Portrait of the Week
IF the parties to the Middle East dispute hold their breath much longer someone is either going to collapse with suffoca- tion or be knocked over by a sudden exhalation. Chief sufferer is Israel, who remains at present quite unmoved by the impassioned pleas of Mr. Dulles and the fact that Presi- dent Eisenhower has actually cut short his holiday in Georgia to discuss the situation; consequently the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza strip and the Gulf of Aqaba seems to be no nearer. American blandishments have consisted of an aide-memoire from Mr. Dulles giving assurances about rights of shipping in the Gulf (though it later appeared that these could only apply to ships of US registration) and an appeal from the Presi- dent to rely on the 'resoluteness of all friends of justice.' America's embarrassment has been grow- ing very acute with the approach of a new resolu- tion in the United Nations calling for sanctions against Israel in the face of her defiance, since influential Senators on both sides of Congress have made it very clear that they will oppose the Administration if it supports this move, and in- fluential persons all over the Arab world have made it equally obvious that the Eisenhower Doctrine will be so much waste paper if it does not support it. The Doctrine itself has been somewhat emasculated by the Senate which has emended it to exclude any explicit Congressional authority for the President to use American forces in the Middle East on his own initiative, though of course everyone knows he could do so in any case. What it will do to Mr. Arthur Miller, indicted for not answering questions about his Communist friends, no one knows.
However, not everything is as black as all that. The UN refused to debate a Russian resolution about American 'aggression' in the Middle East, the Texas oil companies have raised their produc- tion sights by several hundred thousand barrels a day, and the people of the United States are now said to number 170 million.
Iron Curtain augurs have been sent flying to their tablets by the news that the Soviet Foreign Secretary Mr. Shepilov has been removed to make way for Mr. Gromyko, his deputy and, among other things, ex-ambassador to Britain. In the absence of signs of any deeper meaning it has been generally assumed that the change was made in the interests of efficiency rather than political tactics, Mr. Gromyko being, if nothing else, extremely effective in coping with diplomatic opposition. The 'old powers' have been heavily occupied by recent events in the UN. An Afro-Asian motion demanding self-determination in Algeria was defeated and another expressing pious hopes about the efficacy of consultation passed (a matter rather offset in French eyes by the news that Arab rebellion was now spreading to French West Africa). A debate in the Political Committee about Cyprus has so far been a slanging match between British, Greek and Turkish delegates.
At home the political scene, if not actually heated, appears to be warming up. The capture by Labour of the North Lewisham seat • in the recent by-election has been interpreted as expected —by the Opposition as a vote of no confidence in the new Government in general and the Rent Bill in particular, by the Conservatives as a satisfac- tory resurgence of support after the Suez slump, and by the Daily Express as a well-earned insult to Mr. Macmillan.„The Government has evidently agreed about the Rent Bill and, with a prudent eye on the seven other by-elections pending, has emended the notorious Clause Nine so that affected tenants will now have fifteen months' security of tenure. Except for that wise concession it has laudably stuck to its guns. However, no one will accuse it of bribing the electorate with the cuts in the welfare services that have been made as an adjunct to Mr. Sandys's defence savings. They include higher charges for school meals and welfare milk and a rise in National Health con- tributions of 10d. a week. Meanwhile Parliament has been debating Cyprus.
Miscellaneous items include the Monopolies Commission's report on the radio valve manufac- turers showing that manufacturers' profits average about 20 per cent. of the cost price, the announce- ment of a Royal Commission on doctors' and dentists' pay, a now issue of five-pound notes, and the disarming confession of the Prime Minister's wife that she 'feels rather lost.'
Sir Anthony Eden has been taken ill again; the Queen is reunited with her husband on a State visit • to Portugal, where her reception has been tumul- tuous; Lord Hore-Belisha has died; England lost the fourth Test match in South Africa by 17 runs; and Mr. Evelyn Waugh has been awarded £2,000 damages for libel against Beaverbrook News- papers Ltd. and Miss Nancy Spain.
Previous page
