A Spectator's Notebook
LABOUR MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT often carry naivety about what goes on in foreign countries to a point which is inexcus- able in practising politicians. One of the worst instances of this which I have seen has been the protest by the Movement for Colonial Freedom, which has a membership of over a hundred Labour MPs, against the deportation orders made by the Chief Minister of Singapore for a number of Chinese who have been acting as Communist agents. Mr. Lim Yew Hock's action has been approved by the Singapore Trades Union Congress; he is the head of an elected government. Yet Mr. Fenner Brockway and his friends hear the word 'deportation' and go into action with all the intelligent zeal displayed by one of Pavlov's dogs at the sound of the dinner bell. The Singapore Standard calls the movement's members 'either misguided fools or fellow-travellers,' and certainly this siding with Communists against a moderate Socialist Govern- ment deserves the harshest epithets that can be applied to it. Mr. Lim Yew Hock is carrying out a difficult job with a great deal of statesmanship, and I do not think he deserves to be harassed by a collection of antiquated fuddy-duddies.
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