OUR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT WRITES : I hap- pened to be
down at the Bromley fete, working as an attendant on the coconut shy, when I heard' the PM say, taking Haley by the arm, 'Enough is enough.' Curious to overhear the rest of the conversation, I handed over my job to somebody called Wood who happened to be around at the time and set off after the two friends, who were strolling away together—Haley, I thought, a little reluctantly; perhaps he did not care for the PM's grip on his elbow. I do not normally, of course, repeat private conversations; but this one was on a matter of public interest, and as nine days have passed since the fete without my reporting anything, it is only back to sense to speak out now. What the PM was saying was this. Lord Reith is due to leave the Colonial Development Corporation shortly. He has been a success there (the Government thinks) because of the experi- ence he brought to it as Director-General of the BBC; and what could be more fitting than that his successor at the BBC, Sir William Haley, should also succeed him at the CDC? The Government is also anxious (the PM said) to employ Lord Reith's dynamism in a job where it is much needed : running the railways. As Sir Brian Robertson has never given much trouble, he would have to be transferred to a post of equal standing; and the Government (the PM con- tinued) would be prepared to will' the means to make him Director-General of the BBC, if they could find a post of equal standing for the current Director-General of the BBC. By a wonderful coincidence (the PM concluded) the current Director-General of the BBC is a, man with exactly the right qualifications for the editorship of The Times; that is to say, he would normally prevent fbolish gaffes from appearing in the paper, and could certainly be relied upon to con- tradict them, and sack the erring correspondent, if they did appear. Haley had been trying to say something, but by this time they had arrived at a hoop-la stall, where the PM wanted to try his hand. After a few throws he won a halma set, which he gave to Haley, suggesting it would keep him occupied on long Sunday evenings. From what Haley said I don't think he can really like halma. . . .
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