The Tories on the Tories

LST week the SPECTATOR invited all those taking part in the Conservative party confer- ence at Blackpool to complete a brief question- naire about the conference. The response was highly satisfactory, and we should like to thank most sincerely all those who co-operated so con- scientiously in this venture. Now for the results. All figures are percentages.

1. Do you judge the conference to have been Very successful 62 Successful 31 Disappointing 7 The fact that fewer than two in three regarded it as 'very successful' suggests that representatives were rather more discriminating in their judg- ment than the plethora of standing ovations might have indicated.

2. Did it give the right message to the country?

Yes 92 No 6 Don't Know 2

3. (a) Which did you consider the best debate?

Economic Policy 20 Law and Order 15 External Affairs 14 Rhodesia 9 Policy in Opposition 8 All other debates 24 Don't Know 10 The only debates singled out for criticism (on grounds of quality rather than lack of time) were Industrial Relations, in which the lack of speakers with practical industrial experience was frequently deplored, and the debate on Party Organisation.

(b) Who was the best platform speaker?

lain Macleod 25 Edward Heath 21 Quintin Hogg 17 Sir A. Douglas-Home 15 Margaret Thatcher 12 Others and Don't Know 10 Perhaps the outstanding feature in a close contest is Mrs Thatcher's place among the top

,t,- - 'We hada certain difficulty in defining "chastity". .

five who together gathered 90 per cent of the votes. The lady will, we hope, forgive us if we add that this also shows that respondents answered this question on its merits, and did not take it as an implied leadership stakes. The impor- tant qualification that needs to be made was well put to us in a letter from a London constituency chairman : I stupidly completed your excellent ballot

form at Blackpool before Edward Heath spoke on Saturday morning and therefore awarded the palm to Iain Macleod. However, I think Mr Heath spoke even better, and so I write to point out that if others filled in their forms while wait- ing for Mr Heath you may get a false reading!

The only speeches that were singled out by a significant number of respondents for favourable comment elsewhere on the form were those of Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Mr Marples (at the CPC meeting outside the main conference) and Mr Heath (final speech). It seems likely that Mr Maudling, whose 'brilliant summing-up in the Rhodesia debate' was remarked on by one respon- dent, suffered because his task was less to rouse the audience than to avoid a 'great divide' within the Tory party itself on this issue.

(c) Who was the best speaker from the floor?

Angus Maude 18 Noel Picarda 16 Dr G. Hooker 12 Alan Haselhurst 5 All others 25 Don't Know 24

Dr Hooker's success contrasts with the low rat- ing of the debate (technology and aerospace) in which he spoke.

4. What do you consider the most important point made by the conference?

The replies to this question inevitably varied tremendously. Roughly half the respondents, however, fell into two main groups. About one in eight agreed with the majority verdict of the press that the most important outcome was the unity of the party and/or complete acceptance of Mr Heath as leader. Nearly three in eight subscribed

to a rather more diffuse group comprising free- dom for the people, freedom v. compulsion, com- petition v. compulsion, the 'great divide' (a refer- ence to Mr Heath's final speech) and the differ- ence between the parties. It is perhaps worth noting that 'freedom' was mentioned roughly twice as often as 'competition,' and that while `freedom' more often than not was considered a point in itself, 'competition' was almost without exception mentioned as an (alliterative) alterna- tive to `compulsion.'

5. Was any important theme of current politics not debated. but ought to have been?

Yes 37 No 63

Roughly one in five of the minority who said `yes' thought there should have been a debate on immigration. The only other topics to receive a significant number of mentions were parliament- ary reform, Vietnam and Europe.

6. Do you feel that the rank and file of the party made its voice heard effectively?

Yes 79 No 16 Don't Know 5

A remarkable success for the conference man- agers. There were, however, a number of com- plaints that not enough time had been allowed for social policy, including health (in particular) and education.

7. Will the conference lead to any significant changes in Conservative tactics or policies?, Yes 39 No 54 Don't Know 7 The great majority of those who said 'yes' ex- pected changes in tactics and organisation, rather than policy, and especially at the constituency level (including selection of candidates).

8. Do you approve of the present wage-price freeze?

Yes 12 No 86 Don't Know 2

A number of those who said `no' qualified it with some such phrase as 'not in this form.' But even disregarding this, it is interesting that one representative in eight was prepared to own to approval of the present freeze after the confer- ence had unanimously approved an economic motion specifically condemning it as 'utterly misconceived.'

9. In the light of the conference, do you expect the Tories to win the next general election?,

Yes 85

No 8 Don't Know 7

10. Representatives were invited to make further observations on the conference on the back of the form. Nearly 40 per cent of those who replied did so. The most frequent observa- tion was a plea for more controversial motions —and hence more genuine debates. Of those who commented on the party leadership favourable comments outnumbered the unfavourable by some three to one; the same ratio of favourable to unfavourable applied to comments on the general quality of the speeches. Finally, a few respondents thought the party had moved to the right, and considered this a good thing. Slightly more detected a move away from the right—and thought this was a good thing, too.