The Mouse That Roared
TT hardly needed Lord Russell's dis- 'appointed outburst against the Govern- ment to bring up the question of left-wing discontent this week. Even before his sweep- ing denunciation of Labour's defence and foreign policies the crisis in Vietnam had exposed Mr. Wilson's predicament. Naturally any government has to live with pressures from its own dissenting minor- ities: but when the going gets rough, a government as narrowly elected as the present one must do so in conditions of in- cessant strain. Mr. Wilson, when still in opposition, described the task of govern- ment with a minute majority as a 'night- mare.' The fact that he has until now been distinctly successful in disarming potential rebels does not detract from the truth of that description.
His tactics for containing possible trouble-makers have. been the only ones open to him. First, he bestowed office liberally upon their leading figures; there- after he trusted to the reluctance of the rest of them to rock an already unstable boat. But it must not be forgotten that political rallies in Britain are not monolithic : they are working arrangements between dis- parate groups of opinion. The effort of self- restraint imposed upon various parts of the Labour Party has been severe. Vietnam has now added a new element : open admission of the strain. The activities of Mr. Warbey are discussed on the following page, but he is far from being alone in rejecting the Government's view of Vietnam. Indeed, Mr. Stewart was hardly in the Foreign Office before he was challenged by a substantial section of his own party on this issue.
Mr. Wilson, of course, is no stranger to strongly-felt Labour rebellions. He resigned from the Attlee government as a result of one. He is aware that the real force of a dissenting minority in the present parlia- mentary situation is that of a deterrent, or a brake. So far the disagreement over Viet- nam has produced a Motion, signed by fifty members, which amounts to a con- sidered Statement of Discontent; a great spilling of words over the air and in the press; and an embarrassing telegram to the United States. It may well be that this revolt will not go much beyond this. The Labour critics know that the Government is so lightly balanced in office that the strength of a mouse, applied at the right point, could bring it down. But the mouse at least has roared, and ominously. Certainly other danger points for the Government have been successfully, negotiated for the present. Sir Frank Sos- kice outraged some members of his own party with his announcement of stricter con- trols on immigration; but they have had to swallow the new policy, however reluc- tantly. And then, in the debate on•the air- craft industry, two members made speeches forcefully objecting to the Government's proposals'I am accountable for the dis- honoured cheque that I gave to the elec- tors,' said one of them. But they both voted for the Government.
However, if such events tend to suggest a government's dream of a soundly dis- ciplined House, that is an illusion. The Government cannot always depend upon the mouse to do no more than roar. (Even if it could, too much of such roaring would shake its foundations.) Mr. Wilson must always bear in mind the unacceptability of any rebellion. After the defence debate, for example, Labour members voted in the same lobby on totally opposed interpreta- tions of Mr. Wilson's speech. The Prime Minister had prudently provided a sufficient variety of ideas to meet their respective needs. But this cannot always be possible. It will very probably be quite impossible on steel nationalisation, to take the obvious case. In fact, try as he may, Mr. Wilson is bound to find it increasingly difficult to carry off his impersonation of a Prime Minister with a commanding majority. If the Tories' danger in opposition is that men of extreme views may seem too in- fluential, Labour's present danger in office is that minority pressures may paralyse the Government.
With luck over illness or death, and with unfailing success in holding divergent wings of the party in line, the Government can perhaps prolong its existence for some time to come. But it will be a poor sort of existence. It would be greatly surprising if Mr. Wilson were not already looking yearn- ingly at the prospect of a fresh appeal to the country. The Spectator believes he would be right to take the plunge: to give himself a healthy chance of winning a respectable majority, or of making an end of what he so presciently called his 'night- mare.' The thought of another general elec- tion so soon may be depressing to many people. The prospect of an indefinite spell of enfeebled government is infinitely. more so.
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