Portrait of theNeek
As the first contingents of the UN observers arrived in Port Said heartfelt sighs of relief went up from many different quarters and the tension was relaxed for the moment; but the week, until this happy conclusion, has again been an anxious one. Last week's cease-fire on the Canal had been pretty well observed, though there were occasional out- bursts of firing, in which two journalists were killed; British casualties for the whole operation had been disclosed as not much more than 100 killed and wounded. Less happy were the suspicions that the Israelis would not withdraw from the Sinai peninsula, the Egyptian refusal to countenance the clearing of the Canal while foreign troops remain in Egypt and, even more serious, the Russian threat to intervene in the Middle East, implied in the tone of recent Russian speeches and in rumours of Russian jets and 'volunteers' arriving in Syria. The first of these fears was allayed by the terse reply of Mr. Ben-Gurion to a letter of President Eisenhower: Israel would remove her forces when an international force occupied the Canal. The second has not been so •easily met, for though British tech- nicians have begun the work of clearing, thirty-two ships have now been discovered sunk in the channel. The possibility of Russian intervention has receded before the speedy collection of the UN police force. A seven-nation committee was set up under the Secretary-General to assemble the force, and selected from the seventeen nations which offered troops some 5,000 from Canada, India, Pakistan, Colombo, Brazil and the Scandinavian countries, and the logistic support of the US was accepted. After some delay, while the consent of Colonel Nasser was sought and received, advance units set off.
This country still appeared to be deeply divided. Both sides have claimed their victories. The Opposition can point to the resignation of Sir Edward Boyle from the Treasury over the Government's policy and the abstention of six Tory members in a crucial division on Suez; the Government can claim the resignation of three members of the Observer trust over the paper's Suez policy and an increasing volume of letters to the press on their behalf. Indeed, the News Chronicle Gallup Poll showed a very great measure of support for the Prime Minister. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has estimated the cost of the war at £35-50 million and the Premier has expressed his, willingness to go to any meeting of headskbf governments. A French suggestion,that there should be such a meeting between the three Western Powers has been rejected by America, and a different proposal for another Four-Power Summit confer- ence also refused by President Eisenhower, who at present prefers to negotiate through the UN.
The Hungarian rebels are evidently to be left to their fate. The Hungarian Government has refused to admit UN observers though it is prepared• to receive medical services and supplies from outside. Meanwhile, the fighting and strikes continue, though the population of Budapest is said to be being systematically starved into work and captured insurgents are being transported to Russia. Mr. Kadar has, however, thought it expedient to hold consultations with Mr. Nagy, whom he displaced a week ago. Mr. Nagy has himself taken refuge in the Yugoslav Embassy and Cardinal Mindszenty in the American. These events have caused heart-searchings amongst British Communists. Some trade union and univer- sity members have resigned from the party, and the Daily Worker has come in for some physical as well as metaphorical knocks. Marshal Rokossovsky and other Russian officers have resigned from the Polish Army, and Mr. Gomulka is on a visit to Moscow.
The withdrawal of the Army from the control of operations in Kenya is a welcome contrast; Mau Mau is now sufficiently in hand to allow the civil authorities to take over. The decision of the South African Appeal Court will be received with more mixed feelings. This confirmed the Government's artificial majority in the Senate and indirectly its Coloured Voters Bill.
The new session of Parliament at home has been chiefly concerned so far with international affairs, but the Govern- ment's rent and hanging Bills are beginning to take shape. The first should result in the decontrol of more than five million houses and the raising of the controlled rents on another five. The hanging Bill contains some sensible reforms but institutes two degrees of murder—capital and non-capital. It proposes five forms of murder for which hanging would be kept— murders of policemen, or warders;.by shooting; or in the course of theft or arrest; and when a previous murder has been com- mitted. The first week's sales of Premium Bonds have realised £17 million; but it is doubtful whether the Dean of Canterbury's hat, which has been stolen and is to be raffled in aid of Hun- garian relief, will fetch very much. A professor's wife has been fined for stamping on a dog's tail and hitting a policeman within barking distance of the Spectator offices.
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