Decision?

There is reason to believe that Prime Minister Winston Churchill has told Anthony Eden, his almost certain successor, that he intends to resign this summer.

In a talk with Foreign Secretary Eden --and, it is said, in another similar talk with Chancellor of the Exchequer Richard A. Butler--Sir Winston reportedly said that he now feels too tired to go on for long, that he would like to step down soon after Queen Elizabeth returns from her Commonwealth tour May 15.

British politicians, even without the benefit of such reports, were already convinced, by a mixture of common sense and political hints, that the great old (79) leader has made his decision to bow out.

They felt though that Sir Winston was most likely to hold on for some weeks--at least until a June ceremony at which the Queen will formally invest him as Knight of the Garter.

Even solider than the talk of Sir Winston's impending step down was the talk of who will replace him. The word has plainly gone out through Tory Party circles--undoubtedly from No. 10 Downing Street--that Anthony Eden is the man. To assure Eden's smooth succession to command and a chance to seek his own mandate from the electorate if he chooses, the time to make the change would be relatively soon, while the increasingly confident Tories are considering whether to call new national elections this fall. If Eden is to take over eventually, politicians--Politician Churchill among them--apparently consider it only fair that he be allowed to do so in time to decide whether to risk elections this year or ride for a while with the present slim majority.

With Eden on top, Rab Butler will rise strongly into the No. 2 role and stand in line to be next P.M. after Eden (see below). The man most likely to succeed Eden as Foreign Secretary: Minister of Housing Harold Macmillan, 60, a suave, tough Scotsman who has proved one of the outstanding men of the Cabinet. Macmillan has been getting houses built at a rate of 300,000 a year--a pace that many had thought unattainable.

After his long siege of illness, Anthony Eden at 56 is feeling robust again and eager to take over as the Queen's first minister. His bout with the Russians at Berlin whetted his zest, and he came home with a tougher view about dealing with the Kremlin than that suggested by Sir Winston's still-evident yearning for a sweeping parley at the summit.

As for the indomitable Sir Winston, it is understood that he will not immediately accept a peerage but will hold onto his Commons seat for a while to speak out and act the role of elder statesman and, when occasion merits, the sage scold. Said one very close to him: "He will want to deliver at least six swan songs."

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