Another Spectator's
Notebook On Wednesday, after question time, the House of Commons, and particularly Tory backbenchers, waited eagerly for a statement by the Prime Minister on what is now known as the Lambton affair. Mr Heath spent the morning with Lord Carrington. Mr Carr, the minister who would be responsible if a.criminal prosecution was preferred, w.as flying back from Blackpool. But nobody except Mr Prior, the Leader of the House, appeared on the government front bench at 3.45 when a full house waited for action. It was, I found, widely appreciated that the Prime Minister — who returned from Paris only the night before — might have nothing to say on Wednesday afternoon; and could reasonably postpone his full account until Thursday. But Tory party morale alone would appear to have required at least the presence of Mr Heath in the House when his own members were more than ordinarily worried that the first set of Lambton revelations might well be the prelude to a bigger, and different, scandal. Not for the first time, Mr Heath appears to have failed to rally the troops in the chamber. On the other hand, for all that the hurt bewilderment of the Tory backbenchers was particularly affecting, I personally found especially unpleasant that unique salacity which Labour backbenchers always demonstrate when they can pursue what appears to be a sexual scandal under the guise of a security . investigation. It is almost as though some sections of the Labour Party regard sex as a Tory prerogative, resent the fact that it is such, and feel that it should be shared more equally.
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