Britain Aiming for Three Straight

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Raucous shouting rocked Parliament in spirited exchanges over good economic news and the likelihood of an impending general election. Party leaders and Cabinet ministers turned their thoughts to clearing their appointment calendars and hiring campaign planes, buses and walkie-talkies, while workers distributed campaign posters and thousands of beribboned lapel rosettes in Tory blue, Labor red and Alliance gold. Buckingham Palace was alerted that Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher might suddenly seek an audience with Queen Elizabeth II.

As the results of local elections poured in, election fever gripped Britons. Although the 61-year-old Prime Minister is not required to call a general election until her five-year term ends in June 1988, virtually everyone expected Thatcher to announce a bid this week to become the first British Prime Minister in this century to win three consecutive terms. Her governing Tories hurdled the final obstacle to an early poll last week with an unexpectedly strong showing in elections for local councils. Some 27% of Britain's registered voters, or about 12 million people, cast ballots to fill 12,280 seats throughout Britain -- except in London, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Political pros called the bellwether vote the "world's biggest public opinion poll." The returns seemed to remove any doubt that Thatcher was poised to hit the hustings.

By week's end the Conservatives, who had worried about voter complacency and expected to lose hundreds of seats had actually gained 75. The Labor Party was the big loser, dropping 227 seats. The Alliance, the moderate coalition of David Steel's Liberals and David Owen's Social Democrats, gained a hefty 453 seats. The bottom line, according to British Broadcasting Corporation projections: in a general election the Tories would win 340 seats in the House of Commons, Labor 259 and the Alliance 31, with 21 scattered among other parties. "It was a good evening for the Tories," acknowledged Owen.

Conservative strategists spent the weekend analyzing thick printouts detailing the results from the 369 councils. Thatcher retired to Chequers, her official country residence, where she planned to meet with top political counselors, including Conservative Party Chairman Norman Tebbit, Deputy Prime Minister Viscount Whitelaw and Chief Whip John Wakeham. She reportedly intended to make a final decision early this week. If Thatcher's choice is for a snap election, she will inform her Cabinet, then ask Queen Elizabeth to dissolve Parliament. The favored election date is June 11.

British politicians have been gearing up for the campaign for weeks. Conservatives and Alliance leaders have put final touches on their national platforms. In the House of Commons, Speaker Bernard Weatherill wryly appealed for "less euphoria." Eager Labor officials, out of office for eight years, announced a new campaign slogan: "The country's crying out for change." Unfortunately for both Labor and the Alliance, opinion polls do not substantiate the sentiment.