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Left-hand Drive at the Ministry P
FROM OUR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
MR. WILSON has given the Ministry of Transport a strong left-wing injection by the appointment of Mrs.
Barbara Castle, one of his principal lieutenants, as its new chief. The Prime Minister's Christmas reshuffle did very little in terms of politics, except to bring this fiery, 54-year-old redhead into the limelight with orders to give the department at least an appearance of bustle and drive.
This was overdue because Mr. Fraser's 14 months at the Ministry had only pro duced for the public a set of road safety proposals, practically no discernible progress on co-ordination, spending cuts and mounting criticism.
Even his fellow countrymen in the Scottish Commercial Motormen's Union had joined the chorus of criticism just before his departure, the union's general secretary, Mr. Alex Kitson, having complained in a letter to the Prime Minister that Mr. Fraser had "created no impace among road transport workers.
Mr. Fraser has returned to the back benches after a sad first stab at being a Minister. To be fair, however, it seems that he was put at St. Christopher House to hold the fort because Socialist policy had not been thought out and because Mr. Wilson was playing for time.
He refused to accept a lesser Ministerial post, but it is said in Govern
ment circles that he may make a future come-back, perhaps in Scottish affairs, where his main interest lies.
Mrs. Castle is expected to call for the many bulky dossiers on transport co-ordination as soon as she settles into her new job,
She will find that although a Cabinet committee has spent a great deal of time working on the subject, a policy as such is still far away. Reaching • down into the detailed backwaters of regional plan
ning, liner train disputes and so on, the dossiers point all too clearly at the difficulty of getting such a policy and of making it work.
Mrs. Castle will find, too, that the Transport Minister is only a cog in this operation. There are many other Ministers poking into the cauldron—and many civil servants patiently repeating that it is all a waste of time.
The departure of Mr. Fraser finally made sense of the failure to carry out the understanding that the Government would make a statement on co-ordination by the end of the year. After the departure of Lord Hinton it became clear that there was little to say and that the time was not safe to say it.
Mr. Fraser, who is being cleared of deliberate delay, will at least not have to face the Tories on this one when Parliament comes back.
Official quarters insist, however, that a statement will be made before long. Meanwhile, observers assume that Mrs. Castle has been brought in to restore some of the aura of decision-taking and publicity bustle which have been absent since Labour took over.
It is significant that the two main politicians now at the Ministry—Mrs. Castle and Mr. Stephen Swingler—are left wingers. It may be that the period of indecision is hurrying to a close and that some severe doctrines are to emerge.
But Mr. Wilson still lacks the Parliamentary majority to force through fullblooded measures to cut down the private sector of road haulage. A further period of marking time, with driblets of policy statements, is more likely.
Mrs. Castle is not a motorist. Indeed, at the last election her one and only hobby was officially listed as walking. She is a former chairman of the Labour Party and is close to Mr. Wilson. She was the Prime Minister's Parliamentary Private Secretary when he was President of the Board of Trade as long ago as 1947.
It is being said that her original enthusiasm for her old job in the Cabinet had waned to the point of irritation because of the small sums she was allowed to spend on overseas aid.
The Conservatives had been going all out to get Mr. Fraser removed, but some of them have been taken aback by Mr. Wilson's reaction. Even some of the Cabinet commented on the boldness of the move.
Mrs. Castle is the first-ever woman Transport Minister, but she is a match for most of the men in Parliament. She is forceful and concise, never afraid of an argument or controversy, or the need to battle through with any policy which she feels is logical, good Socialism and . good economics.
She likes to gather her experts together in " brainboxes " to resolve the logic of a situation. And she is eamipned with the debating power to steamroller opponents should the need arise.