Pushover

North Croydon is a cluster of geometrically dreary, determinedly middle-class suburbs on the southwestern fringes of London. Its mile after mile of dull, red brick houses are inhabited by shopkeepers, civil servants, office workers. Since the constituency was formed in 1918, North Croydon has been doggedly Conservative.

Even so, Tories faced this week's North Croydon by-election with trepidation. In 1945, their man had just squeaked in by 607 votes against strong Labor and Liberal opposition. And Liberals were again entering a candidate, glamorous war hero Air Vice Marshal Donald Bennett, whose "damn the government" platform would tend to sap Tory strength.

Labor's candidate also gave cause for more than usual concern: witty, urbane Harold Nicolson, author (Curson: The Last Phase, The Congress of Vienna) and ex-diplomat, was a good friend of Winston Churchill, and a recent Labor convert. He campaigned on a well-bred, sporting level, emphasizing his air of mild reasonableness by saying: "I doubt whether Solomon Eagles* himself could arouse this placid community to a sense of urgency and passion."

With a doubtful constituency at stake, Tories pulled out all the stops. Their candidate was young, chubby, glad-handing Frederic Walter Harris, a successful businessman (food products). His slogan: 'The thing to do to industry is to humanize it, not nationalize it." He kept the number of his own employees down to 700; above that figure he felt that the human touch was lost.

The Tories brought in their heavy artillery: Anthony Eden (currently recovering from an appendectomy in a London hospital) made an evening visit, and Winston Churchill motored over a twelve-mile route, chewing a cigar, extending his "V" sign, stopping frequently for short bursts of Churchillian oratory.

The election results were a surprise even to Tory leaders: Tory Harris won a smashing victory that set them crowing about a government setback. Labor took what comfort it could from Nicolson's vote, up 1,700 from the 1945 level.

The thumping Tory gain of 13,000 votes had come mostly at the expense of the rapidly evaporating Liberal Party. Bennett polled so few votes--less than one-eighth of the total--that he forfeited the -L-150 election deposit intended to discourage "absurd and futile" candidacies.

*Solomon Eagles (or Eccles) was a fanatical 17th Century Quaker who, stripped to the waist and carrying a brazier full of fire & brimstone on his head, walked the streets predicting doom.

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