Labor's Loss

Williams bolts in protest

For years she had been considered one of the British Labor Party's most brilliant frontbenchers, even a possible choice for Prime Minister. But last week Shirley Williams put her future on the line and bolted into uncharted political territory.

Protesting Labor's pronounced swing to the left, the former Education Secretary resigned from the party's national executive committee. Said she: "I believe the party I loved and worked for over so many years no longer exists." With other leading Laborites set to follow her out of the party early next month, Williams' defection set the stage for the formation of a new centrist Social Democratic Party that could drastically alter British politics.

Discontent among Labor's moderates and right wing has been growing ever since the party's annual conference at Blackpool last fall, when some decidedly radical policies were adopted. The official party platform called for Britain's withdrawal from the European Community and extensive new nationalization of industry and finance. In addition, leading leftists angered moderates by advocating unilateral removal of nuclear defense weapons from Britain. The climactic blow came at a special conference in Wembley last month, at which Labor M.P.s voted for a rules change that will give the bloc-voting unions and the left-leaning local committees a stranglehold over selection of the party leader. At that, Williams and three other former Cabinet ministers established a breakaway "Council for Social Democracy," the first step toward a new party.

Williams' departure drew strong criticism. Radical Left-Wing Leader Tony Benn accused her of "aiding the Tories." Some party moderates argued that it would have been wiser to stay and fight the left from within. Complained one executive committee member:

"Leaving the party can only be seen as running away and giving up the battle."

That is scarcely what Williams and her colleagues have in mind. She and the other leading dissidents will officially quit the party on March 9 and, later in the month, plan a formal launching of the Social Democratic Party.

Further in the future: a possible coalition with the rejuvenated Liberal Party that could prove a formidable force in British politics. According to a poll published in the London Times on the day Williams resigned, the new grouping would outpoll both Labor and Conservative parties.

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