Another University Election The claim put forward by Sir Arthur
Salter in an article in The Spectator that he was elected for Oxford University not on his personality but on his programme finds striking confirmation in the success of Mr. Edmund Harvey, who, standing for the Combined English Universities on virtually the same programme, has achieved what in the circumstances must be regarded as a remarkable victory. Mr. Harvey was fortunate in that the Conservative candidate, Sir Francis Lindley, by his record and his programme made it difficult even for progressive Conservatives to vote for him, while Mr. Harvey's own policy, which was virtually that of the all-party Next Five Years Group, was such as to gather support from a wide political front. It is no doubt true, as Mr. Harvey observed after his election, that the result has shown that university voters rightly feel that they should be represented by someone other than a routine party politician. What it also seems to show, particularly as a sequel to Sir Arthur Salter's election at Oxford, is that a practical programme designed to appeal to progressive men and women of all parties can count on a large and cordial response. Universities are admittedly constituencies of a special character. It would be instructive if some competent candidate came forward with a programme like Sir Arthur Salter's and Mr. Harvey's at an ordinary rural or urban by-election.
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