LONDON LETTER
253
Politically, Labour is likely to sound more interested in theory than
the Conservatives, partly because Sir Anthony Eden shows his patriotism,
as Malcolm Muggeridge recently put it, by "boring for England," where–
as Mr. Bevan shows his by denouncing his Labour colleagues as bad so–
cialists and-having entered and lost contests for both the leadership
and the deputy-leadership of his party-by declaring that he is above
leading a party so ideologically ill-behaved (he rose to positively Gaullist
heights later by saying, "I am not interested in being the leader of any
party, but merely in being a leader"). But-as the tactics of Mr. Butler
and Mr. Macmillan in dealing with inflation have shown-the Con–
servatives are more devoted to their traditions than Sir Anthony's cliches
would suggest, and Labour as a whole is not nearly so preoccupied with
socialist theology as Mr. Bevan.
Concern for customary attitudes could be illustrated in all the af–
fairs, trivial or serious, which have occupied attention in the last months.
For instance, during Princess Margaret's trouble,
The Times
directed
an editorial at her which sounded like a letter from some senile uncle
devoted in a muddle-headed way to preserving the family honor; it went
on about duty and the English people's deep disapproval of the innocent
parties to divorces, feelings which are largely restricted to
The Times
(which is not to say that people were not relieved when Princess Mar–
garet decided not to marry Group Captain Townsend). The tabloids,
with their incredible bad taste-large cuts of Townsend slipping into a
side door of Clarence House and the like-at least recognized that
Princess Margaret was a human being, and that was a great relief from
The Times.
"Royal soap opera," Muggeridge called the press's view
of the affair.
The weeklies, which are more informal and much more thoughtful
than their American counterparts, have characteristically stirred up the
greatest excitement by raising moral questions about past events. Was
the notorious Casement diary, which had so much to do with quieting
Casement's supporters when he was tried during the First World War,
a forgery? (The Irish of course weighed in on this one in a big way.)
Did Mr. Robert Blake in his life of Bonar Law depend too exclusively
on Lord Beaverbrook's evidence in telling a story unfavorable to Asquith,
or is Lady Violet Bonham Carter, for all her arrogance and her bad
manners, right about what happened? And does Mr. Blake's book show
that Christ Church scholarship is "whitewashing," because Christ Church
is part of that reincarnation of the Cliveden set, "The Establishment"–
a sinister old-ruling-class clique which tries to run England from the
seclusion of Oxford colleges, country houses, and London clubs?
