Something for Everyone

The imperial crown and velvet robes were missing. So was the ride from Buckingham Palace to Westminster in the horse-drawn state coach. Instead, Queen Elizabeth, wearing the same sapphire-blue coat she wore at Princess Anne's recent wedding, drove to the House of Lords to open the new Parliament last week in an ordinary black limousine. The absence of spectacle was something of an accident; there simply had not been enough time to prepare the customary pageantry for the Queen, who had interrupted an official visit to Australia to anoint the election winner. Nonetheless, the austere mood reflected the difficult times in which Britain finds itself.

It took the Queen ten minutes to read the brief speech that her new Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, had prepared for her. The most cheerful note came when Her Majesty intoned, "I have been able to end the state of emergency, which had existed since 13 November." Hardly more than a general outline of the new government's program, the speech nonetheless gave Britons their first clue as to how Wilson and his Labor Party plan to rule and retain power while holding only 301 of the House of Commons' 635 seats. Wilson's strategy is clear: he intends, at least initially, to emphasize safe, popular measures and give the 296 Tories, 14 Liberals and 21 assorted nationalist M.P.s no reason to unite to topple him.

Wilson has already frozen most rents until 1975 and ended the three-day work week. Through the Queen, he promised substantial increases in pensions and social-security payments, which would affect benefits for widows, the disabled and the unemployed. To halt the soaring cost of food (up 53% during the 44 months of Edward Heath's Tory government), Wilson proposed subsidizing basic foodstuffs (probably eggs, cheese, milk and bread) and limiting food profit margins. He also pledged unspecified "urgent measures" to deal with the country's housing crisis. While the number of new houses built has been declining, the average mortgage payments on a new house have risen in the past four years from $82 to $216.

Vague Language. The Tories can hardly expect to defeat the Labor government by challenging such popular economic measures. Moreover, Wilson, by avoiding more controversial issues, refused to give Heath good targets. For instance, "nationalization" was never mentioned in the Queen's speech, though Labor's election manifesto had promised to nationalize many of Britain's major industries, including shipbuilding, trucking and construction. The only reference to an extension of public ownership was a cautiously worded promise to crack down on property speculators.

So adroitly did Wilson draft the speech that Heath was limited to criticizing the vagueness of the language. "It requires a consistent probing to ascertain what lies behind so much of its wording," he complained, adding that he could not judge it without "knowledge of the government's financial policies." Liberal Leader Jeremy Thorpe expressed delight that Labor had already "shed some of their unmentionables"--such as nationalization.

Eventually, of course, Wilson must confront some hard decisions. In the budget message later this month, he will have to indicate which programs will be slashed or which taxes raised to provide the funds for his generous welfare increases. He also faces potential union unrest. There is the danger that the hefty wage boost he granted to the coal miners (up to 30% in some cases) will embolden other workers when their contracts expire this year. This could land Wilson in the same dilemma that led to Heath's recent electoral defeat: a battle with the unions to restrain wage demands in order to hold back inflation.

Wilson will also have trouble when he seeks "fundamental renegotiation" of the terms under which Britain entered the Common Market. He hopes to obtain lower food prices for Britain and a reduction in London's contributions to the Market's budget. Any renegotiation must partially satisfy the strong antiMarket feelings of Labor's left wing and of Renegade Tory Enoch Powell (who claims that his endorsement of Wilson during the campaign won the election for Labor) and yet not go so far as to unite the pro-Market Tories and Liberals. Wilson has set a twelve-month deadline for himself for renegotiation. Then he plans to seek popular approval of the results, either by referendum or in a general election.

Snap Votes. The chances are good that Wilson will survive until that deadline, though he is in no position to drop his guard. Whenever a Tory whip suspects that he has enough M.P.s on the Commons floor to defeat the government, he could call a snap vote on some minor issue. Normally, that kind of defeat could force a government to resign. But Wilson has served notice that he would treat the results of a snap vote merely "with suitable respect, not exaggerated respect." Even if the Tories and Liberals combine this week to defeat Labor on the traditional vote approving the Queen's speech, Wilson is unlikely to resign. Instead, he will probably remain in office until losing a formal vote of confidence on what he considers a more substantive issue.

With Britain tired of elections and longing to be governed, it will probably be some time before either Labor or the opposition parties decide to take the responsibility of sending voters back to another agonizing choice.

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