Tonbridge to Newport

Four weeks ago, Anthony Eden's Tories got the shock of their lives in the Kent countryside of Tonbridge. Presumably no district in all England could be rated safer for the Tories; in last year's general election, it went Tory by 10,196 votes. Yet, in a by-election at Tonbridge in June, the Tory candidate squeaked through by only 1,602 votes.

Tory second-guessers were quick with explanations: poor local organization, the natural apathy of Conservative voters when their party is securely in power, a purely parochial resentment against national headquarters for bypassing a favorite son in favor of an outsider. But underlying all such glib alibis lay the gloomier suspicion that the Tonbridge vote reflects a growing dissatisfaction with the Tories among Britain's hard-pressed middle classes, who are feeling the pinch of inflation.

Last week, at another by-election in Newport, Monmouthshire, the Tories conducted a campaign designed to correct all the minor faults envisioned at Tonbridge. Big names by the score journeyed down from London to counter local apathy at the polls. The Tory candidate, 39-year old Stockbroker Donald Box, was a local product; his Labor opponent, Sir Frank Soskice, an outsider. The choice between them rested with an electorate whose light Labor majority is well-tempered by a solidly Conservative bloc of prosperous farm owners, shopkeepers and small businessmen. The result: 6,811 fewer voters went to the polls than last year, yet Labor increased its majority by 4,125 votes.

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