THE LIBERAL'S HAND
T is rather much to expect Labour or Con- Iservative politicians to pay the Liberal Party the compliment of much public atten- tion at ordinary times. They understand- ably prefer the classic tactic of majority political groups when dealing with minorities : 'If you can't lick them, ignore them..'
Nevertheless, there is a danger that this procedure, though reasonably effective, may lull its practitioners into underestimat- ing the real strength of opponents who can no longer safely be regarded as a mere irrelevant inconvenience. Now, therefore, as the Liberals gather for what will almost certainly be, their last Assembly before the general election, we must hope that the nature of the Liberal appeal is clearly understood by the larger parties—and par- ticularly by the Tories, from whom the Liberal Party has in general been filching votes at a far higher rate than from Labour.
Influential voices in both parties, when tempted into reference to the Liberals, are apt to observe that the Liberal vote is Poujadist and irresponsible, that it repre- sents no great 'interest' or class, and that as the issues between the great parties are sharpened by the excitement of a general election the Liberal vote will be bound to fall dramatically. There is, of course, some truth in all these theses; but, stated in this way and at this time, they are dangerously misleading. For though they recognise, and rightly, that the basis of Liberal sup- port is dissatisfaction with the other two parties, they imply that mere dissatisfaction is necessarily frivolous and, transient.
The truth is not so comforting. Mere political dissatisfaction is often deeply-felt and lasting. At present there are many people in this country, especially among the middle class, who do not like what they re- member of the centralism and bureaucracy of Labour's last term of office and do not trust Mr. Wilson not to revert to it. On the other hand, they feel that in one way or another the locusts have eaten the last twelve years and that the present admini- stration is played out. These views, often rational and respectable even if they are mistaken, leave the sufferer little choice but to vote Liberal. And, though some, strange allies have gathered under the banner of dis- gruntlement at recent by-elections, there is no reason to suppose that the hard core who think as we have just suggested will change their minds between now and the election. At the very least their intervention will prove highly effective; and it could be decisive. It would be surprising if, of the 14 or 15 per cent of voters who now tell the opinion pollsters that they will vote Liberal, more than 4 per cent revert at the general election to former loyalties or abstain; and in present circumstances a 10 per cent Liberal poll might be quite enough to let in Labour.
In the long term, however, what should alarm the two main parties even more are the signs that the Liberals have used the last eighteen months to produce an intelli: gent and sophisticated rationalisation of the vague dissatisfaction outlined above. Con- servative and Labour pundits would be well advised to pay very close attention to the draft Liberal election manifesto which will form the basis of discussion at the con- ference next week. Partners in a New Britain contains more than its share of easy promises, dubious generalisation and Utopian waffle—which is hardly surprising when-one surveys the shortage of experience or even considerable talent in the party's higher counsels. But at least the document vigorously goes after the genuine prob- lems which are worrying many people to- day—the growing feeling of divorce be- tween government and subject, the struc- ture and practice of democratic administra- tion, the problems of economic planning and decentralisation, and, above all, the question of class barriers. Where the other parties delicately skirt these issues or else try to solve them with clichés the Liberal manifesto attempts to go back to basic principles and propose some radical solu- tions. Of course, this is an easy enough exercise for a party with no prospect of power. But to many people the fact that the party has asked the right questions in the right kind of way may well seem to out- weigh the inadequacy of many of the answers.
Their opponents may claim, with justice, that in this they are irresponsible, or at best naïve; but the Liberals' strongest card is precisely the fact that they have no vested interests to protect and can therefore claim to be the only party which is free to come to current problems with an open mind. It is a card which neither Labour nor Tories can easily wrest from them; and un- less the two main parties at their own con- ferences can show themselves in a more open and genuinely radical frame of mind than in recent years it might yet take some odd tricks.
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