A Spectator's Notebook
SHORTLY AFTER SUEZ I recall a Labour MP from the East End of London who ad- mitted, in some embarrass- ment, that party workers in his constituency had been solidly behind Sir Anthony. The bulk of the opposition to Suez came, I am sure, not from the Left but from the Centre; a Centre which has now drifted back into support- ing the Conservatives, except on the rare occa- sions when it finds a feasible non-Labour alterna- tive (one of which, I suspect, will be Sir Alan Herbert in Harrow; though whether he will be able to create the necessary organisation in the short time at his disposal remains doubtful). In any case, I am sure the Prime Minister is foolish if he believes—as his answers to questions on Suez this week have implied—that the return of the Conservatives in a General Election would amount to a vote of confidence in their handling of Suez. The arguments against the Suez adventure which were put forward in the liberal papers, including the Spectator, are now generally admitted even by Tories (the higher the Tory, oddly, the readier the admission) to have been justified; and any re- minder of Suez is also a reminder that the way the Conservative Government behaved two 'eart a was stupid, dishonest, and dangerous. A reminc of this kind is hardly calculated to encourage t uncommitted electorate to trust the Consen ati Party—however little they may trust the altar tive. go let he
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