{Indivisibility of Government}[20th October 1975]

[Redbook2:72A][19751020:0000]{Indivisibility of Government}[20th October 1975]

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20^th October 1975

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[The Times] report[s] ([on] Monday October 20^th) Mr. Short, the Leader of the House of Commons, as saying in his message to his Constituency: “We are not impressed by demands for the resignation of Barbara Castle from people in the medical profession who are never likely to have voted for her – or the Labour Party – in the first place.”.

There was a time when Parliament (and therefore the Government) was believed to represent the interests of the whole people of the United Kingdom – and when a Member was generally thought to be elected to represent all the inhabitants of his constituency, not merely those who elected him. There was a time when a remark such as Mr. Short's would not have been allowed to pass without comment in [The Times] newspaper and elsewhere.

The good government of any Nation-State as a whole is indivisible. While allowance must be made for change, a government which by word or action refuses even to recognise the real interest of any person or group within the Nation-State looses its moral claim to govern the affairs of the Nation-State as a whole. It must be important, even if only for reasons of political security, to find some constitutional formula which reflects the (moral) indivisibility of good government ( – which is not to be confused with the political indivisibility or divisibility of the territory of the Nation-State).

Such incautious comments as Mr. Short's, like Mr. Healey's famous reported threat to squeeze the rich until the pips squeaked, show clearly who among our rulers feel a personal and ideological cynicism towards the people of the United Kingdom as a whole, a cynicism far more dangerous in its implications than the simple paternalism of the Conservative Party.

These and other examples of the “politics of hatred” in government are a warning to all individuals and all groups within the United Kingdom – not just to those against whom specifically they are aimed. Who shall be exempt? Or if the Governments lose their faith in the people – which is the whole people, or nothing – how shall people have faith in their Government?

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