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As the dimensions of Labor's victory became clear, the normally ebullient Heath spoke soberly to reporters. Privately, he had not thought that he could beat Wilson, but he had hoped to hold Labor to a lean margin. "Our campaign was ahead of its time," explained Heath. "We did not succeed in convincing the people of the dangers facing the country. But as time passes, people will remember what was said in this campaign." Perhaps so, but as leader during such a defeat, Heath is in some danger of being dumped as the Conservatives reshape their strategy to challenge Labor in the next election.
The Busy Future. The men who will swell Labor's back benches are markedly different from the hot-eyed Socialists who stormed to Parliament in the 1945 election and opened the first session with a rousing chorus of The Red Flag. The new M.P.s are young (average age: 36), drawn mainly from the professions, and generally are pragmatists like Wilson. In fact, the moderate character of the new Labor M.P.s reduced the fears that a large majority would give the party's left wing strength to force Wilson into abandoning his support of the U.S. position in Viet Nam.
Wilson will keep Parliament busy when it convenes April 21. Zeroing in on his party's last great doctrinaire objective, Wilson intends to press for the nationalization of Britain's steel industry. Other items high on his legislative agenda: stronger machinery for controlling Britain's rising prices and wages, a reform of the featherbedding trade unions, and a drive to make British industry more productive.