Left v. Right

The biggest political battle of the war moved toward a climax in Britain. On one side was the Left, which wants more democracy in the Empire and a more dynamic offensive against the Axis. On the other side was the Right, which believes in a more controlled democracy and in defensive warfare until 1943 or 1944.

The Press. In the House of Commons, following Home Secretary Herbert Morrison's threat last fortnight to suppress the Daily Mirror, the two sides clashed in a full-dress debate over freedom of the press. Despite the recent Cabinet shakeup, the Churchill Government is still more Right than Left. But the press, moving steadily to the Left, week by week has become more outspoken in its criticism of the Government. When Churchill saw that the Government's position was slipping further, he ordered Morrison to crack down. Leftists and countless other Britons had the horrible recollection that suppression of the press immediately preceded the collapse of France.

Offense v. Defense. Nearly the whole of Britain sided with the Left in its clamor for more action. The latest Gallup Poll showed that 67% of the people believed Britain's "chances will be better this year by developing an offensive warfare," while only 10% voted to remain on the defensive. (The rest did not know.)

Britain's liveliest advocate of a second front is tall, bushy-haired Left-Winger Frank Owen, editor of Lord Beaverbrook's Evening Standard.* Last week he wrote: "Who . . . can go on calculating that in 1943 we can invade the European mainland? The entire equation will have been transformed and totally against us. The best that we could hope for then would be a whole cycle of campaigns to force the entrenched enemy out of a still vaster central fortress. . . ."

No sooner had the Beaver left on a U.S. mission than the Army gave Editor Owen six days to report in uniform. (Later he was given three weeks' deferment.)

Though Russia desperately needed a second front in Europe, it was doubtful whether the British were strong enough as yet to open one. Nevertheless, Churchill was in grave danger of losing his political battle with the Left unless he took the military offensive.

Production. For over a year the Churchill Government has faced a heavy barrage from the Left on the question of production. As a last resort Oliver Lyttelton was recalled from Cairo to replace Lord Beaverbrook, and last week he formed a Joint War Production Staff to "clamp together" the needs of the three fighting services.

On the same day Ralph Assheton, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Supply, told the House of Commons that output of war material had jumped 40% in the last six months. But this report and the shake-up in the Ministry of Production failed to silence the Government's critics. Leftist M.P. Emanuel Shinwell, who calls the Cabinet "Winston's Beauty Parlor," cried: "If the Government believes invasion may come soon, it is useless to . . . draw up elaborate schemes for a more or less remote future. . . ."

Politics. The Right suffered another significant reverse when Churchill's friend,

Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Longmore, onetime chief of the R.A.F. in the Middle East, was defeated as Conservative candidate in a by-election. Winner (by 367 votes) was an unknown Independent candidate, William Denis Kendall, black-haired, blue-eyed, 38-year-old manager of a Grantham war-production factory. It was the first time in 44 elections since the Party truce went into effect that a full-fledged Conservative candidate had been defeated by an Independent.

The betting in London was that the Churchill Government would not see the beginning of summer. And the next shake-up would probably send Churchill out of No. 10 Downing St., if not out of the Cabinet altogether. The Rightists would make a last-ditch fight to have Sir John Anderson (perhaps the most powerful behind-the-scenes Cabinet figure) or Oliver Lyttelton named Prime Minister, but the odds were on Sir Stafford Cripps, especially if his mission to India was a success.

*Last Sunday 50,000 Britons jammed Trafalgar Square to hear the Daily Mirror's Cassandra and eleven others plead for a second front in 1942. Afterward they contributed $10,000 to a second-front propaganda fund.

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