The British Radical Lt.-Col. Patrick Lort-Phillips
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THE BRITISH RADICAL
SIR,—Robin Marris ends his interesting article 'The Futility of the Right' with these words: 'The Radical in the Tory Party not only denies his Radicalism, but wastes his time. He also wastes his time in the Liberal Party, but that is another chapter.' There is still another chapter after that, the most important one of all: he wastes his time in the Labour Party as well; and this is the root cause of our present political impasse.
The pendulum swings easily enough to the Right, but on the return swing to the Left, something is wrong with the works. The Labour Party is now effectively con- trolled and financed by the trade unions. Not only do they control the party machine absolutely, but they have more than a hundred pocket boroughs through which they can independently express their views in Parliament. This state of affairs is perfectly legitimate, but it means that there is no scope whatsoever for the Radical in Marris's own definition of the term. The Tory Radicals are indeed a futile and ineffective bunch: but in so far as they are genuine psychological Radicals, where can they go? Perhaps Mr. Marris will enlighten us. The Labour Party today can offer no home to them. The Radicals in the Labour movement are just as futile and ineffective as their confreres in the Tory Party. They do not exist in sufficient numbers to be able to sway the block votes of the unions any appreciable distance from the parish pump.
I am a psychological Radical, and I am a member of the Liberal Party. I may be wasting my time in the Liberal Party; that remains to be seen. But this I do know, that in either the Tory Party or the Labour Party my time would be utterly lost beyond recall.
The record of the Tory government over the last seven years is disastrous; that it should even be able to aspire to a further term of office is terrifying. But until there is a rational Radical alternative, a party which will accept radicals from outside the closed shop of the organised working class- conscious trade unions, I do not see how the pendulum can be made to swing once again to the Left. The Liberal Party can do this: the Labour Party cannot. The outcome of this Radical development will undoubted- ly be the major political issue of the next seven years.—Yours faithfully,
PATRICK LORT-PHILLIPS
19 Chester Row, SW!
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