Waiting for Gaitskell
Harder-headed Tory strategists believe that electorally the country is now back to the pre- Orpington situation. The Opposition's 5 per cent. lead, according to the polls, seems to them exactly what might be expected at this stage in the life of a government If the coming batch of by-elections goes well for the Conservatives —and among the English seats only South Northants seems to the Tory managers to be in danger--then the prospect of an early elec- tion clearly grows more imminent. Whenever it comes, however, there isn't much doubt that Mr. fain Macleod will collect kudos for his rallying call at Llandudno, when he completely ignored the Liberals and summoned the Tories to a further effort to kill the Socialist dragon once and for all. Now that I come to think of it, in medieval representations of St. George and the dragon there are usually some bystanders quaintly detached from the bloody business in the middle. Mr. Macleod, in his picture of things to come, has put Mr. Jo Grimond among them. No doubt Mr. Grimond will much enjoy picking up the bits and, by sympathetic magic, becom- ing a dragon in his turn.
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