Where are the Independent Tories ?
By LORD ALTRINCHAM* TIM outstanding fact in•pOlitics today is that, althmigh the present Government has been 113:°ved unfit for office, and although-the Labour rtY1 is the reservoir from which an alternative b.wernment should logically be drawn, there has „cell no movement of public opinion to speak 7; towards the Socialists. The Gloucester by- election result was a crushing demonstration of ,.4° confidence in the Tory Government, 'but it ''evas an even more crushing demonstration of no °Inidence in the Labour Party. u Clh, well, the Liberals will say, that leaves only vve are the chosen people. This is nonsense. Liberalism in a general sense is the political eLr.e,ed of every civilised man and woman, but the ,slueral Party in this country is a 'thing of the It cannot hope to regain its position, which ITas forfeited many years ago, as one of the ,Ig Two under our twoiparty system; and a"gland does not love splinter parties. There is v_11 instinct in the British electorate which tells vu.eln that the two-party system, with all its ob- rl°11s faults, ensures something dike majority rule, whereas under a multiple-party system effec- ,rivn ,e Power would be wielded by small minorities. 1,e confusion which was caused by the Irish hartY at Westminster is a warning of what would ,.PPen if any considerable lumber of Liberals :ere returned at a general election. But there is „,,° danger at all that this will happen. The mass ,"` Liberal candidates with which the ,country has `jeer' threatened will be hard put to it to hang u4 to their deposits. ,.1.1te findings of a News Chronicle Gallup Poll tiaKen after Gloucester but before the 7 per cent. 2nk rate are suggestive. Thirty-one and a half Percent. said they would vote Tory, and 13 per 'tit. said they would vote Liberal, at a *Editor of the National and English Review. non; but for a general election the figures were 40 per cent. and 4 per cent. respectively. This must surely be enough to convince Mr. Grimond that he is wasting his time. He and his friends would be of great value if they would only work within the two-party system. They cannot com- plain that the two' big parties have no principles, because no one has yet been able to discover what, if any, are the principles of the Liberal Party. Carmarthen destroyed once and for all the myth of Liberal purity.
The moral of Gloucester is not, therefore, that
every progressive anti-Socialist should join the Liberals, but that the independent forces within the Tory Party should come out into the open and assert themselves. Tories have definitely not got the Government they deserve. The party is in a healthier statd Than it has ever been and its younger members are enthusiastic without ,being empty-headed; but the leadership is unworthy of the rank and file. Who could be expected to look up to an elderly conjuror who is ,running short of tricks and whose patter is wearing very thin? Who could ,feel any respect for a group of men who deceived our Commonwealth part- ners and our closest ally? Such people may be able to provide expedients, but they can never provide inspiration.
It is to be hoped that the party will show it spirit, at the conference next week, despite the inadequacy of the time allowed for debate. But speeches at the, party conference are not enough; there must also be a direct appeal to the people. There is a great opportunity now for Independent Tory candidates at by-elections. If there had been one at Gloucester he would have rallied the thousands of voters who have lost faith in the Government. He, and not the Liberal, would have mobilised the forces of protest. He might even have achieved the miracle of an anti-Government and anti-Socialist landslide.
The other day, the Sunday Dispatch, whose readership is predominantly Conservative, asked me to write an open letter to Lord Hailsham, whose appointment as chairman of the party was then imminent. This gave me an opportunity to state my views on foreign and domestic policy, and I did so in the clearest way I could, glossing over nothing which might have been thought un- palatable to the average Tory. The Dispatch invited its readers to send in their comments, and a very large number responded. The proportion of those who supported me was 70 per cent. I only mention this incident because it very strongly corroborates the point I am making. The party is ready for a New Deal, but it wants new men as well as new measures. Let them stand up and be counted! If I were free to stand for the House of Commons I should not be able to resist taking part in the fight at Ipswich. Perhaps someone who does not labour under a constitu- tional disability will enter the field. If so, the Ipswich election will be one of the most interest- ing and important for many years.
The good which Independent Conservative candidates can now do is fourfold. They can give practical expression to the feelings of countless Tories and ex-Liberals and of many uncom- mitted voters who are mistrustful of the Socialists. They can administer a chastening douche of reality to the Liberals. They can show the Socialists that they have nothing to gain in competition with a modern, radical Toryism. *And they can bring home to local Conservative associations the essential fact that independent- minded candidates are more likely than party hacks to win votes at the next election.
The dishonesty and bankruptcy of the Labour Party is being exhibited for all to see at Brighton. Mr. Harold Wilson has attacked the present Government for putting the country in pawn to the Americans. He did not bother to mention that the Government of which he was a member, despite massive American aid and a seller's mar- ket for our goods, was forced to devalue the pound. But the country has not forgotten this. It will support any Conservatives who are not stooges of the present Government, who are pre- pared- to advocate a tough and fair policy to check inflation, and who are clearly not animated by class feeling. The opportunity is there. Who Will seize it?
Previous page
