SCREEN TEST
THE House of Commons has voted to allow television cameras into its chamber. Many members have been pushing for this over the past 30 years; feelings run very high. Mr Joe Ashton told us that when the cameras were allowed in, 'Lesbian Vikings' would pour from the galleries four times a week. We shall see. It has long been said — every time this issue came before a new Parliament — that the key to its passage lay in the attitude of new MPs. After the 1983 general election, however, we heard that the position of the Prime Minister, instead, was the deciding factor. As the Tory class of '83 saw Mrs Thatcher go into the 'No' lobby, many of them rushed after her skirts. Not so, it seems, the class of '87.
They have, much more than their prede- cessors, followed their own noses. Mrs Thatcher will do well to ponder what this means. The new generation of Conserva- tive MPs is now looking beyond the hori- zon of the lady's leadership. Few of them can hope to rise into the clogged-up junior ministerial ranks where they see a host of uninspiring and not very talented place- men. Conservative leaders need to woo their backbenchers very carefully. Edward Heath never understood this, and it did for him.
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