Word: heaths
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...rents until 1975 and ended the three-day work week. Through the Queen, he promised substantial increases in pensions and social-security payments, which would affect benefits for widows, the disabled and the unemployed. To halt the soaring cost of food (up 53% during the 44 months of Edward Heath's Tory government), Wilson proposed subsidizing basic foodstuffs (probably eggs, cheese, milk and bread) and limiting food profit margins. He also pledged unspecified "urgent measures" to deal with the country's housing crisis. While the number of new houses built has been declining, the average mortgage payments...
Vague Language. The Tories can hardly expect to defeat the Labor government by challenging such popular economic measures. Moreover, Wilson, by avoiding more controversial issues, refused to give Heath good targets. For instance, "nationalization" was never mentioned in the Queen's speech, though Labor's election manifesto had promised to nationalize many of Britain's major industries, including shipbuilding, trucking and construction. The only reference to an extension of public ownership was a cautiously worded promise to crack down on property speculators...
...adroitly did Wilson draft the speech that Heath was limited to criticizing the vagueness of the language. "It requires a consistent probing to ascertain what lies behind so much of its wording," he complained, adding that he could not judge it without "knowledge of the government's financial policies." Liberal Leader Jeremy Thorpe expressed delight that Labor had already "shed some of their unmentionables"-such as nationalization...
...accident or miscalculation proposes legislation that would compel the Conservatives, Liberals and fringe-party M.P.s to unite in a majority against the government. All parties are well aware, though, that the voters are in no mood for another election and might lash out at the party that prompted one. Heath himself, before taking up his seat on the opposition bench, called on Britons "to set aside partisan differences." Privately, he attributed his defeat in part to the fact that the electorate was fed up with slanging-match politics...
...most important is the rejuvenated Liberal Party, which gained 19.3% of the popular vote and 14 seats in the House (up from eleven in the last Parliament). Party Leader Thorpe is already flexing his political muscles. After rejecting a coalition with Edward Heath's Tories, he promptly turned on Labor and issued what he called "a warning shot across their bows." Thorpe denounced Wilson's new Cabinet as "an old-fashioned Socialist government." He made it clear that the new Prime Minister would have to bend some of his party's doctrines to get Liberal support...