Who Follows the Whirlwind?

A police summons was issued for Aneurin Bevan. charging him with dangerous driving and failure to stop after an accident. The accident, near London, was a minor affair, but it was not the only charge of recklessness made last week against Nye Bevan.

Commentators and columnists, Conservative or Socialist, everywhere condemned the manner, and frequently the matter, in Bevan's abrupt split with Labor Party Leader Clement Attlee (TIME, April 26) over approval of German rearmament and of U.S. leadership in world politics. Admitted the leftist New Statesman & Nation: "By this impulsive gesture, Mr. Bevan has postponed--possibly forever--his own chances of succeeding to the Socialist leadership." "It is the future existence of the party itself which is at stake," said the Times in alarm. If Bevan could swing the party to support "a British neutralism" between the U.S. and Russia, "the leadership would be his reward,'' noted the Manchester Guardian, "but there is nothing more improbable in politics than that Mr. Bevan will succeed." Bitterest of all was the Laborite tabloid Daily Mirror (circ. 4,500,000): "Again he has shown that the greatest blunder the party could make would be to elect him leader . . . For who can follow a whirlwind? How can a man who does not give loyalty expect to command loyalty from others?"

But there was also evidence that Nye had struck a popular chord among the millions of Britons who fear Germany, resent the U.S. and think that the Communists would behave better if not antagonized. Nye's opposition to German rearmament was supported 2 to 1 by the convention of the Cooperative Party, which controls 18 Labor seats in Parliament, by delegates of Britain's sixth largest union, and by the Labor Party of Northern Ireland in convention.

Many such voters would follow Nye Bevan on no other issue. But Bevan was quite happy to claim them all. Politically, his driving might be dangerous, but it was no accident.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.