even third among the UK competitors. But with the price increases cut back to 7 per cent the BSC are liable to lose £25 millions and its investment policy is in the melting pot. For the PM there is therefore the choice of letting this lame duck go for the roasting or injecting a great deal of state capi- tal. Good commercial arguments are being advanced within the government for buying the processed steel in Japan or even invest- ing in a new complex in Australia. This woud fit in well with the Government's new- found brash approach to the nation's prob- lems. But Mr Heath's dilemma develops even more horns when he is presented with the fact that the oil companies in Britain immedi- ately increased their prices when held to ran- som by the oil producing countries. Why not the BSC as well? And what of the massive wage increases in the private as opposed to the public sectors of industry? What then of areas such as Scotland? The PM is not impervious to the suffering caused by unemployment. Even more significantly he is not unaware of the alarming political troubles that lurk in areas of the country which become depressed regions. For, para- doxically enough, striking out for bold Con- servatism is only a safe procedure so long as there is reasoned strong left wing resistance inside the Commons. The structure of society has fundamentally altered since the period of unemployment in the thirties. For one thing, as observed in these pages a few weeks ago, politically-minded youngsters are no longer finding a happy home in the political parties but in quasi-anarchist groups, charities and other organisations outside the political spec-
. trum. The student body is now massive and becoming increasingly militant and the trade unions are not only composed of men of the left but often also of protagonists of extra- parliamentary action. Should these groups ever find common cause—then the possibility of dangerous social turmoil are obvious.
It is therefore sad to record that the left wing of the Labour party is bereft of intellec- tual quality and ability. There is no lack of stout chests to bellow abuse at Mr Barber— to his immense comfort and assistance. But one is reminded of the remark made by the agent of a Hollywood starlet: 'Breasts like marble; head like Gruyere cheese'. This may be deemed unkind to Mr Michael Foot ex- cept that he has already rejected the leader- ship of the left save in a kind of spiritual sense which permits a range of activities from book reviewing in the Evening Standard to the call to revolution in Tribune. At any rate Mr Foot is as much a part of the House of Commons tradition as the snuff box in the Chief Doorkeeper's pocket. His present tenure of office as a Shadow Minister is as temporary as spring blossom itself. Yet he is as liable to start any sweeping left-wing movement inside the Labour party as the Rev Lord Soper is to get drunk, or Maria Callas to turn up in the cast of Hair.
Without doubt the left wing cads in the House are lacking in the sporting spirit at the moment. As for the rest of the party Mr Crosland -informed us last Sunday, in quot- ing with approval the Fabian pamphlet So- cial Democracy : Beyond Revisionism, that the party had concentrated too much on indi- vidual freedom such as the reform of the law relating to sex, divorce, censorship (which I understood to have been Private Member's efforts) and must go away and have a jolly good think. That should take a year or two.
So the PM must realise that his Young Hawks may have to face unpleasant political realities in the near future. It is known that Mr Robert Carr would not be averse to a per- manent body to review prices and incomes. The financial difficulties of the asc bring the problem into sharp focus, and may prove in the long run the turning point towards the kind of body Mr Carr would favour, or a wages freeze, or some other measure which will take some explaining to the party and to the nation. Meanwhile potential troubles lie inside the Cabinet where Mr Davies lost a battle to let the asc prices rise by around 12 per cent. The Young Hawks would not be without friends if they resist, as they almost certainly will, any movement away from their recently gained right wing stance. Still this lies after Easter. For the next day or two the PM can enjoy his Easter hols. But, a word of caution about rolling the Easter egg. It must not break. For, as sure as eggs are eggs, out will pop another lame duck.
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