75-08-A3
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London # 3
TranscriptThe spring winds are chilly in London but hot words are beginning to fill the air. I'll be right back. This is the time of year when winter isn't quite ready to loosen its grip on London but still the daffodils are up all over Hyde Park and even a few rays of sunshine are enough on a Sunday afternoon to bring out throngs of strollers. A lively debate is going on here over the national referendum vote to be taken in June on whether or not Britain should remain in the Common Market, the European Economic Community. It's been two years since Britain joined the Common Market. Since then, arguments over its continued participation have intensified. A strong strain of isolationism has developed here, not to unlike what we've found in the United States in recent years and most of it comes from the political far left. The Conservative Party, for the most part, favors Britain's continued participation in the Common Market, though at least one prominent conservative journalist is urging Tories to vote no in the referendum, on the purely tactical grounds that its defeat would bring down the Labor government sooner. Former Prime Minister Harold McMillan summed up the thinking of many when he said in a recent speech, quote, "I do not think everyone has quite realized that what the referendum is about has to do with something which I cannot find in our history, to denounce unilaterally a treaty we signed two years ago. We used to stand for good faith that's the greatest strength of our commerce overseas and we are now being asked to tear up a treaty into which we solemnly entered." Unquote. Some observers here believe that no matter how the referendum turns out the results will only deepen the split in Labor's ranks. It has a bare majority of one vote in the House of Commons, though voting and attendance patterns of some splinter party members usually boost this by a few votes on any given issue. Failure by Labor to heal the breach in its ranks might lead to elections as early as this fall. Some say if so, Britain may get its first woman prime minister in its more than nine hundred year history. Mrs. Margaret Thatcher, the new leader of the Conservative Party is a woman of charm and poise and also strength. She's a Conservative's conservative, with the courage of her convictions. The British like their politicians to stand for something and she does. In a recent nationwide poll she was named as the country's most popular political figure. Only time will tell if Mrs. Thatcher is to become the prime minister. Meanwhile though the Tories in Parliament are closing ranks over the Common Market issue. Former Prime Minister Heath recently defeated as leader of his party may be down but not out as he showed in a vigorous speech to the Young Conservatives Conference when he warned that Britain outside the Common Market would be an isolated country. The debate over isolationism versus Common Market participation has a familiar ring to my American ears. It reminds me of our own debate over whether we should have honored our Paris Accord commitments to our Southeast Asian allies. In that debate the isolationists in Congress won. That's one victory that may yet turn out to be ashes in their mouths. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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