Vote of Confidence

On the day Americans went to the polls, Englishmen had their eyes on the Buckinghamshire constituency of High Wycombe, where Disraeli three times sought election and lost. There Tories and Socialists were embroiled in a lusty campaign for the seat of Tory William Waldorf Astor, elevated to the peerage (as Viscount Astor) on his father's death.

It was the seventh British by-election since Winston Churchill's Tories returned to power. Both sides rolled out their biggest guns: Laborite Clement Attlee and Herbert Morrison took to the stump for Labor, Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden toured Wycombe's village greens in a soaking rainstorm for the Tories, and Winston Churchill sent a rousing message urging the voters not to be taken in by the "wild caterwaul of abuse."

When the caterwauling was over, the result was a clear victory for towering (6 ft. 4 in.) Tory John Hall, who got 350 more votes than Astor did in 1951. It was a heartening vote of confidence in Churchill's government, which was one year old last week.

As if in celebration of their anniversary, the Tories announced that:

P:twenty-nine more "emergency controls" (unlawful gaming, new clubs, etc.) that have nettled Britons these last dozen years will be dropped next month;

P:egg rationing will be abolished before next spring;

P:22,323 new houses were completed in September, more than in any other month since the war's end;

P:in the month of October, Britain earned a trading surplus of $82 million in gold and dollars (the August figure: a $44 million deficit).

Commented London's Liberal News-Chronicle: "Mr. Churchill and his friends are entering [their second year] with far more confidence than they were showing, or were entitled to show, six months ago."

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