THE NEW CHAPTER
THE one essential factor about the General Election and its result is that it marks a sharp transition from national to party government The transition, of course, had to be made sooner or later. The whole Parliamentary system of this country is based on party government, and nothing has happened in the past six years, or at any other time, to suggest the desirability of abandoning it. But the continuance of all-party administration for one more Parliamentary term would have had great advantages for the nation. Mr. Churchill made it clear from the first that if he were returned he would call on the services of the best men he could find, of all parties or none. Mr Attlee to all appearance (though his full intentions are not yet disclosed) proposes to form a purely party administration. That, of course, is completely within his rights, and perhaps the natural course for him to take. It is for the Labour Government now to show that it can equal in efficiency and service to the nation the notable administra- tion which held office from 1940 to 1945. It can count on fair play from its opponents and the public generally. No verdict will be passed without trial. It is recognised that the Labour Government contains many able administrators, some of them tried and proved in the Coalition Government, though it may be doubted whether it has material yet available to staff the mass of lesser posts adequately. Among the multitude of new members there is no doubt latent talent, but it must take some little time to bring it_to light. The House as a whole is something of an un- known quantity. Many of the successful candidates possess qualifi- cations in other fields than the political. To have achieved dis- tinction in the Army or Air Force deserves public recognition in itself, but it does not create the presumption that the candidate so distinguished possesses the capacity to pronounce on complex problems of policy and administration with wisdom and knowledge. The same is true in lesser degree of the many candidates who have held secondary office in trade unions. In many of these cases a few months of Parliamentary experience may work wonders, but it would be fatal to disregard the fact that membership of the House of Commons calls for special qualities, for which no sub- stitutes exist. Never was it more essential than today that the standards and traditions of the past should be rigorously main- tained. There is no need to assume that they will not be—and it is certainly not among Labour candidates only that some con- spicuous lightweights can be found—but it looks as though at first, at any rate, and perhaps inevitably, Cabinet initiative will be more than usually decisive, and the supporting progress of private mem- bers through the division lobbies more than usually automatic.
If that does happen at first it will not last long. The Labour majority is large enough to cause the Prime Minister some appre- hension, and sooner or later fissures will destroy its initial homo- geneity. But that contingency need not trouble Mr. Attlee yet. His first business is to complete his administration, and he will do that in the knowledge that for some time to coin it can count on a solid, substantial and impregnable majority in the House. His choice for his principal offices is instructive. For Mr. Churchill we have Mr. Attlee himself ; for Mr. Eden, Mr. Bevin ; for Sir John Anderson, Mr. Dalton ; for Mr. Oliver Lyttelton, Sir Stafford Cripps. The most interesting appointment of the bunch made so far is unquestionably that of Mr. Bevin. Nothing could be more superfluous than to underline the immense importance of the Foreign Office at this time. It may be less superfluous to consider the qualifications requisite in a Foreign Minister. The first, experience, is not at Mr. Attlee's command, though Mr. Dalton was Parliamentary Under-Secretary from 1929-1931, and it is Mr. Bevin's fortune, to succeed the most experienced, and in his own field the ablest, Foreign Minister in the world. Among other requisites is a working knowledge of international affairs for at least a generation, and preferably longer ; and that Mr. , Bevin, so far as is known, possesses in only a limited degree. But more important in many ways than any acquired knowledge are such native qualities as discernment, sound judgement, elasticity, and, where necessary, moral courage. Mr. Bevin will certainly not fail in the last, and he may possess more of the former than casual observers would suspect him of. Sixty-six may be late in life for an old dog to learn new tricks, but it happens to be precisely the age at which Arthur Henderson, with a trade union experience singularly similar to Mr Bevin's, took over the Foreign Office in 1929, and there are no two opinions about the ability and success with which he discharged his duties. But there is one step which it must be earnestly hoped Mr. Attlee will take. The recent device of appointing a Minister of State, attached to the Foreign Office, to act as the Foreign Secretary's coadjutor, with much more than the authority of an Under-Secretary, has worked extremely well. Labour is fortunate in having available in Mr. Noel Baker a hitherto junior Minister with a knowledge of foreign affairs hardly less than Mr. Eden's.
It is, without question, in the field of domestic legislation and administration that the new Government will be most closely watched and severely taxed. It has come in not merely with a great parliamentary majority but on a remarkable wave of party enthusiasm. High expectations have been aroused, and there will be some impatience if the impossible is not immediately achieved. Labour believes it can secure results in the field of social reform, particularly housing, which could never be hoped for from its political opponents. That remains to be proved. Political Labour has certain definite advantages in its relations with industrial Labour, and if Mr. Attlee's Government, without violation of reasonable and recognised rights, can get sound houses built faster than there has been expectation of getting them hitherto there will be nothing but appreciation for its efforts. As to the programme outlined in Mr. Churchill's broadcast of March, 1943, now develop- ing into a series of concrete measures, regarding national insurance, full employment, a national health service, Mr. 4ttlee will be wise if he makes haste—as he can certainly be counted on to do—a little slowly. The programme so far has been agreed between all parties. and all parties are pledged to support its execution in substantially its original form. To amend it radically would no doubt give satis- faction to the more ardent section of Labour, but while the one course would establish public confidence the other would shake confidence severely. And the first task of the new Govern- ment, in its own interest no less than in the nation's, is to avoid dis- turbing confidence unnecessarily. There are reasons for hoping that the course of wisdom will be followed. The principal Labour Ministers have held office in the National Government and there displayed both moderation and ability. Responsibility, moreover, is a great moderator in itself. " All revolutionists," Dr. G. M. Trevelyan once wrote, " the moment they undertake the actual responsibilities of government, become in some sort conservative." That is usually true—and the Labour Party is not even in any ordinary sense revolutionist.
But that certain dangers exist is undeniable. There has been too much loose talk at different times by various Labour leaders, though never by Mr. Attlee, about a cavalier treatment of Parlia- ment, which would reduce the functions of that body to the passage of Enabling Acts, leaving the Government of the day to enact quasi-legislation as it chose by Orders in Council. Tendencies in that direction will be vigilantly watched, though it is fair to recog- nise that if Parliament is to discharge its manifold tasks some re- vision of its procedure, by general ,consent if possible, will be necessary. In another direction symptoms are evident which cause more serious concern. The Labour Government is pledged by its election promises to a certain measure of nationalisation, and it is rumoured that proposals regarding the coal industry will figure in the King's Speech. No complaint can be made of that. The Reid report made it manifest that a drastic overhaul of the mining indus- try is imperative, and however far the Government's plan for coal may go it is not to be condemned before it has been produced. But what was said above regarding the advantage of political Labour in its relation to industrial Labour needs some modification. Industrial Labour in some respects is developing disquieting tactics. Coal miners have long been declaring that nationalisation must come because they will not hew coal without it, and in meetings in the last few days a certain section of railwaymen has been adopting substantially the same attitude. To yield to such pressure would be even more dangerous for a Labour Government than for a Conservative. That should be grasped beyond possibility of misunderstanding. The prime duty of the new Government is to govern ; the second, which is part of the first, is to establish public confidence even at the sacrifice of some remoter ambitions.
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