Fish & Antichrist

The only Tory woman M.P. was addressing an elegant, perfumed gathering of Tory women in London. Viscountess Davidson proudly told how one of her party helpers had used an effective line to discredit Labor's program. When the "No More Fish" sign went up after an hour's wait in a fish queue, this bright Tory had said sarcastically to the angry women: "Well, never mind, ladies. What does it matter?--we own the Bank of England!"

The Viscountess' energetic speech drew polite applause, but some knew, and many another Tory knew, that mere discontent with the Labor Government's inability to end shortages was not enough. All over England local Tory meetings were saying so last week. From Carlisle on the Scottish border came a demand that Tory headquarters announce a policy that "will prove attractive to youth." Said one delegate: "We want a restatement of the Conservative Party's faith." A sympathetic echo came from Tory farmers and retired business people meeting in Worcester on the edge of Wales. In London Mrs. Mavis Tate, an ex-M.P., said: "What we want is a clearly defined policy."

But dapper, scholarly Harold MacMillan, sent out from Tory headquarters to play the provincial circuit, adopted a cautious politician's line. He told disgruntled Tories that their best hope for a return to power was not to commit themselves to a program but to widen the party's field "and bring in all who want free progress." "Like the parson who was against sin." he said, "I am against Socialism. . . . The great conflict to come will be fundamentally a conflict between God and the anti-Christ." His audiences applauded the generalities, but were not satisfied. "It's not good enough," said one young lady listener. "We want something more concrete."

Labor's London Daily Herald, watching the Tory struggle for revival, scornfully referred to them as "hungry sheep" in search of grass--and of a shepherd.

Last week they thought they had found one. Conservative Headquarters named as new party chairman popular, brilliant ex-Food Minister Lord Woolton, who before the war was not a member of any party.

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