Great Britain: On the Seesaw

What ever happened to the Liberals?

Only two years ago, the long-eclipsed party of Asquith and Lloyd George seemed to many Britons a bright potential alternative to the tired Tory government of Harold Macmillan and the faction-torn Labor Party of Hugh Gaitskell. But as elections neared and both major parties closed ranks under new leaders, the Liberal “resurgence” ingloriously petered out. When Britons go to the polls Oct. 15, they will probably elect no more than seven of some 365 Liberal candidates.

Yet the Liberals still hope to play an important role in the new government. Reason: it is quite possible that whoever wins, Tory or Labor, will scrape in with so small a margin (20 seats or less) that it will be necessary to seek Liberal support on major policy issues. Liberal Leader Jo Grimond, while avowedly reluctant to hold the balance of power, is already discussing the “terms” on which his party would “cooperate.”

Though traditionally left-wing reformers, the Liberals today have less in common with the Laborites than with the Tories they accuse of “tyranny.” With some justification, they argue that they “pioneered” the Tories’ belated decision to seek admission to the Common Market, to which Labor is still strongly opposed. The Liberals’ chief disagreement with the present government is over Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home’s insistence that Britain must retain its nuclear deterrent. On most other issues, however, the 14-page party manifesto issued two weeks ago falls disappointingly short of its slogan, “Think for Yourself — Vote Liberal.” Indeed, on such divisive questions as restricting colored immigration and tying industrial wages to productivity, the Liberal position is virtually indistinguishable from the calculatedly bland pronouncements of both major parties.