VIEWS OF THE WEEK

Mr. Wilson Collects His Entry Permit

From DAVID WATT

WASHINGTON

MR. WILSON'S visit to Washington last week was a significant success. This statement is not intended to mean that the professed object of the whole trip—the speech to the Economic Club in New York—was a flop. On the contrary, it obviously made everyone happy. The bankers nodded approvingly, the speculators rushed out to buy sterling while the going was good, and collectors of Wilsoniana garnered some hand- some gems for their collection.

Writing as one of this last group I can't help holding up for admiring inspection the way in which 'the silver-haired Premier, speaking in a marked Yorkshire accent' (to quote the New York Times's first democratic description), managed to introduce Buckingham Palace and the 'Queen's commission' to the class-conscious Americans on the first page of, his text. Then there was the admirable choice of the word `reactivated' to describe what the Government has done to the NEDC machinery; and the masterly use of the verb in the sentence, 'we have held the estimates for government expenditure this present fiscal year ending April 1966 to a rate of 8.9 per cent above last year'; and there was the summer of 1940; and there was Abraham Lincoln. Marvellous.

However, the speech, though it was a valuable exercise in public relations, broke no new ground. The American banking and business community was as impressed by the authoritative handling of economic arguments and the impeccably con- servative sentiments of this dangerous Socialist as it was no doubt by the silver hair and the Yorkshire accent, but these are, on the whole, men who pride themselves on looking at facts rather than words. The British budget was a fact, and a profoundly reassuring one to them; and anything the Prime Minister said about the defence of sterling was already credible—as it would not have been a month ago. Plans for revitalising British industry and 'knocking hell' out of American competition still remain only plans.

By contrast the day-trip to Washington seemed

to mark a genuinely new phase in the Labour government's relations with the Johnson administration. It did not achieve much, it was informal and hurried, but it was surrounded by a genuine atmosphere of respect and goodwill which Mr. Wilson's first formal visit as Prime Minister last December did not produce. Mr. Wilson, so far as the American government is concerned, has won full acceptance and the interesting thing about this is how quickly it has happened.

American officials, after the last twenty years' experience, have developed a high gloss of sophistication, not to say cynicism, about the visits of high-ranking foreign dignitaries, and it has long been established doctrine that all prime ministerial descents on Washington can have three possible objects—to boost the traveller's political prestige at home, to indulge in blatant national propaganda, or to put the bite on Uncle Sam. What varies from administration to administration is the criterion applied to deter- mine whether the President assists or thwarts these purposes.

Mr. Johnson's style, confirmed by recent rather liverish outbursts, is to expect his visitors to pay a high price for admission to the White House. Complimentary tickets will be sparingly issued and business passes handed out only after careful scrutiny of the applicant's credentials. The sudden extraordinary cancellation last week of the visits of President Ayub and Mr. Shastri, for public reasons which seemed to be designedly frivolous has caused a good deal of horror among officials in the State Department and in offices even closer to the President; and it is perhaps the crudest demonstration so far of Mr. John- son's requirements of conformity or nuisance value for his clients. But it should not be assumed that these criteria were not applied to Mr. Wilson.

No American in Washington had much doubt from the start that the present British Prime Minister, like most of his predecessors, was seeking the three classic objectives outlined above, that is to say he wanted a few more cards to play against left and right in the House of Commons, he wanted a platform for some re- sounding promises about the British economy, and he wanted financial assistance in some form or another. The question was whether he had earned the right to these advantages or alter- natively whether it would be dangerous to refuse them if he had not.

When Mr. Wilson's visit was first bruited about two months ago there was hardly an official who did not predict that in his precarious situation the Prime Minister would be forced. even if he did not actually want, to placate his left wing with denunciations of the American bombing of North Vietnam and with well- publicised and highly embarrassing peace manoeuvres. When he got up in the House of Commons and started talking about Britain's part in delicate diplomatic discussions and so on these predictions seemed to be coming true. The re- action at the White House was immediate, and in the characteristic Johnsonian manner, sulphur- ous. There ensued a serious debate about whether Mr. Wilson should be received which was decided

in his favour on the grounds that such a snub to a major ally would be too risky. Ever since last November there has always been at, least one strong argument for giving the British government the benefit of the doubt since no- body in Washington is at all anxious to test out the proposition that the dollar can survive amid the wreckage of the pound. Nevertheless. inquirers were given clearly to understand that there was nothing particularly valuable to talk about at the present time, that the President, was a very busy man, and that there was really no justification for the invitation to the White House except old-fashioned courtesy.

In a month the ice has vanished as the volatile political pundits of Washington followed the Prime Minister's subsequent course with amazement and admiration. The three-vote majority,• the left wing, the opposition, the air- craft workers and public opinion—all the monsters before which it had been assumed the Labour government would fly—are now assumed to have been conquered. American operations in Vietnam supported to the hilt, the F-11 J half- bought, President de Gaulle bearded in his den, and still the opinion polls showing Labour in the ascendant—the Prime Minister has not only been faithful, he has also been successful, and that is an irresistible combination.

The rewards gathered last week may seem somewhat meagre but they still exist. It is worth contrasting the mild approval given to Mr. Wilson's efforts to get a Cambodian conference going with the distinctly boorish reception given by the President to Mr. Lester Pearson's suggestion that a pause might. now be in order in the bombing of North Vietnam. Again. on the question (vital to Britain) of the reform of the international monetary system, where progress seemed likely to be almost non-existent while the new and distinctly uninspiring team at the US Treasury collected its wits, Mr. Wilson seems to have secured some Presidential backing for an urgent study of the 'Anglo-Saxon' position. Finally, by an uncovenanted ruling from the Commerce Department, the balance of payments programme is to be relaxed so that airlines can take up options on the BAC-111 and high-priced executives can equip themselves with Hawker Siddeley planes.

No doubt there are good arguments on both left and right for saying that the price paid for these benefits has been too high. But there was no sign that Mr. Wilson, leaving the White House with an ecstatic grin on his face, thinks so. He has got his entry permit and he proposes to use it.