G immicks Clearly the Spectator will have to keep the s entence,
'Mr. Harold Wilson, Prime Minis- ter of Great Britain, governs by gimmick,' in Standing type. I would not be in the least sur- Prised if he thought out some wheeze before the foreign affairs debate next week. But it can't !'e half as silly as the idea of sending Mr. tfarold Davies to Hanoi. There is no need for dark speculation about Mr. Davies's left-wing
views. The truth is that he is an immensely agreeable man, and his views on China, and especially on America, are immensely agreeable to Ho Chi Minh. That Mr. Davies 'can look after himself' is not the point. His visit will be used as anti-American propaganda. And for all the talk about 'useful discussions,' it is clear that the visit was a flop. Mr. Wilson asserts that he does not mind being rebuffed. The British people did not mind very much when Mr. Gordon Walker's mission failed. But when Com- monwealth Prime Ministers are refused entry, when Mr. Wilson muffs a Commonwealth initiative through 'personal vanity' (I quote Mr. Warbey) and when a British Minister is sum- moned to Hanoi to meet an official and be sent packing, the Blitish people ought to mind very much indeed. And I suspect that they do.
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