I SEE from the News Chronicle that, according to a
Gallup Poll, the proportion of electors who say they would vote Liberal at a general election has risen to 15 per cent. (nine months ago it was 6 per cent.). Any further rise in the Liberal vote, 1 think it is safe to assume, will depend largely on whether the party can create the impression that it could conceivably be a force at Westminster. If the Liberals could somehow prove themselves capable of winning seats, they would win more seats. Torrington, therefore, may well turn out to be vital for them. What is interesting, thought, is the dilemma in which a real Liberal resurgence would put Mr. Macmillan. As things are, he could be reasonably certain that if he held a general election immediately, the Liberals would lose even what little they now have. But vis-à-vis Labour, this would be a disastrous time for an election. The longer the 'Government can hold on, it is being argued, the better chance there is of recovering prestige, and of Labour making a mess of things in opposition. But the longer the Government holds on, the greater the opportunity. there will be for the Liberals to find their feet (and possibly their seats) at by-elections and the greater the possibility that they will be able to present themselves as an effective third force in twelve months' time.
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