Great Britain: Rallying the Ranks

As the Labor Party gathered for its annual conference at Blackpool last week, Prime Minister Harold Wilson was dealing from strength in some respects. The latest National Opinion Poll showed the Labor Party once again leading the Conservative in popularity by a margin of 3.9% , after having trailed the Tories for most of the summer. The shaky pound had momentarily rallied to its highest exchange rate in 15 months, reflecting the first surplus balance of payments in two years. Wilson, however, found his greatest strength in his party’s own weakness. With his parliamentary majority down to only two seats, no Laborite dared risk a rift in party ranks.

Wilson won easy and overwhelming approval for his support of the U.S. in Viet Nam, despite the now familiar demands from some left-wing M.P.s for a softer line. He also had little trouble winning support for his government’s proposal to limit Commonwealth immigration. A tougher nut, however, was gaining approval of anti-inflation legislation requiring unions to submit wage demands to a government board.

Opposed were the delegates from the country’s two largest unions, the Transport and General Workers’ Union and the Amalgamated Engineering Union. Orated Clive Jenkins, leader of the superintendents’ and technicians’ union: “No party could enact legislation so obnoxious as this and continue to call itself either democratic or socialistic.” Deputy Prime Minister George Brown rose to defend the measure. “There is coming about a recognition that we are partners in an industrial democracy,” he insisted. His words won the day—and approval for Wilson’s wages plan.