Dividing the Critics

When Labor had a perilous three-vote majority in Commons, Prime Min ister Harold Wilson found it easy enough to keep his party in line. But the urgency of party unity faded when Wil son won his 97-man margin in the March elections. Right-wing Laborites began criticiz ing him for failure to halt inflation or push toward the Common Market. The party's left wing hacked at Wilson for not nationalizing steel, for taking too tough an attitude toward the seamen's wage demands in Britain's five-week-old dock strike, and for backing the U.S. in Viet Nam and continuing to maintain Britain's large contingent of troops "east of Suez" in Southeast Asia. A broad middle-of-the-road band of M.P.s chimed in, too, complaining that Wilson had hardly provided the "firm and purposive government" that he had promised. And there was general worry over the continuing weakness of the pound, which has had to be rescued by the world's bankers again (see WORLD BUSINESS).

Last week Labor's rebels took organized aim at their leader with a party motion condemning Wilson's decision to maintain Britain's east-of-Suez defense commitments. The issue was carefully chosen, since it enlisted the support of both left and right. The left wing wanted Britain out of Asia on ban-the-bomb grounds; the right wing wanted much the same in order to save money better spent at home.

Wilson met them both head-on in a steely 40-minute speech that neatly divided his critics. To the left he offered the assurance that "there is no question of our sending troops to Viet Nam," adding that if the U.S. bombed civilian population centers in North Viet Nam, Britain would disavow its support. On the other hand, he said, Britain would not withdraw from Asia and leave it "to the Americans and Chinese, eyeball to eyeball, to face this thing out." That, said Wilson, "is the surest prescription for a nuclear holocaust I could think of. 'World, go home' is not the posture for this party, and perfectionist solutions, however cathartic and satisfying to their authors, do not bring peace." His performance was effective enough to bring at least temporary peace within his ranks. When it came to a vote, Wilson handily defeated the censure motion, 225 to 54, although 84 abstained or stayed away.

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