"I'll Join the Union"

Bevin's plug for an imperial customs union warmed at least one Tory heart. When Arch-Imperialist Lord Beaverbrook, publisher of the Daily Express, heard of Bevin's remarks, he chuckled: "By God, I think I'll go right down to Transport House [Trade Union headquarters] and join the union."

Only the day before, Beaverbrook had got some imperial yearnings off his own chest. For the U.S. Scripps-Howard papers he wrote a pungent evaluation of Britain's status. "The basic cause of our being in the present condition," he said, ". .. is the [U.S.] loan and the conditions under which it was accepted. It provided easy money. It destroyed our prospect of reconstructing our economy on sound lines. These lines entail the development of our Empire potentialities with speed and vigor.

"Have the Conservatives no policy? They have; a very bad one. Their industrial charter [a pamphlet outlining party policy] accepts a considerable degree of socialization. Have I hope? Yes, some Elijah or Elisha will arise and the structure of this Empire will be reconstituted, its resources will be developed and its prosperity will be expanded."

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