Sideways Shuffle

It was Parliament's last session before the summer recess, and the hands on the House clock were moving close to 10 p.m., the hour for the final vote on Prime Minister Harold Wilson's drastic bill to freeze wages and prices. Wilson knew that he would win. But he also knew that some two dozen left-wing Laborites were certain to abstain in protest against his tactics in steamrollering the bill through Commons.

What the Prime Minister clearly needed was a way to shift attention from the vote. He came up with a dandy. Just as the House policemen were crying "Lock the doors!" in preparation for the vote, a news dispatch was passed down the Conservatives' Front Bench. What they read caught the Tories--and the nation--by surprise. Said one admirer of Wilson's fast footwork: "The press can only carry one banner headline."

Tearful on TV. What Britain's press bannered next day was a surprising Cabinet switch: Economics Minister George Brown, 51, the No. 2 man in the Labor Party, changed places with Foreign Secretary Michael Stewart, 59. Brown, a devout believer in economic expansion, had tried to resign four weeks ago when Wilson made the decision that the pound could only be saved by a drastic dose of deflation. Wilson talked him into staying on until the bill was assured of passage. Then Wilson rewarded Brown with the job he had asked for when Labor came to power two years ago: the Foreign Office.

Brown's public image hardly fits the diplomatic pattern. Ebullient and explosive, he managed to so rile Nikita Khrushchev during a Labor Party dinner in London a few years ago that the Soviet leader ended up praising the capitalistic Tories as by far the easier of the two British parties to get along with. On the evening of President Kennedy's assassination, Brown emoted tearfully on a London television show about his friendship with Jack--and got a bad press for letting down the stiff upper lip in public. But those who know Brown better testify that he has the stuff good Foreign Secretaries are made of--tenacity, energy, intelligence and insight. He is pro-American and, as the British say, a European--meaning that he favors Britain's membership in the Common Market.

To Michael Stewart passes the responsibility for administering the Prime Minister's severe economic measures, which call for a complete standstill in prices, wages and dividends for six months, followed by another six-month period of "great restraint." An unflappable administrator, Stewart is expected to handle the economic czardom with more zeal than Brown could have mustered for measures that go against his grain. He will also get along better with Chancellor of the Exchequer James Callaghan, who frequently clashed with Brown on economic policy.

More Shifts? On a lower Cabinet level, Richard Grossman, a favorite of Labor's rebellious left wing, moved from Housing to Leader of the House, a position that will make him responsible for corralling the rebel Laborites, whose abstentions have been embarrassing to the Prime Minister. The former Leader of the House, Herbert Bowden, moved to the Ministry for Commonwealth Affairs, replacing Arthur Bottomley, whose inability to settle the Rhodesian crisis made him some thing of a liability. Still, Bottomley was not expelled from the Cabinet; instead he was shifted to the Ministry for Overseas Development, a post that was made vacant by moving Anthony Greenwood to Minister of Housing.

The shifts were not uniformly welcomed, even in circles friendly to Wilson. Declared the New Statesman: "Mr. Wilson has an unfortunate taste for the sideways shuffle. Some regret may well be felt that the changes are not more imaginative." Added the Times: "Too many changes too frequently are not a sign of strong government." But as Wilson departed at week's end for a two-week vacation in the Scilly Isles, his aides hinted that other major shifts would be announced soon--probably before the Labor Party's annual meeting in October.

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