Foot fault
Mr Michael Foot's stand on the protest by Fleet Street editors against his decision to yield to the plea of the National Union of Journalists for a closed shop in their profession comes as a sad disappointment to those of his admirers who had continued to think of him as that champion of freedom which he has represented himself as being throughout his political career. In very few professions or jobs, indeed, is the closed shop principle defensible: it has been one of the principal causes of the retarding of British industrial efficiency and has frequently made intolerable inroads on the rights of the individual. But its most pernicious application is to the editors and executives of Fleet Street, especially at a time when the print unions have themselves more than once shown their willingness to impose censorship on the content of newspapers. That editors should be free from union pressure insofar as it might be applied to themselves is fundamental to the British concept of a free press: it is that concept which is under seige from Mr Foot.
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