Before Margate
The annual conference of the Labour Party is always more a matter of moods and men than of thought or argument. When this year's conference meets at the beginning of next week the main question to be decided will be what mood and which men are to dominate the party for the next few months. It is generally assumed that the Prime Minister is pleased enough with the result of the steel debate to be prepared to carry on until at any rate the spring without a fresh general election. He has a workable, if not a working, majority, and there is nothing on Labour's official legislative pro- gramme that is likely to test the loyalty of its suporters or the antagonism of its opponents nearly as sharply as did steel. But looming ahead is the Budget and the necessity for finding the resources to pay for rearmament. This is bound to be an uncomfortable process and, unless the Government propose to prepare a lAzenly class Budget, and then go to the country on it they are bound to suffer some loss of popularity. All these con- siderations will be argued over at Margate. At the moment there is little sign that the broader considerations of national safety and unity will have much of a hearing. The tendency of Labour speakers is to look for scapegoats anywhere but in their own ranks—among the steel owners, the butchers, the wool merchants and the Conserva. tives. Mr. Attlee missed an opportunity for statesmanship last week. There is little likelihood that a second opportunity will present itself at Margate.
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