Evening star., 1950-02-26
British
Continued From First Page,

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ent by / 1,437 votes. Labor won the
seat in l945 by about the same
margin.
In the other contest. Capt. j,
Macleod, an Independent Lib
eral, got 1922 votes against
Laborite A. C. Reid's 6,521 in the
Scottish constituency of Ross and
Cromarty. In 1945 Capt. Mac
Leod was elected as National
Liberal, a party allied with the
Conservatives. AS an Independent
Liberal, he is not committed to
follow a party line.
Tactics to Decide Fate.
How long Mr.. Attlee might last
with so slim a majority depends
in a large part on tactics.
Back in 1847 the Liberals
(Whigs) defeated the Conserva-
tives of Sir Robert Peel by a
single vote and remained in power
five years. In 1852 the Liberals
again formed a government with
margin of only 13 votes which
also lasted five years.
In Britain's last close election,
1910, Liberal Prime Minister
Herbert Asquith won only two
more seats than the Conservatives.
But the situation was not COM
parable. Asquith was able to reach
working agreement with a sub
stantial number of Labor and
Irish Nationalist members in the
house.
Both the Labor and Conserva-
tive leaders sought retreat in the
country today to organize their
thoughts.
After deciding to remain in
Office. Mr.. Attlee went to the prime
minister's home at Chequers to
plan the composition. Of his new
government. BY tradition, all cabi-
net members placed their resigna-
tions at his disposal.
Bevin Now Wants to Stay.
Some changes are expected. A
week ago the cabinet was expected
to be more leftist than ever. Mr..
Attlee may have to trim his sails
now.
Original plans called for the
resignation of ailing Ernest Bevin,
the foreign secretary whose policies
have been supported in general by
the Conservatives. He leads the
moderate wing of the Cabinet. Now
Mr.. Bevin is reported anxious to
keep on.
Mr.. Churchill, 75-year-old war
horse of the Conservatives, went
to his home, Chartwell, for the
week end. There he was joined by
his deputy leader, Anthony Eden.
They were expected to chart oppo-
sition strategy and present the
outline to the shadow cabinet
the men who would be ministers
If the Conservatives come to power.
Before Mr.. Churchill was the
question:
Should the Conservatives try to
bring down the new Labor govern
ment quickly or let it live long
enough to bring in the annual
budget and other necessary finance
bills in April?
1t will not be long before the
country gets leok at the rival
strategies.
Parliament Meets Wednesday.
The new Parliament meets
Wednesday, when its members are
sworn in. Before the end of the
week Mr.. Attlee is expected to an
'nounce the composition Of his new
Cabinet.
Then on March the Parlia-
ment session formally opens with
the Kings speech from the throne.
The speech is written by the
government in power and OUT
lines its policy in general terms.
The debate following offers the
Conservatives their first chance
to attack and test the govern
ment's strength. This could be
done on a government motion
asking Endorsement of the speech.
The Conservative decision prob
ably will turn on what is in the
speech and how it is put.
Mr.. Attlee may keep. out of it
any mention of such controversial
issues as Labor's program for more