Wilson under Fire

Not in the 30 years that the Gallup poll has been canvassing voters in Britain has there been such a drastic swing in public preference for a political party. Three months ago, Harold Wilson's Labor government had been riding high with an 18% lead over the Conservatives. By last week Wilson's party had not only lost its handsome lead but had actually slipped behind the Tories.

What bothered Britons was Wilson's drastic program to rescue the pound: the six-month freeze on wages, prices and dividends, to be followed by another six months of "restraint." His plan angered almost everyone, from 23,000 doctors on Britain's health plan, who were required to forgo a 15% salary increase, to the 25,000-member civil service union, whose newspaper called Wilson's measures "a monstrous breach of faith." The powerful Trades Union Congress reluctantly agreed to continue to support Wilson's wage policy, but discontent is so great within its member unions that the T.U.C. endorsement may be overturned at next month's membership convention.

Reduced Majority. Wilson's tactics brought bitter resentment in Parliament. As a maneuver to speed the passage of a wage-price freeze, Wilson attached the measure as a rider to an earlier bill that had already been debated in Commons. The effect was to bar debate there on the substance of Wilson's measure--which of course brought an angry outcry from the opposition Tories. Conservative Leader Ted Heath rose in the House to remind Wilson that, during last year's election campaign, the Prime Minister himself had described a wage freeze as "monstrously unfair" and "repugnant to all parties in this country." When the debate issue was put to a vote, Wilson won--though with a sharply reduced majority. Dozens of Laborites clearly shared Heath's view that so important a measure should be fully debated in the House. At least two dozen of Wilson's followers abstained, in protest against the steamroller tactics.

As the politicians argued, the British Treasury released figures showing that the country's reserves declined in July by only $70 million (to $3,206,000,000). The immediate reaction among financial experts was disbelief. In fact, most British financiers suspected that Britain had drawn as much as $420 million to $560 million from its emergency account with the Federal Reserve to cover up the true magnitude of July's loss.

For all his tough measures, Wilson has not succeeded in restoring sterling to a strong, buoyant position. As a result, the talk in Britain among politicians and economists has turned increasingly toward devaluation of the pound as the only option left to Wilson if sterling comes under another severe attack.

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