SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
GEORGE HUTCHINSON
As I might have said before we were inter- rupted so abruptly, writing for non-publica- tion is rather a drag. It's not what we're used to, those of us in the trade, and in profess- ional terms last week was a lost week at 99 Gower Street. To which I may add that, to the best of my knowledge, it is a new experience for the SPECTATOR in the present century. During the general strike in 1926, publication was maintained 'by means of the Gestetner Duplicating Machine,' as the im- print had it, operated by the editorial staff— to the tune of eight pages—at the old offices in York Street, Covent Garden. In 1947, when the weeklies fell victims to the `Shinwell' fuel crisis, the Daily Mail came to the rescue and published some of the SPECTATOR'S principal articles for two weeks in succession. Then in 1959, when there was another stoppage, special measures were adopted and half a dozen issues were pro- duced by enterprising printers in Croydon and the City. Happily, the recent disturbance has proved to be short-lived in contrast.
Law and disorder
I make no comment on the Cambridge sen- tences beyond supporting them. Another judicial judgment is to my, mind more dis- turbing in its consequences. No doubt the seventy-four-year-old Lord MacDermott, Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland since 1951, and his two colleagues knew what they were doing, and were right in law, when they refused Bernadette Devlin leave to appeal to the House of Lords against her prison sen- tence. They've all been at it long enough to understand the legalities. But I wonder if they were fully alive to the political—i.e. the social—consequences that were bound to fol- lbw their decision.
In his own career Lord MacDermott is the very epitome of the professional estab- lishment in Ulster. Lord Justice Curran runs him a close second. Lord Justice McVeigh is not far behind. Between them, these three law lords have certainly upheld the law, that is to say the rules of legal procedure, to the letter. What else have they managed to uphold? Miss Devlin was set firmly on the road to martyrdom. It has often seemed that she was destined for it, like many a political firebrand before her. And what a name for a martyr, Bernadette!
Events in Northern Ireland are now so horrifying that only the highest statesman- ship can save the province from destruction. Mr Maudling has lost no time in going to Belfast, and an Ulster settlement must clearly remain the first of the new government's priorities. Mr Heath's administration could not have been exposed to a sterner test at the outset. The pacification of Northern Ire- land should take precedence over everything else—tax reductions and the lot.
In the firing line
Though popular expectations after the election were naturally focusing on Mr Macleod as Chancellor (and in his good hands they will be realised in due time), it now falls to Mr Maudling to fulfil the Government's first responsibility. We can count on him to rise to the occasion. I can think of no Home Secretary in whom humanity, tolerance and intellect were ever more happily combined. This large, expan- sive, friendly man, with his relaxed, almost indolent air, has the quickest of minds. In office, as he has proved before, he may be gentle in manner—but he is firm in purpose. He will need all these qualities in the Ulster crisis.
Memories .
There are an awful lot of political memoirs knocking around just now, some written, some in preparation, some in contemplation. Harold Macmillan and 'Rah' Butler apart, George Brown and Richard Crossman are intermittently at work, though no doubt with different degrees of application. Selwyn Lloyd has told me that he too is thinking of entering the field, though if he were to be- come Speaker of the House of Commons or chairman of the Tory party (both offices have been suggested lately, and he could fill either with distinction) he would presumably have to wait a bit. In one way this would be rather a pity, for he has, I believe, a splendid cache of papers which he acquired as a Minister (he and Mr Macmillan, who pos- sesses an incomparable collection, were among the last to be allowed to keep these invaluable aids to autobiography instead of surrendering them to Whitehall).
Another ex-Minister who is well-equipped in this respect is Lord Hailes, better remem- bered as Patrick Buchan-Hepburn, Chief Whip to Churchill. I shall be surprised if he doesn't take to the pen before long. Mr Wil- son, I suppose, will wait, in the expectation of returning one day to 10 Downing Street— though to be going on with he might well think of assembling his material to date. In any event, he is assured of a fortune. The memoirs of a retired Prime Minister are nowadays worth at least a quarter of a mil- lion pounds.
Pen and sword The new appointments at the Ministry of Defence have a certain engaging curiosity about. them. Lord Carrington's three junior Ministers, representing each of the Services, are all journalists, among other things. Ian Gilmour is the former proprietor of the SPECTATOR. Tony Lambton (whom one finds it hard to think of as Mister) has written for many years in the Evening Standard. Peter Kirk was a diplomatic correspondent for the Kemsley group of newspapers. The Ministry could almost afford to drop its public relations staff, in support of the Government's commitment to reduced ex- penditure. Lord Carrington's junior Ministers could do it all themselves.
Zealots' corner
In an interview immediately after the election, Mr Heath's father and stepmother expressed sympathy with the Wilsons for having to vacate 10 Downing Street so abruptly, in the helter-skelter fashion which the Whitehall conventions seem to impose on an outgoing Prime Minister and his family. In the days since then, they have received (as one would expect) a huge num- ber of letters from well-wishers. They are delighted with their postbag—save for one reproach. This came from a party, zealot who took them to task for their words of sympathy with Mr and Mrs Wilson.
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