PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
The Last of England (Heath after Ford Madox Brown) The Conservative Party won the general election with an overall majority of 101, a considerably higher margin than indicated by the opinion polls. Many politicians — of all parties, including the Prime Minister were surprised. The results were: Con- servatives 375, Labour 229, Liberal 17, SDP 5, Others 24. The Conservatives kept only ten seats in Scotland but in other parts of the country their vote held up well with the greatest swing against them in the north of England, decreasing steadily the further south one went with parts of the south-east swinging towards the Conserva- tives. The much-expected last-minute surge to the Alliance did not materialise and their vote was squeezed by both the major parties throughout the country. Af- ter the election David Steel tried to accelerate the pace of a possible union between the Liberals and the SDP, while David Owen made it clear that he wasn't going to be rushed into a shotgun mar- riage. Mr Arthur Scargill, who in past years probably did more to win the election for the Conservatives than anyone else, made a widely reported speech claiming that before the election he had been `gagged'. One of the four black MPs elected for the first time, Mr Paul Boateng, said after his result was announced: 'Brent South today — Soweto tomorrow'. The Prime Minister made only modest changes to her Cabinet, although the junior min- isterial changes were much more numer- ous. Among the changes, Lord Hailsham, Norman Tebbit, John Biffen and Michael Jopling left the Cabinet; Cecil Parkinson came back into it; and Peter Walker survived, though as Secretary of State for Wales. Roy Jenkins and Enoch Powell were among those who lost their seats and have probably left the House of Commons for the last time.
IN the Queen's Birthday Honours, Sir Peter Scott and George Rylands were made Companions of Honour; Dr Rhodes Boyson and Mrs Lynda Chalker — who retained her seat at Wallasey with a major- ity of only 279 — were appointed to the Privy Council. The Queen gave the title of Princess Royal to her daughter, Princess Anne. The last Princess Royal was Princess Mary, only daughter of George V, who died in 1965. In the Italian general election
the Communist challenge faltered badly and the electorate invited its politicians to construct another coalition government, the precise shape of which will not be clear for a while. During the campaign one of Italy's most celebrated pornographic film stars, Ilona Staller, sought election on behalf of the Radical Party by canvassing bare-bosomed. The Pope visited his native Poland followed by 1,500 journalists. At Szczecin he celebrated mass before a crowd estimated to be one and a half million. He also met Lech Walesa, leader of the Solidarity movement. Violent riots between students and police continued in Seoul and other cities of South Korea. President Reagan visited Berlin and looked over the wall through a sheet of bullet-proof glass. In Sri Lanka the army has completed its push into the Jaffna Peninsula and is preparing for peace talks with the Tamil community. The tit-for-tat battle between Britain and Iran continued with Iran expelling more British diplomats. A tough response from the Foreign Office is expected, possibly breaking off all dip- lomatic relations.
MStJT
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