THE BACKSTAIRS MEETING between the Party Whips, as soon as
the election date was an- nounced, was a typical exercise in political squalor. It was to settle the problem of the party- political broadcasts arranged for the period between the announcement and the dissolution (when the formal electoral and TV arrangements come into force). After a heated discussion, it was agreed that all the outstanding broadcasts should be cancelled except for one Labour telecast, which was regarded as a reply to that given by Dr. Hill the other day. What was so outrageous about the meeting was that the politicians did not think to invite the BBC or ITV to send representatives: they decided among themselves what should be done, and assumed that the television networks would do as they were told. Of course the quiver- ing rampart • of jelly could be relied on to do almost literally anything he was told, but I had naïve hopes that the 1TA might be made of sterner stuff. Not a bit of it: I understand that when Granada TV wanted to follow Mr. Mac- millan's electioneering telecast (the one with President Eisenhower) by a politically balanced. but entirely open, discussion, the 1TA forbade it. and even vetoed some of the names suggested.
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