Debate on the Address

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 6 November 1951.

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Photo of Mr Jack Browne Mr Jack Browne , Glasgow Govan 12:00, 6 November 1951

Yes, the hon. Members opposite. The first of those two factors was the tremendous fear of unemployment and war—and why not? It is 12 years since a Conservative Government was in power in peace-time, and it is up to us on this side to prove that those fears were unfounded. Secondly, there was the false belief in party unity. The split in the party of hon. Members opposite came too late to be fully realised by the rank and file, and from now onwards every speech and every action of the party opposite will be watched and will show the ever-widening and unbridgeable gap in that party. Many moderate supporters of the Labour Party who, like their own leaders, have discarded Socialism, will realise more and more fully in the coming months that out of loyalty—mistaken loyalty—to the name "Labour," they have in fact been supporting theories which are Communist.

The country has made a supreme decision. The country wants to move neither to the Right nor to the Left. It wants to move forward, in the, middle way, to an increasing measure of human contentment and dignity. The only united body of opinion in the country today is the Conservative Party.