Notebook
My own experience tends to confirm what somebody had already pointed out to me. This is that the Conservative victory in the election was hardly less popular among thOse who did not vote Tory than among those who did. While many still have reservations about Mrs Thatcher (though seldom as strong as those expressed by Germaine Greer on another page) the feeling of relief that Labour is not back — that those tired faces have vanished from our television screens — appears well-nigh universal. It is fortunate that so many people vote accordingly to obscure feelings of class loyalty or whatever rather than for the result they secretly want. Otherwise we might this time have almost no opposition in parliament.
One very attractive aspect of the new government is that it contains two former editors of the Spectator, Sir Ian Gilmour and Mr Nigel Lawson. Another attractive aspect is that it doesn't contain Mr Edward Heath. It is said that Mr Heath was very distressed when he received Mrs Thatcher's letter advising him that she would not be offering him a job. There are rumours that he once again feels betrayed. It is alleged in Grocerian circles that Lord Carrington and Mr Whitelaw both promised Mr Heath that they would not serve under Mrs Thatcher unless he was also in her government. It is an unlikely pledge for such ambitious men to have given. But if they did, Mr Heath's distress would be understandable. Even so, he does not deserve a job. Everyone admires men of principle, but I am at a loss to understand the principle which prevents a man openly seeking office from mentioning his leader by name.
In Northamptonshire last weekend, the trees were bursting into leaf. And an enormous number of them were still defaced by placards reading 'Vote Reg Prentice, Conservative'. It is hard to believe that this gloomy political figure who so recently typified the dimmest sort of Labour time-server should now actually be a member of Mrs Thatcher's new government. Mr Prentice's haste in seeking a Tory seat following a lifetime in Labour politics was distasteful. He should not have been so eagerly welcomed. And there is no good reason I can think of why Mrs Thatcher should want him in her team. Even the dreadful, disloyal Mr Heath is surely more deserving.
My enjoyment of the election results was clouded by an unfortunate incident which cast me as a character in a Bateman cartoon. I had been invited to the most glamorous of election parties. It was around midnight, the first results coming in, when, in an act of folly which was no doubt unforgivable but nevertheless inspired by unselfish motives, I pressed a button on the television set in an attempt to change the programme from ITV to BBC. The picture disappeared. I pressed another button. The picture reappeared, but the sound did not. Panic. The guests, who till then had been happily chattering to each other, fell silent and turned sullenly in my direction. The.hostess, eye blazing, descended. I shrank and pretended not to know myself. A new television set was ordered and arrived within minutes. The party slowly resumed. I might never have recovered had it not been for a goodnatured waitress who had so enjoyed the scene that she rewarded me with much laughter and constant supplies of food and drink.
The Pope's new Secretary of State, Archbishop Agostino Casaroli, has for years been the Vatican's 'Foreign Minister'. He is an excellent man of great charm and humour and diplomatic skill. But I fear he may be rather anti-American. Some years ago as a humble news agency reporter in Rome I went to see him in the Vatican. Our meeting was due to end promptly at midday, and at 11.44 an usher entered the room and whispered in the Archbishop's ear that his next guest had arrived. The Archbishop nodded, but was in no hurry to end our conversation. In fact he kept it going for another 20 minutes until I asked him whether he would like me to leave so that his next visitor could come in. 'It doesn't matter', he said. 'It is an American. It Is good to keep Americans waiting'. On MY way out shortly afterwards I walked int° this American. It was Henry Cabot Lodge, who was then President Nixon's special envoy to the Vatican.
As we wait for Mrs Thatcher to strike her first blow for freedom, I would like t° reiterate my suspicion that London's park' ing wardens are the secret nucleus of an underground fascist army that plans to overthrow our democracy. She should deal with them promptly in the comfortable knowledge that when they were recently on strike, the effects on London traffic were found to be minimal. Two recent provoca' tions have prompted me to re-launch rrlY campaign against this unsavoury category of public servant. In the quiet Hammers' mith street in which I live, the fact that a Resident's Parking Permit was in small part obscured on the windscreen by a Road Fund licence was found to be worthy of a £6 fine. In the same street on a SaturdaY afternoon, an attempt to clean the inside of my car by placing it briefly on the pavement in reach of a vacuum cleaner produced a fierce threat of similar punishment. Where do such sadists come from?
The election of Mrs Thatcher is likely t° mean something of a revival for the House of Lords. Not only is her Foreign Secret a peer, but so are 12 other members Of' government. And she has in the past let it be, known that she is not averse to the idea OI creating new hereditary peers. It will therefore be specially interesting to see what she does in her first honours list which is almoSI upon us — the Queen's birthday honours .10 June. My proposal is that those who have In the past played havoc with the honours system by renouncing hereditary peerage5 should be firmly brought back into line', Lord Lambton should be made the Earl 01 Durham, Lord Home of the Hirsel the 15th Earl of Home (succeeding himself), and the Lord Chancellor, Baron Hailsham of ,St Marylebone, should become the 2nd Vls" count Hailsham, to mention but three.
It is interesting how lawyers always seern earn more money than anybody else — even, when in government office. The Lotu Chancellor earns £228 a year more than the Prime Minister, while the Attorner General's salary, at £15,950 a year Is higher than that of any secretary of state' Speaking of the Lord Chancellor, I pleased, in the light of last week's Spectar°' leader, to read that his first priority is ,t° review the English law of contempt. Let bon make haste.
Alexander Chancellor
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