The Secrets of Abinger
Out of all the conjecture and speculation about the Labour Party conference at Abinger last week-end there emerged a communiqué which the Daily Herald, which might be expected to know more about what happened than most papers, was content to print without addition, embellishment or editorial comment. Therein it is no doubt wise ; for while the more than usually uninformative official statement—which might be summed up in three of its keywords, discussion, unity, determination—said virtually nothing at all, the unofficial reporters outside the gates had said little more. It may be that the Morrison faction, which is said to be for consolidating gains, got more of its way than the Bevan faction, which is said to be for charging on regardless, but the Minister of Health showed no signs of dejection in the housing debate on Monday, and his hint of a General Election in the near future can be given any construction anyone cares to put on it. The fact is that the conference was a routine event, It was largely attended. Obviously the whole field of Labour policy was covered in discussion. No conclusions were reached, but in the light of what was said at Abinger the national executive will in due course frame what will become the party's election policy if an. election comes within twelve months after the conference. If it comes unexpectedly soon, then the Abinger talks 'will have made the rapid improvisation of a document so much simpler. The leaders of Labour, in short, were engaged in the kind of dis- cussions that they usually do engage in at this time of the year, and which it is the more necessary to engage in at a moment when the nationalisation which has figured so prominently in the party programme till recently has been tacitly dropped in view of the . existing Parliamentary situation. If the party changes course rapidly, that will no doubt be ascribed to the Surrey air. But no such development seems in prospect.
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