Evening star., 1956-12-02
By LOUIS K. MATHER

A big. powerful man with the air
of a country squire numbered into
the Downing Street breach two
weeks ago and set patiently to
work to repair the domestic and
international damage wrought In
the past month.
Many believe that man. Richard
Austen Butler. Lord Privy Seal and
now acting Prime Minister. will
never hand the reins back to his
ailing cabinet chief. Sir Anthony
Eden. If this is true. Mr.. Butler
has the triple task of extricating
his country from the Middle East
debacle. helping to rebuild the
tattered Atlantic alliance and rid
ding the Conservatives Of the "war.
party" label before the 1860 elec-
tions.
Few can envy the 54-year-old
Mr.. Butler his position. He in
herits q divided country. whose
economy will worsen as the true
costs Of the Suez adventure are
felt in the coming winter. His i'm
mediate task Is to march out the
troops which Sir Anthony marched
in. In doing so. he may bring
about the downfall of the govern
ment he is temporarily leading.
But Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd
has just returned from Washing
ton with the news that prompt
withdrawal from Egypt is q diplo-
matte necessity.
A powerful group Of right-wing
Conservatives strongly oppose obe-
dience to the U. N. request to with
draw troops from Port Said. This
group, strong enough to collect 100
signatures to q Parliamentary mo-
tion critical Of the U. N. and the
United States, is alarmed to see the
moderate Mr.. Butler in control.
These "Suez rebels" could topple the
Conservative government by ABB
staining from voting on motion
Of confidence.
lronic Situation
Mr.. Butler may muse on the
irony of his present situation. Two
years ago If he had been less loyal
and more ambitious he could have
easily cut out Sir Anthony and him.
self succeeded to the Conservative
leadership. So strongly did many
Conservatives prefer the leadership
qualities OF Mr.. Butler that all the
persuasion Of Sir Winston Churchill
was needed to hand the succession
on to Sir Anthony.
Many observers in both London
and Washington feel that Sir AM
thony will bow out in order to
restore confidence between the
White House and Downing Street.
There is no reason to doubt that
the Prime Minister requested Big
Three meeting in Washington for
this month and was turned down.
In ignoring President Eisenhower's
warnings against using force in the.
Middle East--and in embarrassing
the President during the election
campaign-Sir Anthony may have
worn out his welcome at 1900 Penn
sylvania avenue and limited his
usefulness to his country at this
time when the alliance with Ameri-
ca is so vital. There is q strong
possibility that Sir Anthony win
return to England. 60 directly to
the Palace and tender his resigna-
ton. Under the British Constitu-
ton he would then have the choice
Of calling for an election or Of
recommending to the Queen q sue
ceSSor.
There is almost no chance Sir
Anthony would call for a general
election at such a disastrous mo-
ment in the fortunes Of his party.
Instead he would recommend either
Mr.. Butler or Harold Macmillan
as his successor
Mr.. Harold Macmillan would be
the choice of the right-wing Con-
servatives. His appointment would
placate the shrill anti-American
"Suez rebels" who threaten the
stability Of the government. which
only enjoys a 68-vote majority in
Commons. But his appointment
would also slow down British COM
pliance with U. N. decisions on the
Sue7 area. and would probably
leave in suspense many problems