Boos & Ballots

The baby-kissing, like the political name-calling, pursued Britain's 23,000,000 voters almost up to the moment they stepped into polling booths last week. Seldom had so apathetic an electorate drifted so listlessly toward so momentous an election. Seldom had a rowdedow campaign ended in such eleventh-hour fireworks. Seldom had a result been so hard to predict (best guess as polling began: a small majority for the Conservatives; for Labor a gain of 100-odd seats).

Prime Minister Winston Churchill, 70, wound up his campaign at Walthamstow Stadium, one of Britain's biggest dog-racing tracks. While a band (for no known reason) blared-Deep in the Heart of Texas and Umbrella Man (which might have irritated Conservatives who recalled Neville Chamberlain), Churchill arrived with Clemmy (Mrs. Churchill). The Prime Minister drew a tremendous cheer. Then began one of the most exasperating hecklings of his career. Well-primed rowdies howled, booed and shouted: "We want Attlee!" (Clement Attlee, Labor Party candidate for Prime Minister). Said Churchill: "In a free country like ours. . . ." Boos blitzed him out. Churchill stared at his hecklers, said: "Surely that is not a party question."

"Hold Onto Your Chairs." Then the Prime Minister peeled off his political jacket and jabbed at his enemies. Some of the jabs: "I want to talk about London's wonderful [war] record--would you like to boo that?"; "The winners cheer and the beaten boo"; "You ask for my policy? I'll tell you--it is to beat Japan first." Talking about the prewar building of 350,000 houses a year, Churchill said: "Hold onto your chairs. This is going to be one you don't like--two-thirds of those [houses] were built by private enterprise. Why have we not built houses? You can ask Mr. Attlee and Mr. Bevin and that great London hero Mr. Morrison, for if we are to blame, they are too." Mention of Labor's leaders sent the hecklers into a new frenzy. Said Churchill: "Another two minutes will be allowed for booing, if you'd like."

Idiotic Ideologies. The Prime Minister mentioned plans for the increase of food production in Britain. There were more boos. Said Churchill: "All these plans will be nullified by foolish faction fights about idiotic ideologies and philosophical dreams about absurd Utopian worlds which will never be seen except by great improvements in the human heart and the human head." There was a roar of laughter. Said Churchill: "I'm sorry if that hurts."

Next day Churchill himself was nearly hurt. On Tooting Bee Common, Michael Gloor Le Pelley, 17, tossed a lit firecracker at the Prime Minister's face. Momentarily staggered, Churchill told police "not to hurt the little fool."

On election eve Churchill felt victory "in his bones," warned that "if there should be a landslide to the left, many countries on the Continent would slide, not into decent socialism, but into the violence of Communism. . . .If we go down, all the ninepins of Europe will fall." Then the Prime Minister breezed off to Hendaye, in the French Basque country, for a much needed rest.

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