up again, while the effects of monetarist policies on manufacturing industry and been drastic. Enter the Tory dissidents.
Edward Heath's disaffection Thatcher's leadership dates from his defeat Tory leadership election en first was masterminded by the hard right of the party - people like Robert Moss, lan security scroungers' Sproat, and Jock Bruce-Gardyne.
Her pretorian guard included a fair sprinkling. of Krode.
Boyson, Norman Tebbitt and their ilk. Hard-nosed Despite the slogan, one thing is certain: the Tories won't be forming the next government. More and more the Conservatives are beginning to fear the monetarists like Leon Brittan and Nigel Lawson seized control the Treasury.
All of this was deeply offensive to manv in the Tory hierarchy; but Thatcher had correctly judged the mood of the party in the country, and its majority in parliament. The party hierarchy remained. for the first time in many years, the prisoner of its WII Dast But the Tories are nothing if not pragmatic.
The ultimate Crane failure. The Tory 'wets' are regrouping, ready for a sustained attack. While Gilmour ana Heath christened "Teddy Benn' Alan cabinet office:
by Edward Du Cann and junior MPs spearhead the allack Thatcher must know that there are dozens of secret 'wets', both in the cabinet and in the higher reaches of the party, who will join rebellion which misses success.
The manifesto of the opposition, written by the so-called 'Blue Chins' deeply revealing Two concerns shine out. First, they the are deeply wornea by nihilation, and government's image.
Second, they are deeply rearrui mal sections or the ruling class, those emergence of the SDP. Above centre, Walters, hard-line monetarist advisor to the he was formerly turing capital, will turn to the Social Democratic Party. Thus they propose an immense reflation of the economy.
DONe auotes will in cidate their line of thinking. 'We fie the government) talk in terms of almost primitive laisse.
faire, and thereby collect the credit every bankruptcy that occurs. We talk, too often, as if we consider the unemploymen figures For the reciVillis be fellow citizens for whom we have duty care and thereby collect the odium of responsibility for the recession, and the hatred Professor Chilean gov Brocklebank. advising the SDP. Rumou of those whom we have i fact struggled to protect a time of falling nation output.' The Tory party, the say, has achieved a reput tion as 'industrial hit me They social ose interies DIODUSC instead programme of investme led by the government, i house building, telecon munications, scho equipment road buildir and so on. They also argı for a return to a more 'ca ing approach SOCI policy This desire on the pa of many Tories occupy the centre groun politics stems fro their increasin
the Blue Chips and the SDP SDP S. S Second, Roy Jenkins' vote in the Warrington byshowe that many of the SDP's vote come from previous Tory or Liberal voters.
ex-Labour Third, the gains which can be established for the SDP by firmly adopting the 'centre' option are probably greater than that which can be achieved immediately by the 'left' option Smash Attemots to smash un the Labour Party will be bitterly resisted every inch of the way, and stand no chance of success without first splitting a section of the unions the Labour Party - which is a most unlikely variant.
This the Economist gets it wrong A Bennite 'rump' 'with the Labour right detached would be a 'rump maintained lIS links with the unions. It would still be the mass party of the working class.
There is a further major strategic issue at stake for the SDP. prospects of the SDP. Liberal alllance depend on the possibility of so damaging both major parties that the alliance will nave enough weight either in government noidingle (Dance - to impose proportional after the next election Epoch This is exactly what the Economist-style Tories want, because Ine know that such a develop ment would probably Du them out of office for the foreseeable tuture and guarantee an epoch of coallon coverincil The opinion polls seem to indicate that the SDP is on the cresi of a wave of popular SHODOR! terestingly enough, COUL within the SDP itself (such as that by David Marduand ir the latest London Review of Books) indicate the adhesion of a large number of people from the middle classes who have never previously been involved in politics