The Tories Prove a Thesis

There was every reason for last week's annual Tory conference to be a celebration. The Labor Party's economic programs have proved both unpopular and unproductive. Prime Minister Harold Wilson is widely accused of being a cynical and somewhat oily manipulator of power. Tory candidates have swept eight recent local elections, including those for two Parliamentary seats that were once considered safe for Labor. And the latest opinion poll showed a significant swing to the Conservatives, who now trail Labor by a mere 1.9% of Britain's voting public.

Instead of a blast, however, the Tory convention was an unmuzzled bore. Convened before BBC television cameras at the Top Rank entertainment center in the beach resort of Brighton, it proved to be the most powerful argument for picking up a good book since the advent of televised wrestling. The Tory high command, following the example of Party Leader Ted Heath, sat solemnly on the speaker's platform, heavy-lidded, hard-shelled and heartburned. Little about the party leaders suggested that they were capable of standing up to the slogan emblazoned on the rostrum: PUT BRITAIN BACK ON HER FEET. Speaker after speaker proclaimed the merits or decried the perils of 14 tired resolutions (including calls for higher tariff barriers, negotiations with Rhodesia and "the protection of our interests overseas"), all of which were duly adopted by 4,500 Tory delegates.

It was as if the entire Conservative Opposition to Her Majesty's Labor Government were trying to prove a thesis put forward by Deputy Tory Leader Reginald Maudling. Noting "an alarming decline in the standing of Parliament and politicians," Maudling suggested in a signed article in the Times that "never in recent times have the politicians of every party commanded so little credence from the public."

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