GREAT BRITAIN: Under Way

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In a flourish of ceremony and sentiment, Britain's 41st Parliament-last week held its final session. Wigged and white-ruffled, the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod summoned M.P.s to hear Queen Elizabeth's dissolution speech. Less than an hour later, the Queen's writs went out to 630 parliamentary constituencies, and Britain's 1959 election campaign was officially under way.

Already both of Britain's major parties were flexing their muscles for the march to the polls on Oct. 8. With the immemorial piety of the ins, Tory Party Chairman Lord Hailsham earnestly proclaimed: "I repudiate mudslinging and hope that neither party will indulge in it." Dutifully echoing this sentiment, Labor Party Leader Hugh Gaitskell nonetheless could not resist the opportunity for a gibe at Hailshau:. "Any repentant sinner," said Gaitskell, "is always welcome."

"The Envy Tactic." As events were quick to prove, one man's mudslinging is another man's honest examination of the issues. Launching Labor's manifesto, Britain Belongs to You, at a televised press conference, Gaitskell confirmed Tory predictions that Labor's campaign weapon would be "the envy tactic," although Gaitskell obviously did not use the term. The ordinary Briton may be better off these days, conceded the Labor manifesto, but "the contrast between the extremes of wealth and poverty is sharper now" than when the Conservatives took power eight years ago. To remedy this state of affairs —the existence of which foreign observers frankly doubt—the Labor manifesto demanded an end to "the businessman's expense-account racket," called for a tax on capital gains and measures to block loopholes in the inheritance-tax laws.

Obviously convinced that there is no longer any electoral mileage in nationalization of industry, Labor's planners said almost in passing that they would renationalize steel and road transport (denationalized by the Tories since 1951), and let it go at that. But Gaitskell obviously hoped to make big campaign capital of Labor's promise of an immediate 20% boost in old-age pensions, and other welfare benefits, all to be paid for by "planned expansion" that would also get Britain back into "the race for higher productivity among industrial nations."

"Obsolete or Obsolescent." Gaitskell's lavish promises promptly evoked an outraged reply from Tory Chancellor of the Exchequer Derick Heathcot Amory. The Labor program, said Heathcot Amory, is "irresponsible," could only result in "huge increase of public expenditure, sharp rise in taxation, and a return to inflation with severe danger to our balance of payments."